Lincoln Square Winter's Eve Christmas Info, Video & Photos

Winter's Eve is Coming To Town at Lincoln Square (2001 Photos below)
Monday, November 30, 2009, 5:30 pm to 9:30 pm

Festivities will begin rain, snow or shine at 5:30 PM. For more information about the Lincoln Square BID’s Winter’s Eve, please call 212-581-7762 or visit www.WintersEve.org.

Winter's Eve kicks off at 5:30 pm with a tree-lighting ceremony in Dante Park (Broadway between 63rd and 64th). JOY BEHAR, host of “The Joy Behar Show” on HLN and a featured co-host on ABC’s “The View,” will light the 10th-anniversary Winter’s Eve tree. This year’s program features free live entertainment, food tastings and family fun around and about this colorful and vibrant neighborhood. Stores, restaurants, cultural organizations and public spaces in the district will be buzzing with activities and performances for children and adults. First-rate entertainers will perform at several major venues, including the Winter’s Eve Main Stage on 64th Street, just east of Broadway.  Sidewalks along Broadway from Time Warner Center at Columbus Circle to 68th Street will be alive with performers, street musicians, jugglers, stilt-walkers, holiday choral groups, marching bands and more, making for a festive fun-filled stroll through the streets of this dynamic Upper West Side neighborhood.

The headliner for this year’s family-friendly entertainment is the highly celebrated afro-beat orchestra ANTIBALAS (performing at the Winter’s Eve Main Stage), whose arrangements, musical direction and performers are included in the new Broadway show FELA!. Other acts include KiDROCKERS, the indie artists who tweak their original songs for kids; fearless and funny jesters The Flaming Idiots straight from The New Victory Theater; Ben Allison’s new jazz songs and Neil Young tribute; hip-hop/new music/jazz act Andy Akiho Foundry Percussion Trio; the unique, versatile Winter’s-Eve staple the Hungry March Band; Frederick Douglass Academy’s Brazilian percussion ensemble Harlem Samba; interactive dance group Alice Farley Dance Theater; world-renowned God’s Generation Choir; the creative and outside-the-box Puppeteers Cooperative, and many others. (For descriptions, please see the attached document.)

BY SUBWAY: Take the A, B, C, or D train to 59th Street & Columbus Circle or the 1 or 9 train to 66th Street & Broadway.

FOR MORE About Winter’s Eve call the Lincoln Square BID at (212) 581-3774 or visit www.winterseve.org

Please note that there WILL be a tree lighting this year but a slight bit different than in previous years.

Local venues and unique locations, including Time Warner Center, Barnes and Noble, Borders, Dante and Richard Tucker Parks, American Bible Society, Bed Bath & Beyond, TD Bank, Samsung Experience, and the American Folk Art Museum, provide the backdrop for these live performances throughout the evening.  New venues this year include Lincoln Center’s newly renovated David Rubenstein Atrium.

From 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm, over two dozen of Lincoln Square’s finest restaurants will provide food tastings at a nominal cost of $1 to $5. Participating for the first time this year will be A Voce, Gourmet Garage, Luce, Nick & Toni’s Café, Picholine, and ‘wichcraft. Tastings will include such delicacies as Sushi a-go-go’s seared shrimp teriyaki burger and Landmarc’s orecchiette alla norcina. Other participating restaurants will include Asiate, Bar Boulud, Bar Masa, Bouchon Bakery, Café Fiorello, Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola and Great Performances, Ed’s Chowder House, Europan Bakery Café, Gabriel’s Bar & Restaurant, Magnolia Bakery, O’Neals’, P.J. Clarke’s at Lincoln Square, Porter House, Rosa Mexicano, Sapphire Indian Cuisine, and Soutine Bakery. (For menus, please see the attached document.) For the second year running, restaurants will be encouraged to donate a portion of their proceeds to City Harvest, Winter’s Eve charitable partner, and the public will be encouraged to bring canned food to the City Harvest truck located at Dante Park.

Food tastings will take place at three outdoor locations: in front of Time Warner Center at Columbus Circle, along Broadway between 63rd and 64th Streets, and at Richard Tucker Park between 65th and 66th Streets.

Winter’s Eve official sponsors include presenting sponsor Time Warner, The Shops at Columbus Circle, American Bible Society, Con Edison, Fordham University, Glenwood Management, Ogden CAP Properties LLC, Milstein Properties, Roosevelt Hospital, Rosa Mexicano at Lincoln Center, Mandarin Oriental New York, Fidelity Investments, Titan, Time Out New York Kids, and WABC-TV. City Harvest is Winter’s Eve’s official charity.

Winter's Eve at Lincoln Square is hosted and produced by the Lincoln Square Business Improvement District (BID), a not-for-profit tax-exempt organization that was formed in 1997 by property owners, businesses and others with a stake in this Upper West Side community. The mission of the Lincoln Square Business Improvement District is to make Lincoln Square cleaner, safer, and more beautiful, and to undertake various improvement projects by focusing efforts on supplemental sanitation and security services; the beautification of public spaces, malls, and parks; and the promotion and marketing of the area's diverse business and cultural offerings. Members of the Lincoln Square BID include businesses, hotels, restaurants, leading retail establishments both large and small, cultural institutions, public officials, and residents.  For more information please visit www.lincolnsquarebid.org.