Harlem Night Market, Tree Lightings, Dance Party: Holiday Events

HARLEM, NY — It's beginning to look a lot like the holiday season in Harlem.

With the lights on 125th Street officially sparkling, the neighborhood is filled with holiday events, from the return of a popular marketplace to multiple tree lightings to an unusual kind of "silent" dance party.

Here are a few of the most notable events happening in Harlem in the coming days.

Harlem Night Market at La Marqueta

The popular evening market beneath the Park Avenue train tracks is back for three weekends this year, following its well-received launch in 2019 and successful pandemic-era return last year.

The night market returns Saturday, Dec. 3, from 4-8 p.m., and again on Dec. 10 and 17 during the same times.

Spanning three blocks between East 115th and 117th streets, this year's expanded list of vendors are mostly Harlem-based. They include food vendors like Cafe Ollin, Lolo's Seafood Shack and Flames Indian Aroma, sweet treats from Make My Cake and Harlem Baking Co., makers and artisans including Harlem Hoopz, Museum Mile Artand East Harlem Preservation, and dozens of others.

All three weekends will include visits from "Santa," a bounce house and a 360-degree photo booth. And a special trolley service will take visitors from the market to El Museo del Barrio and the East Harlem Holiday Tree on Dec. 10, and to a pop-up skating rink on Uptown Grand Central's 125th Street holiday plaza on Dec. 17.

Learn more on the Night Market's Eventbrite page or Instagram. (For the Dec. 17 ice-skating, attendees must register in advance on Eventbrite.)

"For nearly a century now, these blocks under the rumbling Park Avenue train tracks have launched thousands of entrepreneurs with great products and great ideas. It’s our honor to be a part of showcasing that vibrancy for the holidays," said Carey King, director of Uptown Grand Central, which runs the holiday market alongside NYC Public Markets, TBo Harlem and Union Settlement.

Tree Lightings: Central Park and 125th Street

One of Harlem's prettiest tree lightings kicks off at 5:30 p.m. Thursday on the banks of the Harlem Meer.

There, outside the Charles A. Dana Discovery Center, revelers will celebrate the 26th Annual Holiday Lighting in Central Park — featuring caroling, an appearance by Santa, hot cocoa, and other seasonal activities. It all culminates with the lighting of a "flotilla of trees" on the Meer.

The following Thursday, Dec. 8, from 5:30-7:30 p.m., comes the lighting of the holiday tree in front of the Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. State Office Building on 125th Street.

The free, family-friendly event will include giveaways (including free hot chocolate from Starbucks), train rides, a Santa visit, and performances by the Harlem School of the Arts Dorothy Maynor Singers and Harlem School of the Arts Dancers.

The tree lighting itself will happen at 6:30 p.m.

"Silent Disco Holiday Celebration"

For a more unusual way to ring in the holidays, stop by the Pelham Fritz Recreation Center on the west side of Marcus Garvey Park on Friday, Dec. 2, between 6-8 p.m.

There, the Parks Department will host its first "Silent Disco," in which each participant will be handed a set of headphones and given the chance to "choose what genre of music they would like to groove to."

Learn more on the Parks Department event page.