The Wanamaker Light Show is back for 2025, along with new surprises

As more shopping centers and department stores close throughout the United States, “what now?” is an important question for these shuttered public spaces, and for a space like the Wanamaker Building, including its world-famous organ, that question was urgent—especially as the December holidays loomed.

For more than 60 years, the sugarplum fairies and reindeer cavorting in thousands of blinking lights above the bronze Eagle in the Wanamaker’s Grand Court have become core Christmas memories for generations of Philadelphians. But when Macy’s closed last March after two decades of inhabiting the Wanamaker, the beloved tradition was threatened.

A Philly landmark since 1911

The Wanamaker Building, a historic landmark, opened on the corner of 13th and Market in 1911, becoming the largest retail space in the world at that time. John Wanamaker acquired its iconic Bronze Eagle and the Wanamaker Organ, the world’s largest pipe organ, from the St. Louis World’s Fair.

Starting in the 1950s, the Wanamaker Light Show developed in the Grand Court along with captivating Christmas decorations throughout the department store. As the light show evolved—switching to LED bulbs, getting different narrators from John Facenda to Judy Garland, and even new building owners—the tradition continued. Now, communities are coming together to keep the tradition going.

The show must go on

Opera Philadelphia, with its fall 2025 PIPE UP! series, is one leader of the reactivated space. The series included dance, an opera performance in the Grand Court with composer-in-residence Nathalie Joachim, and vintage film screenings in its upstairs Greek Room, featuring live scores played on that venue’s Wurlitzer organ.

Meanwhile, the Philadelphia Visitor Center (PVC) helmed an effort to save the Christmas experience, where despite ongoing construction and renovation, the time-honored show remains in the bones of the historic department store.

Preservation efforts began in July with a campaign seeking $350,000 in donations to support the 2025 return of the Wanamaker Light Show and Dickens Village. PVC president and CEO Kathryn Ott Lovell led the effort including social media, posters around the city, and a Giving Day where individual donors were invited to contribute $12.25. Over the next few months, many funders stepped in. The William Penn Foundation offered a dollar-for-dollar match up to $100,000, and the Connelly Foundation provided a $100,000 grant. In total, the campaign garnered 1200 contributions, from $5 to thousands of dollars.

Bringing people together

Lovell says the Wanamaker holiday attractions provide a big boost for many local businesses. At a July event in the building, she noted that prior to the Macy’s closure, up to 2,000 people a day had visited the light show during the season, while Dickens Village drew 10,000 a day. City acting director of commerce Karen Fegely added that the Macy’s holiday events drew 400,000 people a year—half of whom came from outside the city. As those visitors went on to shop and dine in Philly, that meant an annual economic impact of almost $32 million. However, Lovell says the primary push to preserve the show was to continue uplifting Philadelphia and bringing the community together.

“I think at a time in our city, in our country, in our state, where there seems like there’s a lot of division, that opportunities and experiences like this are more important now than ever,” Lovell told BSR in November. “It brings people together, your loved ones, but also total strangers to experience something like this and find that common humanity and that common experience and that common love.”

Lights, cabaret, action

From now through December 11, the Wanamaker Light Show, presented by PECO, will run Wednesday through Sunday, with daily shows December 12-24. For the full light show and live organ concert schedule, check online. (Organizers note that during peak times, visitors may have to wait for up to 30 minutes to enter the Grand Court.)

The Light Show is the main attraction, but it isn’t the only tradition being preserved through donations this year. Dickens Village, located on the third floor, will continue to showcase its animatronic scenes inspired by A Christmas Carol. It’s open through December 24, and you need to book free timed tickets in advance. Visit the Dickens Village website for details.

PIPE UP! is also returning in December. Opera Philadelphia will host a Home for the Holidays concert on Tuesday, December 2, featuring the Wanamaker organ and light show, the opera’s orchestra and chorus, and vocalists Anthony Roth Costanzo and Leah Hawkins. (The event is currently sold out, but organizers say there will be standby line at the doors.) From December 10-14, PIPE UP! will also present It’s Giving Cabaret, a new series in partnership with The Bearded Ladies Cabaret, featuring different members of the troupe performing drag, sing-alongs, acrobatics, and jazz.

With Macy’s gone, this year brings an expanded holiday market in the Grand Court, featuring about 40 vendors and a bar offering holiday-themed beers and cocktails. Philadelphia is also entering its 17th season of Christmas Village in LOVE Park and City Hall from Thanksgiving Day through Christmas Eve, where small businesses continue to sell crafts, food, and drinks. The Winter Garden, the Rothman Orthopedics Cabin, and the ice rink are also back.

Hope for the future

While the community worked quickly to preserve this year’s traditions, a larger conversation emerged about what the Wanamaker Building’s future could look like.

TF Cornerstone, the building’s current owner, has released plans to convert the building into a multi-purpose space, with the first two floors as retail space and the remaining as offices or apartments. Reconstruction will close the building for the next two years, leaving the long-term fate of the light show uncertain.

This is not the first time the city has struggled to establish an economic anchor along the Market Street shopping district. This challenge has only deepened as many large stores shift to an online platform, mirroring the struggles Macy’s faced.

As the American marketplace continues to shift towards digital commerce, we will see other historic landmarks face similar transitions. And as spaces like the Wanamaker Building face a new future, hope remains that joyful traditions and the art that ties us together remain alive.