Delaware River Towns Tree Lightings are a great way to spend a day or night. Let’s not kid ourselves: The holiday season starts the minute the last trick-or-treater stumbles home. Still in denial? Read on and watch how fast the cheer is going to spread throughout the Delaware River Towns.
Peddler’s Village’s Grand Illumination
Even during a day when every block has at least one house that blinds the street with its Christmas lights, Peddler’sVillage is a spectacle. You can see a lot of it from your cozy car—shout out to everyone who crawls along 202 at rush hour—but it’s worth the effort to park and see the interior by foot, especially if you have little kids in tow.
New Hope Holiday Parade and Tree Lighting—November 25
The parade will start at Union Square, on Bridge Street, and travel down Bridge Street and along South Main
Street. This is parading, New Hope style: Lots and lots of fire trucks, Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, the Lesbian & Gay BigApple Corps Marching Band, and, of course, Pumpkin escorted by elves. A tree lighting follows outside the Logan Inn at 6:30 p.m. And fireworks follow that.
Yardley Old Fashioned Christmas Parade and Tree Lighting—December 1
Yardley’s parade is a bit more traditional—carolers, Mummers, Santa—though no less festive. It’ll start at 3:30 p.m. Grab a seat anywhere along Main Street and then follow the parade to Buttonwood Park for a tree lighting and pics with Santa and Mrs. Claus.
Frenchtown Tree Lighting and Santa Visit—December 1
Santa will be arriving in Frenchtown, New Jersey, by boat. (You’d want it any other way?) He’s expected to dock sometime around 2 p.m. at Sunbeam Lenape Park, next to the entrance of the Frenchtown-Uhlerstown bridge entrance. There’s going to be lots of photo-ops and hot chocolate ahead of the tree lighting at dusk.
Washington Crossing Historic Park Crossing Reenactment—December 25
For plenty of people, standing along the banks of a mostly-frozen river, watching a historical reenactment is a Christmas tradition. Perhaps they didn’t get what they asked for.
We kid, but we should have more reverence, because without George Washington and the Continental Army’s brave Christmas-night crossing in 1776, we’d all be talking with British accents. Plus, the reenactment, with cannons popping off and several hundred seriously dedicated reenactors marching in tight formations, really is a sight to behold.
This year’s edition will begin at 1 p.m. Bets on whether they’ll actually cross the Delaware may be taken earlier.
