The Calendar May Say Otherwise, But Tonight It's Winter's Eve

Winter may not make an official appearance for another few weeks, but in New York, at least around Lincoln Center, it’s already Winter’s Eve.
The tenth annual Winter’s Eve Festival takes place tonight at Lincoln Square, with entertainment and happenings occurring from Columbus Circle to Broadway and 68th Street.
The evening starts with a neighborhood tree-lighting ceremony at Dante Park, located at Broadway and 63rd Street. (Sadly, the Lincoln Center Christmas Tree has taken the year off due to economic factors.)
Festival highlights include entertainment, food tastings (either free or at a substantial discount), kids’ activities, and special shopping discounts.
Want a sample? Participating restaurants include Bar Boulud, Landmarc, and Magnolia Bakery; not to mention Picholine; Soutine Bakery and ‘wichcraft. Participating stores and cultural institutions offering discounts include the American Folk Art Museum (Broadway between 62nd and 63rd Streets); Kiehl’s (154 Columbus Avenue): and the TD bank at 62nd and Broadway, which is offering crafts projects.
And we promised entertainment, no? Joy Behar, co-host of ABC's “The View,” will light the 25-foot Balsam fir at 5:30 PM, and performances by The Flaming Idiots (juggling; antics; shenanigans), Chinese Lion Dances (costumed dancers), and others will be featured.
Our pick? It’s got to be the ice sculpture and demonstrations in front of the Time Warner Center.
Talk about Winter’s Eve.

A Holiday Under the Stars--But This One Also Offers Retail

The stars are often hard to see in New York City--unless you stop by the Time Warner Center one evening between now and January 3.
The “Holiday Under the Stars” show features 14-foot glass Moravian stars hanging from the 150-foot-high ceiling. Each star weighs approximately 1,000 pounds. (Don’t think about that part too much.)
The stars are so enormous they can easily be seen from outside. Every night at 5:00 pm (something to keep you homeward-bound commuters going) the stars are front and center in a holiday show featuring displays of light and color set to holiday music. Each number, created by a 12-piece orchestra, has its own choreographed light display; you can stand there entranced until midnight, if you wish, when the display ends for the night.
Each star can create literally millions of color combinations; the show itself is made up of 8,500 LEDs (light-emitting diodes; an electronic light source); 11,000 fiber optics; and 156 strobe lights.
Now in its fourth year, the show takes place in what is known as “The Great Room,” the enormous public space at the entrance to the Time Warner Center.
For the uninitiated, high-end shops and restaurants ranging from Coach leather goods to Dean & Deluca foods to Thomas Keller’s Per Se Restaurant inhabit the space.
So it has to be asked: Winter wonderland or thinly disguised prod to shop?
Either way, it’s certainly festive.