Boston’s biggest Christmas tree is a thank-you note. Every year Nova Scotia sends the city a tree for the help Boston rushed north after the 1917 Halifax explosion, and this year’s tree lighting is Thursday, December 3. Before that night, the city’s Parks Department lights up a waterfront trellis, a playground ship and the newly renovated Copley Square. Here are all five, in order, with the times and what to expect at each.
Monday, November 23: the trellis at Christopher Columbus Park
The season starts on the North End waterfront, where the Parks Department and the Friends of Christopher Columbus Park light the park’s 260 feet of trellis for the 24th annual trellis lighting. It runs from 5 to 6 p.m. at 110 Atlantic Avenue, next to the Marriott Long Wharf. Santa and Rudolph make an appearance, there’s live music, H.P. Hood pours eggnog, the Marriott brings hot chocolate and cookies, and Joe’s Waterfront serves clam chowder. Since it ends at 6, you have the whole evening left for dinner in the North End, a few blocks away.
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Trellis Lighting at Christopher Columbus Park
Christopher Columbus Park · Boston
Saturday, November 28: Santa arrives by boat at Martin's Park
This one is built for kids. At 5 p.m. the Friends of Martin’s Park and the Parks Department host the fifth annual lighting of the ship at Martin’s Park, 64 Sleeper Street on the Fort Point waterfront. The park’s ship, the beach fencing around it and the pedestrian bridge get wrapped in more than 1,500 feet of blue and white tube lights, and Santa pulls up on the Harborwalk by boat with the Boston Police Harbor Unit. Berklee musicians play holiday songs, and kids can meet the Boston Park Rangers Mounted Unit, climb around a Boston Fire Department truck and make holiday crafts with a local artist. Hood and Caffè Nero bring the holiday drinks. It’s the Saturday after Thanksgiving, so if family is in town, bring them.
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Lighting of the Ship at Martin’s Park
Martin’s Park · Boston
Monday, November 30: Copley Square's tree, and the park's grand reopening
Copley Square Park has been under renovation, and this year’s Copley Square Tree Lighting doubles as its grand reopening. It runs from 5 to 6 p.m. at 560 Boylston Street, with guided tours of the renovated square, arts and crafts, Santa and Rudolph, and performances by vocalist Joelle James, the Boston Children’s Chorus and the Symphonic of Emerson College. Once the tree is lit, walk across the street to the Fairmont Copley Plaza for cookies and photos with Santa at 6 p.m.
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Copley Square Tree Lighting
Copley Square · Boston
Thursday, December 3: the Boston Common Tree Lighting
This is the big one. The Boston Common Tree Lighting runs from 6 to 8 p.m. next to the Visitor Information Center at 139 Tremont Street, hosted by Mayor Michelle Wu and the Province of Nova Scotia, with Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston joining her. The tree is the province’s yearly thanks for December 6, 1917, when a munitions ship exploded in Halifax Harbor and, within 24 hours, a train full of supplies and emergency crews left Boston to help.
This is the 55th year Nova Scotia has sent Boston a tree. If you want to see it before it glows, it’s due to arrive on the Common by police escort at about 11 a.m. on Tuesday, November 24. Park Street and Boylston are the closest T stops on lighting night.
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Boston Common Tree Lighting
Boston Common · Boston
Right after: the Commonwealth Avenue Mall
Don’t leave when the Common’s tree comes on. Right after, around 8 p.m., Mayor Wu walks over to the Back Bay with the Friends of the Public Garden to light the trees on the Commonwealth Avenue Mall, from Arlington Street all the way to Charlesgate. Neighborhood volunteers ran this display for decades before joining forces with the Friends of the Public Garden in 2022. The walk from the Common through the Public Garden to the start of the Mall takes a few minutes, so you can catch both lightings in one night, then keep walking under the lit trees toward Mass Ave.
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Lighting of the Commonwealth Avenue Mall
Commonwealth Avenue Mall · Boston
How to plan your holiday lighting nights
All five are hosted by the Boston Parks and Recreation Department and held outdoors in public parks, so dress for a cold night on the water or the Common. The two Monday events and the ship lighting each run about an hour, starting at 5 p.m., which makes them easy to fit in after work. December 3 is the crowded one, so get to the Common early if you want to see the stage. The Parks Department answers questions at 617-635-4505, and every event links to its city page above if a date changes for weather.
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