Update:
Philadelphia Parks & Recreation, The Office of Faith-Based and Interfaith Affairs, and the Kwanzaa Cooperative will host a special event on the first night of Kwanzaa, December 26, 2025. The event will take place from 6:00p.m to 7:00p.m. at the Lloyd Hall, located at 1 Boathouse Row (19130).
Fairmount Park Conservancy, in partnership with Philadelphia Parks and Recreation, announces a schedule of special holiday lights for the iconic Boathouse Row during the 2025 Holiday Season.
Lighting Schedule
All lightings run from sunset to sunrise, beginning around 4:40 pm and ending around 7:20 am.
Friday, December 5 – Saturday, December 13: Winter Sparkle (traveling blue and white light sequence)
Sunday, December 14 – Sunday, December 21: Hanukkah (blue and white lights)
Monday, December 22 – Thursday, December 25: Christmas Eve (red and green lights)
Friday, December 26 – Tuesday, December 30: Kwanzaa (red, dark purple [for black], and green lights)
Wednesday, December 31:
- Kwanzaa Lights continuous from sunset (4:45 pm) to 7:59 pm
- New Year’s Eve lights continuous from 8 pm until sunrise (7:22 am): dim white followed by brighter sparkling white light sequence at midnight
Thursday, January 1, 2025:
- New Year’s Lights at sunset (4:45pm), and for an hour at 7pm., 9pm, and continuous from 11pm until sunrise (7:22 am): sparkling white light sequence
- Kwanzaa Lights for an hour at 6pm, 8pm, and 10pm.
About Boathouse Row Lights
Introduced in 1979, the lighting along Boathouse Row has become an iconic feature along the Schuylkill River, where most of the boathouses date back to the 19th century. The site was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1987. The houses moved over to LED lighting in 2005. Starting in 2023, Fairmount Park Conservancy led a restoration project that unveiled a completely refurbished system in March 2024. Funds to replace the lights and underwrite the lighting project were provided by the Joanna McNeil Trust and the City of Philadelphia.
