New York City's largest holiday festival, Winter's Eve at Lincoln Square, will take place on Monday, November 29, 2010. Now in its 11th year, Winter's Eve features free entertainment, food tastings, family fun and live music along Broadway from Time Warner Center to 68th Street. Tens of thousands of people flock to Lincoln Square on the first Monday after Thanksgiving to enjoy great food, more than 20 free musical and dance performances, children's activities, ice-sculpting, and special shopping promotions at area retailers. To kick off the evening's festivities, we will once again host a neighborhood tree lighting ceremony at Dante Park at Broadway and 63rd Street at 5:30pm.

This year's tree lighting ceremony will surely delight as crooner John Pizzarelli will make a special appearance. On 62nd Street and Broadway you will find the Winter's Eve Dance Tent where revelers will kick up their heels and dance to fiddler Eileen Ivers - who has been called the "Jimi Hendrix of the violin" by The New York Times and Immigrant Soul. Over at the American Folk Art Museum's Lincoln Square branch will be Anat Cohen, an Israeli jazz clarinetist, saxophonist and bandleader. The American Bible Society will once again become Kids' Central with indie rock bands from KiDROCKERS! And, of course, the highly popular Winter's Eve Food Tastings will be back with samples of signature dishes from the area's top chefs at three locations in the district.

We're busy lining up more great performers and activities for this year's festival. If you would like to volunteer, participate or become involved please call us at 212.581.3774 or email us at info@lincolnsquarebid.org. Our sincere thanks to our sponsors without whose support this event would not be possible.

One of our goals is to provide Lincoln Square's property owners, businesses, residents, employees, and visitors with the most up-to-date information on the neighborhood. We're pleased to announce the recent launch of our new and improved website, www.lincolnsquarebid.org. You'll find all the same rich content, including a neighborhood directory, that was on our original website, plus new features like a comprehensive neighborhood events calendar where local businesses and organizations can submit listings. Please peruse the new site when you have a moment... we think you'll be pleased! Note that the site is still being tweaked. Click here to add an event to our calendar.

Starting Thursday, October 14, 2010 through Saturday, January 22, 2011, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts in collaboration with The Museum of the City of New York will present a new exhibit, On Stage in Fashion: Design for Theater, Opera, and Dance. This exhibition celebrates the collaborations of performers with fashion designers, who together brought contemporary clothing style to theater, opera and dance. The couture, sportswear and retail designers recognized that the introduction of clothing on stage would promote it to their targeted market, the performance audience. The co-curators have selected garments from the fashion and costume collections of the Museum of the City of New York and designs, photographs and media from the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts to illustrate over 100 years of these collaborations for mutual benefit.

The garments, photographs, ephemera and media on display focus on two concurrent forms of collaboration throughout the 20th century and into the present. In modern-dress plays, couture and 7th Avenue fashion designers conspired with actors and actresses to provide clothes that could convey vital facts about their characters - income, social status, aspirations, and fatal flaws. The stage appearances served to introduce and popularize designers, such as Lucile, Chanel, Lanvin, Milgrim, Mainbocher, and Bill Blass to theater-goers and, through promotional articles and photographs, to the general public. Other major designers, among them Christian Lacroix, Halston, Willi Smith, and Isaac Mizrahi, have worked with ballet, modern and post-modern choreographers to develop garments that reflect mood and amplify movement.

The exhibit will be held at the Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center, Donald and Mary Oenslager Gallery at The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts. For more information call 212.870.1630.

On Saturday, October 23, 2010, the New York Society for Ethical Culture (NYSEC) will celebrate the Centennial of its landmark building on Central Park West and 64th Street with a rededication ceremony exactly one hundred years to the day after it was first dedicated on October 23, 1910. The event will kick off with a welcome by Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer and will feature a keynote address from television and radio journalist David Brancaccio on the state of the economy, followed by the premiere of The Meeting House, a short documentary on the history of NYSEC over the last century. The film is narrated by Tony Award-winning actor, James Naughton. The rededication ceremony is free and open to the public. It will be followed by a special Benefit reception to raise money for NYSEC's Landmark Building and programs. The reception will feature remarks by Amy Goodman, Host, Democracy Now! and a performance by members of The University Glee Club; tickets are $50.

The Ethical Culture Meeting House has been landmarked by the City of New York and is on the State and National Registers of Historic Places as part of the Central Park West Historic District. In its recommendation, the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission stated that, "...the New York Society for Ethical Culture has a special character, special historical and aesthetic interest and value as part of the development, heritage and cultural characteristics of New York City. The Commission further finds that among its important qualities... is a rare, fine and irreplaceable example of Art Nouveau architecture in New York City, that it is one of the finest works of architect Robert D. Kohn... and that it is both a tangible symbol of the Society's permanent social contribution and a rich architectural element of the fabric of our City."

Child care will be available if scheduled in advance. For more information visit www.nysec.org or call 212.874.5210, x118.

New York City Opera's Fall Gala, An Evening with Christine Brewer, will be held on Thursday, October 28 and stars one of the world's most sought-after sopranos while taking advantage of the increased flexibility of the renovated David H. Koch Theater. The evening includes selections from Wagner's Tristan und Isolde, Puccini's Turandot and a selection of songs by Harold Arlen and Jerome Kern, with Ms. Brewer joined by the New York City Opera Orchestra and Music Director George Manahan. The concert, which begins at 7pm will be preceded by cocktails at 6pm, and followed by dinner and dancing on the theater's Promenade.

Season performances actually begin on Wednesday, October 27 at 8pm with a new production of Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Wadsworth's A Quiet Place by visionary director Christopher Alden. The final stage work of Leonard Bernstein makes its long-awaited New York premiere, in its first performance on any professional stage in 22 years. Intermezzo opens on Sunday, October 31 at 1:30pm. Richard Strauss's lighthearted opera creates domestic comedy out of an incident from the composer's own marriage.

For the first time, New York City Opera will present Lucky to Be Me: The Music of Leonard Bernstein on Saturday, November 6 at 8pm and on Sunday, November 7 at 1:30pm. An all-star lineup of musical theater stars will join cast members of A Quiet Place for this exciting concert that celebrates the diversity of Bernstein's work. The program includes music from the Kaddish Symphony, Mass, Songfest, Wonderful Town, 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, On the Town, West Side Story, and more.

Ticket prices range from $12 - $140 and can be purchased in person at the David H. Koch Theater Box Office (63rd St. & Columbus Ave), by calling Center Charge at 212.721.6500 or online at www.nycOpera.com.

Image: Leonard Bernstein rehearsing the original 1980's production of A Quiet Place in Houston; photo by Arthur Elgort (c).

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month and Magnolia Bakery, which has become a New York City institution and a destination for lovers of all-things sweet, has joined the fight against breast cancer and created a special "Pink Ribbon Cupcake".

For every "Pink Ribbon Cupcake" purchased throughout the month of October, Magnolia Bakery will donate 50 cents to the Greater NYC Affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure®. Drop by any location, including the Upper West Side location at Columbus Avenue and 69th Street, to join the fight and purchase the delicious Pink Ribbon cupcakes. Since 2008, Magnolia's patrons have purchased tens of thousands of pink ribbon cupcakes... How sweet is that? Help cure breast cancer!

Lincoln Center will present the first annual White Light Festival - a fall festival focused on music's transcendent capacity to illuminate our larger interior universe with a series of concerts and lectures. From October 28th through November 18th, the festival will present musicians and artists from diverse cultural traditions exploring spiritual expression in music. Eighteen performances and nine talks include the familiar and more obscure, such as the Brahms Requiem performed by the Dresden Staatskapelle and the Westminster Choir; Sutra - a martial-arts-based dance by Chinese monks; and 16th-century Dalmatian verses about the biblical Judith performed with traditional instruments by musicologist Katarina Livljanic.

The White Light Festival will also feature free weekend discussions with leading artists, authors, sociologists, and neurologists who will explore the significance of sound and its absence, and their effect on the evolution of the brain. These conversations will be moderated by John Schaefer, host of WNYC's Soundcheck, and will feature distinguished panels including Karen Armstrong, comparative religions scholar, author of the acclaimed A History of God, and special advisor to the White Light Festival.

For tickets and more information, call 212.721.6500 or visit www.lincolncenter.org.

Image: Sutra: Ali Thabet (featured, top) by Andree Lanthier

With the onset of crisp fall days it's hard to remember the stifling temperatures that enveloped the city just a few months ago. The record-setting heat and humidity taxed all of the plants in our Broadway Malls and two small parks, creating an incredibly challenging summer for our beautification program. We significantly increased our watering schedule to keep our gardens and plants healthy and alive, but sadly, in spite of this amazing effort, we did lose some plants and shrubs in our Broadway Malls. For example, almost all of the Yews in the 64th Street mall perished. We are so grateful that the mall's ongoing sponsor, Glenwood Management, stepped into the breach, offering to pay for and plant replacement shrubs.

Over 100 new shrubs, including Bar Harbor Junipers, Winter Green Boxwoods and Little Princess Spiraea, were planted on September 22nd and they look great. We applaud and thank Glenwood Management for their extraordinary display of generosity! For more information about the BID's beautification program, please click here.

The Spa at Mandarin Oriental, New York at Time Warner Center has launched its third annual Spa for a Year raffle supporting October Breast Cancer Awareness Month and Evelyn Lauder's Breast Cancer Research Foundation (BCRF). Spa for a Year "Long Life Tokens" are available for purchase throughout the month of October and with a purchase you will be entered to win the ultimate gift that keeps on giving - a spa treatment once a month for a year at The Spa at Mandarin Oriental, New York.

"Long Life Tokens" make meaningful gifts for loved ones. Each token costs $50.00, a pouch of 10 tokens can be purchased at the reduced price of $450.00 and 100% of the sales are donated to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation. "Long Life Tokens" can be purchased during the month of October at The Spa at Mandarin Oriental, New York, in Bloomingdale's Little Pink Book and at Bloomingdale's "Pink Party" on October 20th. In appreciation for supporting the fight against breast cancer, those who purchase three or more Long Life Tokens at The Spa location will receive a complimentary pink CRYSTALLIZED bracelet made of Aurora Borealis crystals as a gift of thanks from SWAROVSKI and The Spa at Mandarin Oriental, New York.

The winning token holder will receive a year's worth of Mandarin Oriental's Signature Spa Therapies treatments at The Spa at Mandarin Oriental, New York - one treatment per month, for 12 consecutive months. The Signature Spa Therapies treatment is based on Traditional Chinese Medicine principals and is adapted to the body's changing needs to maintain balance and wellness. Because of the diagnostic nature of this treatment, the Signature Spa Therapies treatment is a once a month "tune-up" for the body that may vary slightly from month-to-month depending on what the body needs at that particular time. Mandarin Oriental, New York's Spa for a Year prize is valued at over $6,000.

For more information or spa reservations, call 212.805.8880.