The Ferris wheel is being installed at City Hall for the annual Philly Holiday 2025 festival.
(http://www.phillyholidays.com/) and Christmas Village.
Photo by Tu Huynh
FunTimes Magazine: ‘Culture & Entertainment’ events’ column, week of November 24, 2025.
“Struggle is a never-ending process. Freedom is never really won, you earn it and win it in every generation.”
— Coretta Scott King, American activist & wife of civil rights champion Martin Luther King, Jr.
Thanksgiving is here. Christmas, Kwanzaa, and other long-awaited winter holidays are just around the corner. From costume exhibits of famous Afrofuturism Hollywood movies to striking up the band at the nation’s oldest Thanksgiving Day Parade, jump into the joy of the holiday season with these entertaining and enlightening events and programs.
The Thanksgiving Day Parade is bigger than life.
Photo by J Fusco courtesy of Visit Philadelphia.
Get Ready For The Parade…
Thursday, November 27, 2025. The 6abc Dunkin’ Thanksgiving Day Parade, the United States’ longest-running Thanksgiving Day parade, takes center stage in Center City. The annual three-hour parade is 106 years old. Feast your eyes on fancy floats, giant inflatable balloon characters, Mr. and Mrs. Claus, Mickey and Minnie Mouse, Check out performances by Grammy-nominated Jordan Sparks, PHILADANCO!, The Philadelphia Orchestra, and Ensemble Arts Philly Broadway series shows including Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, Back to the Future: The Musical, Suffs, The Sound of Music, and The Notebook. The DeLorean from Back to the Future: The Musical! will make an appearance. You can also watch the festivities on Hulu and ABCNewsLive. Free, 9 a.m. EST. Starts at 20th Street & John F. Kennedy Boulevard and ends at the steps of the Philadelphia Art Museum, 25th Street and Eakins Oval. https://6abc.com/feature/6abc-dunkin-thanksgiving-day-parade-returns-for-105th-year/15349996/
Carter’s Career Happened By Design
Through Sunday, September 6, 2026. Be impressed with the 80 costumes and artifacts featured in the African American Museum in Philadelphia’s exhibit, “Ruth E. Carter: Afrofuturism in Costume Design.” Get lost in the award-winning designer’s wide array of famous film and TV costumes, sketches, and information about her design process that inspired the making of her Afro-futuristic costuming. See up close hand-drawn images of legendary film characters from The Sinners, Malcolm X, Lee Daniels’ The Butler, Coming 2 America, Black Panther, and its sequel, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. Carter won Oscars for costume design in 2019 and 2023. This touring exhibition focuses on ‘the story of Ruth E. Carter’s journey as an artist and storyteller.” It is part of the museum’s 50th birthday celebration and commemorates America’s Semiquincentennial. Individual tickets: $20, $10 for kids under age 11, students, and seniors; Wednesdays to Sundays, 10 a.m. EST to 5 p.m. African American Museum in Philadelphia, 701 Arch St. 215-574-0380 or www.aampmuseum.org
Dishing Out Compassion
Mighty Writers is reaching out to the community to distribute more than 1,000 turkeys to families in the Philadelphia and New Jersey areas in the youth literacy nonprofit’s annual Thanksgiving Turkey Giveaway. A $65 donation will feed three families on Thanksgiving. To donate: https://donorbox.org/easy-donation-form
Photo courtesy of Ashley Smith, Wide Eyed Studios
Dr. King’s Final Night
Through Sunday, December 21, 2025. The production of The Mountaintop chronicles the night before Martin Luther King, Jr.’s fateful assassination. The recreated scene occurs at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, TN after delivering his “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop” speech on April 3, 1968. In the motel room, Dr. King gets a visit from a mysterious housekeeper who sparks a conversation in which the civil rights champion is revealed as a complex man struggling with doubt and the honest burden of his duty and destiny. Dr. King’s final night is an insightful look inside the mind of a martyr of a movement that changed race relations forever. Directed by Brett Ashley Robinson, Akeem Davis plays Dr. King, interpreting Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Katori Hall’s vision. Individual tickets: $55 to $70 ($5 discounts for seniors 62+, educators, students, & military). Arden Theatre Company, 215-922-1122 or boxofficer@ardentheatre.org
Santa at the Woodmere Art Museum on ‘Small Business Saturday.’
Saturday, November 29, 2025. Philadelphia’s Chestnut Hill neighborhood always comes alive with the magic of the holidays. And this year, it will not disappoint. Take your sleigh down to Shop Small Business Saturday and make a dent in your holiday shopping. Enjoy the music of a brass quartet, carolers, and an outdoor model train display at Morris Arboretum. The kids can get a photo with Santa and free refreshments at local businesses. Free, 9 a.m. EST to 5 p.m. EST. 215-247-6696 or https://chestnuthillpa.com/events/holidays-2025/ or Small Business Saturday
Writer Looks At The Impact Of ‘Black Genius’
Thursday, December 4, 2025. The Free Library of Philadelphia’s Author Events Series will present Tre Johnson in conversation with Reckon True Stories: Podcast with hosts Kiese Laymon and Deesha Philyaw. Reckon True Stories is a collection of new and classic nonfiction including inspiring essays, journalism, and memoirs. Join hosts and authors Deesha Philyaw (The Secret Lives of Church Ladies) and Kiese Laymon (Heavy, How to Slowly Kill Yourself and Others in America, Long Division) for an engaging discussion about impactful stories. Black Genius is cultural critic Tre Johnson’s essay collection that digs deep into how American Black culture is the innovative “lifeblood of American ingenuity.” Johnson will tell first-hand accounts of his experiences and explore Black mobility in communities and schools. Johnson, a national freelance journalist, lives in Philadelphia and writes about race, culture, and politics. The event will be taped as part of the Reckon True Stories podcast. Free, 7 p.m. EST. The authors’ books will be available to get signed and to buy. Parkway Central Library, 1901 Vine St. 215-567-4341 or https://libwww.freelibrary.org/calendar/event/159215
Looking For A Few Good Journalism Students & Mentors
Through Monday, December 1, 2025. The National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) has written the book (and newspaper) on mentoring. One of their annual efforts focuses on recruiting students and mentors for the 2026 Acel Moore High School Journalism Workshop honoring the late award-winning columnist-editor Acel Moore. High school students will spend four days in February learning from the pros about reporting, writing, and photojournalism. The communications trade association is also seeking communication professionals to help guide the students. Moore, one of the first African-American journalists hired at The Philadelphia Inquirer, won a Pulitzer Prize in 1977. He started the workshop in 1984. He died in 2016, but his legacy has endured. The deadline for student applications is Monday, December 1, 2025: Acel Moore Workshop. Interested mentors can contact: nabjphilly@gmail.com
