Watch the Tree Come Alive in the DUMBO Archway
At 5:30pm on Thursday, December 3, 2026, the countdown ends and the DUMBO Archway Plaza fills with light. The tree itself is new for 2026, hung with ornaments depicting DUMBO icons designed by Katie Wendt of Augenblick Studios. Arrive between 4 and 7pm for the full evening: local middle and elementary school students perform holiday covers, neighborhood restaurants hand out treats, and a Santa photobooth keeps the line moving. The plaza sits under the Manhattan Bridge, and the same night, holiday-themed projections created with Augenblick Studios play across the BQE, the bridge, and building facades around the neighborhood. It is the one evening when the whole district gathers in a single spot.
Skate Beneath the Brooklyn Bridge, Then Shop the Archway
The Roebling Rink opens daily from November 14 at Emily Warren Roebling Plaza, an outdoor ice rink directly beneath the Brooklyn Bridge with the Manhattan skyline as your backdrop. Tickets start at $10. Pair a skate session with the Brooklyn Flea Holiday Market in the DUMBO Archway and Plaza: more than 40 vendors selling gifts, vintage, and jewelry, plus mulled wine, performances, and decorations, running Saturdays and Sundays from November 14 through December 20, 10am to 5pm. For a second market, the FAD Market fills the Empire Stores Lobby daily from November 30 to December 20, 11am to 6pm, with NYC-based makers. Throughout December, sidewalk trees across the neighborhood are wrapped in holiday lights, so the walk between all three is part of the occasion.
Fill a December Calendar: Bar Crawls, Open Studios, and Santa's Mailbox
- Holiday Bar Crawl — Wednesday, December 2, from 5pm until late. Wear an ugly sweater and work through specials at 14 DUMBO spots: $12 cocktails, $9 wine and mocktails, $6 beers.
- Dumbo Shop the Studios — Saturday, December 5, 12–6pm. More than 80 artists open their studios to the public; pick up a map at the Brooklyn Flea in the Archway. DUMBO holds 60-plus indie shops and 80-plus artist studios, and a Dumbo Gift Guide is published for the season.
- Santa's mailbox — Thanksgiving through Christmas Eve. Set beside the Holiday Tree in Archway Plaza and decorated by Creatively Wild Art Studio, it accepts letters all season; letter writers may receive $100 Dumbo Dollars.
- Give back while you celebrate. A toy drive for the 84th Precinct's Operation Sleigh Ride collects unwrapped toys for ages 0–14, and a food drive gathers packaged non-perishables for the Vinegar Hill Pantry. Drop-offs are at the Tree Lighting on December 3 and in the Empire Stores lobby from November 25 to December 20.
Take Home a Vermont Tree and a Mulled Wine
Throughout December, the courtyard at Westville (81 Washington St) sells Vermont-grown organic holiday trees, wreaths, and maple syrup — the practical stop if you want your own tree before or after the lighting. For eating and drinking, build the day around the markets: mulled wine at the Brooklyn Flea in the Archway on weekend afternoons, treats from neighborhood restaurants at the Tree Lighting on December 3, and the fixed crawl specials across 14 DUMBO bars on the evening of December 2. Between the rink, the two markets, and the projections after dark, a December weekend here fills itself.
Know Before You Go
DUMBO is a neighborhood in Brooklyn, not Queens — set your directions accordingly and you'll be at the Archway Plaza, the rink, and Empire Stores within a short walk of one another. The fixed dates for 2026 are December 2 (bar crawl), December 3 (Tree Lighting, 4–7pm, tree lit at 5:30pm), and December 5 (Shop the Studios); the markets and rink run on their own schedules from mid-November through December 20. Book rink tickets ahead, layer for a December evening under the bridges, and plan your drop-offs for the toy and food drives around the Tree Lighting or an Empire Stores visit. Start with the December 3 lighting as your anchor and build the rest of the weekend around it.