It's (kind of) Beginning to Look A lot like Christmas

Christmas on Market East was once the site of Rockwellian images of rosy cheeked children walking hand in hand with their parents, cold noses pressed against display windows over flowing with toys. Macy's still does a fantastic job of outfitting its display windows with classic robotic scenes of Santa's workshop and lavish winter scenes.

A Christmas display window at Macy's

The rest of Market Street doesn't fare so well. The Gallery at Market East was once host to a number of large display windows at J.C. Penny and Gimbels, now occupied by Burlington Coat Factory, Old Navy, and K-Mart. If City Council hopes to push through a bill for a better and brighter Market East, they should perhaps be encouraging the retail already occupying much of the street's potential canvas to start doing what they can.

Old Navy uses its display windows for neon signage, leaving much of the space behind the windows blank. K-Mart doesn't do a bad job with the windows they decorate, but they sit behind a number of unused windows and entrances. Burlington Coat Factory has made improvements to its entrance and consistently updates its windows, but they also sit behind unused upper windows which are constantly hidden by a security wall.

Gimbels display window in 1910

These are free or nearly free improvements that can easily be made. Instead, The Gallery's management allows its vendors to operate as if they are going out of business. The city still manages to decorate the trees and lamp posts along Market East but the shops who hope to benefit from its consumers seem unenthusiastic about the season.

Gimbels Thanksgiving Day Parade

Gimbels Department Store - 9th and Market

Philadelphia's Thanksgiving Day Parade began in 1920, when Gimbels Department Store at 9th and Market held the country's first parade to launch the Christmas Season. Macy's famous Thanksgiving Day Parade did not begin until four years later.

Gimbels Thanksgiving Parade at Market and Juniper

Gimbels, which moved across the street to The Gallery at Market East upon its completion, closed in 1986. The Thanksgiving Day Parade still continues as the 6ABC Ikea Thanksgiving Day Parade.

Gimbels Thanksgiving Parade in 1934 at Broad near Arch

Halloween Concert

While Macy's is preparing the Wanamaker Building's Christmas light show to be ready for the beginning of the ever-earlier Christmas Season, this year the Friends of the Wanamaker Organ have organized a special Halloween concert performed by Gordon Turk from the Ocean Grove Auditorium. The concert begins on Sunday, October 31st at 2:30 PM and admission is free. Jim Riggs will be performing to Lon Chaney's performance in the 1925 silent film Phantom of the Oprah at 4:30 PM. Admission to the screening is $10.