Fifth Avenue at 57th Lights Its 30-Foot Snowflake at 5 PM

The snowflake has hung over Fifth Avenue and 57th Street every holiday season since 1984, a 30-foot crystal piece made of more than 16,500 prisms and weighing about 3,300 pounds. On Wednesday, November 18, at 5 PM, 17-year-old Faith from Oklahoma helps flip the switch, and 7-year-old childhood cancer survivor Imani joins her with her family from Long Island. The ceremony runs until about 6:30 PM, free and open to the public with no tickets. St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, the Fifth Avenue Snowflake for Humanity Foundation and the Fifth Avenue Association host it. Check @stjudenyc on Instagram for the host and lineup before you go.

St. Jude lists the ceremony at the northeast corner of Fifth Avenue and 58th Street, one block north of the snowflake itself. From that corner the crystal sits ahead of you down the avenue, which makes a straight-on photo easier than standing right underneath it. When the 58th Street corner is too packed, walk south to the 57th Street side, where the snowflake hangs directly overhead. Bergdorf Goodman's Fifth Avenue windows fill the west side of the same block, an easy look on the way.

Sunset that day falls around 4:36 PM, and the sky is already dark by the 5 PM switch-on. Arriving by about 4:40 PM leaves time to settle into a spot at the corner before the program starts. The N, R and W trains stop at Fifth Avenue and 59th Street, about a block away. With the program wrapping around 6:30 PM, a 7 PM dinner nearby fits the evening. It suits anyone heading home from Midtown, families whose kids can stand through a short program, and anyone who wants the first holiday lighting on Fifth Avenue this season. Dress for standing outside in November air.