Fifth Avenue has gone green — 150 Fraser and noble fir trees have been added to the sidewalks, which not only look great, but are supercharged with holiday scents.

“Our trees are diffusing their holiday scent, which is a mix of pomegranate, mandarin orange, pine, vanilla. It smells amazing on Fifth Avenue,” Marie Boster, president of the Fifth Avenue Association, said.

What You Need To Know

  • Fifth Avenue in Midtown Manhattan between 48th and 59th streets will be open to pedestrians only on Dec. 3, 10 and 17 between noon and 6 p.m.

  • The Fifth Avenue Association is programming the holiday streets with entertainment and other activities in partnership with businesses

  • There will be 18 performances each Open Streets day, with over 200 musicians taking part

  • The association has added 150 Fraser and noble fir trees along the avenue, with diffusers releasing a holiday scent

It’s the work of the association, the Business Improvement District for the area, with help from fragrance brand Nest New York. It’s all about accenting the famous holiday windows and displays on Fifth Avenue.

“We could just leave the sidewalks and the windows as they are, but we wanted to give the sidewalks some extra greenery, some extra holiday spirit,” Boster said.

For the first three Sundays of December, it will be easier for visitors to take in all of it. For the second year, the city is implementing Open Streets on 5th Avenue from 48th to 59th Streets, closing it off to cars from noon until 6 p.m. That’s two blocks more than last year. Fifth Avenue Association has coordinated a number of activities to take advantage of it.

“We are going to have performances, 18 performances a day, we have over 200 musicians coming to 5th Avenue on Sunday to perform and delight the people walking in the streets,” Boster said.  

There will be giveaways from stores on the stretch, and food too. That includes a pop-up of Schrafft’s, the famed restaurant. Remember Audrey Hepburn enjoying a Danish and coffee from Schrafft’s in the opening scene of Breakfast at Tiffany’s. The brand is making a comeback led by James Byrne, a godson of one of the founding families of Schrafft’s.

“We’ve actually got a pretty solid selection, obviously the Danish that Audrey Hepburn ate, the coffee that she drank, but we have also added some other specialties like our chicken salad sandwich and our egg salad sandwich to the mix,” Byrne said.  

For a schedule of everything happening on Fifth Avenue for Holiday Open Streets Sundays, head to the Fifth Avenue Association's website.