Kevin C Downs forThe New York Post
Fifth Avenue’s famed shopping stretch doesn’t look a day over two centuries.
The iconic luxury Manhattan retail strip between 48th to 55th streets celebrated its 200-year anniversary Sunday with a major birthday bash that closed down the street – allowing New Yorkers and tourists alike to spill into the roadway and bask in Yuletide cheer.
“Fifth Avenue is the most historic street we have in our city: We have more landmarks on Fifth Avenue than anywhere else in the United States,” interim Fifth Avenue Association President Madelyn Wils crowed to The Post.
“St. Thomas Church, St. Pat[rick’s Cathedral], Saks [Fifth Avenue], the University Club … for the first time, people get to look up and they don’t have to worry about being hit by a bus,” she added of Sunday’s festivities, dubbed “You’ve Arrived on Fifth: 200 Years of Icons and Dreams,” which shut down streets from noon to 6 p.m.
The pedestrian haven created by the celebration Sunday could become more every day under the Future of Fifth proposal, a planned “complete redesign” of the streetscape announced in October. It aims to transform the boulevard into a pedestrian-centered strip – complete with widened sidewalks, shortened crosswalks and reduced traffic lanes.
“When I joined the [Fifth Avenue] Association in 2022, I spoke with other property owners and stores, and there was this anxiety about how crowded the avenue had gotten, how many more buses there were, how the fact that people weren’t crossing east to west … and stores weren’t getting traffic,” Wils said.
“The idea is that pedestrians are the No. 1 mode of transportation” along the strip, she said. “They have to be a priority. … It’s very clear that we need to address that.”
The milestone birthday celebration offered thousands of attendees a red-carpet arrival, cake-cutting ceremony and various art installations from ice sculptures to custom “fashion sketch” portraits to free coffee, apple cider and hot cocoa.
“We were just looking for something to do together as a family,” said 27-year-old Angie Aguilar, who brought her two young nieces, Lea and Carmen, to the event from Coney Island in Brooklyn.
“We heard there was going to be a choir and a lot of food vendors,” said Aguilar, who is studying pediatrics, to The Post. “We were dancing with Santa to ‘Feliz Navidad.’ It’s perfect.”
Richard and Sarah Simpson of Princeton, NJ, hopped on NJ Transit on Sunday morning to enjoy the infectious holiday cheer of the shopping district.
“It’s about cheer and peace – it’s such a troubled time that we’re in right now, and this is a chance, at least for a while, to get that,” Richard said.
“I’ve marched in St. Patrick’s Day parades here for a long time, so it’s amazing to see it in a different use and still bringing New York together in a unique way,” he added of the strip. “Make this annual.”
The soiree – which also featured the likes of the Juilliard Jazz Duke Ellington Ensemble, Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church Community Choir and Sing Harlem – culminated in a cake-cutting ceremony fronted by Mayor Eric Adams, though nearly 50-degree temperatures melted and toppled the cake before Hizzoner arrived at 3 p.m.
Adams called the street closure a “vision of what we need to do on Fifth Avenue.
“Our sidewalks just can’t keep pace with the number of people who are walking up and down,” he said. “This investment will ensure [Fifth Avenue] continues.”
The street’s $350 million planned redesign, which is expected to “pay for itself within five years,” according to Adams, is slated to be completed by 2028.
“Any store, any building on Fifth Avenue, they’re completely excited [about it],” Wils said. “These are worldwide retailers, they see what’s happening [with retail] all over the world, and New York needs to be on top of it.”