The 2025 Ipswich Illumination features two weekends of revelry! View the entire schedule
October 17 – 19, Downtown Ipswich: Harvest, Hearth & Home
The 39th Ipswich Cultural Council’s Annual Art Show and Sale will be held in the gymnasium at Ipswich Town Hall. Enjoy music and more beside the River in the heart of Ipswich’s Downtown. Archers will set floating bonfires on fire with flaming arrows every evening from the footbridge at precisely the moment when the light of day and the dark of night are in perfect balance
Friday, October 17, 5:30 – 9:30 pm, Downtown Ipswich at the Take Out Terrace Truss & Stage, with bonfires on the river! Music by the Ipswich Community Band, IHS Theater Company, Hayley Reardon, and Clements Brothers. View the location.
Saturday, October 18, Ipswich Fire Department Open House, Three Sisters Garden Project Open House. The Take Out Terrace at the Downtown Riverwalk will feature a drum workshop with Rick Bousman; Dancing with Circles, Lines, & Squares with Ana and Alex calling out a mix of contras, squares, and circles, featuring live Appalachian music from Egrets Only. View the location.
Sunday, October 19, 2-5pm, the Revolution Continues at the Ipswich Museum on South Main Street, in Celebration of the 250th Anniversary of the American Revolution. A series of short vignettes will bring to life neighbors and friends from whom we are separated only by time. View the location.
November 1 & 2: Maritime History, Heritage & Culture, Downriver at the Town Wharf
Saturday, November 1: Take the Labor In Vain Challenge: put in your self-propelled watercraft at Pavilion Beach starting at noon and row against the outgoing tide, welcomed at Town Wharf by theLabor In Vain Band.
Captains Burnham & Ebinger will sail the Isabella and the Lewis H. Story up the Ipswich River, and the Essex Shipbuilding Museum will be on hand, offering Old World hands-on woodworking demonstrations and engagement. Play Is The Way will feature maritime craft.
At 5:38 pm, Illumination archers will send flaming arrows sailing toward heaven. Enjoy an evening of music and merriment around the Ipswich lighthouse replica with the Labor In Vain Band, sea chanties by the Portermen, and the Bottles & Cans band.
Sunday morning, November 2 (9am to 10:15) at Pavilion Beach: Ipswich Illumination 2025 Closing Ceremonies with a blazing bonfire, OmDrum Circle, Color Blast, and the Ocean Plunge!
View the entire schedule.
The Ipswich Community House 