At 5:15 on Sunday, December 6, the Recreation Department will light the bonfire at the Law Park Pavilion, 1031 Pleasantville Road, and Briarcliff Manor's Community Bonfire & Holiday Sing-a-long will reach its 30th edition. Before the fire, the village calendar has winter crafts and live music from 4:00, followed by a sing-along that brings in the whole village. Treats and warm drinks are provided.
Thirty years is long enough for a tradition to be rebuilt piece by piece. Over that time, nearly everything about the bonfire has been swapped out at least once: who co-sponsors it, who leads the singing, which songs are on the list, and when it starts. The fire has stayed, and so has the park.
Three versions of the same Sunday
In November 2017, Patch reported that the Village and the Briarcliff Friends of the Arts were co-sponsoring the bonfire. It started at 5 p.m. in the Pavilion, and the program included vocal performances by the Lubin Carolers, sing-along songs, children's crafts, refreshments and "the traditional bonfire." A year later, the River Journal previewed the same lineup: Lubin Carolers, sing-along, crafts, refreshments, bonfire.
By the 27th edition in 2023, the village flyer told a different story.
| 2017 | 2023 | 2026 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Co-sponsor with the Village | Briarcliff Friends of the Arts | Recreation Advisory Committee | Listed by the Recreation Department |
| Featured performers | Lubin Carolers | Mike Risko Band | Mike Risko Band |
| Start time | 5:00 p.m. | 4:30 p.m. | 4:00 p.m. |
| Day | Sunday | Saturday, December 9 | Sunday, December 6 |
The songbook grew too. The 2023 flyer invited everyone to sing "Seasonal Standards, Christmas Carols & Chanukah Songs" and billed the evening as "a warm & inviting Celebration of Peace, Community Fellowship & the Winter Holiday Season." It also printed a line that works as the event's motto:
"The best way to spread holiday cheer, is singing loud for all to hear!"
The clock keeps moving earlier
The start time has crept back year by year. It began at 5:00 in 2017 and 4:30 in 2023. The 29th edition, on December 7, 2025, ran from 4:00 to 6:00 at the Law Park Pavilion, according to the Mike Risko Music School's event listing. This year also starts at 4:00.
Moving the start earlier changed the order of the afternoon as well. In 2023, the band played from 4:30 to 5:15 and the sing-along ran from 5:15 to 5:45. The 2026 schedule shifts the music and the singing a full half hour earlier and gives the bonfire its own slot at 5:15, so the fire is now the last thing on the program. Families with young children can make crafts while the band plays, sing for half an hour, and see the fire lit before 5:30.
The band has local roots. The Mike Risko Band calls itself a Westchester County rock-and-pop cover band, formed in 2004 by guitarist Mike Risko and singer Miriam Risko, who had been performing together since 1997. The music school connected to the band is based in Ossining and has been running since 1995. Through all the changes in co-sponsors and performers, the event has stayed with neighbors from nearby.
The part that hasn't moved
All three versions took place at Law Park, which is older than the tradition by most of a century.
A Briarcliff Manor-Scarborough Historical Society walking guide says Walter Law gave the land to the village. The park was first called Liberty Park and is now Law Memorial Park, and the Olmsted brothers, sons of Frederick Law Olmsted, are thought to have designed it. The Society's timeline records Liberty Park's dedication at the corner of Pleasantville Road and its later renaming for Law. The stone walls around the edges look like farm walls left from the days when the village was called Whitson's Corners.
The park has also come back from a fire before. The same Society guide says the first pool was built in 1927 for $8,641, paid for with insurance money after the Community Center burned down. It was one of Westchester's first municipal swimming pools. The pool and the pond shared a wall. After heavy rain, pond water sometimes spilled over, and swimmers found themselves in the water with frogs, fish and turtles.
Today the park has paved trails, tennis courts, a kiddie pool, a concession stand, the pavilion and a 116-by-75-foot pool. The pond is still there. Fishing and swimming in it aren't allowed, but it makes a good backdrop for family photos. On December 6, that same pond will sit just beyond the crowd at the pavilion.
Planning for December 6
Here's the 2026 run of show from the Recreation Department calendar:
- 4:00 to 4:45 p.m. Winter crafts and live music from the Mike Risko Band
- 4:45 to 5:15 p.m. Sing-along for the whole village
- 5:15 p.m. The bonfire is lit
Treats and warm drinks are included. The event is at the Pavilion, 1031 Pleasantville Road.
For parking, the most recent printed guidance is the 2023 flyer. It asked people to park only in designated spaces: the lots around the Atria housing complex, along Van Lu Van Road, or at the Briarcliff Library, with a few spaces possibly open at the Congregational Church lot. It also asked everyone to take extreme care crossing Pleasantville Road. That flyer set a snow date for the next day in case of a snow or ice storm. If the forecast looks bad that weekend, check this year's parking and weather plans with the Recreation Office.
The library lot's other calendar
The Briarcliff Manor Public Library, whose lot doubles as bonfire parking, has a full schedule over the next few weeks.
- Saturday, November 14, 2:30 to 4:30 p.m. A screening of the documentary No Country for Mothers, followed by a discussion, listed in the village newsletter posted October 30.
- November 18, 19 and 21. The library calendar has a story-and-craft program themed to the Thanksgiving parade, a screening of Rocky, and Thanksgiving food-and-drink trivia.
- December 8, 7:30 to 9:00 p.m. A Westchester Great Books discussion.
- December 14, 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. Chess for Kids, open to Briarcliff residents in grades 2 through 6. Registration is required.
The next big date on Law Park's calendar is December 6, when the fire is lit at 5:15.
Whether this is your first Briarcliff December or your thirtieth, Tara Siegel is glad to talk about the village traditions that make its calendar what it is, from Law Park on Pleasantville Road outward. Schedule your Westchester consultation, and we'll compare notes over something warm.
