The Town of Ipswich, Massachusetts, proudly presented the October & November, 2025 Ipswich Illumination. This year we celebrated harvest, hearth, & home, and our maritime history, heritage & culture.
Ipswich Illumination features a collection of interactive art installations, live music, poetry, projection, bonfires, and more along the Ipswich River. Each evening, Bonfires will blaze on the Ipswich River, which runs through the heart of our downtown & community. Enjoy installations and performances on the first weekend at the Ipswich Riverwalk Mural, and on the second weekend at the Town Wharf. Special thanks to all of our musician friends, content creators, performers, the bonfire tenders, and the Town & people of Ipswich, Massachusetts.
October 17 & 18: Downtown with bonfires on the River “Celebrating Harvest, Hearth, & Home“
Friday, Oct 17th ~ 5:30 – 9:30 (4 hours)
Location: Downtown Ipswich at the Take Out Terrace Truss & Stage, with bonfires on the river!
Parking: Residents are encouraged to arrive on foot, by bike, kayak, or canoe. Parking is available at the town’s public parking lots on Hammatt Street, Elm Street, and the MBTA Lot.
5:30 – 6:00 pm: Play Is The Way will host lantern-making. The Community Band will begin at 5:30 pm at the Downtown Tuesday Stage area at the Riverwalk Extension.
6:00 pm: Sunset at the footbridge, heralded by the IHS Theater Company with excerpts from Godspell and Beautiful City.
6:05 pm: Archers Carlos, Kara & Junko fire blazing arrows toward Heaven. The Illumination bonfires are lit on the Ipswich River.
6:15 – 7:30 pm: Music by Hayley Reardon
7:30 – 9:15 pm: Clements Brothers (There will be about a 15 Minute overlap when the three sing together ). Listen
Saturday, October 18th ~ Downtown Ipswich
11:00 am to 2:00 pm: The Ipswich Fire Department will hold an Open House/Fire Safety Day. IFD, 55 Central Street, Ipswich. Fire Safety Smoke House; Car Seat Installations; Apparatus and Equipment on Display; Car Extrication Demonstration; Lots of Fire Safety Information! Please come join us for this awesome community event!
3:30 – 5:30 pm: The Three Sisters Garden Project will hold an Open House at its new distribution location on Washington Street. Pumpkin painting, local food and beer, music, and fun! Warm harvest soups for a cup of nourishment and other goodies.
4:15 – 5:15 pm: Drum Workshop with Rick Bausman. Warm up & Lesson for Illumination archers heralding the lighting of the bonfires.
5:15 – 5:45 pm: Circles, Lines, & Squares, Family-friendly folk dance sampler. Ana will call a mix of contras, squares, and circles at the Take Out Terrace Truss.
5:57 pm: Illumination Archers at the Pedestrian Bridge
5:50 pm: Herald by Rick Bausman, & Workshop Roll
6:00 – 6:45 pm: Egrets Only & Friends. Egrets Only will play from their new album, Dance With Lita, a collection of songs set in the west that tell a cowboy story from the perspective of Lita, a woman left behind, who makes her own journey to strength, self-reliance, and peace. Written and produced by Brian Hone and Pierce Woodward, the album tells Lita’s story in eight tracks, blending folk and contemporary music. At the heart of the recording are performances by vocalist Wangari Fahari, and trombonist Garth Retallack. They are joined by Egrets members Cal Joss (pedal steel), Burke Sampson (guitar), and Mark Casella (drums).
7:00 – 8:00 pm: Wangari Fahari Trio
8:00 -9:30 pm: Tam Tam Majik Steel Pan SlipTime with Rick Bausman, West African steel pan drumming.
Sunday, October 19
“The Revolution Continues” at the Ipswich Museum
2:00 – 5:00 pm (3 hours): Play Is The Way will feature Revolutionary-era children’s play at the Ipswich Museum’s Whipple House, including a historic stick and hoop toy.
Town Historian Gordon Harris will be the Master of Ceremonies for four vignettes:
2:00 – 2:30 pm: Encore presentation of “Within These Walls” on the Heard House, Ipswich Museum grounds. For 200 years, a Georgian-style, timber-framed house stood at the corner of Elm and County Streets in Ipswich. Today, the house is the centerpiece of “Within These Walls” at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History. Written by J.T. Turner. Directed by James T. Turner
2:30 pm: John Whipple and Rev. John Wise, “Birthplace of American Independence” at the Whipple House. Cast: Rick Spalding, Peter Bubriski. Narrated by Gordon Harris
2:45 pm -3:00 pm: “Jenny Slew, I am here”. Written by and acted by Wangari Fahari at the Whipple House.
3pm – 3:30 pm: The Revolutionary War letters of Joseph and Sarah Hodgkins on the Whipple House grounds, performed and read by Morgan Crooks and Tracy Hendrickson. Narrated by David O’Brien.
3:30 -5:00 pm: Music with Hilltown Ham Hocks. Fiddle, banjo, and guitar featuring Hanna French, in the Butterfly Meadow, backyard of the Whipple House.
4:00 pm: The story of Alexander Knight at the Alexander Knight House, with Alan Minoin, Town Planner.
Join the Rebel Kazoo Band and hum Revolutionary tunes. Free kazoos are provided for all who wish to join. Simply show up and be ready to hum.
The annual Ipswich Cultural Council Art Show and Sale will be held the weekend of October 17-19 at Ipswich Town Hall.
Friday, October 17: The Art Show and reception is from 5:00-9:00 pm, with music by Tom Palance & Friends
Saturday, October 18: Noon to 5:00 pm with live music
Sunday, October 19: Noon to 4:00 pm with live music.
Second Weekend, November 1 & 2 “Celebrating Our Maritime History Heritage & Culture”
Saturday, November 1, at the Town Wharf, 2:30 – 9:00 pm.
Park at the Elm St. parking lot or on County St., and walk on Water St. to the Town Wharf.
Harold Burnham, who has been designated a National Treasure by the National Foundation for the Arts, will captain the pinky schooner Isabella, arriving at the town wharf. The ship Lewis H Story, belonging to the Essex Ship Building Museum, will be captained by Ipswich’s own Cyrus Ebinger.
KD Montgomery, executive director of the Essex Shipbuilding Museum will provide a shipbuilding workshop.
12:00 pm: Participants in the Labor In Vain Challenge will put in at noon at Pavilion Beach. Registration is free and encouraged, but others will be enthusiastically tolerated. Costumes are encouraged! You will be paddling against the outgoing tide. Life jackets are required. Aim to arrive at the Ipswich Town Wharf by 2pm for a Hero’s Welcome and music by The Labor In Vain Band. Special Thanks to IPD Lieutenant Johnathan Hubbard. Download the Registration Form.
2:00 pm: Play Is The Way: Maritime craft and pirate maps.
2:30 -4:00 pm: The Labor In Vain Band will play at the main stage at the Town Wharf
4:00-4:45 pm: The Portermen: Sea Chanties at the Lighthouse
5:30 – 7:30 pm: Ipswich River Watershed with Carla Villa
4:45 – 5:30 pm: Daisy Nell & Captain Stan and the Crabgrass Band in front of the Lighthouse replica at the Ipswich Town Wharf
5:38 pm: OM Drum herald. Archers Carlos, Kara & Junko fire blazing arrows toward Heaven. The Illumination bonfires are lit on the Ipswich River.
5:40 – 8:00 pm: Music by Bottles & Cans
6:45 – 7:00 pm: LightHouse Story Moment: The Ghost Story of Harry Maine, told by Kerry Zagorella.
Sunday, November 2nd ~ Closing Ceremonies
9:00 – 10:15 am: Bonfire at Pavilion Beach with OM Drum herald, Circle, Color Blast, and Ocean Plunge.
Let’s Sauna is a mobile wood fire barrel sauna that frequents Pavilion Beach, and will be free during the Ipswich Illumination closing ceremonies.
Historic Ipswich 
Thanks to Kerrie Bates for all the hard work she does putting together the annual Illumination.
Planning on coming to the November 1 event. A couple questions:
1. Where can we park if the Town Wharf lot is full?
2. Where is the best place to see the archers and bonfire boats?
Thanks!
The archers will be shooting from the Pedestrian Bridge by the dam on the first weekend.
The second weekend will be at the wharf. If there is any parking there, it will be limited. You can park at the Town Hall on Green St. If that is full, there is also the Elm Street parking lot, and walk on Water St. to the Town Wharf.