The Wanamaker Light Show and Dickens Village will continue to be part of families' holiday traditions in Philadelphia this year, despite the closure of Macy's flagship location in Center City earlier this year.

Owen Timoney's been part of the Wanamaker Light Show installation for years.

"Trying to figure out if there is any piece on this, out of the thousand pieces, that I haven't literally touched," Timoney said.

There were concerns about the future of the free light show and Dickens Village after Macy's pulled out of the Wanamaker Building in March, but the Philadelphia Visitors Center, Peco, Power Pay, Wanamaker Building owner TF Cornerstone and other organizations fought to save the Delaware Valley holiday tradition.

"We began this very scrappy effort to plan and fundraise to bring these amazing traditions back," Philadelphia Visitors Center CEO Kathryn Ott Lovell said.

"The Wanamaker Light Show and Dickens Village complete Pennsylvania's story," Anne Ryan, Pennsylvania's deputy secretary of tourism, said. "They remind us that tradition isn't something we preserve in the past. It's something we fight for, invest in and keep shining for generations to come."

The light show has flickered and danced in the towering space since the 1950s, sharing the spotlight with the famous Wanamaker Grand Court organ.

"Philadelphians treasure this space, they treasure the instrument, they treasure its tradition, the light show," Grand Court organist Peter Richard Conte said. "I think they're making their voice heard."

After this year, the light show will pause for a couple of years while the building is renovated, returning in 2028. 

Saving the show? The people of Philadelphia.

The Philadelphia Visitors Center credits more than 1,000 Philadelphians for their generosity. The price tag for the show for one season is approximately $600,000. 

Organizers say 40 vendors will create a holiday market in the massive space, called Holly and Humbug.

Timoney is just relieved the show will go on.

"Everyone of us has grown up with this," Timoney said. "I'm attached to this. This is part of my body. So when you talk about made by hand, it's not made by hand. It's made by heart."

The Wanamaker Light Show returns on Black Friday. The attractions will be open daily from 12-8 p.m. from Nov. 28-30, Dec. 3-7 and Dec. 10-24. The last reservation for Dickens Village is 5:30 p.m., and the last light show is at 6:30 p.m. 

Light shows are every half hour. Everything will close at 4 p.m. on Christmas Eve.

The last show will take place on Christmas Eve at 3:30 p.m.