August 3, 2019 – Full Lighting

All Full WaterFire installations light up over eighty braziers from Waterplace Park to Memorial/South Main Street Park on the below scheduled evenings. Lighting occurs shortly after sunset and the event continues until half past midnight. The University of Rhode Island’s Emergency Medical Services team will have a First Aid Station on College Street from 5:00 – 11:00 pm.

Prior to the lighting, at 6:00 pm on the Waterplace Park Basin Stage

Trinity Rep and Rhode Island Latino Arts present Teatro En El Verano. This 90-minute English/Spanish production of Much Ado about Nothing will tour to venues throughout Rhode Island, including Providence, Central Falls, Newport, Pawtucket, and Woonsocket. The production will be family-friendly and for people of all ages.

C is for Cure: A WaterFire Lighting for RI Defeats Hep C

WaterFire Providence is partnering up with RI Defeats Hep C for the 6th “C is for Cure” event. on Saturday, August 3, 2019. The C is for Cure: A WaterFire Lighting for RI Defeats Hep C event is sponsored in part by AbbVie and Amica Insurance. This lighting will also feature the Clear Currents Community Paddling Illuminated Fish Procession, a colorful nighttime arts experience. Sunset is at 8:02 pm. The fires will be lit shortly thereafter and will burn until midnight.  

Opening Ceremonies will begin with a performance of Firebird by the Festival Ballet Summer Intensive Dance Students starting at 8:00 pm. on the Basin Stage in Waterplace Park. The ballet performance will lead directly into a 100 person torch procession and the lighting of the WaterFire Braziers. Ray Joseph from AIDS Care Ocean State, Thomas Sepe MD, Jeffrey Bratberg PharmD, Kimberle Chapin MD,  and Lynn Taylor MD will lead 100 torchbearers into the basin for the lighting. The procession will recognize those living with and cured of hep C, as well as those who lost their lives to the disease, and will include physicians, scientists, public health leaders and other medical professionals who have worked to bring awareness to the hep C epidemic and who have been contributing to its elimination.

The lighting ceremony will conclude with the appearance of community paddlers in canoes and kayaks adorned with brightly colored, illuminated koi fish. This year’s Clear Currents event continues our multi-year partnership with the Narragansett Bay Commission and celebrates their work improving the water quality of the bay and its tributaries. Our community paddlers will continue to light up the rivers by paddling in schools amongst the braziers until about 10:30 pm.

Starting at 6:00 pm The Rhode Island Defeats Hep C Resource Fair, with support from the Rhode Island Department of Health, will take place on College Street Bridge. AbbVie, Gilead, Rhode Island Department of Health, American Heart Association, and New England Donor Services will be among the booths present at the resource fair. There will also be free confidential hepatitis C screening on the College Street Bridge.

Exhibitions at the RISD Illustration Studies Building Gallery

The exhibition at ISB is free!

The ISB Gallery and Michael Kolondowicz are working together to bring you the installation of the Apollo 11 anniversary exhibit that coincides with the Waterfire Apollo themed event on July 22nd. The Gallery will display incredible artwork, illustrations, and NASA photographs and other projects.

The gallery is open every WaterFire night from 4:00 to 10:00 pm.

Dates: June 19 through August 3
Hours: Tuesday through Friday 12:00 – 5:00 pm.
Address: 55 Canal Walk, Providence, RI 02903

Sidewalk Astronomy on the River Walk

Sidewalk Astronomy will offer visitors the opportunity to learn about the stars and planets in the sky. Stop by their learning lab on the riverwalk near College Street.

WaterFire Walking Tour – Before the Fires are Lit!

Take a walking tour with our knowledgeable interns and volunteers to get an inside look into the history, theory of design and management of WaterFire. Tours begin at 3:00, 4:00 and 5:00 pm; book now for August 3. For a donation of $15 registrants will walk the length of the canal with a tour guide and land at the basin just in time for lighting.

The WaterFire Arts Festival Plaza

The WaterFire Arts Festival Plaza, in partnership with Bryce Studio, is happening again on both Washington Street and Steeple Street from 6:00 – 11:30 pm., this outdoor artisan fair will showcase some of the great artwork created in Rhode Island in mediums such as glass, photography, sculpture, jewelry and more. The WaterFire Arts Festival Plaza will offer visitors the opportunity to support the local arts economy by purchasing work by Rhode Island-based artists.

Visit the WaterFire Marketplace on Canal Street and help light up Providence. Support WaterFire with a donation or a purchase of locally designed apparel, glassware, books, and gifts. Pin where you are from on Map Center’s maps and watch glass blowing by Gather Glass.

Grab a bite to eat! Visit one of our great food vendors:

Live Music at the Steeple Street Unplugged WaterFire Music Stage

The Steeple Street Unplugged Music Stage will feature the unique combination of two-fisted piano, red hot trombone, blazing guitar, rock-solid bass, powerful vocals and frenzied percussion antics that is Keith Munslow and Superchief Trio. Swing, New Orleans R&B, jump blues, boogie-woogie — it’s all in there. Performances will start at 6:30 pm. We are also pleased to the welcome Spectrum Theatre Ensemble to the Steeple Street Unplugged Stage. They will be presenting short performance pieces in between each of the Superchief Trio Set

Visit Starry, Starry Night

The Starry, Starry Night Installation will shine brightly in Memorial Park. Join thousands of WaterFire visitors in Memorial Park where the public is encouraged to add their own light to the night. For a small donation to WaterFire, make a wish upon a star or make a dedication with a luminaria candle lantern in the park. The park will be aglow with hanging blue stars and a constellation of twinkling luminaria candle lanterns below.

WaterFire’s favorite characters are back!

• At the World War I monument in Memorial Park, Ten31 Productions will return with their interactive living statues and gargoyles in Memorial Park shortly after lighting.
• On Washington Street, the living statue Lily the Lady White from A Silent Soapbox will be interacting with the crowd.
• On Steeple Street living statues from Acqua Carta will be greeting visitors as they make their way through the Arts Festival Plaza and the WaterFire Marketplace.
• Fire dancers Spogga and Sienna Moon will dazzle the crowds during several performances throughout the evening at the confluence and on the wall of braziers in Memorial Park.
• Mime artist Michael Grando will return again for this event. Be sure to catch Michael, in costume as the Commedia dell’arte character Pierrot, as he cruises the river tossing carnations to visitors along the shore.

Step back through history at the Governor Stephen Hopkins House

Make time to see The Governor Stephen Hopkins House located at 15 Hopkins Street (off Benefit Street). They are open for tours: Wednesdays from 11:00 a.m.to 2:00 p.m. and April through November on Saturdays from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. & until 7:30 p.m., when they fall on a full WaterFire lighting (the last tour begins at 7:00 p.m.).

Admission is free, but donations are gratefully accepted.

The museum is also open by appointment, for which there may be a modest admission charge. Please email [email protected] to make an appointment.