What to Do in Providence on Saturday, Nov. 7 – RIPTA at 60, an 11-Mile Walk and WaterFire for Veterans

Saturday, November 7 is one of the fullest days of the fall in Providence: RIPTA throws open its headquarters for its 60th birthday, the Providence Preservation Society leads an 11-mile walk across the city, Comic Con fills the convention center, and WaterFire lights the rivers one last full time this year to honor veterans. Here’s the day, morning to night.

Morning

• Walk the PVD Crosstown Trail, 9 AM to 3 PM, $15. The Providence Preservation Society’s 11-mile urban hike starts at Neutaconkanut Hill and runs through Olneyville and the West End, past the Wedding Cake House and through Roger Williams Park, to the Fields Point windmills and the Save the Bay Center. Meet at 8:45 AM at the Vincent Igliozzi Recreation Center, 675 Plainfield Street, which has parking. Lunch is halfway, at Urban Greens on Cranston Street, and you can stop there. PPS calls it a rigorous hike: bring water and good shoes. RIPTA’s 19 serves the start and the 4 runs back to Kennedy Plaza from Fields Point, or PPS covers an Uber back to your car. Rain date November 14.
• RIPTA’s 60th anniversary open house, 10 AM to 1 PM, free, at RIPTA headquarters, 705 Elmwood Avenue. Touch a bus, take a walking tour of headquarters and a behind-the-scenes van tour, see the electric-bus charging station, and meet Rhode Island FC’s mascot, Chip. RIPTA has run the state’s buses since 1966. Registration is required (link on the listing).
• Rhode Island Comic Con, 10 AM to 7 PM at the convention center. Tickets, props and parking are in our Comic Con guide.

Afternoon

• The Great Gatsby at PPAC, 1 PM.
• monument at the RISD Museum, 2 PM: a six-part essay film on the history of Rhode Island, then a talk with the filmmakers.

Evening

• WaterFire’s 14th annual Salute to Veterans, a full lighting from sunset (4:32 PM) to 10 PM, with vendors and onshore programs from 3:30. About 150 veterans and service members carry torches into the Waterplace Park basin for the lighting ceremony. It’s the last full lighting of 2026. Tips in our WaterFire guide.
• Chris Hardwick at Comedy Connection, 7 and 9:30 PM.
• Lucy Darling at The VETS, 7:30 PM, and The Great Gatsby again at PPAC, 7:30 PM.
• A Christmas Carol previews at Trinity Rep, 7:30 PM.
• Emo Night Encore at Fête, 8 PM, $16, and World on Fire, a Stick Figure tribute, at The Met, 9 PM, $40.

Driving in from the east in the morning? I-195 is fully closed overnight in East Providence and only partly reopens at 10 AM, with all lanes back by noon. Details and detours below.

Driving in Friday night? The I-195 closure

RIDOT is closing I-195 in both directions near the Taunton Avenue exit in East Providence from 10 PM Friday, November 6, to tear down the Potter Street Bridge for the Washington Bridge rebuild. Lane closures can start after 8 PM. Some lanes reopen by 10 AM Saturday and all of them by noon. RIDOT says to avoid I-195 during the closure if you can.

• Heading east (out of Providence): take Exit 1D for Warren Avenue, turn left, follow Warren Avenue about a mile, then turn left onto the ramp back to I-195 East. Exits 1B and 1C stay open.
• Heading west (into Providence): take Exit 2 for Broadway, turn left, then right onto Warren Avenue, then right onto the temporary ramp to I-195 West.
• In East Providence: Broadway is closed between Freeborn and Warren avenues, there’s no parking on that stretch of Warren Avenue, and cross traffic on Warren Avenue is limited to Pawtucket Avenue and Waterfront Drive. That’s the block with Comedy Connection, where Chris Hardwick plays at 7 and 9:30 PM Friday.

City parking meters are enforced until 9 PM on Saturdays (parking guide).

Everything on Saturday

Sources: Providence Preservation Society; RIPTA 60 Years; RIPTA press release; WaterFire; Rhode Island Comic Con; RIDOT; ParkPVD, checked October 27, 2026.

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