New Year’s Eve celebrations all over the world generally include rambunctious parties and much drunken revelry as people say goodbye to the departing year and welcome the New Year with much hope and a spate of New Year’s resolutions. The New Year’s Eve night parties are some of the most highly anticipated bashes of the year for which people usually buy sparkly new clothes and make all sorts of elaborate arrangements to ensure that they have the absolute best time at the grandest party of the year.
The American city of Boston also celebrates New Year’s Eve in a similar fashion but apart from its clubs and restaurants who have special parties for the night Boston also hosts a grand arts festival which is known as First Night Boston from 1pm on the 31st of December until midnight at various indoor and outdoor locations all over the city of Boston.
Origins of First Night Boston
First Night Boston has been created, conceptualized and produced by the First Night Inc which is a nonprofit organization that has been in existence since 1976. This organization conducts the New Year’s Eve celebrations in Boston by using the medium of art, creativity and ingenuity to bring together the entire community for this city wide celebration. One of the main reasons for the creation of First Night Boston is to fund the group’s First Night Neighborhood Network which is a community outreach and art education program that helps many children and families in all of Boston’s neighbor hoods each year. The First Night Inc was founded by Boston’s artistic and cultural communities and hence the celebration with its more than 250 exhibitions and events has become a showcase for the talent of Boston. The First Night festival attracts more than a million people annually and has also inspired similar events in more than 200 cities of the world.
During the First Night celebration museums, theaters, leisure and performance centers where the events are held all open their doors to attendees who gain admission to these venues by sporting the official First Night Button. This year this button which retails for $15(+$3 added for shipping and handling if you buy the button online ) on the official website of the festival as well as various locations all over Eastern Massachusetts, Southern New Hampshire and Rhode Island has been designed by local artist Rachel Maguire who is known for her whimsical and fun digital art and acrylic paintings ’.
Popular attractions of First Night Boston
FedEx Family Festival
Most New Year’s Eve celebrations exclude the participation of young children as they take place on the night of the 31st of December but not the celebrations of First Night Boston which feature a family centric festival called FedEx Family Festival as a part of its festivities. This festival which kicks off at 1pm at the Hynes Convention center features many music, face painting, dance, storytelling and puppetry events and encourages the active participation of children and families
The Metro Grand Procession featuring Metropolis the dragon
First Night Boston will also feature a ‘Mardi Gras’ like parade which will sweep through the streets of Boston. This Parade which is called the Metro Grand Procession will be sponsored as usual by the daily free newspaper Metro which is published and distributed daily in many cities all over the globe. This parade has been a staple of the First Night celebrations since its inception in 1976 and this year the parade will be divided into four sections which are differentiated by colors and led by different sections of the Back Alley Puppet Theatre and Puppeteers Cooperative who have always participated in First Night Boston.
Firework Displays
First Night Boston will feature two scintillating firework displays the first of which will be The Family Fireworks show which will light up Boston Common from 7pm to 7.12pm after the Grand Procession. The second Firework display will be held just after midnight from 12am to 12.10 am and will light up the sky over the Boston harbor.
Apart from these main events many other varied events will be held at more than forty indoor and outdoor venues all over Boston these will also include gigantic ice sculptures on landmark areas of Boston like Copley Square and the Boston Common.
First Night Boston presents a unique way to ring in 2009 especially if you are looking to involve your children in your New Year’s Eve celebrations. Also if you are indeed planning to attend this event and need accommodation in chilly Boston do check the deals being offered by downtown Boston accommodations like the Onyx Hotel and the Copley Square Hotel.
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This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 30th, 2008 at 12:01 am and is filed under North America. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
January 3rd, 2009 at 3:35 am
I like the idea behind this event. It turns the New Year celebration into something more than just mere parties and fireworks displays. This event involves entire families as well as the community, which I think is great.
January 6th, 2009 at 12:08 am
Yes Erik.. it is an all inclusive event which concentrates on providing a good time for all the family.
January 9th, 2009 at 7:46 am
I like the idea of celebrating the new year with art. I’m sure it adds a lot of flavor to the city and is a welcome change from the usual partying that happens on NYE.
January 9th, 2009 at 7:47 am
That is a great idea to celebrate the new year. After a while the going to party on new years just gets old.
January 10th, 2009 at 5:46 am
I tend to agree..New Year’s eve parties can be extremely boring its as if you are forced to have a great time though more often than not you have a better time on any other random night during the year,that’s why the First Night Boston is such a unique idea..
January 20th, 2009 at 6:42 am
That’s a new way to celebrate a New Year but sounds interesting and can be fun for whole family.
January 23rd, 2009 at 10:27 pm
Yes definitely, much better than all those festivities which solely concentrate on partying.
March 27th, 2009 at 9:56 am
Its one way of celebrating New Year with families!