New Year's Eve in Maine

Since Portland abandoned its citywide New Year's Eve observance last year, events in Maine that celebrate the New Year tend to be small, decentralized and sometimes offbeat. Last December, the City of Portland, decided to cancel its First Night event because of the lack of support from the business community, who had always footed the bill. Now it seems that there was more to the story than simply the lack of support from the private sector. Some cited the city's attempt to create a daytime family-oriented event out of the popular, night-time, drinking holiday, as one of the reasons for the demise of First Night Portland.

Once the event was officially discontinued, online comments came streaming into various local websites, most of which showed little regret that the event had been discontinued. 'Apparently nothing ruins a good time for some people faster than the phrase "family-oriented",', wrote Shannon Bryan in a Maine Today article discussing the matter.

However, what was Portland's lost, became Bangor's gain. This small city, situated not too far from the Acadia National Park, began a New Year's Eve event in 2004 that has rapidly caught on and is still expanding. It is called Downtown Countdown and for the main attraction there is a beach ball covered with Christmas Tree lights that is tossed from the top of a Main Street building to the crowd below.

The evening also features live indoor concerts, family dances and musical performances. The participatory dancing is especially popular with both contra dancing and swing dancing being available to those party-goers, who wish to be more than just sightseers. The demise of the Portland First Night Celebration seems to have boosted this public celebration in Bangor.