Family-Oriented New Year's Eve Celebrations in Hartford

The biggest and most popular Hartford New Year's Eve celebration is the First Night event. First Night is run by the city of Hartford to celebrate New Year's Eve in a fun safe family atmosphere. This is an alcohol free New Year's Eve celebration. Yes you read that right no alcohol involved. This Hartford New Year's Eve celebration has been a great success and is heading into its seventeenth year. It consists of tons of activities and entertainment that those of all ages can enjoy including two fireworks displays.

Beginning on December 28th with the 48 Hours of Art event Hartford's First Night New Year's Eve Celebrations occur in seventeen different downtown Hartford venues. On New Year's Eve the celebrations get going at 2pm. Many of the earlier Hartford New Year's Eve events are geared towards children.

A few of the excellent family orientated New Year's Eve events are Hat and Mask Making at the Wadsworth Atheneum, Carousel Rides in Bushnell Park, Story Telling by Diane Postoian at 2pm and 2:45pm, the Kidfest with its clowns, jugglers, face painting and magicians in the Hartford City Hall Atrium and Cartoon lessons given by experienced cartoonist in by Bill Dougal. Though these events are suitable for children some of them such as the Cartoon lessons and Mask Making are also appealing for adults. Families with younger children are catered for with the Family Fireworks display, which is held at 6pm in Bushnell Park. This is the first of Hartford's two New Year's Eve fireworks displays.

All of the New Year's Eve celebrations in Hartford revolve around enjoying and promoting the arts. There is live music, dancer performances, crafts and theatre. Here are some of the most popular First Night events:

48 Hours of Art: This is the first of Hartford's New Year's Eve celebrations. It begins on December 28th and is held in a retail space located at 942 Main Street. In this spots six local artists will work together to transform a blank retail space into a beautiful work of art all during the last 48 hours of the year. You can watch the transformation live as it happens.