First Night Celebration Review - Boston and best of other New England towns

First Night celebration began in Boston in 1976 by a small group of artists who sought an alternative way of celebrating New Year's Eve. Soon other surrounding communities started their own First Night celebrations. First night celebration consist of many music and dance performances (typically 30-40 minutes long), parade, ice sculptures, fireworks, puppet shows, story telling, and much more. I love music, so we typically go to as many musical performances as we can: classical music, organ performances, chamber music, world music, opera, choruses. Boston downtown is pretty compact and can be covered on foot within 1 hour. We can typically fit 4 performances a night with a pleasant walk between each location. The streets are full of revelers and are festive and beautiful.

After visiting Boston's First Night for many years,we have decided to try out other New England celebration.  There are more than a dozen towns around New England that have some First Night activities.

We found that out of all of them three others offer celebration worthy of consideration:

We enjoyed Portmouth First Night.  It has a fewer events that Boston but it very quite nice,  less crowded while still very festive.  And from my previous posts you know that Portmouth is one of my favorite cities to visit to dining options (but do make reservations in advance, the best restaurants are booked up  well in advance).

Chatham First Night Celebration is spectacular this year, it has more performances than Boston's first night.  First Night Chatham offers something for everyone – a circus, musicians, local artists, theater, opera, a giant bonfire, a clamorous noise parade, the Countdown Cod Drop, and a fantastic fireworks finale!

Worcester First Night is another celebration worth mentioning.  It has a nice collection of musical performances, dance performances, and two sets of fireworks.