The 37th annual First Night Hartford celebration will ring in 2026 with fireworks, music, art installations, a health information area, a beer garden, free ice skating and more starting at 2 p.m. on New Year’s Eve in the area around Bushnell Park.
“We’re really excited,” said Jeff Devereux, event producer for First Night Hartford, a non-profit organization that also organizes the Hartford Bonanza summer festival and other events in the city. “It’s the most robust it’s been in years, though the basic structure is the same. Folks are excited about collaborating again. It has really gotten built up again since COVID. We really have endured.”
There are two fireworks events to ring in the New Year: At 6 p.m. for a more family-oriented celebration, then at the traditional 12 a.m.
Music events taking place at Soldiers & Sailors Memorial Arch on Trinity Street before the 6 p.m. fireworks include a 4 p.m. performance by the Greater Hartford Academy of the Arts’ Academy Modern Band, a 5:30 p.m. set by Natasha Ramos and The Casuals and the annual “People’s Parade” at 5:55 p.m. with music from the Hartford Hot Several and performers from the popular local autumn event Night Fall. The parade starts at the corner of Pratt and Main Streets.
In the two hours leading up to the 12 a.m. fireworks, the music events at Soldiers & Sailors Memorial Arch include a 10 p.m. concert by Indigo Folly, the winner of a Battle of the Bands event earlier this year, and an 11 p.m. set by local jazz giants The Rahsaan Langley Project.
The First Night headquarters is at Union Station from 2 to 10 p.m. on Dec. 31. This is where participants can pick up the all-access buttons that give access to all official First Night Hartford events. Buttons cost $15 for adults or $5 for children (or $16.05 for adults and $5.69 for children with the online processing fees). The buttons can be bought on the day of the events or in advance online at firstnighthartford.org.
Buttons that have been paid for in advance can also be picked up by showing proof or purchase at any of the venues where First Night Hartford events are happening.
Union Station is also hosting local vendors and a silent auction. There is also a Busker Stage, sponsored by Comma Vintage, that are mainly musical but also include jugglers, a hula hoop artist and more.
A new sound installation titled “Petrichor” will be viewable from 2 to 11 p.m. at 69 Pratt St. The work of the Hartford-based artist Mercury, its immersive artwork light and sound elements will encourage visitors to “reflect on 2025 and imagine 2026” according to a First Night Hartford.
The Magic Mural Art Wall and Countdown Clock, organized by nonprofit arts group RiseUP, will return with a colorful laser and digital art display on the outside of the Frontier Building at 111 Trumbull St. starting at 4 p.m.
Celebrants at First Night Hartford. The event has announced its schedule for Dec. 31 in Bushnell Park and other locations throughout downtown Hartford. (Brandon Barzola)
Other key First Night Hartford locations include:
- Food trucks and vendors along Trinity Street in Bushnell Park from 2 p.m. until 12 a.m.
- A CITA Park Beer Garden on Trinity Street from 5 p.m. to midnight for those age 21 and over with identification.
- Bushnell Park Carousel with free rides for free from 2 to 8 p.m.
- The Winterfest Hartford ice rink in Bushnell Park with free ice skating from 2 to 7:30 p.m.
- The lawn area next to the skating rink with a “Make Your Own Luminary” activity.
- Live jazz and Irish music at the Bushnell Park Pump House, which will also serve as a “warming cottage” offering hot tea and cocoa.
- A new Health & Wellness Hub near the mainstage area on Trinity Street with activities like a “New Year’s resolution postcard” writing area.
Family-friendly events offered for First Night Hartford button holders include:
- The America 250 Connecticut Reflection Wall and a “make your own party favors and bead drum” activities at the Hartford Public Library, 500 Main St., from 2 to 5:30 p.m.
- A “Living Legends Among Us” gallery exhibition and “make your own tambourine” workshop from 2 to 5:30 p.m. at ArtSpace Gallery, 555 Asylum Ave.
- DJ Eric Otero plus a “make your own mini puppet” activity at TheaterWorks Hartford, 233 Pearl St. from 2 to 5 p.m.
- A “Hamilton” karaoke sing plus a “make your own castanets” project at Connecticut’s Old State House, 800 Main St., from 2 to 5:45 p.m.
- Drumming for kids with Rob the Drummer at Black-Eyed Sally’s, 350 Asylum St., from 2:30 to 4 p.m.
- Ornament making and self-portrait drawing at The Wadsworth, 600 Main St., from 2 to 5 p.m.
- Storybook readings at Hartford Prints! on Pratt Street from 2 to 5 p.m.
- Improv matinee shows at 3 and 4 p.m. at Sea Tea Comedy Theater, 15 Asylum St.
- Two Heather Reichgott piano performances at 3 and 4:30 p.m. at Center Church, 60 Gold St., courtesy of Hartford Public Library’s Baby Grand Piano series.
- Magician Matt Matthews at 3 and 4:30 p.m. at Christ Church Cathedral, 45 Church St.
- The Nat Reeves Trio playing jazz at Morneault’s Stackpole Moore Tryon store at 242 Trumbull St. from 4 to 6 p.m.
- A history talk with Mike McGarry at Hartford Flavor Cocktail Parlour, 30 Arbor St.
- In the evening there are several more Sea Tea Improv shows (not so much for children this time) at 7, 8, 9 and 10 p.m., a “silent disco” (where attendees listen through headphones) called “Discoteca Biblioteca” and led by DJ Sonia Sol at the downtown Hartford Public Library; and Sally’s All Star Band jamming at Black-Eyed Sally’s.
For those over 21 years old with both an ID and First Night Hartford button, there are several special club events. ONE Bar + Kitchen at 70 Union Place is hosting live performance from Rahsaan Langley Project at 8 p.m and the K.C. Movement at 10 p.m. Sunberry Restaurant & Bar at 65 Pratt St. has karaoke from 9 p.m. to 12 a.m., and Trumbull Kitchen at 150 Trumbull St. has DJ AR spinning from 9:30 to 11:30 p.m.