First Night Festival 2013 Arts Festival / Holiday Event Dec 31, 2012 1:00 pm

The First Night Festival of the Arts is a cultural celebration held on New Year’s Eve of each year in downtown Boston. The city welcomes in the New Year by showcasing thousands of artist’s works throughout the downtown area, featured in dozens of indoor and outdoor locations, accompanied by hundreds of performances and live music shows.

The Boston tradition is the oldest first night cultural event of its kind, and was first established in 1975. Since then, it has grown to such a scale that on a given year the extravaganza can attract over a million visitors onto the Bostonian streets. Tickets for First Night Festival are available online for particularly popular concerts and events, but the majority of the night’s offerings are free, and also include family-friendly offerings like ice-sculpture displays and fireworks over Boston Harbor as the clock strikes midnight. Past performances at the First Night Festival of the Arts include Magnetic Fields, Betty La Vette, and Bonaparte.