Photo by Yiran Yang/Unsplash
Come Saturday night, we will ring in the New Year and say goodbye to 2022. If you’re in Boston, celebrate with fireworks, live music, ice skating, comedy shows, and other festivities. We’ve put together a list of events and activities that are happening throughout the weekend.
We wish everyone a happy and healthy 2023.
Since 1976, the First Night celebration, drawing more than 200,000 people in recent years, has been the most popular way to ring in the New Year in Boston. The live musical performances, on the main stage in Copley Square, kick off at noon Saturday, December 31, and run until after midnight. There will also be several music and dance performances in front of the Boston Public Library’s central branch in Copley Square. Don’t miss the ice sculptures, on view from noon December 31 to 12:30 am January 1 in front of Trinity Church, or a skating show on the Boston Common Frog Pond 6 to 7 pm.
The annual procession from Copley Square to the Boston Common starts just before 6 pm and includes giant puppets, a circus, and musical performances. Be sure to stick around the Common after the parade for a fireworks display at 7 pm.
As midnight approaches, Copley Square will start its official countdown to 2023, with live music until the stroke of 12, when a pyrotechnic display will light up over Boston Harbor. The best viewing sites are at Christopher Columbus Waterfront Park, Fan Pier, and Piers Park.
Boston First Night begins at 10 am on Saturday, December 31, and runs to 1 am on Sunday, January 1. The event is free to the public. Find a full schedule here.
Start the new year with a laugh as comedian and commentator Jimmy Tingle presents Humor for Humanity, a show that raises funds and awareness for local nonprofits. It features Tingle’s best hits and new material as he takes audiences from his beginnings as an aspiring comedian in Cambridge to the present day. Part of the proceeds from this performance go to First Church Homeless Ministries.
Jimmy Tingle Live! Humor for Humanity is on Sunday, January 1, at 3 pm at First Church in Cambridge, 11 Garden St., Cambridge. Tickets start at $30.
Looking for an imaginative multisensory experience this New Year’s? Check out Blue Man Group, a musical and comedy sensation seen by over 35 million people in 25 countries. The performers never speak while onstage, making the show accessible to people of all ages, languages, and backgrounds. Plus, each performance is different, so the audience will never see the same show twice.
Blue Man Group is at the Charles Playhouse, 74 Warrenton St., Boston. Show times vary, and tickets start at $49. Students may be able to purchase rush tickets for $30.
Explore Mexico’s rich history as a cultural crossroads through a collection of ancient objects at Harvard University’s Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology. This bilingual exhibition, on display through April, explains how the exchange of ideas, resources, and products among indigenous peoples in the Americas formed a vibrant nation. Check out some of the artifacts here, such as a serpentine funerary mask and an Aztec carved stone head.
The Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, 11 Divinity Ave., Cambridge, is open daily (closed January 1) from 9 am to 5 pm. Admission is $10 for students with ID and children ages 3 to 18, and $15 for adults. Admission to the Peabody Museum is also good for admission to the Harvard Museum of Natural History.
This immersive display at the Harvard Museum of Natural History combines science and art through a modern interpretation of Henry David Thoreau’s preserved plants. The exhibition’s 648 specimens are the basis for the exhibition, which explores how climate change affects the natural world. Visitors gain a better understanding of how plant species respond to environmental factors and are encouraged to step into Thoreau’s world to “lean into our surroundings and learn from nature.”
The Harvard Museum of Natural History, 26 Oxford St., Cambridge, is open daily (closed January 1) from 9 am to 5 pm. Admission is $10 for students with ID and children ages 3 to 18, and $15 for adults. Admission to the Harvard Museum of Natural History is also good for admission to the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology.
Celebrate the New Year with some classical music: Johann Sebastian Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 6 and Georg Philipp Telemann’s Concerto in E minor for Recorder and Flute. The 90-minute concert, presented by Boston Baroque and directed by Martin Pearlman, will feature soprano Amanda Forsythe, Aldo Abreu on recorder, and Joseph Monticello on flute. Held on New Year’s Eve and on New Year’s Day, this “joyful, lively, and iridescent” concert is an ideal way to spend an afternoon or evening with friends.
Boston Baroque’s New Year’s Celebration is at 8 pm on Saturday, December 31, at WGBH’s Calderwood Studio, One Guest St., Boston, and at 3 pm on Sunday, January 1 at Harvard University’s Sanders Theatre, 45 Quincy St., Cambridge. Tickets for both events start at $25; purchase here.
Searching for a classic winter activity? Bundle up and head to Kelly Outdoor Rink in Jamaica Plain, operated by the Department of Conservation and Recreation. The rink is open daily from mid-December through mid-March, weather permitting, and is the perfect place to spend an afternoon with friends. The rink also offers 30-minute lessons in January and February for those looking to learn or brush up on their skating.
The Kelly Outdoor Rink, One Marbury Terrace, Jamaica Plain, is directly behind the Stony Brook T station on the Orange Line. Admission is free, and skate rentals are $3 for adults. The rink is open from noon to 7:30 pm Sunday to Friday and 1 to 7:30 pm Saturday. Check here for information on holiday schedules and skate rentals.
The Skate @ Canal District Kendall offers winter fun for skaters of all ages and abilities. The outdoor rink is open from mid-December through mid-March, weather permitting, so check the Facebook page for updates. The rink also provides skating lessons for novices, skate rentals, and skate sharpening for those who bring their own skates.
Skate @ Canal District Kendall is at 300 Athenaeum St., Cambridge. Admission is $6 for adults, $4 for students (with ID) and seniors, and $1 for children 13 and under. Skate rentals are $10 for everyone except children 13 and under ($6). Hours vary; check them here.
Some Great Ways to Ring in the New Year in Boston
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