First Night Burlington Marks Its 28th Year This New Years Eve

First Night was introduced in Boston in 1976 and is now celebrated in more than 130 cities throughout the world. It is a one-day New Year’s Eve festival of the arts, is substance-free and features an unbelievable amount of entertainment including a vast number of singers, dancers, bands, a circus and other artists.

Burlington was the fifth city in the world to participate in the First Night concept. It has become Vermont’s largest one-day arts festival and provides an affordable New Year’s Eve celebration.

It is necessary to have a specific “First Night Button” to take part in the festivities. It admits you to all official events on a first-come first-served basis. There are more than 20 venues in downtown Burlington where activities and performances take place over a twelve hour period. The few exclusions which require an additional $4.00 ticket are the Circus Smirkus, Burlington Taiko, VYO and Bluegrass Gospel.

Regular Adult Buttons are $20.00 through December 30 and $30.00 on December 31. Kids Buttons for ages 3-12 are $5.00 every day. Kids under age 3 are free.

Parking and Shuttle: City-owned parking garages and meter parking are free after noon on December 31, and the overnight parking ban will be lifted on December 31. Or you can park free at the University of Vermont’s Gutterson Parking Garage from 11:00 a.m. on December 31 through 12:30 a.m. on January 1. Walk over to the Patrick Gym for shuttles that will pick up every 15 minutes. Drop off points along Main Street include the Flynn Center and Edmunds School.

Free with your First Night button is Cartoon Fest, 12 hours of classic Looney Tunes, at Merrill’s Roxy Cinemas from 12:00 Noon to 11:45 p.m. One of the most popular features of First Night, you take a seat with a beverage and popcorn and enjoy the show!

Christopher McBride is at Flynn Space from 10:00 p.m. to 10:40 p.m. In his fourth year at First Night, he will showcase his traditional sleight-of hand illusions. Video projection lets you enter a fascinating place of pure magic with a stage, lights, a pack of cards and more.

Circus Smirkus at the Memorial Auditorium from 1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. and again from 3:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. has a return of the big top when the young members of this Vermont-based, award-winning, internationally acclaimed youth arts organization perform aerial arts, wire walking, clowning, acrobatics and juggling.

via http://michaelblanchard.benchmark.us/2013/12/13/first-night-burlington-marks-its-28th-year-this-new-years-eve/