The Spa City changed its New Year’s celebration to be more family-oriented in 2022, and for the second time a four-day celebration aims to draw regional crowds to ring in the new year.
The festivities will kick off Friday, with musical performances at various local businesses all weekend long.
Commissioner of Accounts Dillon Moran says the more robust plans have driven ticket sales — roughly 35% ahead of last year leading into the weekend.
“This year we now have a concert. We actually have a children’s magic show followed by a concert on Ellsworth Jones Place, which will then be followed by the fireworks and then Robert Randolph will be kicking off in the City Center subsequent to that,” explained Moran.
The city’s former “First Night Saratoga” was dropped following the pandemic. The new extended celebration is designed to draw a profit to invest into future celebrations.
Moran says most preparation work has finished, and the only thing left to do is celebrate.
"We’re really excited to be able to bring this to the community for the second year and, again, into the future because it seems as if this model is working and we’re very excited for what that means for the sustainability of the event,” said Moran.
Discover Saratoga was recently appointed Saratoga County’s official Tourism Promotion Agency and has been vital in the planning of the New Year’s celebration. President Darryl Leggieri says this weekend is just one part of a larger effort to expand the county’s tourism draw year-round.
“Well, we’re looking to create unforgettable experiences and really try to forge lasting memories for folks that come up here. Not only for the visitors, but for the locals. It’s for them to enjoy as well,” said Leggieri.
Among the weekend’s events is a New Year’s Day 5k, which organizer Charles Woodruff says is on pace to see between 700 and 800 participants.
“But it’s a community event. Again, it’ll be fast in the front, it’ll be—but we’re inviting families and walkers and runners and come walk your dog. I guess the theme of it is community drive, you know, get your year off to a great start. Come out and see some friends. We’ll have refreshments at the end. We’ll have a hot chocolate bar at the end so we’ll be serving hot chocolate. We just wanted to get the year off to a good start so we’re inviting the whole world,” said Woodruff.
The New Year’s Eve celebration will include an early fireworks show, a change Moran said was made with public safety interests in mind.
“You know, going from a midnight to a 6 o’clock fireworks showing is a significant benefit in terms of crowd control and those types of things. Though we believe we get better crowds, but it’s a time of day where folks haven’t been working 5 hours already and then get into the middle of it. So, again, we’re very happy with sort of how everything is scheduled out and we absolutely have a mind on those men and women who keep us safe,” explained Moran.
