MEDIA RELEASE: First Night Hartford Announces Its 37th Year of Celebrating Arts, Culture & Community!
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
A full day of music, art-making, live entertainment, and community celebration featuring a Silent Disco, interactive art, fireworks, live bands & DJs, and more!
Hartford, CT — Dec. 4, 2025 — First Night Hartford returns for its 37th annual New Year’s Eve celebration on Wednesday, December 31, once again transforming Downtown Hartford into a lively, family-friendly festival of arts, culture, and community. As Connecticut’s longest-running and most beloved New Year’s Eve tradition, First Night Hartford 2026 invites thousands of attendees to experience its most robust programming lineup in years, offering a wide range of performances, activities, and creative experiences for all ages.
This year’s celebration expands across diverse downtown venues, featuring an enhanced schedule that includes:
Live music on our Bushnell Park mainstage all day long, with feature performances from Natasha Ramos, The Rahsaan Langley Project, and the winner of our inaugural Battle of the Bands (to be announced soon)
Irish and jazz music in the Bushnell Park Pump House
Live improv shows at Sea Tea Comedy Theater through the afternoon and evening
Live DJ sets at select partner venues such as Bar Max, Trumbull Kitchen, and TheaterWorks Hartford
Immersive art installation with local artist Mercury in a vacant storefront on Pratt Street; exclusively sponsored by the Roberts Foundation for the Arts
Night Fall’s return, bringing interactive art-making activities at five partner venues and once again leading our annual People’s Parade to the 6 pm fireworks in Bushnell Park
Discoteca Biblioteca, a silent disco at the Hartford Public Library - Downtown Branch, open to all ages and designed for high-energy, family-friendly fun
Magic shows, and hands-on activities for children and families
Storybook readings at Hartford Prints!
A baby grand piano performance at Center Church
A history lecture at the Hartford Flavor Cocktail Parlour
Ice skating at Winterfest Hartford in Bushnell Park
A Health & Wellness Hub featuring local partners, resources, and demonstrations
Food, festivities & community programming throughout the day and evening
…and more!
Always a major highlight of the festival, First Night Hartford’s two signature fireworks displays will illuminate the Hartford skyline, with an early tradition for families at 6 pm, and another at midnight to ring in 2026 in spectacular fashion; fireworks exclusively sponsored by the William and Alice Mortensen Foundation
Official First Night Hartford 2026 all-access buttons are available for purchase online and at select locations throughout the city, with one button per person granting full access to all indoor venues and activities. Buttons are $5 for children (3-16) and $15 for adults (17+) and available at https://www.ezevent.com/event/details/first-night-hartford-2026-tickets-9628.
The First & Last Ball: It will be the Last Ball of 2025 and the First Ball of 2026. For the first time since 1993, First Night Hartford is hosting a benefit Ball with a top-floor view of the New Year’s Eve midnight fireworks display, to be held at the Bond Ballroom from 9 pm to 1 am with entertainment by My Life Your Entertainment and DJ Craig G. More information and tickets available at https://givebutter.com/FNH2026Ball
Stay tuned for more programming announcements, the schedule for the full day, and a complete list of venues at firstnighthartford.org as the festival date approaches.
First Night Hartford 2026 is made possible with support from the Connecticut Office of the Arts, which also receives funding from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), a federal agency, and with generous sponsorship support from the William and Alice Mortensen Foundation, the Roberts Foundation for the Arts, ezEvent, the Believe in Hartford Foundation, J. Walton Bissell Foundation, the Ensworth Charitable Foundation, the Betty Knox Foundation, the George A. & Grace L. Long Foundation, Ticket Network / ezEvent, and the Hartford Courant.
About First Night Hartford
First Night Hartford is a 37-year-old 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that independently produces two beloved annual community celebrations in Bushnell Park with art, music, food & fireworks--First Night Hartford (New Year's Eve tradition) & Hartford Bonanza (Independence Day Weekend festival)--that showcase our capital city's arts and cultural ecosystem and promote civic joy, social cohesion, and community pride.
Press Contact:
Jeff Devereux
firstnight.hartford@gmail.com
(860) 251-9651