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First Night

By adamg - 1/1/22 - 12:49 pm
Fireworks over Boston Harbor

Matt Conti had the best seat for the foggy First Night fireworks over Boston Harbor at midnight. Read more.

By adamg - 12/31/21 - 9:48 pm
Ice sculpture on the Greenway

Matt Conti took in the First Night ice sculptures along the Greenway and in Christopher Columbus Park tonight.

By Ron Newman - 12/30/21 - 1:51 pm

Trinity Church in Copley Square announced on Facebook (note: link updated) that tomorrow afternoon's Handel and Haydn Society Emancipation Proclamation Concert will be online only, with neither a live audience nor a live stream. It will instead be recorded for release at a not-yet-specified near future time.

Read more

By adamg - 12/30/21 - 12:09 pm

The Whittier Street Health Center will run a mobile Covid-19 vaccination clinic in Copley Square tomorrow, near the Bostix booth, between noon and 7 p.m. for everybody 5 and up. Then the Boston Public Health Commission will take over and provide shots for everybody 12 and up between 7 p.m. and 11 p.m. at the same location.

By adamg - 12/29/21 - 1:05 pm

The First Night schedule was revised this week due to Covid-19 concerns. Read more.

By adamg - 11/10/20 - 12:07 pm

First Night Boston organizers announced today the New Year's Even celebration will be held entirely online and on TV this year due to Covid-19 concerns.

NBC Boston, NECN and Telemundo Boston will air "performances, interviews, and tributes to front line workers" the evening of Dec. 31. Performances will also be shown on the First Night Web site.

By adamg - 1/1/20 - 2:13 pm
Prudential building welcomes 2020

David Parsons took in the Back Bay as the New Year arrived.

Leslee captured the Public Garden bridge on First Night: Read more.

By adamg - 12/31/19 - 9:48 pm
New Year's Eve fireworks over Boston Common

Louise Miller watched the family fireworks over Boston Common at 7 p.m.

By adamg - 12/28/19 - 9:48 pm

WHDH reports the worker was hit in the head with ballast while working on First Night preparations this morning on Boylston Street between Clarendon and Berkeley streets.

By adamg - 12/30/17 - 9:46 pm

First Night organizers have called off the 7 p.m. fireworks over the Common, and the 6 p.m. parade that was to precede them because it'll be just too damn cold. The midnight fireworks over Boston Harbor, however, are still on, because presumably the totally sober adults who would watch them outside will be smart enough to dress appropriately.

Also cancelled: Read more.

By adamg - 1/4/17 - 11:13 am

NorthEndWaterfront.com reports discussions among waterfront interests about bringing back New Year's Eve fireworks over the harbor if the organizers of First Night have concluded they can't or won't do them.

By adamg - 1/1/17 - 2:01 pm
Fireworks over Boston Common

David Parsons took in the 7 p.m. fireworks over Boston Common last night.

Leslee watched the light show on Trinity Church in Copley Square: Read more.

By adamg - 12/29/16 - 2:19 pm

NorthEndWaterfront.com wonders if the real reason the current operators of First Night have shifted the midnight fireworks from Boston Harbor to Copley Square is not because it's cheaper but to try to build up a Boston version of Times Square:

Watch this year as the TV hosts interview the Copley attendees and count the suburbanites that will have come in to Copley, all decked out in a spectacularly crowded space. The Back Bay event will be instantly labeled a “success” because it will look good on television.

By adamg - 12/31/15 - 7:28 pm
Fireworks over Boston Common

Craig Caplan watched the early fireworks over the Common tonight.

By Ron Newman - 12/5/15 - 8:21 am

Conventures has released a schedule for the event that it calls "First Night 2016".

It still has 7 pm fireworks on the Common, midnight fireworks on the harbor, a few organ and brass performances in Old South Church, and some bands and dancers performing outdoors in typically-freezing-cold Copley Square.

But that's about it. Read more.

By adamg - 11/2/15 - 10:10 am

The City of Boston Credit Union will underwrite fireworks over the harbor as 2016 begins, the mayor's office announced today.

The credit union will kick in $30,000 towards the pyrotechnics, good news since the company now running First Night said last week it didn't have any money for them.

By adamg - 10/30/15 - 2:08 pm

The Herald reports Mayor Walsh doesn't want to let go of harbor fireworks without a fight, after hearing they might not go on due to the cost.

By adamg - 10/29/15 - 6:10 pm

Ron Newman forwards e-mail from Conventures, which is running First Night this year:

There was a meeting today and the following decisions were made. The financial picture of First Night is quite reduced, and some events are not going to take place. The Grand Procession is at Copley Square, not on Boylston Street. There are not going to be midnight fireworks. There will be 7:00 pm fireworks. The Fitness walk will be a Fitness Jamboree activity on Copley Square.

By adamg - 8/24/15 - 12:12 pm

The Boston Courant reports (note: Link will take you to a photo of the Courant story, since the Courant is one of the few papers left in the US that does not have a Web site - on purpose, no less).

UPDATE: Conventures, which is running First Night, says there will be the traditional fireworks over Boston Harbor.

H/t Ron.

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