New Year's Eve Celebration: First Night in Asheville, North Carolina

If you should find yourself in Asheville, North Carolina on New Year's Eve this year and wonder what you should do, I would suggest heading downtown to the party that the city throws every year, called First Night.

First Night is a family friendly alcohol-free event. However, the bars are open, so if you feel the need to ring in the New Year by drinking it up, there will be plenty of alcohol to be had. You cannot take your alcohol out onto the street, but there will be plenty of celebrations in the bars, pubs and nightclubs.

First Night is a fantastic time to run around downtown Asheville with your friends, and be a little silly while enjoying all of the live entertainment. There are puppet shows, dance performances, and music of all kinds, including but not limited to country, folk, rock, classical and blues. There are often other activities that vary by year, and the city often hands out freebies, like buttons, stickers, and other trinkets that advertise First Night.

If you get hungry you can pop into most of the restaurants that are located downtown as they stay open for all the people who come down to ring in the New Year. There are plenty of fantastic restaurants located in the downtown area that serve great food. The local businesses are very active in promoting and participating in this festival.

And if you don't feel like being downtown for the entire evening on New Year's Eve and are just wanting to ring in the New Year in a short and sweet way, you can show up right before midnight. Although First Night starts just after dusk, the finale to the whole festival is a humongous fireworks show that rivals the one that the city of Asheville puts on for the Fourth of July.

We attended First Night a couple of times, and we showed up about ten o'clock. It's usually really cold in Asheville on New Years because of the time of year and the additional elevation, and so I suggest layering your clothing. We ran around quite a bit from place to place and so the cold didn't bother us too much. If you get too cold you can always stop in one of the restaurants and get a steaming cup of coffee for that added caffeine kick.

The fireworks show was really the highlight of the whole evening. It was fantastic to stand there and watch all of the amazing variety of styles and colors that they had for the fireworks. The fireworks are usually launched from near the parking lot between City Hall and Eagle Street. The best view of the fireworks can usually be seen from City County Plaza, which is the green space in front of the Courthouse and City Hall. However, they have been working heavily on this area during the past year and so it may be a little different this year. It would probably be best to ask around when you get there and arrive at the area near the fireworks at least ten minutes early, so you can get a decent view of them.

Overall, First Night is a fantastic way to ring in the New Years. The fireworks show alone will make it well worth your while to check this event out.