Raw States

First Night Boston

Boston, MA · Holiday

When

December 31, 2026 – January 1, 2027

Where

Boston Common · Boston · MA

Cost

Not confirmed

Status

Approximate: based on past editions, not announced yet

First Night Boston began in 1976 as the first First Night celebration in the country and became the template for the alcohol free New Year's Eve arts festivals other cities later copied. The evening spreads ice sculptures, performances, and a midnight fireworks display across the Boston Common and downtown. Boston Celebrations Inc., which also runs Boston Harborfest, produces the event.

The history within reach

• First Night Bostonsame spot

  First Night Boston began in 1976 as the first First Night celebration in the country and became the template for the alcohol free New Year's Eve arts festivals other cities later copied.

• Boston Commonsame spot

  Bought from the settler who had got there first and set aside for grazing and militia drill, the oldest public park in the United States.

• The first subway in America0.2 mi

  Streetcars on Tremont Street had got so thick you could cross the road on their roofs, so the city put them underground, the first subway on the continent, four years before New York's.

• The 54th Massachusetts marches out0.2 mi

  The first Black regiment raised in the free states left down Beacon Street past cheering crowds, and two months later lost nearly half its strength assaulting Fort Wagner.

• The Public Garden and the swan boats0.2 mi

  The first public botanical garden in America, with pedal-driven swan boats that the same family has operated since 1877, the idea taken from Lohengrin.