Highlight leads list of New Year's Eve events fostering fun, sense of community in Vermont

Brent Hallenbeck, Burlington Free Press
·5 min read

In introducing the schedule for the annual New Year’s Eve celebration Highlight, the executive director of Burlington City Arts alluded to tough times the city has faced.

Doreen Kraft said “our fiber was really tested” by recent hate and violence. She didn’t specifically mention the incident, but all who gathered at Foam Brewers on Nov. 30 could sense she was referencing a shooting five days earlier of three Palestinian students walking on a city street.

An event such as Highlight, Kraft said, provides Burlington with a chance to build and strengthen its sense of community. New Year’s Eve, of course, with its symbolic shucking of the old, tired year and entry into a fresh set of 12 months of endless possibility, fits right into that motif.

Doreen Kraft, executive director of Burlington City Arts, speaks Nov. 30, 2023 at Foam Brewers in Burlington for an event announcing the Highlight New Year's Eve schedule of activities.
Doreen Kraft, executive director of Burlington City Arts, speaks Nov. 30, 2023 at Foam Brewers in Burlington for an event announcing the Highlight New Year's Eve schedule of activities.

Highlight offers hours of events throughout Burlington starting at 11 a.m. Sunday, Dec. 31 and continuing past midnight into the nascent hours of the new year. A few highlights of Highlight include:

Burlington musician Abbie Morin of the band Hammydown performs Nov. 30, 2023 at Foam Brewers in Burlington for an event announcing the Highlight New Year's Eve schedule of activities.
Burlington musician Abbie Morin of the band Hammydown performs Nov. 30, 2023 at Foam Brewers in Burlington for an event announcing the Highlight New Year's Eve schedule of activities.

  • 11 a.m.-6 p.m., local improv comics offer up family-friendly sets with Good Clean Fun, Vermont Comedy Club.

  • Noon through 5 p.m., three shows by the Northeast Kingdom-based youth troupe Circus Smirkus, Contois Auditorium, Burlington City Hall.

  • 1:30-4:30 p.m., Front Porch Follies is a lighthearted variety show riffing on some of the more intriguing posts on the Vermont-based online community network Front Porch Forum, ECHO Center.

  • 3:30-4:30 p.m., the Youth Opera Company of the Opera Company of Middlebury presents a program titled “From Spain with Love,” Unitarian Universalist Church.

  • 4-5 p.m., the dance groove should keep people warm when the Latin sounds of Mal Maiz fill Waterfront Park.

  • 5:30-6:30 p.m., local musician Greg Freeman follows Mal Maiz at Waterfront Park.

  • 7 p.m.-12:30 a.m., Big Gay New Year offers a musical celebration featuring a solo and DJ set by Caroline Rose as well as performances by Lutalo, Hammydown, The Burning Sun and more, plus visual art and performance curated by Lydia Kern and Corrine Yonce, ECHO Center

  • 8-8:30 p.m., why wait until midnight when it’s super-late and often super-cold to bring in the new year when you can do it with a bang a few hours earlier with fireworks at Waterfront Park?

  • 8 p.m., things get muy caliente when Cirque de Fuego returns to burn Champ – a wooden effigy, not the lake creature itself – at Waterfront Park.

  • 8:30-10 p.m., literate Burlington singer-songwriter Henry Jamison plays a set, Unitarian Universalist Church.

  • 8:30-10 p.m., Vermont-raised guitarist Nick Cassarino brings his funky trio The Nth Power to Waterfront Park.

  • 9 p.m.-12:30 a.m., the Burlington Electronic Department’s New Year’s Eve Party includes music from the event’s curators, local act Roost.World, as well as Acquamossa, Casper and more, Foam Brewers.

  • 9:30-12:30 a.m., Futurama Luminart features Afro-techno beats, AI art installations and fanciful fashion displays, BCA Center.

  • 10:30 p.m.-12:30 a.m., the old-school country sounds of Wild Leek River welcome in the new year, Skinny Pancake.

Burlington musician Abbie Morin of the band Hammydown performs Nov. 30, 2023 at Foam Brewers in Burlington for an event announcing the Highlight New Year's Eve schedule of activities.
Burlington musician Abbie Morin of the band Hammydown performs Nov. 30, 2023 at Foam Brewers in Burlington for an event announcing the Highlight New Year's Eve schedule of activities.

The Highlight button, which encompasses admission for all events, is $15; kids 5 and under get in for free. Button-holders who want to ensure they get into certain indoor events might want to arrive early to guarantee admission. Buttons are available online at https://highlight.community or at the BCA Center, BCA Studios, ECHO Center, Foam Brewers and Phoenix Books.

Other New Year’s Eve events include:

First Night North

3 p.m., hours of entertainment throughout the day at First Night North include Alyx the Magician (3 p.m.), digeridoo musician Pitz Quattrone (4 p.m.), Abenaki musician Bryan Blanchette (5 and 9 p.m.), folk musicians Patti Casey and Colin McCaffrey (6 p.m.), poet-musician Toussaint St. Negritude (7  and 10 p.m.), Tibetan songs, dance and music with Migmar Tsering (8 and 10 p.m.) and a midnight dance party, locations throughout St. Johnsbury. $15-$30 all-access buttons; free for preschoolers. https://www.catamountarts.org/first-night-north/

New Year’s Eve with Mihali

7-10 p.m., a family-friendly concert features Mihali, co-founder of the Vermont-born jam-rock band Twiddle, Town Hall Theater, Middlebury. $20-$40. www.townhalltheater.org

Twiddle front man Mihali Savoulidis, shown performing in 2017 at the Vermont-born jam band's Tumble Down festival in Burlington.
Twiddle front man Mihali Savoulidis, shown performing in 2017 at the Vermont-born jam band's Tumble Down festival in Burlington.

Laughing with Tom Thakkar

8 and 10:30 p.m., stand-up comic Tom Thakkar offers two sets, the second of which includes a dessert bar, party favors and a midnight countdown with a champagne toast, Vermont Comedy Club, Burlington. $50-$60. www.vermontcomedyclub.com

Deadlights, not Highlight

8:30 p.m., perhaps the polar opposite of Highlight, the New Year’s Eve noise fest presented by Community of Sound that’s dubbed “Deadlights” presents sounds from Deftly Demolition, Consecrated Venom, Peasant Farm, Jo Bled and more, with visuals by Sean Clute and Semantichrist, 1 Main St., Burlington. Free; donations accepted. https://www.facebook.com/events/1070587997407137

Tower of Power tribute in Stowe

8:30 p.m., a party featuring Power of Tower, a band paying tribute to the ‘70s funk/R&B band Tower of Power, brings the horns to Apres Only, Field Guide Lodge, Stowe. $70. https://gostowe.com/event/new-years-eve-bash-power-tower-tribute-tower-power/

Dinner and a show

9 p.m., a multi-course dinner seating features music from the Tiffany Pfeiffer Trio, Michael’s on the Hill, Waterbury Center. $170. https://michaelsonthehill.com/new-years

Ending the year on a Dead note

9 p.m., a Vermont guitarist with a Grateful Dead penchant leads Zach Nugent’s Dead Set, Higher Ground Ballroom, South Burlington. $26 in advance, $36 day of show. www.highergroundmusic.com

Emoji Nightmare, left, and Katniss Everqueer perform Drag Queen Story Hour at the Waking Windows festival in Winooski on May 6, 2023.
Emoji Nightmare, left, and Katniss Everqueer perform Drag Queen Story Hour at the Waking Windows festival in Winooski on May 6, 2023.

New Year’s, uh, New Queers Eve

9 p.m., an LGBTQ+ dance party known as New Queers Eve, hosted by Emoji Nightmare, features dancing to tunes spun by DJ Gaybar and drag and burlesque performances from Philly Pina, Katniss Everqueer, Miss Czechoslovakia and more, Higher Ground Showcase Lounge, South Burlington. $30 in advance, $35 day of show. www.highergroundmusic.com

Ending the year at the Monkey

9:30 p.m., the Burlington band Pontoon sails into the new year, The Monkey House, Winooski. $15. www.monkeyhousevt.com

Contact Brent Hallenbeck at bhallenbeck@freepressmedia.com.

This article originally appeared on Burlington Free Press: New Year's Eve events in Vermont include Highlight, First Night North