New Year’s Eve 2023 In And Around Madison

MADISON, CT —New Year's Eve is right around the corner in Madison, and Patch has you covered with some festive things to do in the area to ring in the New Year.

Heading to New York City to celebrate is always an option, or if you're Taylor Swift, heading to Kansas City, Missouri. But others might be more tempted to stay close to home as they celebrate the beginning of 2024.

Here is a look at some events happening in the Madison area:

• Cafe Allegre, Madison: "Join us for our New Year's Eve Party! We will be serving a five-course fixed price menu." For more information, click here.
• The Wharf Restaurant, Madison Beach Hotel, Madison: "Celebrate the holidays with us at The Wharf. Holiday specials available." For more information, click here.
• The Essex Steam Train & Riverboat, Essex: "Essex Station is once again the place to be for New Year’s Eve! Join us for a night of trains, libations, mystery, dining, dancing and a champagne (or martini) toast to the new year at midnight." For more information, click here.
• Saybrook Point Resort & Marina, Old Saybrook: "Ring in the holidays with us." For more information, click here.
• WoodWinds New Year's Eve Celebration, Branford: "Celebrate New Year’s Eve with Premium Open Bar featuring: Specialty Martini Bar, DJ Entertainment with Full Dance Floor, Party Favors, Midnight Champagne Toast" For more information, click here.

In the United States, one of the most popular New Year’s Eve traditions is the dropping of the giant ball in New York City’s Times Square. Other U.S. cities have adopted iterations of the ball drop — the Chick Drop in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania and the giant Potato Drop

in Boise, Idaho, for example.

The end of one year and beginning of another is often celebrated with the singing of “Auld Lang Syne,” a Scottish folk song whose title roughly translates to “days gone by,” according to Encyclopedia Britannica and History.com.

The history of New Year’s resolutions dates back 8,000 years to ancient Babylonians, who would make promises to return borrowed objects and pay outstanding debts at the beginning of the new year, in mid-March when they planted their crops.

According to legend, if they kept their word, pagan gods would grant them favor in the coming year. If they broke the promise, they would fall out of God’s favor, according to a history of New Year’s resolutions compiled by North Hampton Community College New Center in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.

Many secular New Year’s resolutions focus on imagining new, improved versions of ourselves.

The failure rate of New Year’s resolutions is about 80 percent, according to U.S. News & World Report. There are myriad reasons, but a big one is they’re made out of remorse — for gaining weight, for example — and aren’t accompanied by a shift in attitude and a plan to meet the stress and discomfort of changing a habit or condition.