Where To Celebrate New Year's Eve 2024 In Bethel

BETHEL, CT — Despite a growing trend towards staying home on New Year's Eve, there are still plenty of places to go and people to see in Bethel when the clock strikes midnight on Dec. 31.

There's a party at Notch8 at 1 Front Street in Bethel from 9 p.m. until midnight, with live music by Harmonic Aggression.

O'Connor's Public House at 317 Federal Road in Brookfield will be ringing in the New Year with traditional Irish music by Cairney Irish Acoustic and a champagne toast at 7 p.m. — that is, midnight in Dublin.

Hosting a New Year's Eve event in Bethel? Be sure to post it on the Patch Calendar.

Nearby in Newtown, Aquila's Nest Vineyards will be hosting a New Year's Eve Live Music Bash in its indoor Tasting Room.

Elsewhere in Connecticut, First Night Hartford returns with a family-friendly, alcohol-free New Year's Eve celebration that features fireworks, music, art, and food in the state's capital city.

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 their own versions of this celebration, such as the Peeps Chick Drop in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania and the giant Potato Drop in Boise, Idaho.

The transition from one year to the next is often marked by 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 tradition of New Year’s resolutions dates back 8,000 years to ancient Babylonians, who made promises to return borrowed items and repay debts at the beginning of the new year, which was in mid-March when they planted their crops.

• Related: What New Year’s Resolution Did You Keep? How Did You Do It? [Patch Survey]

According to legend, if people kept their word, the pagan gods would grant them favor in the coming year. However, if they broke their promises, they would lose favor with the gods.

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 many 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 or a plan for coping with the stress and discomfort that comes with changing a habit or condition.