New Year’s Eve 2022 In Ridgefield: Parties & Celebrations

RIDGEFIELD, CT — The ancient Mesopotamians invented the New Year's Eve celebration around 2000 years before Christ, with eleven days of parties and rituals celebrating sky god Marduk's beatdown of the evil sea dragon, Tiamat.

Of course, the ancient Mesopotamian new year began in mid-March — something about an equinox — but there's no reason why you should let a little astronomy stand in the way of a good time this week, the modern day end of the year.

Bernard’s in Ridgefield is offering two seatings on New Year's Eve. The 6 p.m. seating offers a $175 prix fixe 3-course meal with piano music by Hank Milligan. The 9 p.m. seating promises a $225 prix fixe 4-course meal with entertainment and dancing, with the Maria Tiscia Trio and a champagne toast at midnight. See the menus here. Sarah’s Wine Bar will be open with an a la carte menu and live music by Artie Tobia.

Here are a few more New Year's Eve celebrations happening in the Ridgefield area:

Saturday, Dec. 31
Dave King at Rosy Tomorrows New Year's Eve!
6:30 – 9:30 p.m.
Rosy Tomorrow's, 15 Old Mill Plain Rd
Danbury

New Year’s Eve Celebration
6 p.m.
Portuguese Cultural Center, 65 Sand Pit Rd
Danbury

New Year's Eve Bash!
Dec 31, 2022 – Jan 1, 2023
Farmboys Smokin' BBQ, 30 South St
Danbury

New Year's Eve Dinner & Live Music Party
6 – 10 p.m.
Aquila's Nest Vineyards, 56 Pole Bridge Rd
Sandy Hook

New Year's Eve Polar Pond Plunge!
1 p.m.
Sticks and Stones Farm, 201 Huntingtown Rd
Newtown

New Year's Eve party
7:00 – 11:30 p.m.
Anthony's Lake Club Catering, 10 Christopher Columbus Ave
Danbury

New Year's Eve After-Dinner Dance
8:30 p.m. - 12:30 a.m.
Vitti's Dance Studio, 10 Precision Rd
Danbury

Shakedown New Year's Eve Party
Sat, 8:30 PM
Sugar Hollow Taproom, 66 Sugar Hollow Rd Suite 8
Danbury

The Rollin' Rust
Sat, 7 – 10 PM
Reverie Brewing Company, 57B Church Hill Rd
Newtown

Noon Year’s Eve Party
Sat, 11:00 AM – 12:30 PM
Newtown Community Center, 8 Simpson St
Newtown

Noon Year's Eve
Sat, 10 AM – 1 PM
EverWonder Children's Museum, 31 Pecks Ln
Newtown

In the United States, one of the most popular New Year’s Eve traditions is, of course, the dropping of the giant ball in New York City’s Times Square. Various cities have adopted their own iterations of the event — the Peach Drop in Atlanta, the Chick Drop in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania and the giant Potato Drop in Boise, Idaho.

Taking a cue from the annual midnight madness in Times Square, the Ridgefield Library will be holding a "balloon drop" around 12 hours earlier on Saturday, Dec. 31. Drop-ins are welcome, but registration is required for refreshments.

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 the 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.