Where Revelers Can Celebrate New Year's Eve 2024 In The Windsor Area

WINDSOR, CT — Residents of Windsor wanting to celebrate New Year's Eve with fine dining, a larger party, skiing and snowboarding, or just a quiet holiday light tour have plenty of options in the area.

Here is a sampling of ideas in Hartford and Tolland counties:

First Night Is Back

• 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.

Dinner

• Celebrate New Year’s Eve dinner at Monet’s Table in Tolland with seating options available from 4 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. They’ll be serving hors d’oeuvres, a selection of appetizers, a salad with a freshly baked anadama roll with honey butter and your choice of one of their five entrees. Dinner includes a bottle of Cabernet Franc.
• Union Kitchen in West Hartford was nominated for 2023 and 2024 Restaurant of the Year by the Connecticut Restaurant Association. On New Year’s Eve, you’ll get a chance to taste why. They’re offering a 4-course prix fixe menu, starting with half a dozen local oysters and caviar, followed by your choice of firsts, seconds, mains and desserts.
• In Simsbury at Millwright's, one of Open Table's top restaurants for romance in 2024, two prix fixe dinner options are being offered.
• Cafe Aura in Manchester is serving up its regular dinner menu, along with special celebratory dishes. Every entrée comes with a complimentary glass of Prosecco.
• There are two seatings to choose from as you celebrate Casino Royale Style at The Charles in Wethersfield. Either 4-6 p.m. or 7 p.m.-1 a.m., both including an hour of cocktails, hors d’oeuvres and a 4-course prix fixe menu with specialty cocktails. The second seating includes a champagne toast at midnight.

Light Tours

• Bright Nights at Forest Park, Springfield
• Henry Park, Vernon
• Magic of Lights, East Hartford

Parties

• In East Windsor, a CAD Luxury Event party is being staged at 122 Prospect Hill Road.
• An all-night party is slated for Ramada by Wyndham in Windsor Locks featuring "some of the region's hottest DJs."
• A 21+ event with cocktail attire required is slated at the Aqua Turf Club's 2025 New Year's Eve Celebration from 6:30 p.m. to 1 a.m. in Plantsville. Sip your favorites at cocktail hour, followed by a surf and turf dinner, dancing and live music performed by Go Event Group and the Savage Brothers Band.
• The Russell in Hartford is toasting it up big time with its annual New Year’s Eve Masquerade Ball. Doors open at 8 p.m., and music by Baddasnipes and DJ Shane will be featured.
• Live entertainment is on tap at The Main Pub in Manchester.

Snow Sports

• The trails will be lit up all day and into the evening for skiing and snowboarding at Mount Southington.

Comedy

• The Funny Bone in Manchester is featuring Rodney Perry.
• Jimmy Cash headlines Comedy Craft Beer at The Brew Ha Ha at River in Wethersfield, with shows at 7 pm. and 10 p.m.

Quiet Night At Home

• The Yule Log has been around for many years and offers continuous holiday music in a fireplace setting that never seems to die. Residents can usually find it and other continuous holiday music on YouTube.
• Excuse all the apostrophes, but Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve with Ryan Seacrest is televised annually.

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.

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

To add an event to this listing, email tim.jensen@patch.com.