Where To Celebrate New Year’s Eve 2023 In Frankfort

FRANKFORT, IL — It's time to ring in the New Year. Whether you're heading to Chicago for a bigger celebration or sticking closer to home, there are lots of events happening across the area.

In Frankfort, there are some family-friendly 'Noon Year's Eve' options, and some offerings from nearby towns as well.

Here is a look at what's happening in Frankfort and nearby:

• New Year's Countdown, 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on Dec. 31 at Founders Community Center, 140 Oak St. Ages 4 to 10, $9 per resident. Celebrate New Year's Eve with dancing, games, crafts and ice cream. There will be a balloon drop at noon.
• Holiday Happenings: New Year, 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. on Dec. 30 at Frankfort Public Library. Learn about the New Year's celebration with different activities. Ages 2 to 10.
• Holiday Magic at Brookfield Zoo is open from 3 to 9 p.m. on Dec. 31. Guests can visit the lights festival at the zoo for an early celebration. Note that the animal habitats close at 8:15 p.m.
• ZooLights at Lincoln Park Zoo, Chicago. The family-friendly event will feature countdowns every hour on Dec. 31. ZooLights, which features millions of holiday lights, will be open from 4:30 to 9 p.m.

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.

In Chicago, several hotels hold their own New Year's Eve parties, and the annual New Year's fireworks are also a big hit.

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.