New Year's Eve 2025 Around Baldwin, Whitehall: First Night & More

PITTSBURGH, PA — Who needs to spend New Year's Eve in Times Square? There are plenty of festivities in and around Pittsburgh to ring out the old year and ring in the new.

The largest celebration, as always, will be Highmark First Night Pittsburgh.The free event, running from 6 p.m. to midnight Downtown, will feature live music, dance, theater, visual arts, comedy, magic, kids’ activities, a parade and two fireworks displays.

Pittsburgh rapper Frzy is the musical headliner at the outdoor Highmark stage in the Cultural District. Nay Hundo, another Pittsburgh artist, also will perform at the festivities.

Here is a look at several additional events happening in town:

• Pittsburgh Zoo: Noon Year's Eve 11 a.m.-1 p.m.: Ring in 2025 a little early by decorating ith our Zoo Year’s your own noisemaker and party hat and enjoy salt paint crafts and touch tables. Then, the ball drops at noon in the aquarium.

• Gateway Clipper Fleet: Several cruise options along the Allegheny, Monongahela and Ohio Rivers are available.

• Bakery Square: Another Noon Year's Eve celebration will occur from 10:30 a.m.-1 p.m. The party includes a live DJ, a themed craft station, create your own punch station, photo booth, a brunch buffet from City Kitchen and a complimentary mimosa bar from Alta Via Pizzeria for the big kids.

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.

In Pittsburgh, of course, the tradition is for the ball to rise and signal the start of the new year.

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.