New Year’s: No Alcohol, Still Bubbly

Thousands of families seeking a nonalcoholic alternative this year to conventional New Year’s Eve parties are expected to gather downtown for the sixth annual “First Night Fullerton” celebration.

Entertaining the party-goers of all ages will be blues bands, big bands, disc jockeys, dancers, jugglers, actors and choirs.

The performers will be presenting their acts from 7 p.m. to midnight in a number of locations, including museums, art galleries, restaurants, churches, parking lots and the streets all over downtown, which is bordered by Lemon Street and Malden, Chapman and Amerige avenues.

“It’s a great value,” said Joe Felz, director of the Fullerton Museum Center and an event coordinator. “People get to see all sorts of events. They like walking around the downtown historic area. . . . It’s not alcohol-oriented and has a strong family emphasis.”

As many as 10,000 people have attended the event in the past, and Felz said he expects about that many people to show up Tuesday night.

The arts-oriented festival attracts mostly families with children, who usually are excluded from traditional New Year’s Eve celebrations that focus on drinking.

Felz said many people have made coming to First Night Fullerton an annual family tradition. “It’s become very popular,” he said.

The concept for First Night was born in Boston during the national bicentennial celebration in 1976. That city hosted the first First Night party as an effort to broaden public appreciation of the visual and performing arts while offering an alternative to the traditional New Year’s Eve parties that feature lots of alcohol.

The idea has spread to more than 100 U.S. and Canadian cities, but Fullerton’s First Night is the only one in Orange County.

Some of the attractions include:

* The People’s Parade, a procession that travels up and down the festival grounds at the beginning of the party.

* The “Route 66” Display at the Fullerton Museum Center on Pomona Avenue.

* Carnival rides, face painting, magicians, clowns and a petting zoo at the Fun Zone on Wilshire Avenue.

* Blues virtuosos Bernie Pearl and Harmonica Fats at the Wilshire Auditorium on Lemon.

* Chalk art on Harbor Boulevard at Amerige Avenue.

* The seven-minute musical midnight fireworks display on Wilshire Avenue.

Buttons are being sold at $12 each for adults and $8 for children 12 and under. Each button admits one person to the one-night party.