Auburn Mayor Jason Levesque will help ring in the new year Tuesday night during New Year’s Auburn. Daryn Slover/Sun Journal
AUBURN — After a successful debut last year, New Year’s Auburn is back Tuesday night at Festival Plaza on Main Street.
From 6 p.m. to midnight, Main Street will be closed to make room for a beer garden, food trucks, a music stage and warming stations.
While the first New Year’s Eve celebration served as the kickoff to Auburn’s sesquicentennial year, this year’s celebration will put a bow on it and bring it to a close.
Mayor Jason Levesque said the city’s first New Year’s Eve celebration was “amazing.”
“We didn’t know what to expect with it, since there’s no precedence in Maine for it,” Levesque said. “It was safe, friendly towards all, and inviting. This fall, we’ve had people asking us if we’re doing it again.”
Levesque said the city has made some adjustments to how the party will be set up, including eliminating the VIP section.
“We didn’t think that (the VIP section) was an appropriate use of space, so we decided to remove it and have the celebration be completely free,” Levesque said. “We’re going to have a general warming tent where the VIP section used to be.”
Throughout the evening, there will be a beer garden serving brews from Gritty’s, Side By Each Brewing Co., Lost Valley Brewing and Baxter Brewing, and food trucks from Pinky D’s Poutine Factory, Shut Up N’ Eat It and more.
Three local bands will provide the music for the entirety of the celebration, with The Jumpin’ Willies kicking things off at 6 p.m., followed by the Farmhouse Project at 7:30 p.m. and Hello Newman from 9:30 p.m. to midnight.
A fireworks display is scheduled to begin at 10 p.m.
While the forecast is calling for snow heading into Tuesday, Levesque said he was confident the weather will cooperate Tuesday night.
“Last year, we had rain throughout the evening,” he said, “and this Tuesday, it looks like we’re going to have some snow tapering off heading into the evening. It’s set to be a balmy 30 degrees, and we have Public Works people all geared up and ready to go just in case.”
Levesque said the city’s second New Year’s Eve celebration is a great way to kick off “the decade of Auburn.”
“I feel like we’re perfectly set up for the upcoming decade,” Levesque said. “We’ve been seeing growth, and we’re not seeing it slow down. There’s a lot of excitement in our community right now. I think we’ve become a city of neighborhoods, and that feeling really permeates through.”
For more information on the celebration, see www.newyearsauburn.com.
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