Despite the absence of First Night Bradford this year, the Bradford Area Public Library will still ring in 2017 with a daytime party on New Year’s Eve.
The party will begin at 11 a.m. Dec. 31, according to Judy Carr, the library’s program and community outreach coordinator.
Children will be invited to play games and make crafts until the noon countdown, Carr said. They hold the New Year countdown early so little ones who have trouble staying awake can participate in the celebration. There will also be music and snacks.
While the library’s New Year’s party will last until about 12:30 p.m., Carr noted that the library is open until 3 p.m. on Dec. 31, so families are welcome to stay and look at books or enjoy other library activities until then.
Activities include a magnetite building contest and games such as Pictionary, ring toss or bean bag toss. She will hold a story time before the party is underway, too.
For this year’s noontime countdown, there will be a net put up full of balloons, and the balloons will be released to mark the end of the countdown.
“I’m hoping we can set up an area where they can take photos,” Carr said, adding that last year, there was a photo spot set up with a “Happy New Year” background.
The library held the countdown on New Year’s Eve 2015, too, in conjunction with the Bradford First Night program.
“The whole thing is that kids get an early idea of what New Year’s is about,” Carr said. She explained this way parents and children can have a family party together during the day, and the adults can do something in the evening.
“That’s my main focus: the families, trying to keep them involved, give them an opportunity to come in and enjoy each other,” she said. She added that with parents working, it’s sometimes difficult to make family time.
New Year’s Eve won’t be the only upcoming festivity at the library.
On Friday, Michael Morton of Sun-Dance-Kids Farm in Ellington, N.Y., will a bring a live reindeer to the library to visit with the children. Carr said he would be coming around 10:30 a.m.
She noted that Morton was there in November with turkeys.
The family-friendly New Year’s event at the library will be held in addition to a separate — but also family-friendly — music event from 6:30 p.m. Dec. 31 to 12:15 a.m. Jan. 1 at Open Arms Community Church in Foster Township.
Kickstart 2017 will include music from several local bands performing various genres of music.
