NYC Free: New Year’s Eve Things to Do

Sure, you could join one million plus of your closest friends in Times Square for the world-famous Ball Drop and all the entertainment that preceeds it.  But there’s plenty more to do in NYC on New Year’s Eve without spending a penny. Here are our recommendations for FREE things to do New Year’s Eve in NYC.

• Complete guide to New Year’s Eve in Times Square
• Ball Facts: Times Square New Year’s Eve
• Scam Alert: Times Square New Year’s Eve parties

NYE at Prospect Park

Prospect Park:  Live music starts at around 11pm, and there’s also free hot cocoa. The fireworks are at Long Meadow. The best vantage points are at Grand Army Plaza, inside the park on West Drive and along Prospect Park West between Grand Army Plaza and 9th Street.

Rita Moreno in the original Broadway cast of West Side Story

New York Philharmonic – Tickets are sold out for the special New Year’s Eve celebration of Leonard Bernstein’s Broadway musicals, but you can still ring in 2018 with the New York Philharmonic FREE by tuning in to PBS (Channel 13 here in NYC) at 9pm for Live From Lincoln Center’s national telecast, featuring a special celebration of Leonard Bernstein’s Broadway musicals of the concert on PBS.  Toast the New Year and our Laureate Conductor’s 100th with West Side Story’s star-crossed lovers, On the Town’s fun-loving sailors, and Wonderful Town’s bright-eyed New Yorkers as portrayed by Tony winner Annaleigh Ashford, Hamilton’s Christopher Jackson, Cinderella’s Laura Osnes, and Next to Normal’s Aaron Tveit. Audience favorite Bramwell Tovey conducts.

Coney Island – FREE ice skating at Luna Park 6pm to 10pm. The Annual Coney Island Ball Drop is at 9pm at Steeplachase Plaza, on the Boardwalk at 19th Street, and the 4th Annual New Year’s Eve Celebration at the Parachute Jump in Steeplechase Plaza and the First Fireworks Show of 2018 begin at midnight.

• Weather update – Due to the extreme cold weather, Deno’s Wonder Wheel and Stop the Zombies ride will NOT open on New Year’s Eve or New Year’s Day.
• Register for the 114th Annual Coney Island Polar Bear New Year’s Day Plunge

NYE at Prospect Park

Prospect Park:  Live music starts at around 11pm, and there’s also free hot cocoa. The fireworks are at Long Meadow. The best vantage points are at Grand Army Plaza, inside the park on West Drive and along Prospect Park West between Grand Army Plaza and 9th Street. 

NYE in Central Pak

Central Park: Live music, face painting, strobe lights and cider toasts preceeds the annual New York Road Runner’s Midnight Run, at the Naumburg Bandshell, mid-park at 72nd St. The fireworks are at midnight, just south of the 72nd St. Transverse.  You don’t have to be a runner or a supporter to join the FREE fun.

• In compliance with NYPD security plans, the start area and Pre-Race Festival, located at Rumsey Playfield in Central Park, will be open to registered runners and their guests only; these areas will not be open to the general public. To access these areas, runners and their guests must enter the park at West 72nd Street and Central Park West or East 72nd Street and Fifth Avenue in order to go through security screening. Runners attempting to use other park entrances will experience delays in getting to the start and risk not starting the race on time.
• Each runner is permitted one guest and receive a wristband at number pickup to give to their guest. Guests must display a wristband and runners must display a bib for entry into the park at 72nd Street and into the Pre-Race Festival and start area.  Runners have until 10:30pm Sunday to pick up their shirts and wristbands.

Staten Island Ferry – Instead of spending a couple of hundred bucks to take a special Fireworks Cruise, take the Staten Island Ferry for FREE at around midnight, to view fireworks in the NY Harbor. The trip is just 25 minutes, instead of the couple of hours on the high-priced party boats.

FREE Comedy Show – Send 2017 into history with some laughter. Comedian Patrick Hastie (SF Sketfest) is doing an hour of stand-up comedy at The Creek and the Cave in Long Island City. His routine is based on stories abut growing up on a farm in Iowa, being in a High School rap metal band called “Rusty Needle Tatoo Parlor”, and falling in love with his rad wife Stacie.  Admission is FREE, and Patrick tells NYC on the Cheap that there is no food or drink minimum, which is absolutely unusual for any nightclub, especially on New Year’s Eve.  Show is at 7pm.

Back to the Future Party – Cafe Standard at the Standard Hotel hosts a FREE party with fortune tellers, taror readers and music.  9p to 2am, at 25 Cooper Sq.

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Photo of fireworks in Prospect Park courtesy Brooklyn Eagle