New Year’s Eve 2023 In Rockville: When And Where To Celebrate

ROCKVILLE, MD — With Christmas in the rearview mirror, many people in Rockville are making plans and reservations for where and when they will be celebrating New Year's Eve on Sunday.

Get in touch with nature on Happy Noon Year's Eve at Meadowside Nature Center, which is located at 5100 Meadowside Lane in Rockville. Bring your favorite drink to toast the new year from 11 a.m. to 12 p.m., on Sunday, Dec. 31, A small snack will be provided.

Countdown to midnight at Twin Valley Distillers' New Year's Eve Party. Doors open at 8 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 31, at 1029 E. Gude Drive in Rockville.

Here is a look at some additional events happening in and around Rockville:

• New Year's Eve with E.U. and Sugar Bear at Bethesda Blues & Jazz Supper Club on Sunday, Dec. 31, at 10 p.m. The club is located at 7719 Wisconsin Ave., in Bethesda. Purchase tickets.

• Maryland Holiday Light Festival: LuminoCity! is a luminescent adventure through three differently themed rooms. It's open Monday, Jan. 1, from 4:30 p.m. to 10 p.m., at the Montgomery County Fair on Perry Parkway in Gaithersburg. Purchase tickets
• Happy Noon Year's Eve: Get in touch with nature on Sunday, Dec. 31 from 11 a.m. to 12 p.m, at Meadowside Nature Center, which is located at 5100 Meadowside Lane in Rockville. Bring your favorite drink to toast the new year. A small snack will be provided.
• A Grateful Dead New Year's Eve Eve: This mind-blowing, in-person event will be packed with psychedelic music. Jess Lake Cookie Bake is the opener, starting 7 p.m. Start your celebration a day early from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m., on Saturday, Dec. 30 at Bethesda Boards, 7900 Woodmont Ave., Bethesda. On the Bus, a Grateful Dead tribute band plays two sets from 8 p.m. to 11 p.m.
• The Ultimate Mimosa New Year's Eve Party: Enjoy a complimentary champagne fountain, Caribbean vibes and music by DJ Sprang and DJ Jason Frass, on Sunday, Dec. 31, from 9:30 p.m. to Jan. 1, 4 a.m., at Crossroads Two Restaurant & Lounge, 11300 Fern St., Wheaton-Glenmont.'
• NYE Live! New Year's Eve Bethesda: Sports & Social Bethesda at 11800 Grand Park Ave. in North Bethesda is hosting a party, which will include a premium food & bar package, champagne toast, DJs and dancing. Hours are Sunday, Dec. 31, 8 p.m. to Monday, Jan. 1, 12 a.m. Purchase tickets.
• Masquerade Brunch, from 12 p.m. to 5 p.m., on Sunday, Dec. 31, at Citizens & Culture, at 8113 Georgia Ave. in Silver Spring. You can feast, dance and celebrate the arrival of 2024 and still have time to carouse until midnight. Purchase tickets.
• AFROKULTURE Pre New Year's Kickoff: On Saturday, Dec. 30, from 10 p.m. to 3 a.m., an even earlier start to your New Year's Eve excitement at Citizens & Culture, at 8113 Georgia Ave. in Silver Spring. This Hip Hop, AfroBeats and Soca party will offer non-stop music, dancing, and good vibes with a crossover of genres in a fusion of cultures. Purchase tickets.

If you have any New Year's celebrations you'd like to be added to this list, email all the details to [email protected].

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 adopted iterations of the ball drop — the Chick Drop in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania and the giant Potato Drop in Boise, Idaho, for example.

The end of one year and beginning of another is often celebrated with 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 history of New Year’s resolutions dates back 8,000 years to ancient Babylonians, who would make promises to return borrowed objects and pay outstanding debts at the beginning of the new year, in mid-March when they planted their crops.

According to legend, if they kept their word, pagan gods would grant them favor in the coming year. If they broke the promise, they would fall out of God’s favor, according to a history of New Year’s resolutions compiled by North Hampton Community College New Center in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.

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 myriad 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 and a plan to meet the stress and discomfort of changing a habit or condition.