New Year’s Eve 2022 Celebrations In The Lower Merion Area

LOWER MERION TOWNSHIP, PA — Residents in the Lower Merion area are getting ready to celebrate the New Year.

And those who plan on going out for the ball drop might want to check out these events in the region for all kinds of New Year's Eve fun.

Here is a look at some additional events happening in the Lower Merion area:

• New Year's Eve (Day) Family Jam w/ Alex & the Kaleidoscope — 10:30 a.m., Ardmore Music Hall
• NYE Yacht Rock Experience: Boat House Row — 8:30 p.m., Ardmore Music Hall
  
• Lark's 2022 NYE Celebration — 5 p.m., Lark
• New Year's Eve Craftpalooza — 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Ludington Library
• New Year's Countdown — 11:30 a.m. to noon, Bala Cynwyd Library
• Rockin' Noon Years Eve — 11:30 a.m. to 12:15 p.m., Gladwyne Library
• Ben Arnold & Band with Nik Rose — 7:30 p.m. to 10 p.m., Kelly Center
• New Year's Eve at Valley Forge Casino Resort — noon to 2 a.m., Valley Forge Casino Resort
• New Year's Eve Swimming — 8:30 p.m. to 12:30 a.m., Lawrence Park Swim Club
• New Year's Eve 2023 at the Manayunk Brewery — 9 p.m. to 2 a.m., Manayunk Brewing Company
• Chill AF New Year's Eve — 8 p.m. to 12:30 a.m., Fat Lady Brewing
• New Year's Eve Party at Springfield Country Club — 8 p.m. to 12:30 a.m., Springfield Country Club
• Rivers Casino New Year’s Eve Fireworks on the Waterfront — 6 p.m. and Midnight, Rivers Casino
• NYE Live! New Year's Eve Philly — 9 p.m., Xfinity Live!
• Countdown2Noon at the Please Touch Museum — 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., Please Touch Museum
• New Year’s Eve Buffet & Fireworks Family Celebration at Hilton Philadelphia at Penn’s Landing — 3:30 p.m. to 6 p.m., The Hilton Philadelphia at Penn's Landing
• New Year’s Eve Fireworks at Sesame Place — 7 p.m., Sesame Place

In the United States, one of the most popular New Year’s Eve traditions is, of course, the dropping of the giant ball in New York City’s Times Square. Various cities have adopted their own iterations of the event — the Peach Drop in Atlanta, the Chick Drop in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania and the giant Potato Drop in Boise, Idaho.

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.