Schedule of Events
Ice Skating
Skate for free (includes skate rental) in the outdoor rink at the Gallivan Center with your First Night button.
Session times are 6:00 pm - 7:30 pm,
7:45 pm - 9:15 pm, 9:30 pm - 11:00 pm.
First Night Party Makers
Presented by: Discovery Gateway
Step inside the Discovery Gateway tent to create your Second-Line props, flags, umbrellas, and noisemakers. Now you're ready for the party!
Spontaneous Acts: Karaoke Theater
Presented by: Children's Theater and School of the Arts
Engage your inner thespian at this interactive theatrical event. You and a friend can select a script, put on a costume, and star in your favorite drama—live and on stage. Take a few minutes to play your desired role in front of an audience. Cue cards direct you through the process to guarantee precise prose.
Projected Aspirations: Video Resolution
Presented by: Spy Hop Productions
Make your New Year's resolution larger than life. Following the theme of "This year I will..." you can compose cards with your pledges for improvement. Then, the Spy Hop crew will record you and your resolution in their "First Night studio" to be projected on a nearby skyscraper—this is your chance to publicize your hopes for peace, joy, and success in the year ahead.
It Takes a Village... Visual Presentation
Presented by: YouthCity Artways
Be the first to see this inspiring community art project. Groups of youth artists, ages 5-14, created unique flags to be displayed at First Night Salt Lake. These flags are mixed-media collages that represent personal interpretations of the neighborhoods and villages in which the artists participate. Following First Night, the flags will become a part of the fabric in the neighborhoods where they were created.
Gigantic Lite-Brites: Interactive Art
Colored pegs illuminate the night in these oversized art projects. Be inventive and contribute your unique style to the collaborative effort focused on color and light.
Extreme Films
Presented by: X Dance
The International Action Sports Film Festival shows the Best of 2007 throughout the evening.
Gallivan Main Stage
6:00 pm - Mama's Faith Temple Choir
Start the evening with the soulful sounds of gospel.
7:00 pm - School of Rock
Local favorites warm up the stage with a special "NOLA" set.
7:55 pm - Hypnotist Kerry Sharp
Get ready for a comedy-hypnotist performance where the audience becomes the stars. Kerry Sharp, the "world's fastest" hypnotist puts on a high-energy, hilarious show that is truly mind bending.
8:40 pm - Henry Butler
Known as "The Pride of New Orleans", Henry Butler is a master of musical diversity. Butler blends percussive jazz piano and classically trained wizardry to craft a unique sound. A rich fusion of jazz, Caribbean, classical, pop, and R & B create eclectic music that is a reflection of his birthplace, New Orleans.
10:00 pm - Hot 8 Brass Band
After leading the Second-Line Parade, Hot 8 hits the Main Stage. The Hot 8 Brass Band has been central to New Orleans street music for over a decade. The band frequently plays in the traditional Second-Line Parades hosted Sunday afternoons by the Social Aid and Pleasure Club. They are famous for their boundless energy and toe-tapping tunes-second to none in the sounds they coax from their well-loved and well-worn horns.
10:30 pm - All-Star Voodoo Revue
Comprised of some of the top players on the national touring circuit including PAPA MALI, HENRY BUTLER and a special appearance by BIG CHIEF MONK BOUDREAUX, respected ambassador of the Mardi Gras Indian Culture. The All-Star Voodoo Revue brings a spirited blend of styles that emanate from the New Orleans and Southern music catalogue. Back porch blues, swamp funk, roots rock, and Mardi Gras Second-Line Parade beats are just some of the sounds that will echo from the stage and bring on uninhibited dancing. Be sure to arrive early and stay late, you won't want to miss a single moment of the revelry.
Second-Line Stage
The party continues on 200 South with the Second-Line Stage entertainment. This is the place for Utah's unique performance groups to bedazzle the crowds and the starting point for the Second-Line Parade.
6:00 pm - Zivio Ethnic Arts Ensemble
6:45 pm - Salt Lake Capoeira
Experience the unique and vibrant Afro-Brazilian martial art demonstration that combines movement, culture, music, and philosophy. Capoeira is played in a circle, or roda, with two members engaging in various attacks and defenses while maintaining a melodic fluidity. These movements are driven by the rhythms emanating from the roda's instruments and vocal songs.
7:45 pm - Zivio Ethnic Arts Ensemble
The Balkan folk dance troupe returns for a second performance.
8:30 pm - Urban Dance
Experience bursting energy and the latest moves as urban dance comes to life with a set of breakdance and hip-hop choreography for the First Night crowd.
9:00 pm - Incendiary Circus
9:30 pm - Hot 8 Brass Band
Fresh from the streets of the Crescent City, Hot 8 is in Salt Lake City to show us how to enjoy the spontaneous brass band parade known in New Orleans as Second Line. The parade begins at the Second-Line Stage and weaves through the grounds to the Main Stage. So get your umbrellas, handkerchiefs, noisemakers, flags, and party pants on to join in this unique event—full of uninhibited dancing, music, and you.
10:00 pm - Urban Dance
The crew is breakin' it down one more time.
10:30 pm - Hypnotist Kerry Sharp
The World's Fastest Hypnotist returns to the First Night stage.
11:00 pm - Incendiary Circus
Enjoy a second act of fiery debauchery from Incendiary Circus.
Uprok Tent
Hit the Uprok Tent all night long for the best high-energy bumpin' techno, trip hop and hip-hop sounds. Loud, fast, dark—take a break from the folks and heat it up with your favorite club DJ's, percussionists, B-Boyz and more!Art Lounge
The First Night Art Lounge is the place to warm up and chill out to intimate performances from fabulous local artists and musicians. Enjoy spoken word artists, poets, drummers, and acoustic performances inside the lounge.
6:00 pm to 8:00 pm - Native American Cultural Celebration
Enjoy a unique storytelling experience that incorporates song, dance, and costume from local Native American tribes.
8:00 pm to 11:00 pm - Lyricist Lounge
The Lyric Lounge Presents "The 8th Dimension". An evening of performance poetry, up-tempo Jazz music and an acoustic guitar performance. This show will present the powerful human experience of words delivered in various styles from hip -hop like rhymes to traditional rhythmic poetry to take your mind body and soul on an enlightend journey. The show will close with an open mic were the audience will be encouraged to participate.
The Midnight Special
Start the New Year under a canopy of sparkles and light at theWells Fargo Fireworks Finale. Your button is an all-access pass to a unique fireworks show in the heart of the city.
New This Year
The Discovery Gateway Ball Drop of Global Proportions
A giant globe, suspended above Gallivan Avenue, will be lowered as we approach the Midnight hour. Take a moment to reflect upon the future of the planet as we welcome 2008.
Additional Activities
Joseph Smith Memorial Building*
December 31, 2007
* First Night button not required
5:30 p.m.- Lobby
Piano prelude music by
Kathryn Pendleton
6:00-Lobby
Steve & Pat Evans Family
(Broadway show tunes)
6:45-Empire Room
The Other Three Tenors
(David & Brent Allen, Terry Behunin, with accompanist
Kathy Skidmore)
6:45-Bonneville Room
Llajtayku (yock-TIE-ku)
(South American musicians playing traditional music
of the Andes)
7:30-Lobby
Beehive Statesmen Chorus
(award-winning barbershop chorus)
8:15-Empire Room
Harmonix, a cappella quartet
(great harmonies and energetic entertainment)
8:15-Bonneville Room
The Sizzling Strings, Jensen family with seven children
(familiar show tunes, oldies, fiddling pieces)
9:00-Lobby
Mama's Boys, family band
(bluegrass, old-time fiddling, western music)
9:45-Empire Room
Katie Hill, soprano
(musical theater selections)
9:45-Bonnivelle Room
The Accords, accordion trio
(variety of upbeat accordion music)
10:30-Lobby
Wasatch & District Pipe Band
(bagpipe ensemble performing Celtic & Scottish tunes)
11:15-Lobby
Ailine's Touch of Polynesia
(Polynesian dancers and drummers)
The Utah Jazz and First Night Salt Lake offer
a slam-dunk deal!
Your Utah Jazz ticket from either the Boston Celtics game on December 29th or the Portland Trailblazers game on December 31st saves you $2 on admission to First Night Salt Lake festivities. Bring your ticket stub to the main gate of the Gallivan Center on December 31st to benefit from this offer.
Utah's Hogle Zoo
Present your First Night button at the ticket office at Utah's Hogle Zoo anyday in January 2008 and receive $2 off any regular admission. Remember Hogle Zoo is open all winter long!
Not valid with any other offer. No cash value.
One discount admission per each button presented.
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First Night Salt Lake is an alcohol free, family-oriented New Year's Eve celebration of the arts that showcases high-quality visual and performing artists. First Night offers the community an opportunity to experience Salt Lake's best and most diverse forms of art, and seeks to promote cultural, ethnic and artistic diversity among artists and the community. For the past 15 years, First Night Salt Lake has been one of the state's largest and most successful community events. The Downtown Alliance organizes, manages, and promotes the annual New Year's Eve event, under a contract with First Night Salt Lake, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization.
Established in 1991, the Downtown Alliance is a non-profit organization serving downtown property owners, businesses, and residents by promoting Downtown Salt Lake City as the premier cultural, business, economic, and entertainment center in the Intermountain West. The Downtown Alliance became an affiliate of the Salt Lake Chamber in 2003.
