This is a web edition of GBH Daily, a weekday newsletter bringing you local stories you can trust so you can stay informed without feeling overwhelmed.
🎉A cold New Year’s Eve, with highs in the 30s. Sunset is at 4:21 p.m. Expect a temperature of around 26 degrees when the ball drops at midnight.
Today we have a handy little guide you can take with you to Boston’s First Night celebrations. This is the 50th year of the festival, which artist Clara Wainright started in 1976.
“This event started, quite frankly, as a very, very small — more of a literary, if you will — quiet, sort of bookish, arts [event], and it just grew,” said Dusty Rhodes, president of Conventures Inc., which produces the events. “When we took it over in, basically, 2013, we needed to amplify all the different aspects of art and entertainment — and skewing it again back to being a free family festival.”
GBH Daily will be back in your inboxes after the holiday on Monday, Jan. 5.
Four Things to Know
-Flu cases already surging in Mass., ahead of expected post-holiday spike
-Tatiana Schlossberg, granddaughter of President John F. Kennedy, has died at 35
-Orleans expands child care voucher program amid rising costs for families
-A new cafe in Cambridge aims to build community through conversation
How to ring in 2026 at First Night Boston
Here’s your cheat sheet for tonight’s First Night celebrations in Boston, a collection of free public events around the city:
How to get there: The T, buses, Commuter Rail, the RIDE, and ferries will all be free from 8 p.m. to the end of service. Most trains will run through downtown until about 2 a.m. (Psst: we have a schedule of when the last train of the night will depart on every MBTA line here.)
Where can I see the ice sculptures? All along Boston’s Long Wharf and Seaport District, with a few more in East Boston, Charlestown, Roxbury and Dorchester, starting today at 12:30 p.m. See a full map of sculpture locations here. Boston Harbor Now is running free boat shuttle rides between the Lewis Mall Dock in East Boston, Fan Pier in the Seaport, and Lovejoy Wharf near North Station from 1 to 5 p.m.
Who’s performing? Check out two Pipes and Pops Concerts, each an hour long at the Old South Church, starting at 6:30 p.m. and then again at 8 p.m. Dorchester rapper kei will take the stage at City Hall Plaza at 9:50 p.m. (GBH’s Paris Alston interviewed her last year about her fun, cathartic, poetry-inspired sound), followed by the bands The Femmes at 10:30 p.m. and The Sultans at 11:30 p.m.
Will there be a fireworks show? Yes — two of them, the first at 7 p.m. over the Boston Common and the second at midnight over Long Wharf.
What should I wear? Something that will keep you warm — think layers, layers, layers. GBH meteorologist Dave Epstein says to expect dry and cold weather tonight, with temperatures in the 20s. You might wake up to a coating of snow tomorrow, but not more than half an inch or so.
GBH’s Adam Reilly and Lisa Wardle have a few more safety tips and public service announcements here.
-2025 in review: The biggest stories from Boston and around Massachusetts
-Why do so many people ring in the new year on Jan. 1?
-Before you give up on your New Year’s resolutions, check out these tips to reset
-'Don’t be boring!’ How to cope with the social pressure to drink during Dry January
GBH Daily
Your essential daily newsletter delivering trusted news, local insights, ways to connect, and can't miss programs from Boston and beyond.
