Marysville officials are hoping New Year’s Eve revelers will stay local and late.
City officials are making plans for a special celebration at midnight Wednesday morning and in the hours leading up to it.
City Manager Terry Emery said he has heard from many people that Marysville is “kind of a ghost town” on New Year’s Eve.
“We want to give people a reason to come to the Uptown for New Year’s Eve and we hope to give them a reason to stick around and help us ring in the New Year,” said Amanda Morris, Recreation/Event Manager.
City officials discussed a variety of ways to celebrate and explored the idea of “dropping” something, Time-Square style, that would represent Marysville.
Eventually, officials decided to blast a confetti cannon from the top of the fire department’s ladder truck at midnight. The confetti celebration will take place at Partners Park. Additionally, the city’s skating rink will be open from 2 p.m. to midnight. Morris said there would likely be some food vendors in the Uptown area.
Revelers wanting to tour the Uptown by horse-drawn carriage will also have that opportunity. Carriage rides will take place from 8 p.m. till 11 a.m.
The Marysville Outdoor Refreshment Area (MORA) will be open, allowing patrons to walk around the area while consuming alcohol.
Morris said she has worked with local restaurants and bars to stay open late and to have live music. She said that in the past some of the restaurants have tried to have live entertainment and special events, but it is much easier if the city helps create “the excitement and feeling of an event.”
“Most of the restaurants and bars are already open, now it is about how do we get our residents to come out and engage,” Morris said.
Officials said the celebration will serve to cap the city’s 200th birthday and hopefully welcome the county’s bicentennial.
“We thought, ‘What better way to send out our bicentennial year than to have a celebration,” Morris said. “We want this to serve as great way to close out the city bicentennial and to hand it off to the county for theirs, all on one evening.”
Emery said a lot of variables, including the weather, will play a role in the public’s participation.
“This is kind of a trial run,” said Emery. “If this goes well, maybe we will look to expand it for next year.”
Emery said the city will play music in the Uptown until 12:30 a.m., Wednesday. Pedestrians in the area may have noticed the music through the holiday season.
In November, the city added a new sound system, as well as more patio lights and street signs indicating the Historic Uptown District.
The additions are a permanent part of the Uptown.
“What we are trying to do is enhance the atmosphere when people are in and around the Uptown,” Emery said.
Emery said the city has for some time wanted to add a speaker system at the intersection of Main and Fifth streets, similar to the one in Partners Park.
He said anytime there is music in the Uptown, he and other city officials hear positive comments.
Emery said that in addition to saving money for the system, city officials have also toured other communities with similar systems. He said a good sound system can be “pricey but worth it.”
“We wanted to make sure we have a good, quality system, but also one we can adjust quickly,” Emery said, noting the system will be controlled by a laptop.
He said the city will be “sensitive to the people living in the Uptown.” He said music will be shut off most days about 8 p.m., though it could be “a little later” during special city events.
Emery said the speaker system could be expanded, “depending on what kind of reaction we get.”
He said the lights are also the result of positive feedback. Emery said the public has repeatedly expressed an interest in having the patio lights, leased specifically for the city’s bicentennial celebration, stay.
“There are things we do, from time to time, where we get a positive response, that we will try to do and to continue and even enhance those,” Emery said.