BUY BUTTONS

Pickup at will-call will be available daily at the City Hall Welcome Center (Ninth Street entrance) starting the weekend of November 17th. Mail orders will be mailed starting the week of November 24th. Button sales and will-call pickup will continue at the City Hall Welcome Center 9 a.m. until 8 p.m. on the day of the event (Dec. 31), or while supplies last. Buttons can sell out!

HISTORY:

First Night in Ocean City was modeled after an alcohol-free New Year’s Eve celebration in Boston that marked the nation’s bicentennial in 1976. The first celebration in Ocean City in 1992 included 25 entertainment acts in five different locations with admission buttons selling for $8 ($5 before Dec. 26). About 800 buttons were sold. While other First Night events have faded, Ocean City's has only grown more popular with families making it an annual tradition for a safe New Year's Eve. Today, attendance is capped at 10,000 with admission buttons selling out year after year. Through the years, the event has been sustained by the selfless dedication of volunteers, board members and sponsors.

SPONSORS:

City of Ocean City, Ocean City Regional Chamber of Commerce, the Cape May County Division of Culture and Heritage (Funding for First Night has been made possible in part by the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department of State, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Cape May County Board of County Commissioners through the Cape May County Division of Culture & Heritage Re-Grant Program), McMahon Insurance Agency, Ocean City Free Public Library, Pete Madden of Goldcoast Sotheby's International Realty, Uncle Bill’s Pancake House and Atlantic City Electric.