AUBURN, Maine — Auburn is ready to welcome in 2024 on Sunday during its fifth annual New Year's Auburn event.
It's free to attend and will run from 3 to 9 p.m. at the City's Festival Plaza on Main Street. Nine local breweries will be serving drinks at the biergarten, with food trucks, pubs, and local restaurants serving food as well.
Multiple musical groups will also be preforming live. ISH will play first, followed by Hello Newman, and Grammy-Award Winner and Gorham native Dave Gutter will be the headlining act.
“We are super excited," Auburn's Downtown Coordinator Jennifer Boenig said. “Really we just continue to try to level up every year, do something different, bring something new.”
The new twist this year, will be a first of its kind show in Maine.
Boenig said city officials and event sponsors worked with the company Sky Elements to coordinate a large-scale drone show, featuring 150 drones.
"We decided, you know what, this is the year to do it," Boenig said. "We just thought after the year that we have had that it would be nice to go big."
Sunday's event will be a time to celebrate, but it also comes a little more than two months since October's mass shooting that shook the Lewiston and Auburn community.
“We’re still grieving, you know we always will," Boenig said. “We’re excited to celebrate and hopefully ring in a better new year.”
Sunday's drone show, scheduled to begin at 8:30 p.m., will also feature a tribute to honor the local community.
Even though the event wraps up at 9 p.m., bars and restaurants will still be open until after midnight, so Boenig said there is even more opportunity to support local businesses.
NEWS CENTER Maine will have live coverage from New Year's Auburn throughout the day Sunday.