For the second year in a row, First Night Boston festivities will be hosted at City Hall Plaza instead of in the Back Bay, due to the ongoing rehabilitation of Copley Square Park.

The event was moved last year due to that same $17 million construction project, which began in July 2023, to update Copley Square Park. While the project was originally expected to finish in autumn, the city’s most recent update expects 75% of the park to be open by the end of the year with several aspects to be finalized in the spring.

Michael Nichols, president of Downtown Boston Alliance (DBA), said that the event’s downtown presence last year brought in 60-70% more foot traffic to the area compared to the New Year’s Eve the year before. Restaurants, hotels and some of the areas anchor retail establishments, as a result, saw more patronage throughout the day.

“We definitely thought it was a home run being here last year. We saw a very clear uptick in foot traffic and business activity sort of proximate to First Night,” Nichols said. “People who you could tell were families and young people and people who were walking into the downtown from City Hall Plaza.”

Nichols added that the DBA had heard from attendees who appreciated First Night’s venue change, saying that the larger space made for a better experience.

First Night being held downtown doubles as a helpful transition between DBA’s holiday and winter programing, Nichols said. Their current animal nutcrackers for Holiday Kingdom will last through January 2, before their Winteractive art exhibition begins.

“I think we just love that First Night feels like it can grow on City Hall Plaza, that it has a space that suits the scale of the event and has the really robust restaurant community and shopping district just steps from the plaza,” he said.

Meg Mainzer-Cohen, president of the Back Bay Association, said that the neighborhood’s business community loved having the festivities at Copley Square and would miss them not being there again this year.

T.K. Skenderian, a member of First Night’s organizing team, said that the decision to hold First Night Boston 2025 downtown was again made due to the construction in Copley Square and that as of now, and that no plans were in place yet for either location regarding next year.

“We’re just going to get through First Night 2025 in a couple weeks here, and once we’ve had a chance to review that and look at that we’ll start to think about 2026 and where best to have the event.”

Skenderian added that while First Night is not being hosted in Back Bay this year, elements of the event will remain in the area with Trinity Church, Old South Church and First Church of Christ Scientist all holding events throughout the day.

New to First Night this year are indoor programming at Boston Public Market and CanalSide Food + Drink. Ice sculptures at City Hall Plaza will thematically commemorate Massachusetts’ 250th anniversary.

While festivities across the city begin earlier, Skenderian said that things begin to heat up at around noon with programming at City Hall Civic Pavillion, Boston Public Market, and CanalSide beginning all at the same time. Outdoor live music at the main stage of City Hall Plaza kicks off with Hill House The Band at 2pm until the fireworks display at midnight.

The parade, starting at 6pm, will begin at Cambridge Street in front of City Hall Plaza and run down Tremont Street before taking right at Boylston Street and right again at Charles Street ending just before its intersection with Beacon Street.

“Events like this really unite our city and the people who live in it and visit it and live around it, and it’s just so cool to see,” said Skenderian. “Everyone’s in such a great mood, the weather is usually not great, the music is good, the entertainment is good, the ice sculptures are going, the lights are flashing, and everyone’s ready to kick of 2025 in a good way.”