Ring in the New Year with a series of firsts at Family First Night

A fresh year is almost upon us and the Town of Aurora is planning a fresh way to ring in 2026.

Family First Night, the community's traditional New Year's Eve party, is set for 6 – 9 p.m. at Aurora Town Square.

The annual December 31 event is usually held at the Aurora Family Leisure Complex, but the new location and new venue will allow for new experiences for the whole family.

“With the exciting new amenities that are available to us at Town Square, we've been able to keep some of the traditional favourite activities that we would have enjoyed at the Aurora Family Leisure Complex, such as the reptile shows, the magic shows, and even the Mad Science demonstrations, but because of the additional amenities we have to work with this year, we've been able to offer a silent dance party, as well as we're going to do a DJ party outside in the Square,” says Shelley Ware, Special Events Coordinator for the Town of Aurora.

“We're also going to offer two fire shows in the middle of the ice – one will be at 6.15, one will be at 8.15, and then fun activities like face painting, balloon twisting and such will be on the bridge overlooking the ice surface.”

If you're looking to maintain the Family First Night tradition of a public swim and skate, that hasn't been sacrificed for the new venue; both activities will take place earlier in the day at the Stronach Aurora Recreation Complex, with public skates scheduled for 10 a.m. to 11 a.m., and again from 11.30 – 12.30 p.m., and the leisure swim scheduled from 1.15 to 2.45 p.m.

“At the Family Leisure Complex, the popularity of the activities definitely outgrew the space,” says Ware. “We've moved the swimming and skating to the morning at the SARC and the SARC has bigger ice pads as well as a bigger pool, so it can provide more activities to more people. By having that earlier in the day, people essentially don't have to choose between getting to do a free swim or seeing the reptile show, because people can now do the swimming and skating earlier in the day and then head to Town Square for the evening festivities.

“It's a fresh, new atmosphere, which can also be symbolic of a fresh year ahead. This is what we consider to be our transition year and we hope for New Year's Eve 2026 to be twice as big as this year's plan – but this is a fresh new start for a fresh new year.”

For a full roster of Family First Night activities, as well as daytime programming, visit aurora.ca/familyfirstnight.

By Brock Weir
Editor
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter