The countdown is on for the fifth annual Red Stick Revelry New Year’s Eve celebration in downtown Baton Rouge.
This year’s event closes out the city’s year-long bicentennial celebration, a news release says. A 9-foot long LED Red Stick will once again drop at midnight as fireworks explode over the Mississippi River.
Festivities kick off at 11:30 a.m. on Sunday, Dec. 31, in North Boulevard Town Square.
Revellers can partake in family activities early in the day, eat a slice of Baton Rouge’s birthday cake, and Mayor Sharon Weston Broome will dedicate a bicentennial plaque.
Andre Moreau will emcee evening festivities, which start at 7 p.m. on The Crest Stage in Galvez Plaza downtown. Local punk-soul band Phat Hat and soul-funk band Bread Pudd’n will perform. Actor, director and musician John Schneider also will make an appearance.
But you don’t have to wait until the end of the year to celebrate Red Stick Revelry.
The celebration’s first event—the Champagne Stroll and Trolley Ride—actually starts at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 7, at the Capitol Park Museum on North Fourth Street.
The stroll and trolley ride takes participants throughout downtown to see holiday lights and hear carols while stopping at downtown hotels for a glass of champagne. The Capitol Park Museum will offer free admission on that day in honor of Baton Rouge’s Bicentennial.
The event is held in conjunction with the Holiday Shop Hop, which features over 30 vendors offering holiday gifts for sale.
Red Stick Revelry’s midnight drop has drawn an estimated 20,000 people in previous years.
