Plenty on the calendar for First Night Spokane

Tonight’s First Night celebration ringing in the new year in downtown Spokane will feature fire and ice.

“We have approximately 150 different performers and different types of activities,” said Lona Barnum, executive director of First Night Spokane. Participants can expect “anything from music, dance, theater, comedy, visual arts. We have fire dancers on Wall Street this year. We have a world-renowned ice carver at Riverfront Park who will be doing a magnificent ice carving.”

The 14th annual Winter Festival of Arts & Entertainment, also known as First Night, will start at 7 p.m.

Preceding the main celebration is the Sacred Heart Children’s Hospital Kids Night Out, at the Spokane Convention Center from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. Kids Night Out features performances and interactive activities, including cultural dance, craft-making and comedy.

“Because we are family oriented there is something for everyone from 2 to 200,” Barnum said. “It is very diverse and that’s what we like about it.”

First Night Spokane is one of more than 100 national and four international First Night events. Founded in 1976 as part of the bicentennial celebrations in Boston, First Night emphasizes family, inclusivity and cultural diversity.

Barnum said she expects 30,000 attendees or more this year, including many from out of town, including 200 expected to participate in the Resolution Run, a 5-kilometer race that starts at 6:45 p.m. Like all First Night events, it will take place regardless of conditions.

“We are an all-weather event so it doesn’t matter if it’s snowing, raining, sleeting, hailing,” Barnum said. “I think Spokane is a hardy group. They prepare very well for cold weather.”

She noted, however, that “about 87 percent of what we do is indoors.”

Spokane Transit will operate a free shuttle service from 2 p.m. to 1 a.m. for First Night admission button holders, and free parking is available at Riverpoint campus, 412 E. Spokane Falls Blvd.

Admission buttons for First Night may be purchased online through today for $18 at firstnightspokane.org. Will-call will open at 3 p.m. at the Spokane Convention Center.