If you’re asking the question Margaret Whiting and, later, Ella Fitzgerald once posed — what are you doing New Year’s Eve? — there are venues in Utah with answers.
Perhaps the biggest celebration will be in downtown Salt Lake City: The open-air Last Hurrah 2022! NYE party, at the Olympic Legacy Fountain at The Gateway, 50 S. Rio Grande St..
Last Hurrah — presented by The Gateway, Downtown Alliance and The Blocks — has live music, buskers, fireworks at midnight, and pop-up outdoor bars pouring wine, beer and hot cocktails. There also will be indoor activities throughout The Gateway. Performers include DJ Jared, Future.exboyfriend and The Moss.
The event starts at 8 p.m., and runs through midnight. The event is free and open to all ages (except for the pop-up bars), but the food and drink are not.
Here are some other things happening in Utah on New Year’s Eve:
• Kitchen Dwellers, a bluegrass/folk band from Montana, is scheduled to perform at The Commonwealth Room, 195 W. 2100 South, South Salt Lake, on Friday and Saturday, Dec. 30 and 31, starting at 8 p.m. each night. Opening act: The Pickpockets. Tickets available at thestateroompresents.com.
• Tailgate Tavern (3550 S. State St., Salt Lake City) hosts Dead Zephyrs for a South Salt Lake-style NYE throwdown on Saturday, Dec. 31. Show starts at 9 p.m. Go to tailgatetavernslc.com for details.
• Mar | Muntanya, the Spanish-inspired restaurant in the Hyatt Regency at 170 S. West Temple in Salt Lake City, is offering a special a la carte menu featuring tapas and paella, with three dinner settings at 5, 7:30 and 10:30 p.m.; a flamenco dancer, live music, craft cocktails and Cava sabering are included. On Sunday, New Year’s Day, the restaurant will serve an a la carte brunch menu, with new dishes by executive chef Tyson Peterson, from 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Reservations for both days are available at www.exploretock.com/mar-muntanya-salt-lake-city.
• The Hyatt Regency’s bistro-style restaurant, The Salt Republic, will be open for New Year’s Eve with an a la carte menu. On New Year’s Day, they’ll be serving such breakfast items as their signature Bison Short Rib Hash and the SR Benedict (featuring wagyu pastrami) until 2 p.m. Reservations for both days are available at www.exploretock.com/the-salt-republic-salt-lake-city.
• The Salt Lake City New Year’s Eve bar crawl starts at The Green Pig (31 E. 400 South, Salt Lake City). A $40 wristband gives you access to up to six downtown bars.
• The Leonardo (209 E. 500 South, Salt Lake City) is holding a fancy dress party, dubbed the Now or Never NYE Party, which features a champagne toast at midnight. Tickets are $80 if you get them by today (Wednesday); $100 after that.
• The Tribe Utah is hosting Ball Drop 2023, at 801 Event Center, 1055 W. North Temple, Salt Lake City. The event includes live music on two stages, food and concessions, a full-service bar (for those 21 and older), five DJ’s, aerial performers, and a huge confetti-and-balloon drop at midnight. Runs from 8 p.m. to midnight and later. Tickets are $20, or $45 for VIP treatment. Go to balldrop.ticketsauce.com for tickets.
• Laurel Brasserie and Bar — in the Grand America Hotel, at 555 S. Main St., Salt Lake City — will be open New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day, serving its regular menu for brunch, lunch and dinner. There are also a few spots left for the New Year’s Eve buffet. Reservations can be placed online; cost is $75 or $37.50 for kids 12 and younger. Children under 3 are free.
All-ages options
• Millcreek Common, at 1354 E. Chambers Ave. (about 3250 South) in Millcreek, will host Big Boom Bash!, an all-ages dance concert event, on Saturday, Dec. 31, running from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m. The event includes ice skating, food trucks, a laser show, bar service for 21 and older, and a live concert headlined by the L.A.-based dance-music producer SNBRN. Tickets are $20, available at MillcreekCommon.org. (There’s also an early-eve Big Boom Bash! for families, from 6 to 8 p.m. on Saturday, with tickets at $5 each.)
• For kids, the Loveland Living Planet Aquarium, at 12033 S. Lone Peak Parkway in Draper, will host “Noon Year Eve”, an end-of-year countdown party for the whole family. In the aquarium lobby, there will be countdowns at noon, 2 p.m. and 4 p.m., with confetti — so small children don’t have to stay up ‘til midnight to have the experience of cheering in the new year. The festivities are included with admission to the aquarium that day. The aquarium also has a new virtual reality experience, called EECO Voyager.
• The Megaplex 20 at The District, at 3761 W. Parkway Plaza Dr. in South Jordan, is playing a marathon of Disney movies, to mark the studio’s 100th anniversary in 2023, on Saturday from noon to 7 p.m. The marathon features animated movies: “Beauty and the Beast,” “Aladdin,” “The Lion King” and “Frozen.” Tickets, at $26.76 each, are available at MegaplexTheatres.com.
Don’t drink and drive
Nobody wants to get hurt out on the road on New Year’s Eve — or have to deal with the consequences of a DUI arrest. So, if you’re drinking, take a cab, an Uber or Lyft home.
The Maverik convenience store chain is making an offer to Uber, Lyft and cab drivers working in the wee small hours of Jan. 1. All stores are offering a free energy drink — a 16-ounce Mtn Dew Energy, 16-ounce Rockstar or 12-ounce Celsius — to anyone with a driver ID between midnight and 5 a.m. (Limit of one drink per transaction.)
