Looking for a unique and quirky New Year’s Eve event? Go to Eastport, Maine.
Eastport Maine has International Take on Celebrating New Year’s Eve
The small city of Eastport, the Easternmost in the U.S., puts on not only a Maine, but an International spin on its New Year’s Eve celebration. Eastport and its coastline neighbors are adjacent to the Canadian border and islands. As a result, friendships, tourism, and commerce are intertwined among U.S. and Canadian residents. Due to the Time Zone boundary, Canada, on Atlantic Time, welcomes the New Year one hour earlier than Eastport. This leads to a little twist in the celebration, as Eastport celebrates twice, one hour apart.
We aren’t ones for celebrating New Year’s Eve in a big way. Usually we walk over to a neighbor’s party if we do anything. So traveling six or so hours to celebrate is an adventure for us.
We have a cabin about 45 minutes from Eastport so we know the area, but close it up for the winter. In 2012 Anderson Cooper announced that Eastport’s unusual celebration would be part of his New Year’s Eve Special. Well, that motivated us to head north to welcome in the New Year.
PLEASE NOTE: Since this was written, COVID19 impacted some of the festivities. As of Dec. 31, 2021, some of the usual activities were re-instated, with safe practices in mind. See this year’s schedule of events here.
Eastport Welcomes New Year’s Eve Revelers
Although small, Eastport has a motel and several B&B’s, plus a charming downtown with several restaurants and shops. The Quoddy Tides, the local newspaper that we subscribe to, features several articles and ads for special events and restaurant specials in Eastport on New Year’s Eve. Some of the stores stay open late and offer mulled cider or hot chocolate.
We made our motel and restaurant reservations using the information in the Quoddy Tides. The motel and B&B’s are a short walk to downtown. Once you check in, you can walk to all the restaurants and shops, as well as the New Year’s Eve countdown.
As you might expect, the celebration is in a prominent place downtown, Bank Square, which is at a wide fork in the road. Most of the restaurants either face the fork or are a block or two away.
Welcoming the New Year is coordinated and hosted by the Tides Institute & Museum of Art at Bank Square. The Tides Institute’s building is the former Eastport Savings Bank, built in 1887. It’s located at the fork in Downtown Eastport and it’s location, height, and sidewalk frontage lend themselves to being the focal point of the festivities.
During the late afternoon and evening hours leading up to the last hour of the year, the city, including the Tides Institute and Eastport Arts Center, Peavey Public Library, and galleries, offers a variety of fun and family events, programs, and exhibits, free and for a modest fee.
NOTE: Since this post was written, several new shops have opened in Downtown Eastport, as well as a wine bar – Phoenix Fine Wines and a craft microbrewery – Horn Run Brewing.
The Tides Institute & Museum of Art provides a schedule of events and store and restaurant hours on their website: tidesinstitute.org/newyearseve
Eastport Offers Warm Hospitality on Cold Night
We started our celebration with appetizers and a cocktail at one restaurant, since closed and re-opened under new ownership. We then walked about a block to the Happy Crab, where we’ve always enjoyed a great meal. The Happy Crab had a special New Year’s Eve menu and live entertainment. After a leisurely dinner, we walked to Bank Square to see the preparations for the live broadcast coverage by news correspondent Gary Tuchman to Anderson Cooper’s New Year’s Eve program on CNN. It was cold so we browsed and warmed up in the shops until about 10 minutes to 11.
Dropping the Maple Leaf
Phase one of the festivities is celebrating New Year’s on Canadian/Atlantic time by lowering a large lit up wooden Canadian Maple Leaf from the Tides Institute Building as 11 p.m. approaches. A brass band plays “O Canada” as revelers sing.
Part of the fun is that people come with fun outfits or hats. People in moose and fish hats and someone dressed as a lobster added to the Maine flavor when we went.
Some members of the local Passamaquoddy tribe of the Wabanaki may come in native dress. In 2012 they were peacefully protesting as part of a year of global agitation about the rights of Indigenous peoples and to protect their cultures and defend the Earth.
New Year’s Eve 2012, a “Mountie”, Brent Dakai, of the Integrated Border Enforcement Team of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, was on hand for the Maple Leaf Drop.
After the Maple Leaf Drop, we walked the few blocks to the Motel East to warm up and watch Anderson Cooper until it was close to midnight, Eastern Daylight Savings Time.
On New Year’s Eve, Dec. 2021, the Tides Institute (TIMA) provided live stream video on its Facebook and Instagram pages. As of December 2023, TIMA still provides live streaming a little before and after midnight Atlantic time and midnight Eastern time.
The Great Sardine Drop in Eastport
Due to the cold, and because the shops, restaurants, motel and B&B’s are close by, people tend to stay indoors between the two celebrations. Rather like ants to a piece of candy dropped on the sidewalk, all of a sudden, people walk from all directions to Bank Square a little before 12 midnight. The 8 foot Sardine sculpture hangs from upstairs windows at the Tides Institute waiting for the countdown. The sardine is made by East Machias woodworker and sculptor Bill Schaefer. It is the third version of the sardine since the first drop in 2004. Why a sardine? The sardine was a big part of the fishing and canning industries in Eastport and nearby Lubec. Eastport was known for its sardine factories, now closed and most torn down.
The Sardine is slowly lowered as the Brass ensemble plays “Auld Lang Syne” and the crowd sings and cheers. Sometimes there are fireworks courtesy of a local business. Once the Sardine is on the ground, the tradition is to line up and kiss it for good luck in the New Year. During the 2012 New Year’s Eve, the TV crew provided a live feed of the proceedings to Anderson Cooper. In 2021, stickers of a kiss-print were distributed and revelers could place them on an eight-foot sardine billboard and take photos. No more kissing the fish directly, but you can still take photos and selfies.
Following the festivities, a nearby restaurant may offer a midnight breakfast to close out the night.
First Sunrise of the New Year seen early in Eastport
Eastport, being the easternmost city in the United States, is also one of the first places to view the sunrise. So, if you are in Eastport, you can be one of the first people to see the sun come over the horizon on January 1st.
Motel East in Eastport overlooks the harbor and seacoast. From the rooms facing East you can see across the Bay of Fundy to the island of Campobello, which is Canadian. Sent your alarm clock and you can experience the night sky slowly brighten as the new day dawns on a new year as the sun’s rays appear above Campobello’s treeline. Priceless!
Eastport featured in a Documentary
Eastport is one of eight towns featured in “Our Towns” a documentary by Academy Award-nominated filmmakers Steven Ascher and Jeanne Jordan, based upon the book “Our Towns: A 100,000 Mile Journey into the Heart of America” by James and Deborah Fallows, released on HBO/HBO Max in April, 2021. It is a portrait of the United States and how small cities and towns are surviving and reinventing themselves. See the trailer here.
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