Ringing in the New Year with the City of Fullerton’s much-anticipated annual New Year’s Eve celebration, First Night. On Sunday, December 31, 2023, from 7pm to Midnight a spectacular celebration for the entire community. Admission to this event was free, but the rides and food were pricey. Although this is traditionally a sober celebration, all the bars on Harbor Blvd had their own celebrations. As the clock ticked down to midnight, First Night captivated attendees with a vibrant extravaganza filled with live entertainment and dazzling fireworks.
Event highlights included:
• Live Music: Performances from local bands Journey Through Time, Soundbytes, and Latin Soul Band LA on three different stages on Harbor Blvd, Pamona Ave, and in the Downtown Plaza.
• Culinary Delights: An array of food and beverage options from gourmet food trucks and local vendors offering a diverse selection of cuisines.
• Family Fun Zone: An assortment of activities designed for all ages, including face painting, balloon and character artists, stilt walkers, a kids’ lane with
interactive games, and several rides. Or parents could let their little ones revel in the festive atmosphere and play on the jungle gym in the park for free.
• Fireworks Extravaganza: The night sky was illuminated with a breathtaking fireworks display at midnight.
Thanks to all the City employees that helped put on this event and make it safe.
Other venues, such as Les Amis Restaurant, the Night Owl Cafe, and The Charleston ($150 per), also featured live music. And businesses like the Brick Basement Antiques and SomiSomi Ice cream were packed.
Les Amis New Years 2024
Celebration the ’20’s in 2024, the Charleston was the place to be. Amazing atmosphere, people, costumes, music, drink, and food to celebrate 2024 in style.
Francis Sinatra and Tim Johnson Photo by Francis Sinatra
Flash Pants rocked the Charleston Photo by Francis Sinatra
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Categories: Downtown, Local Business, Local Events, Local Government, Local News
This is all great, but the police have to stop the jackasses who insist on setting off full fireworks displays in brush areas and neighborhoods from 10 pm to 2-3 am. NYE is no fun when you can’t sleep worrying about when the fires will begin. We need a full fireworks ban in Fullerton because safe & sane ones are neither safe nor sane.
I think they’re already banned other than the fourth. It’s an enforcement problem. My feeling is cops are mostly regular guys and so like to blow things up themselves and so are choosing to focus resources elsewhere.
It should be fixed but I don’t know how you fix it.
We had a similar problem during the worst of COVID when law enforcement didn’t like the emergency public health laws that were in effect. That was more political but it was still a law enforcement priority and discretion issue.
I imagine that illegal fireworks are one of the most difficult things to enforce. We can barely tell which house they’re coming from within our own neighborhood; also, they’re usually over within in a couple minutes. (It’s still a problem because they keep setting them off sporadically through the night, but it’d still be hard for an officer to sit around observing in one spot.) I also don’t know how to fix it, but I would like it to be fixed. I’m always worried about people getting hurt and structures being damaged.
On the fourth, people nearby brazenly shoot rockets rivaling commercial fireworks up from the same location, over and over for over an hour. Every year. The technology to monitor the airspace with drones or ground based equipment that can pinpoint the origin certainly exists. If it is cost prohibitive to do it alone the city could team up with nearby cities.
As to New Year’s Eve it’s more sporadic but since the technology exists for gunshot tracking I think they could do the same for fireworks.
With the legal standard being the law enforcement personnel having eyes on the infraction, you track with the first incident and cite on the violator doing it again.
Where there’s a will, there’s a way. I just don’t think there’s enough will. It costs money and any pol that got it implemented would look like a spoil sport to many. Probably a lose-lose for them. And I suspect law enforcement would argue they have other things to focus on. So it doesn’t happen.
That’s a good point, I forgot about drones. I think FPD recently launched (pun intended!) the use of drones for first response; I wonder if it could be used for illegal fireworks specifically because of their somewhat elusive nature. I don’t think I’d like drones used for all sorts of crimes, but they might work for fireworks.
I don’t want to think the worst of the police (or anyone else) so I just have to assume there’s some reason that illegal fireworks persist. I agree that it would be nice if something could be done. On another note, I wish people simply had the decency not to shoot off illegal fireworks, but I guess that would be asking too much.
The police have difficulty enforcing something like this without actually witnessing the discharge of the illegal fireworks themselves. By the time you report it, the offenders are gone. So while I’m sure that some officers may enjoy “blow(ing) things up,” that doesn’t change that for the FPD to enforce these actions, they have to witness it with their own eyes (as opposed to something like murder). …therein lies the problem. Even with the “ban,” it still requires a law enforcement officer’s witnessing of the action.
I guess. If the miscreant were discharging firearms I think suddenly there’d be a lot of witnesses and arrests
…to my understanding, this is one of those offenses where a sworn officer needs to witness it; and not go off of witness testimony. Without the officer being present (and witnessing) when the fireworks are set off, sadly, there’s not much you can do.
I don’t doubt it. But I’ve seen sworn officers ignore illegal fireworks.
My favorite was a neighbor that held onto a Christmas tree until July and then lit it up on their backyard. It quickly got out of control and was melting wires hanging over it. Fire department was called, knocked at the door but occupant said it was not a problem and they left. No that wasn’t the police.
Maybe sometimes everyone is following the rules but public safety suffers.
The biggest problem is normally law abiding citizens deciding to take risks with their neighbors property and well being on the line.
HAHAHA The 12yr old in me is cackling; but realistically, that’s a boneheaded thing to do (Re: Light an already dead/dehydrated tree [Read: Kindling] on fire).
Again, the 12yr old in me is amped on traditional fireworks. But I’m really interested in this LED option (I know the animals are) and would like to see it entertained as an option.
Happy to see the First Night event come back downtown.