BankPlus presents Red Stick Revelry, Baton Rouge’s official New Year’s Eve celebration, partnering with the River Center Branch Library for its noon celebration for kids – Red Stick Rising. For the ninth year, a 9-foot tall LEDlighted Red Stick will rise into place 60 feet above the North Boulevard Town Square where it will sit until it descends in the countdown to midnight to ring in the New Year. Starting at 11 a.m. on New Year’s Eve, the River Center Branch Library will host storytelling, arts activities, and a special performance by Clay Achee, creator of Ziggy and the Junkyard Band and the new LPB show “Ziggy’s Arts Adventure.” Clay will perform songs with his puppets and talk with the kids about puppeteering. At noon, everyone is invited out to the Town Square to sing “Auld Lang Syne” as the Red Stick rises.
Red Stick Rising was created to give kids their own special New Year’s Eve tradition. Later that evening, entertainment kicks off in Davis Rhorer Plaza, adjacent to the River Center Branch, at 8:00 p.m. with live music by Press 1 for English and The Michael Foster Project, two all-new laser light shows and fireworks over the Mississippi River when the Red Stick drops at midnight.
Along with presenting sponsor BankPlus, both events are made possible by Visit Baton Rouge, the Office of Mayor-President Sharon Weston Broome, the EBR Library, the Greater Baton Rouge Arts Council, Downtown Development District and others. All events are free and the public is invited.