Ticket Info & Map
All Acess Buttons: $18
Kids 5 and Under Are Free*
Your button is your ticket to every Highlight event!
Please note: every venue, both indoor or out, has a capacity. We strongly recommend getting in line early for your favorite events. We appreciate your understanding!
*If reserving Circus Smirkus seats via the Big Top Button, a button is required for all members of your party regardless of age.
How to purchase a Highlight button
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Visit highlightbtv.com or scan the QR code to purchase online. Once you purchase online, your buttons will be reserved and available for pickup at our box offices on New Year’s Eve, or at the BCA Center in advance. There is a box office at each Highlight location.
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Visit one of our Burlington-area ticket sales partners and purchase in-person. You can purchase your buttons at the BCA Center, BCA Studios, ECHO Center, Foam Brewers, and Phoenix Books in Burlington.
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Purchase a button at any of our venues on December 31. Please note that Highlight is on track to sell out! Purchasing day-of can be both time-consuming and may not guarantee you a ticket.
Visit parkburlington.com to learn about the many downtown parking locations.
Neighbors & Friends,
Mayor’s Welcome
I am thrilled to invite you to Burlington on New Year’s Eve to take part in Highlight, and ring in 2025 with friends and family.
Now in it’s seventh year, Highlight continues to showcase many of the things we love about Burlington – talented local artists, great food, and strong community. This season offers us an opportunity to reflect on the past, while setting hopeful intentions for the year to come. As Mayor, I am proud of our City—the resilience of our community, and the strong desire we all share to see Burlington thrive. As we look to 2025, I know we will continue working together to ensure Burlington remains a vibrant, innovative, and resilient place.
We look forward to welcoming you to Burlington to joyfully ring in 2025 in community at the seventh annual Highlight celebration.
With gratitude,
Emma Mulvaney-Stanak Mayor, City of Burlington
EastRise Helps Highlight our Community’s Brilliance Through the Bright Ideas Project
EastRise Credit Union is a Vermontbased, people-first, communitydriven institution that provides financial tools and guidance to over 160,000 members. Through the Bright Ideas Project, they’ve been helping “Highlight” our community’s homegrown creative brilliance on New Year’s Eve since 2019. The Bright Ideas Project is an annual community-driven crowdsourcing effort that produces some of Highlight’s most unique happenings every year.
We start the countdown to Highlight in summer when we ask Vermont visionaries from every corner of the state to start dreaming up one-of-akind New Year’s Eve events. Once all of the brilliant submissions are gathered,
a selection panel chooses the best and brightest ideas to receive over $40,000 of funding, plus production and marketing support, to bring them to life at Highlight. There’s no better way to ring in the New Year than by counting down the experiences and ideas that make our community a hub of incredible creativity!
This year, in addition to their support of the Bright Ideas Project, EastRise will help Highlight revelers ring in the New Year with fun and prizes in Waterfront Park. Stop by the EastRise Highlight Gamezone Tent and play fun games for the chance to win special NYE prizes to kick off 2025 on a bright note!
How to Highlight! A Guide to New Year’s Eve 2024 in Burlington
Highlight is an immersive journey through Vermont’s expansive arts, music, and culinary experiences.
From family-friendly circus and comedy to great bands, inspiring installations, and joyous revelry, Highlight has something for everyone. Let’s cast off into 2025 with a collective celebration of unbound creativity and community spirit!
From the Downtown to the Waterfront, the action kicks off at 12 pm and continues well past midnight.
P: Luke Awtry
Burlington’s Waterfront & ECHO Leahy Center for Lake Champlain
P: Kyle Tansley
A full day of programming launches at the ECHO Leahy Center with a multisensory exploration of Vermont’s landscape at The Many Voices of Water, an interactive installation blending photography, dance, and music. The exhibition runs from 12:30-3:30 pm. Audiences can dive deeper into this immersive experience with a special performance at 1:30 pm. Next up is a celebration of Caribbean culture at the Caribbean Fête (5-8 pm), presented by Culture Club 802. Set sail for the islands with great food, music, art, literature, and more, including a headlining performance from Haitian powerhouse collective Lakou Mizik.
As the clock ticks toward midnight, ECHO is the place for queer joy and line dance at the Midnight Rodeo (9:30 pm). Dress in your western best for a night of inclusive, beginner-level fun that’s bound to move your boots!
The Waterfront Stage is a great spot to post up and catch some of Vermont’s best music. DJs Two Sev and Disco Phantom get things going on the Fluffy Bus at 2 pm, followed by Ryan Montbleau (solo) at 2:30, Florry at 4 pm, THUS LOVE at 5:30 pm, Kalbells at 7 pm, and Skeleton Krewe bringing their New Orleans-inspired take on the Grateful Dead to the stage at 8:30 pm. This one-off band boasts an all-star ensemble of Bob Wagner, Josh Weinstein, Dave Grippo, and other longtime legends of the TV scene.
Meanwhile, North Star Fireworks lights up the night sky at 8 pm, followed by one of Highlight’s signature traditions, the Champ Burn. This thrilling fire show from Cirque de Fuego culminates in the symbolic offering of Lake Champlain’s beloved monster, Champ.
For those looking to end 2024 on a runner’s high, Run Vermont hosts a free Fun Run at 1:30 pm in Waterfront Park (no Highlight button required).
Contois Auditorium, the BCA Center, and Vermont Comedy Club
P: Luke Awtry
No New Year’s Eve celebration in Burlington is complete without Circus Smirkus, one of Highlight’s most beloved traditions. The high-flying antics of this Greensboro-based youth circus return to Contois Auditorium in City Hall, with performances at 12 pm, 2 pm, and 4 pm. For families seeking a little extra comfort, this year Highlight is offering the Big Top Button, which guarantees reserved seats (advance purchase required). Afterward, support your local farmer with a food and arts-themed benefit for Burlington’s Intervale Community Farm (6:30 pm-9 pm) and then take a trip through the history of hiphop, with Highlighting the Hip-Hop Diaspora! (10 pm-12:30 am)
At the BCA Center, enjoy Dancer in the Loop (5-7 pm), an immersive experience blending generative AI with sound and vision. Then, get ready for the ultimate mashup of comedy and hip-hop with Rhyme and Unreason (8:30-10:30 pm), hosted by Omega Jade and with beats by DJ Ron Stoppable.
Looking for more laughs? Head to the Vermont Comedy Club for Good Clean Fun (1, 3, and 5 pm), where family-friendly improv will leave you in stitches. And don’t forget to watch for Specter, an interactive series of glowing orbs scattered across Highlight venues, thanks to the genius of local artist Pete Edwards.
P: Kyle Tansley
P: Caitlin Nordgren
VTIFF, Skinny Pancake, and Foam Brewers
In the VTIFF screening room, experience Vanish Work’s interactive video installation, Inkling , from 1-4 pm, where participants can create their own inkblot and animate their creations alongside a live, improvised ambient score.
Next door at the Skinny Pancake, enjoy a participatory musical experience with Will and Jeremy Write a Song. The singer-songwriter duo takes audience suggestions to craft a tune on the spot, from 3:30 to 5:30 pm. After a dinner break, Skinny
P roars back with psychedelic multi-instrumentalist Willverine at 9:30 pm, followed by fellow genrebending groove-mediums Acqua Mossa at 10:30 pm.
Meanwhile, the Vermont Synthesizer Society creates an interactive sound and light showcase at Main Street Landing from 3-7:30 pm, featuring live electronic music with the opportunity for the audience to create their own otherworldly soundscapes.
From 2-6 pm at Foam Brewers, enjoy all-vinyl daytime sets from the region’s best nightlife DJs, including Four-D, DJ Rice Pilaf, and DJ Cre8 And then prepare for an unforgettable late-night bash known as the The Spirit of New Year’s Eve. Beginning at 8:30 pm, the showcase features a dazzling lineup of buzzy BTV bands such as Robber Robber, Greaseface, Noah Kesey Magic Band, Carinae, Her New Knife, and DJ Coldsteel.
To help fuel your festival, be sure to check out the deliciously eclectic lineup of 16 different food vendors dishing up tasty menus throughout the day and into the night.
Happy New Year, Burlington!
Bright Ideas: Illuminated
In partnership with media sponsor WCAX, BCA sat down with three Bright Ideas Project artists to discuss the projects they’ll be presenting on New Year’s Eve. Watch the full interviews and learn more about the Bright Ideas Project at highlightbtv.com .
Q: What inspired you to apply for the Bright Ideas Project?
Edwin Owusu (Highlighting the Hip-Hop Diaspora): What inspired me was a sense of wanting to be a part of what was going on. As a local musician who’s invested in the town and also in the idea and sense of community, I wanted to add something to both the landscape of what was happening and also give back.
Alex Reeves (Inkling): I wanted to create a piece that could speak to children. I have two kids, and I wanted to do something that could engage them. I do projection art, which is usually at night because it has to be dark, so I thought it would be great to create something that kids could attend. I’ve created a few pieces for Highlight over the years. One of them was interactive, where people could use their hands to make interactive plants. I’ve also done some projections at the Unitarian Church for a couple of years, including for artists like Zoe Keating, Dwight and Nicole, and Henry Jameson. This project is a bit of a departure because it’s for kids, it’s music-based, and it’s more interactive.
Q: Where did the idea for your project come from?
Jamaal Hankey (Caribbean Fête): As part of my job as the project manager for Voices for Inclusion, I planned and hosted a Caribbean Carnival celebration at the Essex Experience during the past two years. We didn’t have it this year, but we wanted to continue the legacy we built. We had momentum, an audience, and people who wanted to be part of that. This seemed like a perfect opportunity to bring our love for Caribbean culture to Burlington, a bigger city.
Alex: This project was inspired by an ink blot game from the 1800s, where children would pass an ink blot from one to the next, writing little poems and names for the
blot. It was called “Blotograms.” I thought it would be fun to create an interactive game based on this idea, where people could make prints from Blotograms and bring them into the theater to animate. We’ll also have a live score for the animations. It’s a modern twist on the concept—a 2024/2025 version of Blotograms.
Q: Describe what this project will look like ew Year’s Eve.
Edwin: Folks will be exposed to an event that immerses them in the culture of hip-hop. For example, there will be some aspect of movement, as we’ve invited some folks who do hip-hop movement to share that with the community. There will also be an aspect of music production to showcase what a DJ or a producer does. There will be some interactive aspects that will allow folks to engage with some of the artists as well, because we have folks who are reputable and have worked in
the music industry for a while. We want to give a small glimpse of some of the different things hip-hop does and how it’s affected people. We want to show how it can continue to help us build as a community.
Jamaal: We’ll have music from me, two live bands performing, and food from two different Caribbean food vendors—both Haitian and Jamaican food. We’ve partnered with Phoenix Books, and they’ll be there vending books for sale. We’ve tried to bring in elements from different parts of the culture so people can have a full, immersive experience.
Q: What are you most looking forward to when you present your idea to the community?
Edwin: I’m most looking forward to the community’s reaction and how we are received. As artists, the first thing we create art for is ourselves, as a form of selfexpression. So that gap between creating and then sharing it with the world is always fraught with a lot of emotions for us. But we bridge that gap anyway because it’s what we love to do. I’m hoping that folks who come to the event will leave feeling rejuvenated, have made some new connections, and maybe even think about ways hip-hop is part of their everyday experience that we don’t always consider.
Q: How long have you been working on this project?
Alex: We’ve been working on this project since September. We’ve been collaborating with the artists to figure out the flow of the piece and finding the best space for it. We’re really excited to have it in the Vermont International Film Festival (VTIFF) screening room, which is an actual movie theater—red walls, perfect screen, seats going up. It’s a great space for what we’re doing.
Q: How does your project relate to Burlington and Vermont specifically?
Jamaal: Vermont and Burlington specifically are seeing a growth in people from outside of Vermont, but specifically people from the Caribbean. My parents are immigrants from the Caribbean, so it’s a big part of my culture and upbringing. We want to share our culture with others—the
enrichment of it, the joy, the fun—but also help people learn about something they might not know otherwise. This event is designed to be both entertainment and educational. You come, have a good time, and you leave learning things you didn’t know before.
Q: What are you generally most excited about for New Year’s Eve?
Edwin: What’s most exciting to me about New Year’s Eve in Burlington is that it’s really a family event. Folks are apt to bring their children because Burlington focuses on and makes a concerted effort to make the programming open and available, but also inclusive. So, you know, growing up in New York City, where the ball drops and certainly no one is advising anyone under 18 to be in Times Square, it’s a different vibe here. In Burlington, we can have a New Year’s Eve celebration with enough things happening that are rich and offer so much for everyone.
Jamaal: Regardless of whether it actually plays out this way, I see New Year’s Eve as an opportunity to turn a page to a new chapter. Also, something specific to this event: January 1 is Haitian Independence Day, and since our headlining band [Lakou Mizik] is Haitian, we’ve made sure to emphasize that. So New Year’s Eve is special for me in that sense. It’s also an opportunity in my own personal life to be a new person. Maybe this doesn’t have to go in, but I’m also moving into a new place on January 1st, so it feels like a shift—a celebration!
Alex: The most exciting thing to me is the sense of rebirth. Growing up, we would do these bonfires and pass around a picture from the year, sharing memories and hopes for the next year. This projection piece is kind of like that—a passing, like around a campfire. I called my projection art as “Vanish Works” because you set it all up, and then the next day, it’s gone. You unplug everything, and there’s no trace of it left. It feels like a new start—a rebirth on New Year’s, not necessarily a “gym membership resolutions,” but as a new start.
Tito’s Handmade Vodka Turns Spirits Into Love and Goodness at Highlight and Beyond
Love, Tito’s – The philanthropic heart of Tito’s Handmade Vodka, has been working with Burlington City Arts to help ring in the New Year on a spirited note since 2018, the very first year of Highlight.
Even after we toast to 2025 and start to sweep up the confetti, Tito’s will be here with their continued support of so many amazing initiatives in communities across Vermont.
Supporting causes from animal rescue, military and veterans’ services, arts and music, food security, adaptive sports, and so much more, Tito’s Handmade Vodka gives back to every corner of our community. Look for special Tito’s Handmade Vodka cocktails at all participating Highlight locations and join us in raising a glass to their continued commitment of turning spirits into love and goodness!
P: Luke Awtry
Holiday Wishes Warmest
Wishing you all the joys of the season and happiness throughout the year to come!
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