COVID-19 has changed almost everything. And Kalamazoo's annual New Year's Fest is no exception.
One of the event's organizers, Becca Shemberger, says there are three ways to participate New Year's Eve.
"The first way is live and in-person. That's going to be outdoors on the North Kalamazoo Mall in front of Burdick's and the old Zazios right there. We're utilizing the steps to kind of make a stage, and we will have live performers there from 7 to 10:45."
There will be a deejay from then until midnight. People who attend in-person are asked to wear face masks at all times and follow social distance guidelines.
Shemberger says New Year's Fest will also livestream performances online.
"We're working with First Presbyterian Church, First United Methodist, and First Baptist to utilize their livestreaming abilities that they've been using for their church services. And the last location is Farmers Alley Theatre, which will also have their livestream."
Shemberger also says prerecorded performances will be available to watch on New Year's Eve.
"We're going to have the prerecorded shows from either live on the North Mall or from some of the livestreams prerecorded inside some of the churches. So, that's going to be available on Public Media Network from 7 to midnight as well."
The broadcast will be scheduled on PMN Engage (Charter Channel 187, and Channel 99 on AT&T Uverse 99), via PMN's website, or through the Public Media Network app on Apple TV, Fire TV, and Roku.
New Year's Fest 2020 will include music, juggling, and magic. But Shemberger says some things will be missing.
"We aren't able to do fireworks and the ball drop this year. But, we are going to be doing, at midnight we'll have a giant video board that we'll be sharing a 'Goodbye to 2020' video."
The public can contribute their own videos by going to the festival's website.
Shemberger says the five-dollar admission button is optional this year. But she hopes people will buy them to keep the festival going in the future.
