The City of Brantford’s “Times Square in Harmony Square” took place at the Sanderson Centre for the Performing Arts on Saturday, December 31, 2022.
Over 500 people were in attendance throughout the evening as they came to enjoy a night of live music to ring in the New Year.
Upon arrival, attendees could purchase alcoholic beverages and grab free party favours like noise makers and party hats as well as Tic Tacs and Kinder Eggs that were donated by Ferrero.
Before making their way into the theatre, guests could head over to the free photo booth where they could dress up in festive accessories to capture a memory of the night.
People soon entered the main theatre space and settled into their seats while they waited for the show to begin.
Brantford Mayor Kevin Davis soon took the stage to welcome everyone to the event before handing it off to Brantford’s town crier David McKee as he kicked off the event with a public announcement.
The band Empty Hours started off the night of music with a 20-minute set of covers before handing over the stage to Jace Martin and The Pace.
It didn’t take long for the crowd to start grooving and dancing as the enthusiastic band performed a mix of their own songs as well as covers like Mustang Sally.
Headliner DESIRE (a U2 cover band), took the stage around 11:00 p.m. and kept the party going as they took advantage of the large space to perform.
The lead singer and guitarist left the stage several times to perform within the crowd as even more attendees started dancing and singing along in the aisles.
As it neared midnight, Mayor Davis and his wife, Councillor’s Gino Caputo and Michael Sullivan got on stage to share positive notes on the evening and start the countdown into 2023.
Jennifer Middleton, Community Events Coordinator for the City of Brantford spoke about the turnout and the night as a whole.
“The night completely exceeded my expectations,” Middleton said. “The last minute changes are always iffy and you don’t know what’s going to happen but the turnout was beyond my expectations. The engagement DESIRE brought, and the participation from the crowd – getting up to dance and really enjoying themselves was amazing.”
Kimberly De Jong’s reporting is funded by the Canadian government through its Local Journalism Initiative.The funding allows her to report rural and agricultural stories from Blandford-Blenheim and Brant County. Reach her at kimberly.dejong@brantbeacon.ca.
