Ring In The New Year With These Safe And Fun Events

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- Counting down to the new year will look much different Thursday night than ever before.

New guidelines in Minnesota recommend limiting indoor celebrations to two households, with no more than 10 people. Outdoor events can have up to 100 people, but they have to be spaced out.

If the kids need to get to bed early, the Minnesota Children's Museum Sparklerama event is going virtual.

"We'll have a fun craft activity, a DIY noise maker kids can make ahead of time, and we will have music, dancing,chan and of course the big countdown for New Year's Eve," said MCM's Jessica Petrie.

The bash is free, but registration is required -- and you'll have the kids to bed by 8 p.m.

Visit Mill Valley Market at Theodore Wirth Park in Minneapolis for free tubing and live music from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m. You can order food and eat by the fire pits -- all socially distanced.

If music is your thing, Orchestra Hall in downtown Minneapolis will livestream a performance at 8 p.m.

Remember, venues like the Guthrie Theater and the Chanhassen Dinner Theatre still sell tickets to streaming performances.

At Smack Shack in Minneapolis's North Loop neighborhood, you can eat on the heated patio any day you want. But chef and owner Josh Thoma says there will be a virtual concert for patrons until midnight on New Year's Eve – which will also be livestreamed on Facebook.

"Since we're not able to actually have any kind of live music in the restaurant, we decided to do a virtual event, and we have to do it in a studio nearby," Thoma said. "If you come in and sit on our heated patio you can put in a song request, and Wayne will start live at 9:30 p.m."

Check out the fireworks show at Buck Hill in Burnsville at 10 p.m. to end 2020 with a bang.

Or just stay home! We're pretty good at that by now anyway.

Several other spots have safe New Year's Eve options. One of the best ways to check is by visiting the social media pages of your favorite places.