READING, Pa. – It\u2019s the final countdown to 2026 and across Reading, the celebrations are already taking shape.<\/p>\n
One of the city\u2019s biggest traditions returns, New Year\u2019s Eve at the Santander Performing Arts Center, where the Reading Symphony Orchestra will perform its annual holiday concert, this year with a James Bond theme.<\/p>\n
\u201cI chose James Bond because everybody loves some James Bond,\u201d said Andrew Constantine, music director of the Reading Symphony Orchestra. \u201cFabulous music, great fun, and that iconic Monty Norman guitar riff goes all the way through just about every piece it turns up at some point.\u201d<\/p>\n
Constantine said the goal is to create a shared experience that feels different from everyday routines.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a totally different experience,\u201d Constantine said. \u201cIt can be uplifting, motivating, stimulating. It\u2019s never dull, and nobody switches off when they listen to live music.\u201d<\/p>\n
For those looking to dance their way into the New Year, the DoubleTree by Hilton Reading is hosting its first-ever Moon Over New York City Gala.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe thought, okay, here\u2019s a great opportunity, and in some ways, we sort of owe this to the community to offer them a party or an event like this to come together and just bring in the new year together,\u201d said Chris Shellhammer, president of Reading Hospitality.<\/p>\n
Families with young children can celebrate earlier in the day at the Reading Public Museum\u2019s Noon Year\u2019s Eve event, which includes a balloon drop at noon.<\/p>\n
Hockey fans can head to the Reading Royals\u2019 Pajama Party game at 4 p.m.<\/p>\n
And later that night, at 9:30 p.m., fireworks will light up the sky from Mount Penn, a New Year\u2019s Eve tradition in Reading now in its 29th year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"READING, Pa. – It\u2019s the final countdown to 2026 and across Reading, the celebrations are already taking shape.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":74185,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[22972,38391,18221,736,128,130,129,5048,38392,20903,21035],"class_list":{"0":"post-74184","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-reading","8":"tag-countdown","9":"tag-doubletree","10":"tag-new-year","11":"tag-reading","12":"tag-reading-city","13":"tag-reading-city-headlines","14":"tag-reading-city-news","15":"tag-reading-public-museum","16":"tag-reading-royals-pajama-party","17":"tag-reading-symphony-orchestra","18":"tag-santander-performing-arts-center"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74184","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=74184"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74184\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/74185"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=74184"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=74184"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=74184"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}