First Night board Chair Sue Patterson looks through a large binder full of memorabilia from First Nights past. (Enterprise photo — Aaron Cerbone)

SARANAC LAKE — The organizers of Saranac Lake’s annual First Night say that if they don’t get more volunteer members to help put on the townwide family-friendly New Year’s Eve event this year, the 2020 First Night may have been the last one.

First Night Board Chair Sue Patterson said several board members, including herself, are retiring from the board, but they haven’t had new people join the board in recent years.

It takes a big effort to put on the town-wide event, and without fresh blood, she said they may have to pack it in.

But board member Peter Crowley believes that if people want to see First Night continue, they’ll step up and help put it on. Patterson is asking for people to consider joining the board and help keep the tradition alive.

First Night is a New Year’s Eve option for families and people who want to be out on the town without being in the bars. Over the past two years, First Night events have been cancelled because of the coronavirus pandemic.

“We can finally have a First Night after skipping two of them,” Crowley said.

But now that they’re free from the pandemic, the event is in limbo. Patterson feels that in missing two years, the board has lost its “mojo” and momentum.

Patterson, a co-founder of the Saranac Lake event, said after 14 years of organizing First Night she’s “burned out.”

“It’s sad, because I think it’s a great event,” Patterson said.

But she said all is not lost. If people want First Night to continue, all they have to do is dedicate some time to being on the board.

Crowley pointed out that the First Night non-profit corporation already exists. It’s a “turnkey operation,” he said. It’s a financially stable organization. It just needs people to run it. Button sales from one year’s events cover the costs for the next one.

First Night costs around $36,000 each year, Patterson said, and the corporation has around $22,000 in the bank from its 2020 button sales.

If First Night continues, she said the organization can fundraise for the rest of the costs. It’s usually pretty good at finding grants and community donations. If not, she said the board will have to figure out how to distribute the money, likely to a non-profit.

The First Night concept was born in Boston in 1975 and spread to other cities in the following decades.

Patterson was at a First Night celebration in Burlington, Vermont years ago and loved the idea so much she decided to bring it to Saranac Lake.

Patterson has fond memories of First Nights — seeing the Gibson Brothers play before they got famous, and then after; or watching teenagers get into the Completely Stranded improv comedy show when they felt too old for other events.

“It was exciting. People loved coming to it,” Patterson said.

The only problem was that venues would fill up fast and reach the buildings’ maximum capacity. Patterson said people are thankful for the event.

People in alcohol rehabilitation at St. Joseph’s Addiction Treatment and Recovery Centers volunteer and she said they enjoy the night. It’s a good way for them to celebrate the year away from the bar.

Crowley said before First Night, New Year’s Eve in Saranac Lake was “dead.” One year, he and a group of friends got dressed up to go out, but when they got out, they found the same 10 people at the bar who were always there.

“It was depressing. It was boring. And that was it,” Crowley said.

The big townwide celebration with packed streets and restaurants was not happening then, and might not have ever come about if not for First Night, Crowley speculated.

“First Night created that,” he said.

Even the restaurants were mostly closed on New Year’s Eve before. Patterson said in First Night’s first year, most of the restaurants didn’t want to open. They didn’t think they’d have enough customers to make it worth it. By the second year, the majority in town were open and busy. Now, she said, it’s the busiest night of the year for some establishments.

Crowley said people wanted a big community celebration on the turning of the year, but it didn’t happen until First Night brought it and got the whole town involved.

The First Night board meets monthly from April to January. Members book entertainment, sign contracts with venues and acts, get hotel rooms for performers, coordinate volunteers for the night, sell buttons and get the churches, libraries, town hall and other community spaces ready for the big night.

They’d also need lots of volunteer help on the night of the event. Ushers and venue workers are given three buttons for a minimum of two hours of work, she said.

“I’d like to see it keep going,” Patterson said. “I think that people want to see it come back.”

Patterson interested people can reach her on the First Night website at https://bit.ly/3lO9COK.

She said she’d advise and mentor anyone who wants to pick up the mantle. She just doesn’t want to run it anymore. Patterson’s had many “sleepless nights” over organizing the event, but she said it was always worth it to see the smiles spread on families’ faces as they listened to music, watched jugglers or had their funny bones tickled.