The Village of Northport will be ringing in the new year with its iconic anchor drop once again at the Northport Inn right in the heart of downtown.
The boutique-style hotel will not only serve as the place to be for a midnight celebration and anchor drop in Leelanau County, but the team is also anticipating to set off more fireworks than the previous year. Northport Inn co-owner Lyden Johncock, who operates the business with fellow co-owner Steve Ball, said for the past two or three years now, they’ve been setting the fireworks off from the building rooftop during the anchor drop, adding more to the show each time.
“It’s a pretty fun display right there for Northport,” Johncock said. “Every year it seems like we get more and more people at the anchor drop and that’s always fun to see, so it kind of incentivizes us to up our game a little bit with everything.”
Those attending the new year’s eve celebration in Northport will have several dine and drink options to choose from within walking distance as well. Faro, one of Northport’s newest restaurants housed in the same building as the Northport Inn, will be open from 5 p.m. to midnight with live music and a special new year’s eve menu. The Mitten Brewing Company will also be open and celebrating in the festivities, as well as Northport Pub & Grille, where there will be NYE bowling and music from the classic rock band Knee Deep from 8 p.m. to midnight.
Johncock suggests people get to the village an hour or so before midnight if they want to grab dinner or participate in other festivities. If people just want to watch the fireworks and the anchor descend from the Northport Inn rooftop, then he suggests getting to town about 10-15 minutes before the drop.
“We’re really trying hard to make the Northport Inn the central hub of life for Northport, so by keeping it open, having music, lighting up the building, and doing the fireworks, that’s our full effort to really try to bring some extra life to Northport,” he added. “The past few years, I am just floored by how many people either drive up there to see the anchor drop or are there in town. The streets are packed with people, and for Northport this time of year, you just never know, but I think we pull in a lot of people now.”
For more information about other businesses’ New Year’s Eve hours of operation or specials, people should contact establishments directly.
