As it celebrates 30 years of First Night, lead volunteers Mike Elzey and Carolyn Jaffe don’t hesitate to share their pride in this remarkable event to celebrate New Year’s Eve in downtown Easton. While there is some dispute about how many “First Nights” there are in the United States (numbers range from 75 to 100) since the city of Boston started the tradition, Carolyn, who has helped direct the event for 28 years, can tell you with certainty that Talbot has only one in Maryland.
Carolyn also knows where Easton ranks thanks to the annual USA Today survey, which ranks the most popular in the country. Last year, Easton was listed as #8, which would give any small town bragging rights, but neither she nor Mike are satisfied with that grade. In their preview of this year’s program with the Spy last week, they both plead to any to go online to take the poll to make it to second place this year, wisely realizing that they would unlikely topple New York City’s dropping of the ball.
No matter, the volunteer leaders are particularly excited about the 30th anniversary in their interview.
This video is approximately four minutes in length. For more information about Talbot First Night please go here. To help make Talbot First Night Number 2 in the country and the dropping of the Crab vote here.
Write a Letter to the Editor on this Article
We encourage readers to offer their point of view on this article by submitting the following form. Editing is sometimes necessary and is done at the discretion of the editorial staff.