Overview Austin's New Year is the city's free New Year's Eve concert on Auditorium Shores, the park across Lady Bird Lake from the downtown skyline, and in 2024 and 2025 it was the Central Time Zone stop on CNN's New Year's Eve Live with Anderson Cooper and Andy Cohen, with CNN correspondents counting down from the park. The City of Austin owns the event, and Blue Norther Live produces it in partnership with Visit Austin. On site Gates open at 7 p.m. and the music runs to 11:45, followed by a drone show and then the countdown and fireworks at midnight. More than a dozen local food trucks park on the grounds - Amy's Ice Cream, Chi'Lantro, Garbo's Lobster and Tacobaby were among them in 2025 - and bars around the site sell cocktails, beer, wine and mocktails. For 2025 the park got secured entrances at its east and west ends with screening for every guest and bag, and CapMetro ran free after 5 p.m., with rail service extended to 2:30 a.m. Talent and Influencers Local acts open and a national headliner closes. Third Eye Blind headlined in 2024 after Gina Chavez, Angélica Rahe and DJ Mel, and The Head and the Heart closed 2025 after Chaparelle, Tameca Jones and The Point. In 2020, when the celebration went virtual, Parker McCollum, Shakey Graves and Gina Chavez were among eight Austin acts filmed across five local venues for a one-hour broadcast special. Track record The celebration began in 2006 as First Night Austin, with more than 80 arts organizations across 14 blocks of downtown, and moved to Auditorium Shores in 2010. Visit Austin's partnership deck puts CNN's New Year's Eve audience at 1.082 million total viewers, first in cable news and in the 25-54 demographic. Brand presence Partners build in preferred areas of the park on footprints from 10 by 10 feet up to 60 by 60, used for product or vehicle displays, photo moments, charging stations, giveaways, sampling or beverage sales. Arca Continental Coca-Cola Southwest Beverages presented the drone show in 2024 and 2025. Entry-level sampling partners get a 10-by-10 space, their logo on the side screens of the main stage and a listing on the event website.