Anchorage says goodbye to 2022 with an explosive display of fireworks, live music and dancing

This year’s New Year’s Eve celebration downtown featured the Alaskanettes Fire Baton Twirlers, the Polynesian Association of Alaska and lots of fireworks.

By Emily Mesner
Updated: January 1, 2023 Published: January 1, 2023

People watch New Year’s Eve fireworks from downtown Anchorage on Saturday, Dec. 31, 2022. (Emily Mesner / ADN)

As Alaska inched its way to 2023, hundreds gathered to help ring in the new year and watch fireworks light up downtown Anchorage.

The New Year’s Eve celebration was hosted by the Anchorage Downtown Partnership and supported by EasyPark, the Anchorage Community Development Authority and the Atwood Foundation.

Live music, dance performances, food trucks and booths filled the parking lot at the corner of Third Avenue and E Street. Nearby at the small boat harbor, fireworks were launched and some soared up to 620 feet in the air. Bright red light was cast onto roads and people below as they watched with family and friends.

A young child shows excitement as he watches a performance with flaming batons during a New Year’s Eve celebration. (Emily Mesner / ADN)

The Roland Roberts Band performs for a crowd during the downtown Anchorage New Year’s Eve celebration on Saturday, Dec. 31, 2022. Roland Roberts is left and Matt Faubion is at right. (Emily Mesner / ADN)

Keyahnna Kesemale and Trepanier Faatiliga dance together during the New Year's Eve celebration downtown. (Emily Mesner / ADN)

People take a photograph with fireworks exploding behind them. (Emily Mesner / ADN)

People watch New Year’s Eve fireworks from downtown Anchorage on Saturday. (Emily Mesner / ADN)

New Year’s Eve fireworks explode in the sky near downtown Anchorage. (Emily Mesner / ADN)

A woman dances as The Roland Roberts Band performs after the New Year’s Eve fireworks in Anchorage. (Emily Mesner / ADN)

People watch a performance by members of the Alaskanettes fire baton twirlers . (Emily Mesner / ADN)

Molly Warburton, left, and Delaney Winslow, right, dance along to music during the New Year’s Eve celebration in downtown Anchorage. (Emily Mesner / ADN)

People perform with flaming batons before the New Year's Eve fireworks. (Emily Mesner / ADN)

Young girls dance to music played by The Roland Roberts Band during a New Year’s Eve celebration in downtown Anchorage on Saturday, Dec. 31, 2022. (Emily Mesner / ADN)

Emily Mesner

Emily Mesner is a multimedia journalist for the Anchorage Daily News. She previously worked for the National Park Service at Denali National Park and Preserve and the Western Arctic National Parklands in Kotzebue, at the Cordova Times and at the Jackson Citizen Patriot in Jackson, Michigan.