When it comes to celebrating the arrival of 2019, Clark County’s got everything you can think of, plus a little more. Here’s a guide to everything we could find about starting the New Year in whatever style you wish, without having to traverse that bridge.
• Eve of Eve
Celebrate a day early. The city of Vancouver hosts its 10th annual New Year’s Eve Eve dance — starting at 7 p.m. Dec. 30 and wrapping up at 10:30 p.m. at the Luepke Senior Center, 1009 E. McLoughlin Blvd. Light refreshments, party favors and dancing to live music by Charles and the Angels. Admission is $20 at the door. The city says this event is for ages 21 to 150. Call 360-487-7100.
• Camas kiddies
Underage? Drinking only from a bottle or sippy cup? Don’t let that curtail your smoothest moves. The Camas Public Library hosts a New Year’s Eve dance party for toddlers and preschoolers. It gets started at 11:30 a.m. Dec. 31 with dancing, crafts and snacks — all leading up to the big countdown and balloon drop at noon.
Admission is free. You don’t have to be a Camas resident. The Camas Public Library is at 625 N.E. Fourth Ave.
• Time machines
In downtown Vancouver, WareHouse ’23 hosts overlapping New Year’s Eve parties that are like time machines to different eras.
Early: The earlier show is for fans of earlier music — the 1930s and 1940s, that is — as played by the Minidoka Swing Band. Doors open at 6 p.m., dinner is served at 6:30 p.m., music and dancing begin at 7:30 p.m. and there’s a New Year’s Eve countdown that’s timed to New York City (when it’s 9 p.m. here, it’s midnight there). It all takes place in the WareHouse ’23 restaurant, where you’re surrounded by views of the river. The event ends at 10 p.m. WareHouse ’23 is at 100 Columbia St. The price is $75 for general admission seating and dinner.
Late: If you do ride that swinging time machine, another one is right nearby for a second trip, to the 1980s and beyond. WareHouse ’23’s ballroom hosts the fifth annual Night in Black & White. The evening starts with live music by Shawn Lewis and Natasha Neuschwander, formerly of Beat Frequency; also appearing are party band The Nu Wavers, DanceFusion NW and DJ Ben Jon Win. Aerial Muse Collective will add its high-altitude acrobatic show. Portland TV personality Nicole DeCosta will emcee and Kato Kaelin, “America’s favorite houseguest,” will be there too.
Reserved seating with champagne toast at midnight is $90 in advance; the VIP package, including wine at your table and a gift bag, is $125. Dinner is at 8 p.m. and The Nu Wavers perform at 9:30 and 11:30 p.m. Late-admission arrival at 10 p.m., which misses dinner but catches the Nu Wavers’ second set and the midnight countdown, costs $40 at the door or $30 in advance. This event has arranged with the nearby Homewood Suites Columbia Shores for a special rate that night, and a shuttle to get you there.
All the detail about both events, and links to tickets, are at https://www.facebook.com/vancouversnewyearseve.
• Jazzy Elks
You don’t need to be an Elk to party like one. Everyone is welcome to New Year’s Eve at the Vancouver Elks Club in Cascade Park. The VanPort Jazz Band will provide the swing. Doors open for cocktails at 6 p.m.; Crowded Kitchen Catering Company serves dinner at 6:30 p.m.; and the VanPort Jazz Band takes over at 7:30 p.m. and continues until midnight. Tickets are $30. Visit www.elks823.org.
• Dynamic duo
Fresh from his charitable Christmas concert at Crossroads Community Church, local-kid-turned-guitar-wiz Jay “Bird” Koder returns to the Line & Lure bar at ilani, where he’s been jamming this year with an unlikely partner: Jim Fischer, Vancouver’s resident concert-and-lounge pianist.
“Jim is an amazing talent. Most people know him as the piano bar guy but he is so much more than that,” Koder said. “He is so accomplished. My concept was to come up with an unholy alliance to juxtapose my electric guitar theatrics over the top of that piano bar vibe. We do some really eclectic arrangements that we stir up on the spot because we both know we’re going for a certain kind of crazy. We’re like a musical Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup, these tastes that aren’t supposed to go together — but they do.”
Koder and Fischer perform at 7 p.m. Dec. 31. at the Line & Lure Seafood Kitchen and Tap at ilani, 1 Cowlitz Way, Ridgefield. There’s no cover charge.
• Huge dance hall
When that dynamic duo winds down, stay indoors while trekking to a free New Year’s Eve celebration inside the same complex. The Cowlitz Ballroom at ilani hosts a free New Year’s Eve party with live music and cash bars scattered all around the room. Party hats and horns provided. The music comes from Portland band Dance Hall Days, featuring hits from every era. The party starts at 10 p.m. Dec. 31 and lasts until 2 a.m. on the first morning of 2019.
