It’s time for Raleigh’s First Night 2020. Here’s what you need to know.

Raleigh’s annual tradition of dropping a giant acorn and lighting fireworks to ring in the New Year returns to downtown Tuesday, with events stretching throughout the day and into the new decade.

There will be more than 100 live performances throughout the day, a 90-foot-tall Ferris wheel and, of course, a 1,250-pound acorn.

Here’s some of the key things to know before heading downtown for the festivities.

When: First Night activities begin early with events aimed at children starting at 2 p.m. throughout downtown Raleigh, including a children’s celebration at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences and the North Carolina Museum of History.

Most of the evening activities and performances will kick off at 7 p.m. — though the People’s Procession from Bicentennial Plaza begins at 6 p.m.

An early countdown with fireworks aimed at young children who can’t stay up until midnight will also happen at 7 p.m.

Before the Acorn Drops, there will be three concerts on Fayetteville Street from: the Boom Unit Brass Band (7:30 p.m.), Caleb Johnson & the Ramblin’ Saints (9 p.m.) and Illiterate Light (10:30 p.m.).

The Countdown to midnight and fireworks will be at 12 a.m.

Where: There will be events and performances at 18 different locations around 20 blocks of downtown Raleigh.

The Countdown to Midnight and fireworks will happen at the intersection of Fayetteville and Davie streets.

Cost: Advanced passes can be bought for $11 at local Harris Teeter stores or at etix.com. Day-of passes will cost $15.

Admission passes will grant you access to all of the day’s events and performances — though these are all first come, first serve.

Traffic: There will be several road closures associated with the celebrations happening on Tuesday.

• Fayetteville Street between Morgan and Martin streets will be closed from 9 a.m. on Dec. 30 until 12 p.m. on Jan. 1.
• Hargett Street between Salisbury and Wilmington streets will be closed from 9 a.m. Dec. 30 until 12 p.m. on Jan. 1.
• Fayetteville Street between Martin and Davie streets will be closed from 6 a.m. on Dec. 31 until 6 a.m. Jan. 1 for the festival.
• Davie Street and Martin Street between Salisbury and Wilmington streets will be closed from 6 a.m. on Dec. 31 until 6 a.m. Jan. 1 for the festival.
• Local access will still be maintained for Marriott hotel traffic via Lenoir Street except during the fireworks.
• Lenoir Street and South Street between Salisbury and Wilmington streets will be closed from 6:30 p.m. until 7:30 p.m. on Dec. 31 and from 11:30 p.m. on Dec. 31 until 12:30 a.m. on Jan. 1 for the fireworks.

Additionally, these roads will be closed at the designated times for the Peoples Procession:

• Edenton Street between Salisbury and Wilmington streets from 9 a.m. until 7 p.m. on Dec. 31.
• Salisbury Street between Jones and Martin streets from 6 p.m. until 7 p.m. Dec. 31.
• Morgan Street between Salisbury and Wilmington streets from 6 p.m. on Dec. 31 until 1 a.m. on Jan. 1.

Park & Ride: GoRaleigh will operate a shuttle in and out of downtown on First Night starting at 5 p.m. and stretching until 1 a.m.

The shuttle will run from both the N.C. State University park and ride lot at Oval Drive and Initiative Way as well as at Triangle Town Center (5959 Triangle Town Boulevard near Dillard’s). Service will run about every 30 minutes.

Downtown pick-up and drop-off locations are at Morgan Street and Wilmington Street.

One-way shuttle tickets are $1.25 and round trip is $2.50.

Weather: The weather for First Night activities is expected to be clear while also seeing a drop from the warm temperatures of the past few days, according to the National Weather Service’s office in Raleigh. Tuesday’s high temperature is forecast to be 57 degrees, however the low temperature during the night is expected to be 35 degrees.

How to watch on TV: Starting at 11 p.m., WRAL will air its First Night in Raleigh coverage, which will show the Acorn Drop from Fayetteville Street. Their coverage stops at 12:07 a.m. and will go back to the national NBC coverage for the remainder of NBC’s special from Times Square.

ABC11 also typically shows a split screen of Times Square and of the Acorn Drop.

This story was originally published December 30, 2019 at 1:48 PM with the headline "It’s time for Raleigh’s First Night 2020. Here’s what you need to know.."