Hundreds of Brantford and area residents attended the City’s annual New Year’s Eve celebration, which took place at the Sanderson Centre for the Performing Arts on Wednesday, December 31, 2025.
The event kicked off and continued into the night with a DJ Skate Party happening outside at Harmony Square, where residents could be seen looping around the rink to a variety of popular songs.
As the evening’s official festivities drew closer, guests started making their way into the Sanderson Centre lobby where they could grab party hats, enjoy free snacks and beverages from Rangoli Indian Restaurant and Tim Hortons, or snag a spot in line for the free photobooth. Preparing for one final snap-shot memory of 2025, guests happily donned a host of props including hats, crowns, feather boas, sunglasses and wands.
Once inside the theatre, Stephen Wdowczyk and Dave Carol, as well as David McKee, Harmony Squirrel, Brantford-Brant MPP Will Bouma, and several City representatives welcomed everyone to the event. Following the introduction, opening act Steve McPhail, a David Bowie tribute artist, was brought up on stage.
His lively performance featured Bowie’s greatest hits, quickly getting people clapping and singing along.
Event Headliner, Queen’s Court (a Queen tribute band led by Brantford’s own Sean Hauk), then took the stage to keep the party going with hits like “Another One Bites the Dust,” “Fat Bottomed Girls,” “We Will Rock You,” “We Are the Champions,” “Bohemian Rhapsody,” and “Somebody to Love.”
While Hauk brought up one unsuspecting audience member to join the band on stage and dressed him up as Ziggy Stardust, as a special surprise, McPhail came back out on stage to sing Bowie’s part for “Under Pressure.” The collaboration had many audience members out of their seats dancing along.
With midnight closing in, residents soon began heading over to Harmony Square to ring in 2026. As the clock struck midnight, the sound of noisemakers and fireworks filled the air as thousands of residents celebrated with their friends and family.
Jennifer Middleton, Special Events Supervisor for the City of Brantford, said she was thrilled with the event’s turnout.
“We saw over 600, almost 700 people, inside the Sanderson Centre for the concerts which was great, and even though it was such a cold night, there were lots of people outside at the DJ Skate Party just having the best time,” she said. “And of course, for the fireworks in Harmony Square, it was a full house. We actually did them off the parking garage this year, which is where they’ll be moving forward, and that actually allowed more space for people to watch from the square, and on Dalhousie and Colborne Streets too, so that was nice.”
“It’s just a great way to bring in the New Year, and while I love every event we get to put on, I especially love being with the community for this,” added Middleton.
The Special Events Supervisor said that the event just wouldn’t have been possible without the support of their generous sponsors.
“It’s free because of the amazing community sponsors that help pay for the bands, pay for the facility, and pay for the photo booth, so I have to give a huge thanks to our sponsors,” said Middleton. “If people get an opportunity, I hope they can send a quick message to those sponsors and thank them for being a part of our community. Those messages go a long way for our businesses that help make these events happen.”
Kimberly De Jong’s reporting is funded by the Canadian government through its Local Journalism Initiative.The funding allows her to report rural and agricultural stories from Blandford-Blenheim and Brant County. Reach her at kimberly.dejong@brantbeacon.ca.
