Copley Square buzzed with the hustle and bustle of the last day of the year.

Visitors from near and far emerged from the T to walk in the cold for the last leg of their journeys. Volunteers for Boston Children’s Hospital asked those willing to stop for donations. Dancers performing traditional Chinese steps moved to the beat of a drum as a part of Boston’s first night celebrations.

Those who spoke to The Herald said they were ending their year in the heart of the city and looking forward to a better and brighter 2026.

The Leonard family came up from Cohasset to see a Boston University Women’s Basketball game so that their girls Reese, 11, and Zoe, 8, could learn about the sport from the best.

Reese is playing basketball this season and her parents said she loves to watch WNBA, so they thought coming into the city for the college game would be a great experience.

Courtney Leonard said that she hopes her family will go on new adventures in 2026, setting a New Year’s goal of “finding out more about the city” they live so close to but haven’t had many chances to explore.

A family of three from Kentucky bundled up for the cold New England weather said they’d come to Boston to see the sights and had already experienced the marvelous Italian food of the North End.

As to what they wanted for 2026, Arun T. said that he hoped for “less drama.”

Eddie Etheridge from Long Island, New York, who was on a family vacation for the holidays, agreed.

He said he was “hopeful for less negativity” next year.

“Let’s make it easier for everyone,” in 2026, his brother Kyle added.

As for their own personal goals, Eddie said he’d like to get better at jiu jitsu, and Kyle said he wanted to learn Spanish — he has downloaded Duolingo but with limited success so far.

Wearing a large, white, puffy coat over a beautiful black and red dress, Zizi Fan, 15, told The Herald: “I don’t have any wishes.”

Fan confessed, as many people do, that when she makes resolutions, she usually breaks them.

Fan was waiting for her turn to perform a Classical Chinese dance in Copley Square for Boston’s first night celebrations. Other girls from her troop Angel Dance Company were waiting inside the public library, but because Fan was second on the line-up, after a Dragon Dance, she had to wait in the square all bundled up for her cue.

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The 15-year-old has been dancing for nine years, more than half her life, she said, and in 2026, she wants to “just try to improve,” not only in dance but in all aspects of her life.

While Fan waited for her number, two shinning dragons, one silver and one red, danced in the middle of a large crowed that had assembled in the square. Jumping, wiggling, and shaking their large heads, they finished there performance by unfolding two large red scrolls that read, in Chinese characters, “Happy New Year.”

It was skating time at the lagoon in the Boston Public Garden during Wednesday’s New Year’s Eve celebrations in the city. (Libby O’Neill/Boston Herald)
Ice sculptor Nick Rose of Rockland places a 2026 ice carving on top of an ice sculpture at City Hall Plaza, Wednesday. (Mark Stockwell/Boston Herald)
Grace Fang of Angel Dance Company performs during Boston’s First Night celebrations in Copley Square on New Year’s Eve. (Libby O’Neill/Boston Herald)