FIRST NIGHT STARTS THE NEW YEAR IN SARATOGA STYLE.(Capital Region)

SARATOGA SPRINGS - Today is the ninth annual First Night Saratoga, an alcohol-free celebration of the arts to mark the arrival of the new year. The program is sponsored by and benefits the YMCA of Saratoga.

The Opening Celebration for First Night Saratoga will be held at 5:30 p.m. on Broadway in the parking lot between Professor Moriarty's and Lillians. A short burst of low-level fireworks will be fired from a Broadway rooftop as part of the opening ceremony.

The 5K First Night run will be held at 5:30 p.m. at the Skidmore College Athletic Complex. There is no day-of-race registration.

First Night will conclude at midnight with a fireworks display behind City Hall. At 11:40 p.m., there will be a parade down Putnam Street from Congress Park to city hall led by the Nisky Dixie Cats band. This activity will be reminiscent of a New Orleans-style Dixieland funeral march, as the city closes the old year and welcomes 2005.

There will be window art exhibits at Impressions, 368 Broadway, Bolster …