Near the corner of Longmore and McDowell roads, fireworks burst across the sky above the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community for the annual New Year’s Eve Celebration on December 31.

The holiday tradition continued this year on the grounds of the Salt River Community Building. Surrounding parking lots near the Salt River baseball fields were full of cars with families out to enjoy an evening of fun.

“It was a great event!” said SRPMIC events coordinator Adrian Sixkiller. “People enjoyed the live entertainment, local food vendors, fireworks show and carnival rides. It was definitely the place to be for New Years!”

The celebration began at noon with a carnival rides such as the Wacky Bounce, Tiger Slide, Merry Go Round, Zero Gravity, Pharoah’s Fury and the large Ferris wheel called the Euro Wheel, among many others. Magic by Robbie provided entertainment for families arriving during the afternoon.

Wristbands good for unlimited rides were presold before the event for $5 each. All proceeds benefited the Salt River Community Children’s Foundation, which had a booth at the event.

A well-rounded lineup of music genres was heard echoing from the outdoor stage to the Salt River Gym as One Way Sky, Southern Scratch, DJ Reflekshin and DJ Jermatik all supplied music to dance the night away into 2024.

The Traditional O’odham & Piipaash Social began at 7 p.m. inside the Salt River Community Building, where SRPMIC Vice-President Ricardo Leonard led traditional gourd songs with other groups.

At 7 p.m., free New Year’s Eve party favors were given out, and by 8 p.m. the first fireworks began crackling.