Best annual event
It's easy to wonder whether the broad middle stretch of the country realizes that not all East Coasters celebrate New Year's Eve with a jamboree starring a pickled celebrity counting backward under the glaring lights of Times Square. At least a million and a half people flock to Boston every year for First Night, knowing there's a fine alternative to loitering amid throngs in the cold, waiting for a dinky orb to fall. For almost three decades, First Night has marshaled the city's support and raised the concept of the block party incalculable notches. With options to choose from including festivities for kids and families, concerts, and dance performances throughout the day, and plenty of visual and musical diversions into the night, plus fireworks, people from all over excitedly trek into town to bid farewell to a year gone by.

One thing that much of the world does know about is the annual assembly of oarsmen and women known as the Head of the Charles Regatta. Every October for the past 40 years, rowers from around the globe have streamed into Boston and Cambridge with paddles in hand for the event. We might never have the once-in-a-lifetime chance to stage the Olympics in this city, but who cares when we have an annual athletic gathering of such scope? And unlike the Olympics, after everyone departs, there's something to anticipate for the next year.

First Night Boston, (617) 542-1399, www.firstnight.org; Head of the Charles Regatta, www.hocr.org.