The Town of Rockport, Massachusetts has cancelled its planned New Year's Eve celebration due to the sharp increase in COVID cases, the town announced.
"The Rockport New Year's Eve's Board of Directors is gravely concerned about the safety of a large indoor event at this time," organizers said in a written statement on the town's event website.
The town will offer refunds for those who bought tickets, but also asked those who bought tickets to instead consider donating the money to pay for unrecoverable expenses.
Some other cities and towns in Massachusetts -- including Boston -- have modified their First Night celebrations.
Nearly all indoor programming in Boston has been moved outside. Masks are required for all indoor events, and are encouraged outside in areas with large crowds.
NBC 10 Boston is a media sponsor for First Night in Boston. Those who may not want to attend the celebrations can watch the events streamed live on NBCBoston.com.
