PORTLAND (AP) – Portland’s New Year’s celebration will be scaled back this year, winding down hours before the big moment arrives.

The organizers of New Year’s Portland announced Tuesday that the event is being changed from a music and entertainment celebration into a free family festival that will end at 9 p.m.

In the past jazz musicians, rock bands and other entertainers played until 11:30 p.m., followed by a countdown and fireworks at midnight.

But a change in the event’s leadership is also changing the festival. New Year’s Portland had been run by the now-defunct Maine Arts Inc., a nonprofit group interested in promoting the arts and Maine performers.

This year it is run by New Year’s Portland, whose board consists largely of local businesses.

A family festival will attract more customers, said Brian Petrovek, president of the nonprofit New Year’s Portland Inc.

A family festival “is a wiser business strategy, with less headaches and less risks,” said Petrovek, who is also the Chief Executive Officer of the Portland Pirates hockey team.

“Many of the partners in this event wanted to do more for families,” he said. “Certainly, with these changes, the event goes to who their customers are.”

family friendly entertainment, such as musicians, balloon twisters, puppets and storytellers will perform at various downtown venues from late morning until early evening.

Outdoor ice-skating at Congress Square and will end at 9 p.m.

Petrovek said last year about $100,000 was spent on the event and organizers “just about broke even.” Before this year, a single admission allowed people to attend the dozens of events. Last year about 2,300 attendance badges were sold, at between $12 and $15 each.

Petrovek said the family festival event makes “sense” for other businesses and venues trying to lure customers on New Year’s Eve. Clubs, restaurants, hotels and other places with entertainment that night won’t be competing with New Year’s Portland for the late-night crowd, he said.

“We hope that after 9 p.m., people who come (to New Year’s Portland) will stay downtown and see what else is going on,” he said.

The event’s major sponsors this year are People’s Heritage Bank and UnumProvident.

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On the Net:

www.newyearsportland.com.

AP-ES-11-26-03 0217EST