ST. LOUIS -- December 14, 2012 -- Here's a New Year's resolution that's fun to keep: resolve to visit St. Louis to enjoy what's new in 2013.
Each year brings big surprises to the St. Louis scene. During Lucky '13, visitors can experience new sights, sounds and events at some of the Gateway City's famed attractions.
Greet 2013 by saying buh-bye to 2012 at the artsy, family fun celebration called "First Night® Saint Louis." This year's theme, "A Traveling Circus," brings acrobats, clowns and jugglers to entertain revelers in St. Louis' Grand Center arts and entertainment district. The creative fete rings in the New Year on Monday, December 31 from 6 pm to midnight. Revelers of all ages can take in 60 performances at more than 12 venues, two free fantastic firework displays and free outdoor shows throughout the evening. Admission on site is $12 for adults and $6 for kids. Discount admission is available in advance for $10 and $5 at www.grandcenter.org.
The Gateway City's nightspots and hotels host spectacular New Year's Eve parties to greet 2K13. They're going to party like it's 1929 at the Fountain on Locust. The Art Deco-style dining and luxe dessert establishment presents a Speakeasy Spectacular and Prohibition Bootleggers' Ball. An over-the-top soiree, complete with an extravagant laser light show, lights up Three Sixty. Located atop the St. Louis Hilton at the Ballpark, the sky-high venue features spectacular 360-degree views of Downtown St. Louis and was named one of the Top Ten Rooftop Bars in the World. You'll be "Puttin' on the Ritz" by dancing in the New Year at the Lobby Lounge party at the Ritz-Carlton, St. Louis. For information about these events and special New Year's hotel packages throughout St. Louis, click on the St. Louis Convention & Visitors Commission's website at www.explorestlouis.com.
St. Louis' Forest Park is always a "go to" location for visitors and will have even more to offer in 2013. The New Year brings an expansion to the Saint Louis Art Museum, new habitats at the Saint Louis Zoo, and popular outdoor theatre offerings.
See more of the world-class collection at the Saint Louis Art Museum when its highly anticipated expansion opens with a two-day-long festival on June 29 and 30, 2013. New galleries, an underground parking facility, a café and restaurant are just the beginning of the 200,000 square foot addition. The $162 million project means visitors will now be able to view more works from the museum's collection that places it among the top 10 comprehensive art museums in the nation. Founded in 1879, the museum's existing building was designed by architect Cass Gilbert and used as the Fine Arts Palace for the 1904 World's Fair. Admission to the Saint Louis Art Museum is always free.
Also in Forest Park, you can now come face-to-face with some of the Saint Louis Zoo's most popular animal residents. Visitors can't get enough of the newest wet and wild exhibit, Sea Lion Sound. Rising over the central hub of the zoo in Forest Park, the 1.5-acre, $18 million habitat includes a 35-foot-long underwater viewing tunnel -- the first in North America -- where visitors will see the animals swimming around them. Marine mammal residents include 11 California sea lions and four harbor seals. An 811-seat arena offers shows where the marine mammals will display their natural swimming, diving, balancing and sliding behaviors daily during the summer and in weekend shows in the spring and fall. Daily sea lion feedings and keeper chats also get visitors close to the sleek and powerful animals. Admission to the Saint Louis Zoo is always free.
Spotlights shine in Forest Park when The Muny, the nation's largest outdoor theatre, kicks off its 95th summer season in 2013. The seven musicals, four of which are Muny premiere, included Les Misérables, Mary Poppins, Nunsense, Shrek?The Musical, South Pacific, Monty Python's Spamalot and West Side Story. The massive park also is home to the Shakespeare Festival St. Louis which brings the comedy Twelfth Night to life this May 24 through June 16. Free performances are held nightly, except Tuesdays, in Shakespeare Glen near the Saint Louis Art Museum.
During 2013, thrill seekers will pilgrimage to Six Flags St. Louis, a Mecca for Midwest rollercoasters, for the inaugural season of Boomerang. The new, 125-feet-tall steel coaster will have brave riders twist, turn and shout during a 50 miles-per-hour, heart-pounding ride along 1,650 feet of twisting, corkscrew, looping track. Boomerang is the ninth coaster at Six Flags St. Louis which is home to more roller coasters than any other theme park in Missouri.
The Magic School Bus® rolls into The Magic House, St. Louis Children's Museum and parks its Kicks Up A Storm exhibit there from February 9 through May 27, 2013. This electrifying exhibit features three interactive and hands-on Magic School Bus environments, in which parents and children will have a great time learning about different types of weather and weather prediction. Visitors will get an in-depth and behind the scenes look at scientific weather measurements, weather tools, maps, graphs and the various natural indicators we can use to understand and predict weather patterns.
For details on these events and everything that's happening in St. Louis during 2013, check out the detailed Calendar of Events at the St. Louis Convention & Visitors Commission's user-friendly website at www.explorestlouis.com.
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