BANGOR — Downtown Countdown 2012, 5 p.m.-midnight, featuring 12 venues and more than 20 activities and entertainment options.

BAR HARBOR — First Night celebration, 5-7 p.m., downtown, featuring bonfire and hayrides.

BELFAST — 15th annual New Year’s By the Bay, featuring cultural, family-oriented, chemical-free celebration, $18 for adults, $5 for students and children, featuring events at 12 venues across town. Full schedule of activities and performances at nybb.org.

BLUE HILL — Last Night Celebration, 6:30 p.m. to midnight, multiple venues throughout the town featuring music, dance, theater, poets and children’s activities.

EASTPORT — Seventh annual Great Sardine and Maple Leaf Drop from the Tides Institute and Museum of Art, Bank Square, 43 Water St. A number of downtown dining establishments are offering food and entertainment specials. Several downtown businesses will be open throughout the day with some businesses open until midnight and beyond. In addition, the Peavey Library will host a “Kid-Night Feast,” at noon as part of the “Eat Local at Your Local Library” series. Sample local foods and decorate a smaller scale sardine or maple leaf. To commemorate the New Year, the “giant sardine” will be lowered at midnight (Eastern time) with the “maple leaf” lowered an hour earlier (11 p.m. Eastern, or midnight Atlantic time).

MOUNT DESERT ISLAND — First Night New Year’s at MDI YMCA, 4:30-8:30 p.m.