For some revelers, celebrating New Year’s Eve without an adult beverage in hand may seem like Santa arriving with an empty sleigh, but for more than 60 years, one local group has been hosting an alcohol-free bash to rival any event that marks the advancement of time.

The Colorado Springs Area Service Office of Alcoholics Anonymous will hold its annual New Year’s Eve Alcothon from noon Wednesday through noon Thursday in a local church gymnasium for an expected 1,000 people who know how to have fun without booze.

Whether attendees have a few decades or a few days of sobriety, “We want you to enjoy yourself. We want lives to get better,” said Roman, this year’s event coordinator. He declined to provide his last name because everyone involved with AA agrees to public anonymity as one of the organization’s credos.

For a quarter of a century, the 24-hour bash has been held at Sacred Heart Catholic Church, 2030 W. Colorado Ave., where it will be again this year. The event has been held in different locations since it started in the 1960s, Roman said, but Sacred Heart has become like a home to the yearly Alcothon.

The agenda includes AA meetings offered every hour on the hour, which are sponsored by different groups.

There also will be special guest speakers, a dinner of carnitas, beans, rice, homemade tortillas and other fixings, a disc jockeyed dance and breakfast on Thursday.

The dinner starts at 6 p.m., Wednesday, followed by the dance at 9 p.m. The holiday’s “countdown” to midnight starts with recognizing the person who has the most years of sobriety and works down to claps for the person with the least amount of sobriety – perhaps someone who may have had a drink in the parking lot before entering the event, Roman said.

Regardless, everyone gets a round of applause for their numbers, and the two attendees with the longest and shortest amount of sobriety will receive a copy of the Big Book, the organization’s basic text that guides people through the 12-step recovery process. The books will be signed by other members.

A suggested donation of $15 is requested but not required. The event is open to anyone affiliated with AA and their families, as well as people who are curious about the group and want to learn more about maintaining a sober lifestyle.

No RSVP is necessary, Roman said. Just show up anytime throughout the 24 hours and stay as long as desired.

“This is our largest event of the year, and it’s the positive side to AA. There are pros and cons, and we want you to know there’s a solution, though,” Roman said. “If you do it right, this is what it looks like.”

The Pikes Peak region has about 280 groups that offer meetings at different times, days and locations. And there are some 6,000 members.

“Everybody has their own story of why they stopped, and everyone’s story is different,” Roman said. “These are like-minded people that will do anything for you to help you succeed. This program saves lives.”

Alcoholics Anonymous was founded 90 years ago in Akron, Ohio, by two admitted alcoholics, Bill Wilson, a stockbroker, and Dr. Robert Smith, a surgeon. Since 1935, it has grown to become a worldwide peer-led, abstinence-based recovery program in which users follow 12 spiritual and graduated steps to achievement and hear personal stories of others.

AA participants are from all walks of life, Roman said. “Alcohol does not matter what your last name is or what you do for a living,” he said. “We do treat it as a disease.”

New Year’s Eve can be tough for people who struggle with drinking because it’s known as a time of imbibing and overindulging.

“There’s drunk, and then there’s New Year’s Eve drunk,” Roman said. “The holidays are hard for some people for whatever reason. Some people may have picked up a DUI during the holidays. Just like how people go to the gym after New Year’s, our numbers spike in January.”

For more information, go to https://www.coloradospringsaa.org/. Attendees are asked to bring a dessert or non-alcoholic beverage to share.

“The Alcothon is a day we as Alcoholics Anonymous come together to celebrate, with our fellows from the program, through experience, strength and hope all under one roof,” Roman said. “Proving that together all things are possible.”