NEWPORT — Will the City-by-Sea’s annual New Year’s Eve celebration become the economy’s next casualty?

First Night Newport, with its fireworks display over the harbor and family-oriented performances downtown, won’t be held for the first time in 15 years if the nonprofit group can’t raise $30,000 by Dec. 1, according to its executive director, Charles Roberts.

“We’ll have to cancel because we won’t be able to pay for the artists, the fireworks, the police details and the venues — everything that makes First Night function,” said Roberts. “Even in good times, we’ve had difficult times raising money. In this economic downturn … donations have been very slow coming.”

Close to 10,000 people visit Newport for the holiday, with about 2,000 to 2,500 purchasing buttons to attend performances by musicians, dancers and clowns and to participate in numerous children’s activities, Roberts said. The $10 buttons, however, cover only a fraction of the night’s expenses so Roberts is reaching out to city and tourism officials as well as businesses and residents to spur donations.

Roberts said he has cut the cost of the event in half — to $30,000 — to improve the chances of rescuing the city’s New Year’s Eve tradition. The savings, he said, would come from renting fewer venues and starting the celebration one hour later, at 6 p.m. (The evening would still conclude after the 9:15 p.m. fireworks).

Also, he said, the company that has put on the pyrotechnics display for years, Bay Fireworks, of Farmingdale, N.Y., has cut its price in half, to $10,000.

But because a fundraiser went so badly at the end of summer, First Night is no closer to reaching the $30,000 goal. The Thelonius Monk Jr. concert at Beechwood, and an auction held that night, actually lost $19,000, Roberts said.

“Newport had a lot of events during this time period and that was the beginning of the economic crunch being felt,” Roberts said.

First Night is the latest in a series of Newport events that has struggled this year, according to Evan Smith, executive director of the Newport County Convention and Visitors Bureau.

“I can’t think of an event that hasn’t had trial and tribulations in this down economy,” he said, adding that the question as the year winds down is if there is “anything left” for sponsorship of First Night.

It was Smith who first advocated Newport’s hosting a New Year’s Eve celebration, which led to the event’s debut in 1993. Not having it for the first time since then, he said, would create “a void of art and cultural programming which would be unfortunate.”

He said the tourism bureau is trying to help Roberts identify potential sponsors and, if the event goes on, will play its usual role in marketing First Night.

“We have hope and faith the event will go on,” said Smith, who nevertheless added that “it would be understandable” if it had to be canceled. If that’s the case, he said, “it certainly wouldn’t close down Newport [because] there would still be a lot of people here for getaway weekends.”

Mayor Stephen C. Waluk met with Roberts and said he will try to help rally business support for the event. The city donates $2,500 every year, he said, and can’t offer more because it “doesn’t have the money.”

“We just need the business community to step up the way it always has,” he said.

Roberts said he has the acts and venues lined up.

“I’m all ready to go,” he said. “I really feel we are going to raise the money.”

rsalit@projo.com