New Year’s Eve mishaps in Fort Myers

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FORT MYERS, Fla – The New Year was off to a rocky start in Fort Myers.

From the balloon drop to the ball drop, it seemed nothing went according to plan.

The mishaps started with a banner in downtown Fort Myers, advertising the balloon drop, but it had a spelling error. The River District Alliance was aware of the misspelling, but chose not to fix it.

“Maybe they thought it would attract people just because of the misspelling,” said Phyllis Haskell.

Hundreds showed up, but the balloon drop didn’t go as planned either. In fact, it didn’t happen at all. After a bit of impatience, the crowd took matters into their own hands.

“(The guy) went to pull the string, it kind of pulled the net too low and people just started grabbing it,” said Adrie Morgan, owner of the United Ale House. “It was a bit crazy because people were just like all over the place just grabbing and pulling.”

With thousands of people downtown and plenty of fun distractions, it seemed the band was having too much fun. They rocked straight into 2016, bypassing the countdown altogether. After the ball dropped, the band then decided to lead a countdown.

“Like, a strange night and nothing really happens how it’s supposed to be,” said Connie Eberle.

Everyone seemed to roll with the punches.

“Was still a good night,” said another woman.

They also likely carried some empathy into 2016.

“That’s being human,” said Haskell.

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