New Year’s Eve preps in downtown Fort Myers

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It’s almost time to light up the night and enter the new year. We know one of the hot spots will be downtown Fort Myers.

They’ll have live music, food, drinks and, of course, fireworks.

Despite a challenging off-season marked by hurricanes and the closure of the Caloosahatchee bridge, local business owners told us they’re more than ready, not just for New Year’s Eve, but ready to turn the page to 2025 and the year ahead.

With New Year’s festivities just around the corner, downtown Fort Myers is expecting heavy traffic. Business owners like those at Scoops on First and Spirit of Earth said they’re prepared to welcome crowds and kick off their busy season.

Trisha Davis, Scoops on First, said, “It’s been a tough off-season this year, between hurricanes and the bridge and the election. It’s just been a really bad off-season, so anytime there’s any kind of event, especially a long event that’s about six hours long. It’s very good for all of our businesses, and I believe every one of us will be very happy to have it after a very rough off-season.”

We asked Jason Thomas, owner of Spirit of Earth, if he is excited for the new year.

“Oh yes, that’s when the season really kicks in full gear. It’s like for us, it goes well past Easter, like we’re here till Memorial Day, with still traffic, you know, lots of crowds. Please come downtown and shop. The parking is not as bad as they’ve made it out to be,” he said.

Tuesday, the streets will begin closing early in the morning to prepare for the New Year’s Eve festivities, which will kick off at 6:30 p.m. and run until 12:30 a.m. Both Spirit of Earth and Scoops on First will also be open during their regular hours on New Year’s Day.

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