Fog stole the Fort Myers Beach New Year’s Eve fireworks show

The fog on Tuesday night put a damper on some of our New Year’s Eve celebrations, including the Fort Myers Beach fireworks.

Beachgoers said on Wednesday that the fog stole the show. Now, the town is getting pushback from taxpayers wondering why the fireworks weren’t postponed.

Documents from the Fort Myers Beach Council show the fireworks were funded with $80,000 of available savings carried over from fiscal year 2024.

“We tried to play football. We couldn’t even see that. We couldn’t see in front of us. Couldn’t see the water. It was bad. We were hoping that they were going to get postponed to actually see them, and they still went through with it, you know, and were very disappointed. It actually absolutely sucked, to be honest with you,” Daniel Martin, who watched the fireworks, said.

“The only thing I really saw was like, kind of like colored clouds. It wasn’t really, I couldn’t, like, clearly see the fireworks,” Jeremiah Wiltse of Michigan said.

You could hear them going off. One beachgoer told WINK News it was a first for him.

“I definitely will not forget this day. This is even if I didn’t get to see fireworks. I mean, I’ve seen fireworks. I could picture it in my head. For me, it was more of the AMSR fireworks experience. I think people still got a kick out of it, and I think a majority of the people still stayed for the very end,” Kevin Zapata from Miami said.

The New Year’s Eve fun on the beach still happened despite no fireworks.

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“We didn’t stay until the fireworks, but because we had the little ones. But it was, it was gorgeous. There was a lot of fun. People throwing balls and enjoying their time here on the beach like always,” Kim Burchett of Fort Myers said.

Now, people want answers. Should the town have rescheduled? Was the show a waste of money?

“They should have rescheduled them. Like, today’s super clear. This would have been perfect. Yeah, it would have been really nice to see him today. So, like, we can appreciate them more,” Wiltse said.

Zapata brought up an interesting point.

“I know some people celebrate New Year’s Eve, some people celebrate New Year’s Day. So, why not both? They [fireworks] went on for probably 40 minutes, so they could have done 20 minutes last night, 20 minutes tonight,” Zapata said.

Fort Myers Beach Mayor Dan Allers, in a social media post, said, “We did discuss canceling them and trying to postpone them till today or the 4th of July. Fog was predicted to lift by 10am yesterday and it tried, but didn’t. Once the fireworks were on the barge, the show either went on or the money was lost.”

He continued, “We are not happy with the outcome either, but we can’t control Mother Nature.”

WINK News has reached out to Mayor Allers and has not heard back.

The town of Fort Myers Beach made a similar statement on Facebook, saying the fireworks display was not what they had hoped for.