Where You Can Ring In 2017 In South Florida
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MIAMI (CBSMiami) - For those still making plans to ring in the new year, South Florida has various offerings.
Thousands plan to hit Bayfront Park for Pitbull's New Year's Revolution.
"We have Queen Latifah and Snoop Dogg is our host and of course Mr. 305, Pitbull is our ultimate host for the night," said Miami NYE Producer Ray Steinman.
Steinman says there will be plenty of surprises in store for the party-goers.
"A lot of surprises! We have Salt-N-Pepa, we got some mash ups with a bunch of other old-school hip-hop artists, and a lot of surprises," he said.
The New Year's Eve party continues to grow each year. In fact, Steinman says they began planning back in July.
"Thousands of hours and conference calls and emails and more conference calls and drawings and re-drawings and creative meetings and it takes a lot of work to put on an event like this," he said.
City of Miami Commissioner Frank Carollo expects the big names to bring out even more people than last year and warns against trying to get downtown in your car.
"Keep in mind that last year we had an estimated 150,000 people, so I encourage everyone to take mass transit," he said. "Metrorail, Metromover, they will be operating until the wee hours of the night."
While Saturday's production will cost the city a lot of money, the city is banking on making a lot more with future tourism.
"The nations eyes will be on our beautiful city where will be showcasing the beauty of our Downtown Miami," Carollo said. "And not only that! But fireworks, millions of LED lights, great performers in the warm climate that we have here in the city of Miami."
The event, which is going on its third year, is free and no ticket is required.
The event will also feature the Worldwide Food and Wine Festival, which will require a ticket for entry.
No bottles, cans, coolers or personal fireworks will be allowed.
Seconds before midnight all eyes will be on Miami's Big Orange as it makes its yearly ascent on the side of the Intercontinental Hotel to signal the start of the new year. Fireworks will then light up Biscayne Bay.
Up the coast, the Fort Lauderdale Orange Bowl Downtown Countdown is touted as one of the largest New Year's Eve celebrations in Florida.
The party gets underway at 4:30 p.m. along SW 2nd Street between SW 2nd and SW 5th Avenues and runs through the midnight countdown.
Downtown Countdown will feature a variety of activities for the whole family including bounce houses, slides, face painting, games, contests, line dancing with DJ William Pennhouse, live music, and free caricatures.
Related: Best Cities To Celebrate New Year's Eve Without Breaking The Bank
At midnight, a 20-foot tall anchor, lit with 12,000 LED lights, will descend down from 100 feet in the air above the event's main stage as the final seconds as 2016 ticks down.
In the Keys, four unusual "drops" will highlight New Year's Eve celebrations.
For 18 years, Key West partiers have welcomed the new year with the annual "red shoe drop" starring female impersonator Sushi. Dressed in a gown and perched in a supersized red high-heel shoe suspended above the crowd, Sushi presides over festivities at the Bourbon St. Pub complex on Duval Street -- and is to be lowered in her high-heel from the complex's balcony as 2017 arrives.
A few blocks away, crowds can celebrate while watching a gigantic manmade conch shell, the symbol of the Florida Keys, descend to the roof of Sloppy Joe's Bar. In the island city's Historic Seaport, a pirate wench is to be lowered from the top of a tall ship's mast outside the Schooner Wharf Bar. And a celebration at the Ocean Key Resort is to feature a huge replica of a Key lime wedge "splashing down" into a larger-than-life margarita glass.
New Year's Eve revelry elsewhere in the Keys includes waterfront fireworks displays and parties in Key Largo and Islamorada as 2017 arrives.
