Countdown to 2013 on Daytona's Main Street includes beach ball drop
Videos produced by Sera Frederick / Will this New Year's Eve be free of public drinking like what occurred during the last celebration on New Smyrna Beach's Flagler Avenue as shown in these images even with visible police presence?
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NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- The $16 million Hampton Inn on Flagler Avenue has opened just in time to ring in the new year, with the avenue closed to vehicular traffic to start the cowntown with 5 minutes of fireworks at 9 p.m. and then continuous partying.
But Immediately after the $6,500 fireworks paid for with CRA taxpayer funds, families with young children will try to make their way down all the side streets to their vehicles while crossing paths with adult revelers with beer in hand, getting a head start on partying.
With less than 80 parking spaces at the 112-room Hampton Inn, parking to accommodate the remainder of guests and staff with be absorbed by parking across the avenue where parking has already been tight.
That means families with children having to park in the tiny side streets, most with inadequate or no sidewalks at all and residents no taking too kindly to parking on their front lawns.
"It's a nightmare, especially with all of the drinking and the noise," said Deb Dugas, a longtime beachside resident behind the hotel, who opted to spend New Year's in the Carolinas with relatives. "I've been to the city commission meeting and complained. They just look at you and do nothing."
Public drinking on the sidewalk in front of the Om Bar on Flagler Avenue was typical of the partyinh during the past New Year's Eve celebration.
New Smyrna Beach officials have declined to discuss the situation in public forum even when residents like Dugas have taken to the microphone and complained.
The commission is led by Mayor Adam Barringer, himself an admitted DUI offender and owner of two wine bar restaurants.
With as many as 2,000 revelers on Flagler, New Smyrna Beach will deploy a half dozen cops, maybe less like they did the previous celebration where countless adults walked up and down Flagler openly drinking with no fear of being ticketed for carrying open containers.
The party atmosphere takes on greater definition on Main Street in Daytona Beach, where the much larger bars have made their biggest sales during the 10-day Bike Week in int he spring and the four-day Biketoberfest in October.
Daytona Beach officials are pulling out all the stops for this New Year's Eve celebration, with the dropping of a giant beach ball. The event is promoted heavily on the front page of the Sunday edition of the Daytona Beach News-Journal. The newspaper did not provide details on the costs involved.