Bay County Prepares For 40,000 At New Year's Celebration

Preparing a New Year’s Eve celebration for 40,000 people is no easy task.

“We’ve got a lot of people out here who’ve got roles, jobs, tasks and they’re getting them done,” said Pier Park Marketing Director Felicia Cook.

It takes three days of set-up and at least fifty people to get ready for the Pier Park Bach Ball Drop in Panama City Beach.

That means building a stage for the six performing bands, blowing up 7,000 beach balls, and gearing up for the main event—the illuminated beach ball drop.

“We are so excited… we all got here pretty early this morning and we’ll be here to pretty early tomorrow morning,” said Cook.

Extra people means extra equipment. To allow more room for pedestrians—they blocked off the roads in the center of the complex.

“When you close down the streets, vehicles can’t get in the way of knocking people over or equipment over.  It’s the safe thing to do,” said Cook.

Last year—the event drew 27,000 people.  In attempt to double those numbers, they’ve amped up their marketing strategies.

“It’s on most every accommodation’s website. The TDC has really marketed it out there.  Our own PR company has made sure the information has gone wide,” she said.

To make sure the event runs smoothly, they’ve got all of their private security staff ready to go and coordinated with the Panama City Beach Police to secure a safe night.