Get Ready for the Fort Lauderdale Orange Bowl Downtown Countdown

The City of Fort Lauderdale is gearing up for its annual premier New Year’s Eve celebration “Fort Lauderdale Orange Bowl Downtown Countdown” this year presented by Ford Motor Company. Touted as one of the largest New Year’s Eve celebrations in Florida, this year’s free 12-hour street festival is full of fun and excitement for both children and adults. An estimated 100,000 revelers will crowd downtown Fort Lauderdale on Friday, December 31, 2010 from 3:00 pm – 3:00 am along SW 2nd Street between SW 2nd Avenue and SW 5th Avenue to wait with anticipation for the lighted ball to drop at midnight. The spectacular celebration will feature a variety of activities for the whole family from 3:00 pm to 8:00 pm and kids can enjoy the
early ball lighting and Countdown at 7:00 p.m. The festivities for kids include bounce houses/inflatables, face painting and games, contests and dancing with the DJ.
Get ready to shake a tail feather at 8:00 pm when Big City Dogs, a classic rock band, hits the main stage (SW 2nd Street and SW 5th Avenue). Known for their classic rock genre, revelers don’t want to miss a minute of music by the likes of the Allman Brothers, Moody Blues, BB King, Eric Clapton,
Stevie Ray Vaughn and the Blues Brothers – just to name a few.

Just when you’ve danced until you thought you couldn’t dance anymore, Viva, a classic rock band, picks up where Big City Dogs left off. Viva will rock the crowd until the ball drops and the fireworks shine.

On the east stage (SW 2nd Street and SW 2nd Avenue), partygoers can jam to the sounds of The Druids beginning at 7:30 pm.

Event Highlights:
• Ford Car Exhibition in Esplanade Park
• Outdoor lounge at the Esplanade Gazebo – New
• Biergarten at the corner of SW 4th and SW 2nd – New
• Food Court on SW 4th (cul-de-sac) – New
• Downtown Countdown paraphernalia vendors (t-shirts, hats, etc…) – New
• Two Cab stands

Event Schedule:
7 am: Set-up begins
2 pm: Photo opportunity with City Officials
The City of Fort Lauderdale will test the midnight ball to be featured at its annual “Downtown Countdown” premier New Year’s Eve celebration. City officials will be available to give comment on the New Year’s Eve spectacular, which officially kicks off at 3:00 pm on Friday, December 31, 2010.
2 pm: Final touches before the fun begins
Early partygoers will get their choice of premium locations along SW 2nd Avenue. Get to the celebration early so you can enjoy ushering in 2010 with 100,000 of your closest friends.
3 pm to 8 pm: Family fun begins. Kids will love the bounce houses. Children of all ages will jump, slide and climb their way in to the seven o’clock lighting of the ball. Face painters will be on hand to decorate partygoers and a DJ will get the party started with hot new music guaranteed to make anyone dance.
• 3:00 pm to 7:00 pm: Inflatables, face painting
• 4:00 pm to 8:00 pm: DJ with music, games, contests,
line dancing
• 7:00 pm: Early Ball Lighting and kids countdown

7 pm: The “Downtown Countdown Ball” will be raised and lit until it makes its descent at 11:59 pm.

8:00 pm: Live performance begins on the main stage
• 8:00 to 9:15 pm: Big City Dogs
• 9:30 pm to 1:00 am: Viva Classic Rock Band
7:30 pm to 9:30 pm/12:30 am to 2:30 am: Live performance begins on the east stage
• The Druids

T minus 2 hours (10 pm): Get your party favors. Make sure to get your hats, t-shirts, confetti, whistles and other New Year’s Eve paraphernalia before midnight.
T minus 1 hour (11 pm): Get picture ready. Have your photo ready face on, as pictures will be taken as we work our way to the ball drop.
T minus 15 minutes (11:45 pm): Find last minute ball drop watch positions. Revelers should make their way toward the main stage for the midnight ball drop – it will be elbow-room only.
T minus 1 minute 10 seconds (11:59:50pm): Countdown begins City officials will count 2010 out and usher in 2011 as the “Downtown Countdown” ball drops.
Midnight: Welcome 2011. A five-minute pyrotechnic display will brilliantly illuminate the sky above Downtown Fort Lauderdale. Bursts of custom-mixed colors light up the night sky as confetti descends on partygoers.

Related posts:

1. Dolphins pep rally in Downtown Fort Lauderdale Sept. 24
2. Downtown Fort Lauderdale rockin’ on Halloween
3. St. Patty’s festival draws crowd to Downtown Fort Lauderdale
4. Free movies on Fort Lauderdale beach
5. 2010 Run Wild for the Environment in Fort Lauderdale

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Posted by Andrea Freygang on Dec 27 2010. Filed under Broward County, Events, Featured, Fort Lauderdale, Holiday, Local news. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry