Dec 29: In With The New

I love New Year's Eve in Fort Lauderdale. I've had some great ones here. Private evenings with one special person, some fondue, champagne and chocolates. And huge gatherings for hundreds. Black tie galas and funky Irish pub blowouts. And I also have joined in the city's free annual street parties. Those are a blast and I hope to pop in for this year's edition early that night before meeting up with a friend. Whether you join me downtown or are looking for other ideas, there's no shortage of New Year's Eve festivities. Fine restaurants are going all out to entertain, a famous rock group is in town and the hot clubs plan to whoop it up bigtime.

But for starters, let's go back to that free Fort Lauderdale bash. Called the "Downtown Countdown," the event draws an estimated 100,000 people each year to SW 2^nd Street between SW 2^nd Avenue and SW 5^th Avenue. It begins at 5pm and runs until 3am, with a special New Year's countdown for kids at 7pm. Kind of a nice touch, that early children's celebration.

Classic rock bands will be banging out the oldies and at midnight an eight-foot ball bathed in 10,000 lights descends to the official New Year countdown. Should be a very good time. But if you're looking for another kind of rock band and a crowd that's sitting in their seats, you might want to check out the Seminole Hard Rock & Casino. That's where the B-52s will take the stage to warm everyone up for 2010. Tickets start at $60 and include a complimentary champagne toast at the casino's Center Bar to ring in the New Year. Also at the Hard Rock complex, you can hit any of the diverse mix of clubs. They're each doing something special for the night. At the low-priced end, there's Tequila Ranch among others. Men get in for just $5, women are free. Passion Nightclub has a $50 admission. At Opium, it'll cost you $100 to step inside, with tables starting at $600 -- hey, maybe you had a good year or maybe you're just ready to start a much better one. Whatever. You can think about fine dining too, if that's more your style. There are many, many choices. For example, China Grill Fort Lauderdale offers a four-course family style meal for $150 per person, including a free bottle of Pommery Apanage champagne. Like I said, no shortage of New Year's Eve festivities around Fort Lauderdale. As for me, well, December 31 is one of my fave holidays and I can't wait. I may not be at a black tie wingding or Irish pubfest this year, but I still hope to party like it's 1999.