Bayfront New Year's Eve: Miami to ring in 2024 with live music, fireworks and return of Big Orange
MIAMI - Preparations are underway for the Magic City's marquee New Year's Eve celebration.
Organizers are promising that this year's Bayfront New Year's Eve 2024 celebration will be bigger than ever.
This year more than 30 artists will take the stage to sing their hits and end the year in true Miami fashion. The New Year's celebration will feature headlining performances by platinum-selling recording artists and Grammy and Latin Grammy-winning icons Willy Chirino and Arturo Sandoval. They will be joined by an impressive roster of artists including Albita, Álvaro Tadeo, Amaury Gutiérrez, Andrea Pousa, and Aymée Nuviola.
"Willy Chirino, an icon not only in Miami but in Latin music and really in the music worldwide. Arturo Sandoval, I mean we probably have dozens if not a hundred Grammys and Latin Grammys between all the artists we'll have up there," said Tony Albelo, Executive Producer of Bayfront New Year's Eve.
Making a triumphant return to the skyline this year is the iconic "Big Orange." Yes, the physical Big Orange, 35-foot, 2,000-pound LED sculpture will once again do the 400-foot climb to the top of the InterContinental Hotel to ring in the new year.
"It's amazing that we get to do it again. I am just so happy that we get to put it on the building," said Steve Carpenter, aka Mr. Neon, an industrial artist who created the "Big Orange" 35 years ago.
The Big Orange has not risen in the last three years.
The first two years of absences were chalked up to COVID-19 and the pandemic. Carpenter said they decided not to do it last year because the event always draws a huge crowd and there was a flu outbreak going on at the time. A digital replica of Big Orange was projected onto the side of the building to ring in 2023.
The famous sun glass-wearing neon fruit was dubbed "La Gran Naranja" in 2015 in honor of the Viva Florida 500 Celebration of Florida's Spanish discovery.
The evening will be capped with a spectacular 20-minute fireworks show at midnight.
The free party kicks off at 6 p.m. on Sunday, December 31st. You can secure your free general admission ticket with free online registration at www.BayfrontNYE.com.