Visit Panama City Beach invites visitors and residents of all ages to ring in the new year Real. Fun. Beach. style at the annual New Year’s Eve Beach Ball Drop presented by Coca-Cola. Attracting thousands of visitors to the destination, the December 31 celebration is one of Panama City Beach’s most highly anticipated events of the year, featuring live music, entertainment and not one, but two beach ball drops – both accompanied by spectacular fireworks displays on the streets of Pier Park.
“Each year, New Year’s Eve Beach Ball Drop brings together residents and visitors in Panama City Beach for an unforgettable, family-friendly celebration,” says Visit Panama City Beach President and CEO Dan Rowe. “We are thrilled to continue this wonderful event and look forward to hosting the most exciting and unique countdown to 2024 on the Gulf Coast.”
The celebration begins with free live music on the concert stage in front of the Celebration Tower, as the streets of Pier Park are closed off to traffic for thousands of revelers to delight in free entertainment, fireworks, and good cheer throughout the night. Families with young children can enjoy the first countdown of the evening at 8:00 p.m., which includes fireworks and the release of 10,000 inflatable beach balls from nets stretched over the crowds at Pier Park.
On the way to midnight, bands perform for the gathering crowd, anticipating the countdown to 2024 and the lowering of a giant LED-lit beach ball on Panama City Beach’s Celebration Tower in the center of Pier Park. Standing over 80 feet tall, this tower is ten feet taller than the pole on One Times Square in Manhattan and can be seen from Russell-Fields Pier, where the second round of fireworks will be launched over the Gulf of Mexico and the “World’s Most Beautiful Beaches.”
Throughout the night, visitors can enjoy food vendors, games, activities and musical performances by Saved by the 90s, Will Thompson Band and The Life Atlantic. Please see below for a full schedule of events.
Sunday, December 31, 2023 Lineup:
• Family Fun Activities begin and Saved by the 90s performs at 5:35 p.m.
• Kids’ Beach Ball Drop at 8 p.m.
• Will Thompson Band performs at 8:20 p.m.
• The Life Atlantic performs at 10 p.m.
• Fireworks and Beach Ball Drop from Celebration Tower at Midnight
