As the first sunrise of the year beams over downtown Miami, South Floridians reflect on the past and look toward a fresh start.

As the world gears up to bid farewell to 2024 and welcome 2025, final preparations are underway to bring in the new year South Florida-style.

It's a Christmas miracle! After a bit of back and forth, the famed Big Orange will be part of Miami’s New Year’s Eve celebration this year.

It's a Christmas miracle! After a bit of back and forth, the famed Big Orange will be part of Miami’s New Year’s Eve celebration this year.

The Big Orange sculpture will not be part of Miami’s New Year’s Eve celebration.

Across South Florida people rang in 2023 surrounded by music, friends, family and fun.

After a massive celebration for the ringing in of 2022 that included more than 100,000 attendees, the Bayfront Park New Year’s Eve announced Wednesday that it will make its return to the City of Miami in 2023.

While many crowd-drawing celebrations are being canceled due to the omicron variant, the show is on at Miami's Bayfront Park to ring in the New Year.

The Bayfront NYE 2021-22 concert and fireworks display will go on as planned. The Big Orange event won’t.

MIAMI – For the first time in 35 years, the Big Orange won’t be part of the countdown this New Year’s Eve in downtown Miami. Neon, said he is keeping the iconic orange stored in his studio in Hialeah this year. “This would have been my 35th year putting it up,” Carpenter said. Carpenter said the sculptural 30-foot wide display weighs 2,000 pounds. “Now, I can go to a party, but then nobody is having them because of the COVID.”The cancelation of the NYE party in downtown Miami doesn’t mean there won’t be any parties in Miami-Dade County.

Neon” Carpenter was asked to design what’s become an icon for New Year’s Eve, Big Orange, he thought sheet aluminum was the way to go. This will be the 34th year of raising the Big Orange since Carpenter designed and built the 30-foot-tall icon, which climbs 400 feet to the top of Miami’s InterContinental Hotel to ring in Miami’s New Year 2020. The Big Orange is the star of the countdown to midnight at Bayfront Park’s south end. The New Year’s Eve icon slowly ascends the side of the InterContinental Hotel, reaching the top at midnight with a fireworks display capping it off. Packages from $295 to $495 get you gourmet food, a champagne toast and a chance to be a Mr. Worldwide VIP.