Columbia’s Famously Hot New Year celebration will not return, officials say
After becoming a tradition for thousands, Columbia’s Famously Hot New Year celebration has been permanently called off, officials said.
“It’s hard to see FHNY come to an end,” Sam Johnson, president of the Famously Hot New Year board of directors, said in a news release. “For the past 10 years, we have looked forward to bringing visitors from outside of the Midlands together with locals to showcase all that the City of Columbia, Richland County and the region have to offer.”
Famously Hot New Year, Columbia’s annual celebration, regularly drew tens of thousands of revelers downtown.
But the event had been hurt by the COVID-19 pandemic in the past two years. In 2020, the New Year’s Eve celebration was held virtually, before being completely called off in 2021.
Prior to those tough times, Famously Hot New Year had grown to become South Carolina’s largest New Year’s Eve celebration. It featured a free, evening-length concert by a national headliner and the biggest New Year’s Eve fireworks display in the Palmetto State, as the show was held by the South Carolina State House in downtown Columbia.
The celebration also featured regional food vendors, and bars with beer, wine and champagne to ring in the new year, according to organizers.
In addition to Midlands residents, the event drew visitors from all over the state and U.S. to Columbia. Famously Hot New Year was started in 2011 as an idea nurtured by former Columbia Mayor Steve Benjamin.
Some of the musicians who performed at Famously Hot New Year over the past decade include George Clinton and Parliament Funkadelic, The Wallflowers, Kool & the Gang, The O’Jays, Lauryn Hill, Trombone Shorty and Orleans Ave, Sister Hazel, Elle King, En Vogue, and Salt-N-Pepa among others.
Other acts to perform on the Famously Hot stage include Z.Z. Ward, Atlantic Starr and Biz Markie.
1990s hip-hop and funk hitmakers Arrested Development headlined 2020’s virtual celebration, which also included appearances from Hootie & the Blowfish in the event highlighting Columbia, where they met and formed the group while students at the University of South Carolina.
Although there won’t be a Famously Hot New Year in 2022, people will still find a way to celebrate the start of 2023.
“We encourage visitors and locals alike to create new traditions around the holiday that include enjoying all that our vibrant region has to offer,” Johnson said.
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This story was originally published April 27, 2022 at 8:05 AM.
