Clearwater Beach's New Year's Eve Now Has a 9 p.m. Finale. The Midnight Show Hasn't Posted a Date.

For at least the last three years, public fireworks on Clearwater Beach on New Year's Eve have meant one thing: a midnight show launched from Sand Key Park and watched from the south end of the beach. This year there is a second show on the calendar. It runs on a different clock, from a different spot, and has different organizers.

As of this week, that new show is the only one with a 2026 date. Sunset to Sparkle, a free celebration at Pier 60 Park, ends with fireworks at 9 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 31. The midnight show, Light It Up Clearwater, still lists its last date as Dec. 31, 2025. Nobody has announced that it's cancelled, and nobody has announced that it's coming back.

What's set for Pier 60

The City of Clearwater's event page lists Sunset to Sparkle as a partnership between the city and the nonprofit Sunsets at Pier 60 Festival. It runs from 3 to 9:30 p.m. at Pier 60 Park, and the fireworks finale goes up over the beach at 9 p.m. The city lists admission as free. The city's announcement promises live entertainment, local artisans, street performers, amusement attractions and activities for all ages, with more details "to be announced in the coming months."

The city put the purpose plainly. The 9 p.m. finale is meant to let "families to welcome the New Year together before midnight." When Lisa Chandler announced the event in late August, Tampa Bay 28 described rides, games and a grand finale "going off at a bedtime-friendly 9 p.m."

The organizers have a long history at this spot. Sunsets at Pier 60 has put on free, family-oriented entertainment on Clearwater Beach for more than 30 years, and it also produces the Pier 60 Sugar Sand Festival. Tampa Bay 28 reported that Chandler's family has spent almost four decades on the beach running Pier 60 Concessions, selling keepsakes and renting out the blue and white beach umbrellas. Here is how she framed the new event in the city's announcement:

"Clearwater Beach is known around the world for its beautiful sunsets, and we cannot imagine a better place to celebrate the final sunset of the year and sparkle into the next one."

The show that had the night to itself

Light It Up Clearwater is the event that has been running on New Year's Eve. Amplify Clearwater hosts it. The city's page for it describes the usual routine: watch the sunset, get something to eat, then ring in the new year with fireworks launched from Sand Key Park at midnight, watched from the southern part of Clearwater Beach.

That routine shows up year after year. Patch's 2023 roundup placed the free midnight show at the north end of Sand Key Park and called the south end of Clearwater Beach the best place to watch. Bay News 9's coverage for Dec. 31, 2024, listed Light It Up's midnight fireworks along Clearwater Beach again. The city's listing for Dec. 31, 2025, used the same launch site, the same viewing area and the same midnight start.

The money behind the show matters for the date question. Light It Up's own site calls the event "all compliments of AMPLIFY Clearwater and its wonderful sponsors." Amplify's sponsorship package for the 2022/2023 show offered tiers from $750 for an event sponsor up to $15,000 for the presenting sponsor. Sponsors have paid for it, and the city doesn't run it. So the city's calendar can't settle the question. Only an announcement from Amplify can.

Right now the city's Light It Up page shows Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2025, as its most recent date and lists nothing for 2026. One listing on the Light It Up site carries "2026" in its title but gives the date as December 2025, so it doesn't count as a firm date either way. Neither organizer has said publicly whether Sunset to Sparkle replaces the midnight show, runs alongside it or has nothing to do with it.

How the evening lays out on the island

With one show confirmed and one still pending, Dec. 31 looks like this for now:

• 3 p.m. Sunset to Sparkle opens at Pier 60 Park.
• Sunset. The last sunset of the year is the event's centerpiece, according to the city's announcement.
• 9 p.m. Fireworks over Clearwater Beach from Pier 60.
• 9:30 p.m. Sunset to Sparkle wraps up.
• Midnight. Light It Up's slot from 2023 through 2025, launched from Sand Key Park. No date has been confirmed for 2026.

The hotel parties also ran on the midnight schedule. In Tampa Bay Parenting's 2025 roundup, JW Marriott Clearwater Beach held a ticketed beach party from 9 p.m. to midnight. Tickets were $250 for adults, $200 for ages 13 to 20 and $100 for ages 5 to 12, and guests could watch the Sand Key fireworks from the hotel's beach. Wyndham Grand Clearwater Beach held a party from 8 p.m. to midnight, with a $50 ticket that included one drink and a champagne toast at midnight. The JW Marriott party started at 9 p.m., the same hour as this year's Pier 60 fireworks. None of the hotels has posted a 2026 lineup yet.

Here is what is certain for 2026. Clearwater Beach has a free public fireworks show on the night, and it's at 9 p.m. at Pier 60. A midnight public show on the island depends on an announcement that hasn't come.

The other December dates that are set

The rest of the island's holiday calendar is on firmer footing.

Dec. 12, 6 p.m. The Clearwater Yacht Club's 52nd annual Holiday Lighted Boat Parade circles Island Estates, passes Coachman Park and heads toward the Sand Key Bridge.

December, date still to come. Wyndham Grand Clearwater Beach at 100 Coronado Dr. is getting a property-wide refresh this fall, and it is partnering with pitmaster Ray Lampe, known as Dr. BBQ, on a new restaurant and bar called Squiki Tiki with Dr. BBQ. The Tampa Bay Times reported that it will be on Beach Walk in front of the hotel and serve barbecue alongside tiki-style cocktails. The menu includes St. Louis-style ribs, a pulled pork sandwich, a burnt ends bao bun and smoked shrimp summer rolls. Creative Loafing Tampa noted that no exact opening date has been set and that the restaurant hopes to open sometime in December. It will be open to hotel guests and the public every day from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Lampe's earlier restaurant, Dr. BBQ in St. Petersburg's EDGE District, opened in 2018 and closed in 2022.

Nov. 7 and 8. For an early taste, the Times reported that Squiki Tiki will serve food at the Savor St. Pete food and wine festival before it opens.

The Pier 60 organizers have already looked past the holidays. The 2027 Pier 60 Sugar Sand Festival runs March 26 through April 11. Its 13th year carries the theme "Treasures in Sand: Tails of the Sea," with mermaids, pirates and underwater adventures.

If you plan your year around what happens on the beach, the team at Ocean Breeze Luxury Realty is watching these dates from our Clearwater office too. If you're wondering what your Clearwater Beach home would be worth heading into the new year, start with a free home valuation and we'll walk you through the numbers.