Columbia cancels its massive New Year’s Eve street party

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Organizers say a New Year’s Eve street party in South Carolina’s capital city won’t be held again.

Columbia’s Famously Hot New Year started in 2011. It took place virtually in 2020 and was canceled in 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Organizers have decided it’s time to end the event.

The festival’s board encourages people to create their own new year’s traditions.

Music groups that played at the festival included George Clinton and Parliament Funkadelic, Kool & the Gang, Sister Hazel, En Vogue, Salt-N-Pepa and Arrested Development.