Volusia County gearing up for Spring Break crowds, enforcing curfews
NEW SMYRNA BEACH, Fla. - Volusia County is a popular destination for people on spring break.
In New Smyrna Beach, the city clamped down on unaccompanied kids wreaking havoc at night with an overnight curfew. Teens crowded city streets in 2022 and were seen on video jumping on cars. After a calmer spring break last year, some locals credit the overnight kid curfew as a big difference maker.
Dalton Wood works at Ocean Breeze Tiki Bar right off the beach. He said the staff was already getting ready for the big crowds.
"It’s just a rush," Wood said. "As soon as it comes, we try to brace ourselves and make sure we have enough staff on. A lot of the spring breakers love dining and dashing around here. It’s not that suitable for our business."
The curfew implemented was made permanent last year. It was initially an "emergency" temporary measure. In a meeting with city commissioners last fall, Police Chief Eric Feldman said the curfew worked well.
"It was a tool that was necessary to remove large crowds of unaccompanied young people on holiday weekends," Feldman said.
Though it’s in effect year-round, Feldman said it’s only enforced during peak periods. Locals interviewed by FOX 35 News noticed the difference and hope it keeps working.
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"They’ve definitely helped with the large crowds in keeping them down overall," Wood said.
"We didn’t see as many people out there crowding the streets," one woman said. "It used to be you couldn’t drive down the street or walk down the street."
It’s part of a spring break crackdown across Florida. Last March, two deadly shootings in Miami Beach led the city to issue a state of emergency. Gov. Ron DeSantis on Monday said never again.
"We want it to just be a smooth period of time for people to be here, and you should really not even know that it’s spring break or not, because things should be orderly," DeSantis said.
Up in Daytona Beach, Androse Bell, Hard Rock Hotel general manager, said hardcore spring breakers are bored with the city’s "family-friendly" re-brand and are choosing to go elsewhere.
"Organically, for the Daytona Beach market, because there really isn’t much for them to do, they have naturally stopped coming to Daytona," Bell said.
Feldman did not specify the dates the curfew would be enforced. FOX 35 is working to clarify the dates.