New Naples car show on 5th Avenue approved with smaller, safer setup

NAPLES, Fla. (WINK) — A new car show is coming to Fifth Avenue South after Naples City Council voted six to one to approve the event.

The decision comes weeks after the city denied a permit for Cars on 5th, an event that brought hundreds of cars and thousands of people to downtown Naples for more than two decades. That show is now moving out of the city, but a new event will take its place on the same street.

Tom O'Riordan, CEO of Naples Automotive Experience, which organized the former Cars on 5th, questioned what led to the approval of the new show.

"The biggest thing for us is, what changed except for who's running it, you know," O'Riordan said.

City leaders said the new event has a safer and smaller footprint. The concern was never about having a car show on Fifth Avenue South, but rather how many cars and people were packed into the event and whether first responders could get through.

"I want to give them the opportunity to work with the city and put a plan forth that we can all live with and support. We're not here to deny the public what they want to have done, but there are rules," Naples City Council Member Scott Schultz said.

The new plan comes from the Fifth Avenue South Business Improvement District. The event will have about 350 cars, roughly half the number police said the previous event would have had.

The city said the lower density is a big part of the new safety plan and the big difference from the Cars on 5th permit request that was denied.

"The key to this is that the emergency services, if needed, have the ability to go down the street, the center of the street, and the way this event is set up will allow for that," Meg Stepanian, executive director of the Fifth Avenue South Business Improvement District, said.

The permit estimates about 20,000 people. Unlike Cars on 5th, this event will be free, meaning people won't be confined inside paid-admission areas.

"The crowd will be more free flowing, which will allow us to get in and out quicker, and in an emergency situation, allow us to exit people more quickly," Lt. Michael O'Reilly of the Naples Police Department said.

A different footprint, fewer cars and more room for first responders are the changes the city said make this new event work and why they voted to approve the permit.

The new Fifth Avenue event is set for Feb. 27, while the original Cars on 5th is moving out of the city.