NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Nashville's New Year's Eve celebration is expanding its reach beyond traditional party-goers, offering an official alcohol-free safe space for the second consecutive year at Bicentennial Capitol Mall.
The designated area serves people in recovery, families, and anyone wanting to celebrate without alcohol.
The sober safe space emerged from grassroots efforts by Casey Hyatt, who is in long-term recovery and serves as Director of Alumni Services at Cumberland Heights Foundation. Hyatt initially reserved an unofficial space several years ago, but official backing from event organizers has allowed the initiative to grow and serve more people.
Last year marked the first official sober safe space at Nashville's New Year's Eve bash, drawing more than 6,000 sign-ups with many people dropping in throughout the night. Local group homes, transitional facilities, and treatment centers brought their people, creating a gathering of people with decades of sobriety alongside those just starting their recovery journey.
"Now that it's online, it's on DO615, it's on Eventbrite, and all over the place. I think it's very helpful in terms of stigma reduction and just bringing all that stuff to the surface," Hyatt said.
Hyatt said making recovery resources visible and official helps reduce the stigma that has kept these communities hidden in the past.
The space has attracted an unexpectedly diverse crowd beyond just people in recovery. Families who weren't necessarily in recovery but didn't want to be around heavy drinking gravitated to the area last year. The area provided a place to avoid bumping into intoxicated people as the night progressed, especially for those with children.
"It gave a lot more opportunities for the people who were just kind of hanging out in our area and the people who were there in recovery to kind of share stories and kind of talk about what those services look like for them," Hyatt said.
The space is a partnership between Cumberland Heights Foundation and the group in charge of the bash, the Nashville Convention and Visitors Corp.
This year's sober safe space will be marked with yellow balloons on the event map, located near the food trucks before you reach the main stage. Staff wearing big yellow buttons that say "one event at a time" will have coffee, energy drinks, and seating near the food truck area.
Want to learn more about Nashville's inclusive New Year's Eve celebration and see how the sober safe space is set up? Watch our full report to see the preparations underway at Bicentennial Capitol Mall and hear more from organizers about this growing community initiative. Have more information about recovery resources in Nashville? Contact Eric at Eric.Pointer@NewsChannel5.com.
This story was reported by Eric Pointer and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Eric Pointer and our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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