The After Action Report submitted by Community Services on April 1st is, in many respects, inaccurate, incomplete, and unnecessarily dramatic. Read on its own, the report creates the impression that the organizers of Cars on 5th disregarded the city, ignored safety requirements, and simply did whatever they wanted. Nothing could be further from the truth. This was presented to City Council with no input from the largest event in Naples, its organizers, or with the professional courtesy one might expect for an event with the history and legacy Cars on 5th.
For 23 years, we have worked with the City of Naples, the Naples Police Department, the Sheriff’s Office, city staff, volunteers, vendors, participants, and the surrounding community to produce one of the premier automotive events in the country. We have always taken safety, traffic, parking, communications, and the impact on the community seriously.
The decision to leave Naples did not happen because we were unwilling to work with the city. It happened because, after years of successfully producing the event, the permitting process and the city’s approach to the event made it increasingly difficult to continue. The city staff put the council in a very difficult position.
Attendance and capacity
In 2026, we sold fewer than 14,000 wristbands. Yet the city reported attendance figures of 35,000, 39,000, and later 30,000 people. We have no idea where these dramatically different numbers came from.
The After-Action Report was presented to the council April 1st. As the biggest event in the city, professional courtesy would suggest that we are invited to the meeting and provided a copy of the report ahead of the meeting. This did not happen. It lists capacity, area, maximum attendance, parking spaces, and security plan as “N/A” on page 2. Yet these same issues were cited as reasons for declining our permit. We did submit a detailed security plan. The presentation did not provide any photos of the field damage and showed exit photos from three years ago that we agreed with the PD to change.
The staff feedback states that they did not recommend approving the permit because of capacity, undisclosed public safety concerns, and insufficient parking.
We find this particularly difficult to understand because Cars on 5th is the only event we are aware of that provides free off-site parking and shuttle transportation. We also provide three designated rideshare locations. We were the first event to deploy Meridien Archers throughout the event.
These same issues — parking, traffic, crowd management, and public safety — affect other major events in Naples, including the St. Patrick’s Day Parade, the fireworks, and Christmas events. We believe it is reasonable to ask whether those events will be held to the same standards.
Safety planning and communication
The report states that we did not follow recommended safety measures and did not follow our plan. The record does not support that conclusion.
We met with city staff just 19 days before the show — approximately two months after our request. By that time, we had already trained approximately 500 volunteers and emailed instructions to all participants.
During that meeting, city staff requested several adjustments to the exit plan and the placement of traffic safety devices. We made the changes we understood staff wanted and resubmitted the plans. The vehicle safety management plan was prepared and sent directly to the city staff by Meridien, the manufacturer and deployer of the traffic-control devices. We also provided the plan to the city staff ourselves with an email with read receipt. We received no indication that the plan was unacceptable.
All departments received the updated maps and exit plan. No department informed us that the plans were incorrect or that additional changes were required.
We followed the plans as submitted.
The ‘increased footprint’
The report also characterizes our permit request as an increase in the event footprint. That is not an accurate description of what occurred.
Our application actually reduced the event footprint by approximately one-third.
During our post-event meeting, city staff suggested that we might not be permitted to use the softball field for the VIP area. Some staff members suggested that Park Street might instead be used for that purpose.
Because we did not know what would ultimately be approved, we requested additional hours on Park Street to accommodate the large tents required for the VIP area. This was incorrectly presented as an increase in footprint. It was not. If the softball field was removed from our available space, we would have lost approximately 15% of the event area. We already occupied Park Street during the day. The request was about the timing and use of an existing area, not an expansion of the event.
Communications
The report also raises concerns about communications.
Cellular service problems are an issue at virtually every large event in Naples. We took extraordinary steps to address that problem. We brought in a wireless network specifically to support Wi-Fi calling. We also worked with AT&T and Verizon to bring in Cellular on Wheels units to supplement the existing cellular infrastructure. The city declined the proposal, stating that it would not work. Verizon, AT&T, and six other venues we are currently considering for the event have told us otherwise.
The exit plan
The exit plan has been portrayed as an unusually dangerous situation. That characterization is unfair and ignores the history of the event. We have worked closely with the Police Department and Sheriff’s Office for years to address and improve traffic and safety concerns. We still do not understand why Cars on 5th is required to disperse vehicles onto seven different streets when other parades and events can exit through a single street. Approximately 30 cars are directed toward 41st Avenue. Those cars have used the traffic signal at 41st Avenue to exit for 14 of the last 15 years. The direction of the exit is dictated in large part by the fact that vehicles are loaded into position in the dark during the early morning hours. Cars cannot safely make a U-turn to exit in the manner sometimes suggested. One year, vehicles were loaded in from 41. The result was extremely dangerous, with traffic backing up behind vehicles traveling west and non-show vehicles following them into the area. The same club has exited in essentially the same manner for 21 of the last 22 years without incident.
That history matters.
The charity question
Our permit was submitted in March. At that point in the process, there were still many unknowns. The report notes that we had not yet identified a charity. That is true, but there was a reason. We could not select the charity until we knew how many volunteers would be required. We proposed limiting attendance during the six-hour show, which would have reduced our volunteer requirement to approximately 100 people. The previous year’s plan required approximately 400 volunteers. Reducing the volunteer requirement would have opened the opportunity to many additional worthy charities. Community Services knew this. Nevertheless, the response was “no proof of non-profit status at this time.”
This has been a charity event for 23 years. The fact that a specific charity had not yet been selected during the early permitting process should not be presented as evidence of a lack of commitment to charitable giving.
Field damage
There is also considerable emphasis in the report on damage to the softball field. We pay for damages and repairs. Our invoice indicates that we returned the field one day earlier than the approved permit required. The actual charge consisted of two employees working four hours each at $25 per hour, plus eight bags of topsoil. The total cost was approximately $250. Not very significant. We proposed limiting vehicle traffic on the field during setup specifically to prevent this type of damage. That proposal was not accepted. The actual cost and circumstances should be considered in context rather than portrayed as a significant failure of event management.
Vendors and show cars
The report states that there are too many vendors and show cars. We have had essentially the same number of vendors and show cars for approximately 15 years without incidents. More importantly, the event footprint has already been dramatically reduced. In 2023, Cars on 5th occupied approximately 341,000 square feet. In 2026, that figure had been reduced to approximately 238,000 square feet. For 2027, staff wanted the event reduced to approximately 95,000 square feet. That would represent a reduction of more than 70% from our 2023 footprint. At some point, the question becomes whether the event can remain the event people have traveled from across the country and around the world to experience.
The fire department provided City Council with its assessment of the number of people that could be allowed in our permitted area. It was based on 5th Ave. being 2,500 feet long and the show area being 10 feet wide for a total area of 25,000 square feet. The show area is 40 feet wide. We also utilize 100 feet of side streets. Our 2027 plan measured 238,000 square feet. Using the same 7 square feet per person would allow for 34,000 people. Keep in mind that this area does not include the sidewalks and that people might actually go inside buildings. We only wanted to sell 14,000 tickets.
As an aside, we have maintained a fire lane down 5th Ave. for 15 years.
Parking
The report also mentions illegal parking. The city actually charges us for the police officers assigned to write parking tickets. We have repeatedly offered suggestions for reducing attendance and managing the crowd. Had the city accepted our proposed attendance reduction, many of the parking cell phone, and crowd-management issues would have been significantly reduced.
Our proposed solution
We proposed limiting the total number of people entering the 5th Avenue corridor during the six-hour show. Using the city’s own attendance estimates, we proposed limiting ticket or wristband sales to approximately 15,000 people while allowing another 5,000 to 6,000 people into the area. Once the area reached capacity, additional people would not be admitted until others left. This would have reduced the number of people in the corridor by approximately 50%. Rather than working with us to refine this solution, staff characterized the approach as unfair and unethical.
We strongly disagree.
Crowd limits and controlled admission are standard tools for managing large public events. Our proposal was intended to improve safety, reduce congestion, and make the event more manageable for the city and the community.
The current permitting process requires applications to be submitted 120 days before City Council meetings. In practical terms, this can require an organizer to submit a permit application before the current year’s event has even taken place. At the same time, organizers are being told not to promote future events until their permits have been approved, while event permits are reportedly on hold until September. This creates an extraordinary challenge for long-running charity events.
An event such as Cars on 5th requires months of planning, contracts, marketing, sponsorships, volunteers, vendors, exhibitors, hotels, transportation, and logistics. It is difficult to responsibly plan a major event when organizers cannot know whether they will be permitted to hold it until very late in the process.
Importance of Cars on 5th
We know how important Cars on 5th is to the merchants on 5th Avenue. A recent survey by Citizens for Preserving Naples reinforced what we have heard repeatedly from the business community: The event has a significant positive impact on the area.
Some of the city’s social media posts have appeared to place responsibility for the situation squarely on the organizers. That is disappointing. We did not want to turn one of the finest car show experiences in the United States into simply another car show.
Cars on 5th is more than the cars. It is the experience, the setting, the merchants, the restaurants, the volunteers, the charitable component, and the connection between the automotive community and Naples.
We even told the city that they could have our Request for Proposal that was sent to six other cities. The city never responded.
There are also some broader concerns that cannot simply be ignored. For years, we were routinely asked to provide 30–50 regular wristbands and approximately 36 VIP wristbands to city staff. We stopped doing that this year. The staff asked that all employees have complete access to all areas of the show including the VIP area.
The 5th Avenue BID has also stated that it intends to run its own show. We have known this since 2023, when the organization attempted to register the name “Ferrari’s on 5th.” The BID has said that it supports Cars on 5th, but there is an important distinction between saying you “support” an event and actually working with the organization that has built it.
The BID has not reached out to us to discuss the future of Cars on 5th.
What happens next
It takes a long time to build a great brand. We have spent 23 years building Cars on 5th.
In 2026, our participants and clients came from 47 states and 12 countries. These are true automotive enthusiasts who travel significant distances, stay in local hotels, dine in local restaurants, shop locally, and spend substantial amounts of money in the community.
Since our June meeting with the city, more than 33 other venues and cities have reached out to us because they would like to host the event. We have sent six RFPs and have received six compelling responses so far. The difference has been striking.
Each of these cities has approached us with solutions rather than simply presenting problems. Each has indicated a willingness to close public streets for the event and work collaboratively to make it successful. That is what we have been trying to do in Naples for 23 years.
Many of us moved to Naples because of the cultural events and experiences that made this city special.
We are more aware than ever of how valuable those experiences are. COVID taught all of us a painful lesson about what happens when people are separated from one another and communities lose the ability to gather.
We do not want to lose that.
Cars on 5th was created in Naples, and we wanted it to remain in Naples. But an event of this magnitude can only survive when the organizers and the city share a common goal and work together to solve problems. We have always been willing to do that. Unfortunately, the current process and the city’s approach have made it clear that Naples is no longer the right place for Cars on 5th. That is not the outcome we wanted. It is the outcome we have been forced to accept, but our future is brighter than ever, and we will be announcing our new location soon.
Sadly, nobody at the city mentioned the impact of our charities.
The drama created by city staff was unnecessary and painted the City Council into a corner as planned.
And, after 23 years, that is the real story behind Cars on 5th leaving Naples.
Tom O’Riordan is Naples Automotive Experience CEO.
This article originally appeared on Naples Daily News: The real story behind Cars on 5th leaving Naples | Opinion
Reporting by Tom O’Riordan / Naples Daily News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Tom O'Riordan | USA TODAY Network
