SARASOTA - Wednesday night's New Years Eve celebration in downtown Sarasota was a popular event, and many downtown businesses enjoyed the business boost.

Most restaurants and bars stayed open a little later, and many were glad they did.

"It is one of my biggest nights of the year."  The New Years festivities packed the streets in downtown Sarasota.  And while people welcomed in the New Year, businesses welcomed in profits.  "Last night is a great event downtown.  It started off slow...got a lot of people into downtown...all my reservations showed up...people were coming and going in a nice leisurely pace.  Later on into the night we had the big crowds really come in.  The kid's activities...the adult rides were the big attraction...and then as we got closer to midnight, the bands were playing, the streets were full.  People were just enjoying a good time," says Richard Mondron from Mattison's City Grille.

New Years Eve is one of the biggest nights of the year at Mattison's City Grille, and managers say they knew the restaurant would be packed.  "By Thanksgiving, all my reservations for News Years Eve were booked."  And the crowd of people eating at Mattison's Thursday night was nothing compared to the New Years Eve crowd.  "We were a full house all night long.  All the way up to 1am," says Mondron.

And as the streets of downtown Sarasota go back to normal, businesses say they hope the New Years Eve celebration will make people come out to downtown more often and make 2009 a more profitable year.  "We saw so many people that didn't experience downtown for months and months and months.  This brings them out and really gets the season going for it," says Mondron.