The concert was held at the Caloosa Sound Amphitheater in the River District in Fort Myers. CRAIG GARRETT

It was a wave good-bye to Hurricane Ian and a thank you to first responders in the front lines of the storm last Saturday in downtown Fort Myers.

An outdoor salute at the Caloosa Sound Amphitheater in the River District also raised cash for hurricane relief and was for a traditional burning of a hurricane warning flag, the title sponsor of the celebration said.

“This year felt like a really proper sponsorship,” said Brian Cassell, chief financial officer for Storm Smart, the Fort Myers-based hurricane protection firm and Saturday’s host sponsor.

“It has been a tough year and we wanted people to recover,” added John McEnroe, Storm Smart’s sales engineer and the event’s organizer. “And have some fun while recognizing the first responders.”

Saturday’s party was about music, refreshments and friends under an ideal Florida sky of oranges, blues and pinks. The Caloosa Sound Amphithe-ater is an extension of the Luminary Hotel, a performance venue of the downtown high-rise.

The acoustics of Saturday’s performers radiated in warm waves in a postcard setting, making it doubly hard to imagine/recall that a hurricane just weeks earlier had arrived in Southwest Florida, including the very ground on which partiers stood.

The downtown, in fact, was still recovering from storm surge washing through the area. Total damages were in the billions. The death toll was pinned at around 150 in Florida, most along the southwest coastline, officials had said.

But that devastation was set aside for a few hours of music and thankfulness.

Burning hurricane flags was modeled on a Key West celebration, where locals end the season around Dec. 1, a sort of burning Ian in effigy, McEnroe said.

“We’re trying to bring the community together,” he said of the overall event.

Eating barbecue as his dog Jack sniffed at passersby, Dan Murphy watched the festivities with a big grin.

“It’s great,” the Fort Myers man said. “A lot of fun stuff here.”

Saturday’s proceeds were to benefit the Harry Chapin Food Bank, Lee County Homeless Coalition, WHALE Waves of Change and WOLF Humanitarian Relief Missions. Other sponsors included the Rist Family Foundation, Spiro & Associates, Mission BQ, FPL, LCEC, the city of Fort Myers, Beasley Media Group, PeaceVision, Harry Chapin Food Bank, Wicked Dolphin, Lee County Homeless Coalition and Eastern Architectural Systems.