List of objects dropped on New Year's Eve

On New Year's Eve, several places (mostly in North America) mark the starts for New Years by lowering or raising an object. Many of these events have strong similarity to the Times Square New Year's celebrations that began in New York City back in December 1907 when they rang in 1908. Three years before the Ball Drop got started was when Times Square began celebrating New Year's. The Times Square Ball lowering events take place one minute before midnight their time.^[1]

Between 1½ billion and 2 billion people celebrate while looking at the New York Times Square Ball Dropping.

Atlantic and Eastern Times

Other places in the United States and Canada celebrate with other drops/object lowering and raising. These include the Miami Orange Drop,^[2] a similar New Year's Eve dropping in Orlando, a pineapple symbol lowered in Sarasota, a sardine symbol lowering for Eastport, Maine.^[3] They also drop a maple leaf symbol on the Atlantic Time celebrating when the New Year begins from there.^[4]

In the city of York, Pennsylvania, white roses are lowered almost each December 31.^[5]

In Buffalo, New York another ball is dropped. The drop is, though, performed by manual operation.^[6]

Central, Mountain and Pacific Time regions

In Fort Smith, Arkansas at Garrison Avenue and 6th Street, a Ball Drop celebration almost like New York is performed.^[7] In New Orleans, fleur de lys are brought down. The fleur de lys drops are shown on Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve almost every New Years Eve Night.^[8] Tulsa, Oklahoma also performs a Central Time Area Ball Drop on New Years Eve.^[9]

In Seattle, Washington, when New Year's Eve celebrations are performed, the Space Needle's elevators are raised (sent up).^[10]

COVID-19 cancelations

In December 2020 in most places, and for some the following year, New Year's raising and lowering parties were canceled or restricted for COVID-19 reasons and scheduling interference related to the COVID-19 situation.^{[11][12][13][14]}

References

1. "The Ball History". Times Square, Then and Now. Retrieved January 10, 2022.
2. "Big Orange Drops' Celebrations are Canceled Second Year Following Last". News at Yahoo. Retrieved January 10, 2022.
3. "Eastport Resumes its Tradition for the New Years Sardine Dropping". WABI TV. Retrieved January 10, 2022.
4. "Eastport Readies for the Annual Great Sardine Drop and Maple Leaf Dropping". The Calais Advertiser. Retrieved January 10, 2022.
5. "The City of York Announcing Change of Operations". 4 January 2022. Retrieved January 10, 2022. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
6. "New York City Ushers in 2022 on Times Square with Ball Drop". Buffalo News. Archived from the original on January 10, 2022. Retrieved January 10, 2022.
7. "The Fort Smith New Years Eve Ball Dropping". FortSmith City's Website. Archived from the original on January 10, 2022. Retrieved January 10, 2022.
8. "Folks Celebrating New Year's Eve in New Orleans". WNGO New Orleans' ABC Network. Archived from the original on January 10, 2022. Retrieved January 10, 2022.
9. "Find New Year's Eve Celebrations Across Tulsa for 2022". Tulsa World. Retrieved January 10, 2022.
10. "The Space Needle Blending Live New Year Fireworks". The Geek Wire. Retrieved January 10, 2022.
11. "Omicron New Years Cocktail – Sorrow, Hope though Fear for 2022". Chicago NBC News. Retrieved January 10, 2022.
12. "New Years Eve Celebrations are Muted Again with COVID-19". Wall Street Journal. January 2022. Retrieved January 10, 2022.
13. "New Year's Eve in New York City's Times Square is Still on, Though with Smaller Crowds". WCVB. Retrieved January 10, 2022.
14. >"Thousands More Flight Delays and Cancelations Kicked off the 2022 New Year". Travel Pulse Magazine. Retrieved January 10, 2022.