Thursday, December 31, 2009

NYE, 3,2,1!


New York City's ball-dropping tradition in Times Square has pretty much become synonymous with New year's Eve. Here's how towns across the United States have gotten in on the act.

-The ball dropped in New York City weighs more than 1,000 pounds and contains hundreds of Waterford crystal triangles. The ball dropped now is more than twice as bright as the original thanks to state-of-the-art LED lighting effects.

-The highlight of the First Night event in Atlanta, Georgia is the dropping of an 800-pound peach.

-Celebrations in Key West, Florida ring in the New Year in three ways: by dropping a conch shell, a pirate wench from the mast of a tall ship, and a six-foot-tall red high-heel shoe carrying a drag queen.

-Port Clinton, Ohio, known as the Walleye Capital of the World, drops a 20-foot, 600-pound walleye from the sky each year at the stroke of midnight. During the celebration, the town serves walleye chowder, walleye sandwiches, walleye cinnamon chips, and walleye popcorn. A local winery has even created a "walleye white."

-In 2000, the fishing community of Point Pleasant, New Jersey, dropped a ten-foot wooden replica of an Atlantic baitfish. "Mo the Millennium Mossbunker" was covered with 1,500 mylar scales.

-A sardine, the symbol of Eastport, Maine, is dropped in the easternmost city in the United States. The 22-foot structure is made of lumber and chicken wire and is decorated with silver sequins. Between appearances, it is stored in a restaurant named The Pickled Herring.

-Pennsylvania boasts an unusual lineup of New Year's Eve celebrations. Residents of Lebanon, witness the dropping of a 100-pound, 16 foot stick of bologna; in Dillsberg, it's an 8-foot-tall papier-mache pickle. The folks in Falmouth lower a stuffed goat to honor the town's goat races, and in Wilkes-Barre, a chunk of coal "transforms" into a diamond as it descends.

-At Don Theo's House in central Florida, I drop my left eyelid in a ceremonious wink goodbye to the last year while shooting a big thumbs up to the new one.



No comments:

Post a Comment