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Event
Information:
Times
Square is the site of the annual New
Year's Eve ball drop. On December
31, 1907, a ball signifying New
Year's Day was first dropped at
Times Square, and the Square has
held the main New Year's celebration
in New York City ever since. On that
night, hundreds of thousands of
people congregate to watch the
Waterford Crystal ball being lowered
on a pole atop the building (though
not to the street, as is a common
misconception), marking the new
year. Rapper Jay Z, Chris Martin and
his band Coldplay will welcome the
New Year onstage at the Barclays
Center in New York.
Watch the Ball Drop live streaming
from Times Square
New York new year parties
New
York is famous for it's lavish New
Year's parties, and will be no
different, with events including
Dick Clark's Rockin New Year's Eve,
The Radio City Christmas
Spectacular, Big Apple Circus,
Jersey Boys,
New York Philharmonic - New Years
Eve Bernstein and Gershwin at Avery
Fisher Hall, Avicci at Pier 94,
Armin Van Buuren with an NYE show at
Pier 36 and
many more. Phish will be playing at
Madison Square Garden in New York
from December 28th-31st.
It replaced a lavish fireworks
display from the top of the building
that was held from 1904 to 1906,
only to be outlawed by city
officials. Beginning in 1908, and
for more than eighty years
thereafter, Times Square sign maker Artkraft Strauss was responsible for
the ball-lowering. During World War
II, a minute of silence, followed by
a recording of church bells pealing,
replaced the ball drop because of
wartime blackout restrictions.
Today, Countdown Entertainment and
One Times Square handle the New
Year's Eve event in conjunction with
the Times Square Alliance.
A new
energy-efficient LED ball,
celebrating the centennial of the
ball drop, debuted for the arrival
of 2008. The 2008/2009-ball, which
was dropped on New Year's Eve
(Wednesday, December 31, 2008) for
the arrival of 2009, is larger and
has become a permanent installation
as a year-round attraction, being
used for celebrations such as
Valentine's Day and Halloween. On
average, about 1 million revelers
crowd Times Square for the New
Year's Eve celebrations. However,
for the millennium celebration on
December 31, 1999, published reports
stated approximately two million
people overflowed Times Square,
flowing from 6th Avenue to 8th
Avenue and all the way back on
Broadway and Seventh Avenues to 59th
Street, making it the largest
gathering in Times Square since
August 1945 during celebrations
marking the end of World War II.
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