If you’re looking for somewhere to ring in the new year as festively as possible, Times Square in New York City is a fairly good place to spend the night of December 31 (and early morning of January 1!). The annual New Year’s Eve celebration in Times Square regularly achieves an estimated one million attendees, whose celebration leaves behind an estimated 100,000 pounds of confetti and party gear — all cleared away by dawn by the titanic efforts of the NYC Sanitation Department!
Visit the area on any given day and look up to the top of the skyscraper One Times Square, and you will see the Times Square Ball: a 12-foot-wide (about 3.7 meters) time ball weighing in at 11,875 pounds and lit from the inside by 32,256 LEDs, whose surface of crystal triangles are decked out in flashy colors and patterns every year. At 11:59 PM on December 31, it will begin its drop, reaching its destination at 12:00 AM on January 1 of the new year.
The custom began at the turn of the twentieth century. In 1903, the newly built One Times Square became the headquarters of the New York Times (which, naturally, is where the name Times Square), and in 1907 the newspaper’s owner Adolph Ochs decided that the midnight fireworks displays they had held to celebrate the New Year in the past four years just weren’t enough of a show to draw attention to Times Square.
He commissioned the first New Year’s Eve time ball, only five feet wide (about 1.5 meters) and made of iron and wood, and had it strung up on the building’s flagpole, where its drop welcomed the year 1908 and began an annual New York City tradition. The only years since 1908 where the Times Square ball drop was not held were 1942 and 1943, due to wartime restrictions on energy use. Today, it’s a massively viewed and attended spectacle complete with decorations, festive clothing, and celebrity musical performances.
The New Year’s Eve ball drop in Times Square is a free event with space available for attendees on a first-come first-served basis. Any individuals or companies selling tickets or passes purporting to allow special access to certain spaces, such as past police checkpoints or to venues in the area, are scammers: do not give them your money! Several venues in and around Times Square do hold New Year’s parties that require tickets for access, but these tickets should be purchased from the venue directly.
City police usually begin closing off the streets in Times Square for the ball drop around 3:00 PM, which is when viewing areas officially open, though most attendees arrive much earlier in hopes of grabbing a good spot. Expect traffic to be heavy and detoured in the Times Square area throughout the day, evening, and night. New Year’s Eve/December 31 is not a federal holiday in the United States, but because New Year’s Day/January 1 is, expect schools, businesses, banks, and government buildings to be closed or operating on limited hours both days.
Check out the Times Square website for more information on the New Year’s Eve festivities and what is expected of attendees. If you have any questions or concerns, contact us anytime at info@gravityintprog.com. Stay safe and healthy, and Happy New Year!
