Times Square Ball Drop

 

Location: New York City, New York, USA
Address:  1 Times Square
Date:  December 2008
Website:  www.timessquarenyc.org

  Happy New Year!  One Times Square was home to the New York Times newspaper. In 1907 was the first time they dropped a ball on the roof to celebrate New Year's Eve. Don't get confused.  The ball drops in the year before. This means the 1907 ball dropped and then at midnight, 1908 was here.

   The ball would slowly slide down a pole during the last minute of the year and then the numbers of the new year would light up. The ball has been upgraded through the years and was even made to look like an apple during the I Love New York campaign of the 1980s.

    As midnight approaches crowds would gather in Times Square and look up to the ball.  Together they would ring in the new year, full of hope and promise.

     When the year 2000 approached there was a special Millennium ball built with the latest technology. It dropped for seven years. The ball above is the Centennial Ball.  The Centennial Ball was built by Waterford Crystal and had updated LED lighting for more colour options.

     The Centennial Ball was only dropped in 2007 to celebrate 100 years since the very first drop.  We were lucky to see it on display in the Times Square Visitor Centre. It only dropped once as a bigger, better, permanent ball was made for 2008. This new ball was made so that it could stay outside all year long.

 

  Since 2008 it has hung around waiting for its annual moment to shine. This photo of the ball was taken in 2010 from the observation deck at 30 Rockefeller Plaza.

  This is the ball still hanging around at night in 2013.

    This is a pretty good close-up of the ball in 2018.

    In 2021 this picture was taken on American Thanksgiving. From this angle it is hard to tell if the ball is there. For the 2025 ball drop, another new ball will be dropped with yet another new upgrade for even more lighting possibilities.  

        The Times Square 42nd Street subway beneath the ball drop also celebrates the New Year. In one of the many tunnels and passageways you can find glazed ceramic art by Toby Buonagurio.

    Also in the Times Square 42nd Street station is a work of art called Revelers.

You will always have a ball in New York City.  That is never more true than when you are standing in Times Square on New Years Eve.

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Map of Our World
Times Square Ball

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Post # 354