New Year's Eve
Americas
The most prominent celebration in the country is the "ball drop" held at New York City's Times Square, which was inspired by the time balls that were formerly used as a time signal. At 11:59 p.m. ET, an 11,875-pound (5,386 kg), 12-foot-diameter (3.7 m) ball is lowered down a 70-foot-high (21 m) pole on the roof of One Times Square, reaching the roof of the building sixty seconds later at midnight. The event has been held since 1907, and has seen an average attendance of one million spectators yearly. Since 2009, the ball itself—which is adorned with Waterford Crystal panels and an LED lighting system—has been displayed atop the building year-round. The spectacle has inspired similar events outside of New York City, where a ball or other item is lowered or raised in an identical manner. The items used for these events often represent local culture or history: Atlanta's Peach Drop reflects Georgia's identity as the "Peach State".
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