What: NYE in NYC
Where: New York, US
When: December 31
You know those celebrations and festivals you see on the TV that make you stop and think: “geez, that really is the place to be”?
Well, New Year’s Eve in New York City is one such event.
Sure it’ll be freezing cold, a good half a day behind the rest of the world, and you won’t be able to drink on the street (it’s illegal), but Times Square puts on one big party.
A tonne of confetti is dropped on the one million or so revellers, and there’s a massive fireworks display. Best of all, unlike many other cities where there’s no central clock or countdown — which leads to different groups counting down at different times depending how accurate their watch is — New York has its own giant time ball.
(By the way, the first time ball, which was built at Greenwich in 1833 and dropped at 1pm daily to tell sailors the time, is where the term “on the ball” comes from).
At 11.59pm New York’s 500kg Waterford crystal ball descends the flagpole at One Times Square, dropping to the bottom at exactly midnight. Try topping that for a countdown.
See www.timessquarenyc.org