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Photos: Times Square NYE Ball Gets Ready For Its Close-Up
By
Scott Lynch
Published Dec 27, 2019
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Scott Lynch / Gothamist
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By
Scott Lynch
Published Dec 27, 2019
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Next Tuesday night, right before midnight and the dawn of a new decade, millions of people around the world will be staring right at the Times Square New Year's Eve Ball. As has been the custom in recent years, the Waterford Crystal and Landmark Sign people were hard at work this morning sprucing up the iconic ball for its midnight money shot with the installation of 192 glinting new triangles etched with this year’s “Gift of Goodwill” design. Which is mostly just pineapples, the symbol of hospitality that you may remember from all those crazy ravers at EZoo last summer.
The Waterford Crystal New Year's Eve Ball spends the whole year atop the roof of One Times Square, 405 feet above the Crossroads of the World, and it really is something of a marvel. The geodesic sphere is 12 feet in diameter, weighs 11,875 pounds, and is covered with 2,688 crystals. In addition to the pineapples, there are crystals from the Gift of Harmony, Serenity (butterflies), Wonder, Kindness (fronds), Fortitude, and Imagination.
Embedded just below all the sparkle are 32,256 Luxeon Rebel LEDs in red, blue, green, and white, which together can somehow display more than 16 million colors in literally billions of different patterns. This is the seventh iteration of the ball, which began its traditional final-minute descent back in 1907 as a wood and iron creature with a hundred 25-watt bulbs bolted across its surface.
In addition to the midnight ball drop and subsequent smooching, the 2019-2020 Times Square New Years Eve festivities will include performances by the Village People, LL Cool J, Alanis Morissette, BTS, Julianne Hough, Sam Hunt, X Ambassadors, Raul de Molina, and Post Malone. If you plan on spending 14 hours in the NYPD party pens before the big moment, remember that alcohol, chairs, large backpacks, and umbrellas are not permitted. There are also no bathrooms on site. Enjoy!
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new year's eve
New Year's Eve ball
Scott Lynch
Photojournalist, food writer, preschool receptionist. Love NYC.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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