Jaunted

New Year's Eve

New Year's Eve Travel: Dropping the Ball (and the Drag Queen)

December 27, 2007 at 1:00 PM | 0 Comments

This year marks the 100th anniversary of the famous Times Square New Year's Eve Ball, and to mark the occasion, the folks at Waterford Crystal have seriously juiced up their famous sphere. The new ball, which will replace the one that's been used since the millennium celebration, will be twice as bright and have "enhanced color capabilities and state-of-the-art LED lighting effects."

Yup, its gonna be shiny and high-tech and probably way cooler than the old model but its still, well... just a ball. And if you ask the tourists committed enough to spend their night packed into cattle pens to watch it drop, it's a ball that you can barely see.

Far cooler and way kitschier, we think, then adding one more body to the frenzy in Times Square, would be to ring in the 2008 at one of the unique "dropping ceremonies" in smaller cities across the country.

Hook up with the locals in Flagstaff, Arizona and watch as they send a 70-pound silver pinecone down the flagpole. Or hang with the folks in Mount Olive, North Carolina as their massive dill takes a plunge into a pickle tank. Our favorite just might be the Key West celebration, during which organizers drop a six-foot, red, high-heeled shoe filled with a drag queen named Sushi.

Other weird objects used to mark the passage of time include a crab (Easton, Maryland), a mossbunker fish (Point Pleasant, New Jersey), a sausage (Ellmore, Ohio) and a wrench (Mechanicsberg, Pensylvania).

If you're set on seeing the ball drop in Manhattan, we understand. Just head to Little Times Square in Manhattan, Kansas to catch the aluminum apple make its run down the flagpole. It may not be as impressive at the original, but we guarantee it's heaps more energy efficient.

Related Stories:
· Times Square Ball Drop [Official Site]
· Flagstaff Pinecone Drop [AZ Republic]
· New Year's Eve coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: kaydee did]