New Year's Eve Droppings

I don't know what it is about us Americans and New Year's Eve, but for some reason doing a lot of drinking on the last day of the year somehow compels us to gather around a pole or building and watch something drop from the sky (or get raised to the heavens) as we count down the seconds to the new year. I was in Pennsylvania a recent past New Years Eve and after watching the Times Square ball light up the year, we flipped channels and caught several local newscasts covering drops of other items by towns in the area. When I got home I decided to see what else America drops so I did a little web research. This is what I found. Of particular note is the live possum dropped in North Carolina. Hands down, Pennsylvanians like to drop stuff the most. But not all these items are dropped (or lowered, as some prefer to say it): some items go up. What I didn't include are listings of the plethora of balloon drops I found; heck, anyone can fill a bag with ballons. Most of these were found via straight web search, though I must admit a few came from the answer.com and Wikipedia lists (see below). I did, however, update the Wikipedia entry with the ones it did not have that I found independently. In many cases I provide photos below.

Google Map Showing All Locations

Click and drag to pan, or use the map controls provided to zoom or pan. Click a marker to get driving directions to/from that location. Most map locations are approximate (center of town, not necessarily the location of the actual event), check with local Chambers of Commerce for exact location details.

Balls Dropped (or raised)

Other Stuff Folks Drop (or raise)

Other Related Things

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