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.
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Balls Dropped (or raised)
- Times Square,
New York City, NY (picture) (video)
- Allegany County, MD
- Buffalo, NY
- Columbia, MO (pyro ball)
- Derry, NH
- Dover, DE
- GatlinBurg, TN
- Honolulu, HI
- Knoxville, TN
- Kokomo, IN
- Manheim, PA (orb)
(picture)
- Marquette, MI
- Middletown, PA
- New Orleans, LA (presumably discontinued since Katrina)
- New
York, NY (Tribeca Grand Hotel) (picture)
- North Conway, NH
- Oneida, NY
- Pittsburgh, PA (picture)
- Seneca Falls, NY
- Twin Falls, ID
- White Plains,
NY (picture) (picture)
Other Stuff Folks Drop (or raise)
- acorn -
Raleigh, NC (picture) (picture)
- anchor - Greenport, NY
- anchor
- Shippensburg, PA (picture) (picture)
- animal (cow) - Blain, PA
- animal (cow) - Harrisburg, PA (picture)
- animal (frog) - Frogtown, PA
- animal (goat) - Falmouth, PA
- animal (hog) - Fayetteville, AR
- animal (live possum)
- Brasstown, NC (PETA's not too happy about this)
- animal (muskrat [stuffed]) - Princess Anne, MD (picture)(picture)
- animal
(possum) - Tallapoosa, GA (formerly known as Possum Snout) (picture)
- animal (wildcat) - Gratz, PA
- automobile - Flagstaff, AZ (picture)
- automobile (Ford Edge) - Buffalo, NY
- automobile (mini Indy car) - Carlisle, PA
- beach
ball - Bangor, ME (picture)
- beach
ball - Ocean City, MD
- beach
ball - Panama City Beach, FL
- beer bottle - Pottsville, PA
- box huckleberry plant
- New Bloomfield, PA
- canal
boat - Liverpool, PA (picture)
- candy (Hershey Kiss) - Hershey, PA (picture)
- candy
(lollipop)
- Hummelstown, PA
- candy (Peep®) - Bethlehem, PA
- cigar
- Red Lion, PA
- cigar
- Richland, PA
- conch
shell - Key West, FL
- crown - Charlotte, NC
- coal that turns to diamond
- Wilkes Barre, PA
- drag queen in a red high heel shoe -
Key West, FL (picture)
- duck
decoy - Havre de Grace, MD
- fish
(carp)
- Prairie Du Chien, WI (picture)
- fish
(mossbunker) - Point Pleasant, NJ
- fish (sardine) - Eastport, ME (picture)
- fish (walleye)
- Port Clinton, OH (picture) (picture) (picture)
- flower
(black rose) - Hanover, PA (discontinued)
- flower
(red rose) - Lancaster, PA
- flower
(white rose) - York, PA
- food
(apple) - Cornelia, GA
- food
(apple) -
Manhattan, KS
- food (chicken) - Seven Valleys, PA (picture)
- food
(bologna)
- Lebanon, PA (picture) (picture)
- food (crab) -
Easton, MD
- food
(Heinz ketchup bottle) - Pittsburgh, PA
- food (olive) - Bartlesville, OK
- food
(olive into martini glass) - San Francisco, CA (canceled)
- food
(orange)
- Miami, FL
- food (orange) -
Orange County, CA (picture)
- food (peach)
- Atlanta, GA (picture) (picture)
- food (peach) - Savannah, GA (discontinued)
- food
(pear) - Fredericksburg, VA
- food (pickle)
- Mt Olive, NC (picture)
- food (pickle) - Dillsburg, PA
- food (pretzel)
- Cleona, PA (picture) (picture) (discontinued)
- food
(pretzel) - Lititz, PA
- food
(sausage) - Elmore, OH
- food (strawberry)
- Harrisburg, PA (picture)
- food
(tortilla chip) - Tempe, AZ
- guitar - Nashville,
TN (discontinued)
- hard hat - Newport, PA
- motorcycle
wheel - Orange County, NY
- pinecone
- Flagstaff, AZ
- pirate wench
- Key West, FL (picture)
- postage
stamp - Washington DC
- sled
- Duncannon, PA
- sneaker - Akron, PA (picture)
- "spoctogon" - Middletown, PA
- spring
- Newville, PA
- lone star
- Houston, TX (picture)
- Moravian star - Lititz, PA
- steamroller - Steelton, PA
- sunburst - Tempe, AZ
- antique trunk - New Oxford, PA
- wrench - Mechanicsburg, PA
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