New Year's Eve Drops Around The World - Bernews

When the clock strikes midnight on New Year’s Eve, all over the world unique objects will drop to celebrate the start of a new year.

In New York, at 11.59 pm, a dazzling ball will descend a specially designed flagpole in Times Square in front of a crowd of tens of thousands and millions watching at home on television.

Various cities in the United States and beyond will put their own spin on the yearly tradition.

A look at the Bermuda Onion dropping in St George’s to welcome in 2020

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In Key West, Florida, Sloppy Joe’s – an American bar on the corner of Duval and Greene Streets – will host a conch drop, echoing the maritime roots of the region.

Meanwhile, in downtown Orlando, the orange ball drop will happen from the rooftop of High Tide – a local bar on W Church Street – representing the city’s citrus past and the Cheez-It Citrus Bowl, the collegiate football game.

In Raleigh, North Carolina’s capital city, a ten-foot copper and steel acorn at City Plaza drops twice on the last day of the year – early in the evening for children and then again before midnight.

And in downtown Traverse City, the “Cherry Capital of the World”, in Northern Michigan, a gigantic, illuminated version of the fruit will be lowered over Cass and Front Streets.

European cities also have their own unique way of seeing in the new year.

In Edinburgh, Scotland, the cannon on the majestic Edinburgh Castle, fired by the famous Tam the Gun, signals the start of a new year, followed by a vibrant fireworks display.

Closer to home, the traditional onion drop in King’s Square, St George’s, starts the countdown to the new year in a nod to Bermuda’s farming heritage.