When the ball drops on New Year’s Eve in New York City, it will sparkle red, white and blue, signaling the start of the year 2026. Months of celebrations For the nation His upcoming 250th birthday.
Patriotic touches at this year’s Times Square gathering, including a second confetti drop, will offer an early glimpse of what’s to come: hundreds of events and programs, big and spectacular. smallplanned nationwide to celebrate the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
“I’m telling you now, whatever you imagine, it will be much more than that,” he said. America 250 Chair Rosie Rios, who oversees the bipartisan commission created by Congress in 2016 to organize the bicentennial. “It will be a celebration for the ages, the most inspiring celebration this country has ever seen and perhaps the world has ever seen.”
Rios and her group worked with the Times Square Alliance business district and One Times Square, the building where the ball was dropped, to make changes to this year’s celebrations. They also plan to drop a second ball on July 3, the eve of the nation’s birthday, “in the same beautiful style that Times Square knows how to do,” Rios said.
She said it will be the first time in 120 years that the ball will be dropped in Times Square, which does not happen on New Year’s Eve.
The New Year’s Eve Ball was first dropped in Times Square in 1907. Built by a young immigrant metalworker named Jacob Starr, the 700-pound (318 kg) and 5-foot (1.5 m) diameter ball was made of iron and wood and housed 100 25-watt light bulbs. Last year, the Constellation Ball, the ninth and largest version, was unveiled. It is about 12 feet (3.7 m) in diameter and weighs about 12,000 pounds (5,400 kg).
The only two years in which there were no ball drops were 1942 and 1943, when the city installed a nighttime “dimmer” during World War II to protect itself from attacks. Instead, crowds celebrated the New Year with a minute of silence followed by bells from the base of One Times Square.
This year, the midnight strike will also mark the official launch of America Gives, a national service initiative created by America250. Organizers hope to make 2026 the biggest year ever for volunteer hours in the country.
The following day, America250 will participate in the New Year’s Day Rose Parade in Pasadena, California, with a float themed “Rising Forward Together for 250 Years.” It will feature three larger-than-life bald eagles representing the country’s past, present and future.
“We want to ring in this new year from sea to shining sea,” Rios said. “And what better way to think about it than moving from New York to California.” “This has to be community-driven, this has to be at the grassroots level. We’re going to go from Guam to Alaska, from Fairbanks to Philadelphia, and everything in between.”
President Donald Trump also announced the “Freedom 250” initiative to coordinate additional events to mark the 250th anniversary.
Rios said she sees the wide array of celebrations and programs planned over the coming months, from large fireworks displays and statewide dinners to student competitions and citizen oral histories, as an opportunity to unite Politically divided Nation.
“If we can find something for everyone…we have menus of options that people can pick and choose how they want to participate,” she said. “This is how we will be able to engage 350 million Americans.”