Why let New York City have all the fun with her Drop the ball in Times Square On New Year’s Eve?
Dozens of places across the United States will be contacted 2026 By dropping a variety of fruits, vegetables, sea creatures and balls of all shapes and sizes.
Many have a hometown flair.
There’s a giant cheesecake in Plymouth, Wisconsin, a chili pepper in Las Cruces, New Mexico, a pinecone in Flagstaff, Arizona, and an oyster shell in Key West, Florida.
Pennsylvania is home to a slew of bizarre New Year’s Eve events — the bologna drop in Lebanon, the pickle drop in Dillsburg, the potato chip drop in Lewistown.
It’s a New Year’s tradition dating back to 1907 when a 700-pound (318-kilogram) ball five feet (1.5 meters) in diameter made its debut. Times Square. Copycat celebrations have spread from coast to coast over the past few decades and into the new millennium.
Here’s a look at some of those events across the country:
In some cultures, it is said that eating fruit on New Year’s Eve brings luck and wealth. Perhaps this is why many cities mix the fruit into their celebrations. Miami has its own “Big Orange” drop, while Sarasota, Florida features pineapple. There are cherry drops in Milwaukee, Oregon, and Traver City, Michigan. Brightly lit grapes plunging from above in Temecula, California. This year Atlanta is replacing the peach drop with a “digital peach drone in the sky.”
It’s hard to beat the ringing through of the year while watching a pair of shiny flip flops diving at Folly Beach, South Carolina. In Panama City Beach, Florida, there’s an all-evening party where 15,000 beach balls are dropped over revelers just hours before a giant beach ball lands on the tower at midnight.
What could be better than seeing a 600-pound (272 kg) MoonPie touch down for 60 seconds in Mobile, Alabama? How about getting a slice of MoonPie cake at the city’s biggest event of the year? Not sweet enough? Check 400 lbs (181 kg) Yellow peep chick Which falls in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.
Waterfront cities celebrate the sea on New Year’s Eve. Brunswick, Georgia has a shrimp drop, while Easton, Maryland has its annual crab drop. The Oyster Drop is the main event at Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. The biggest catch may be in Port Clinton, Ohio, along Lake Erie, home to a 600-pound (272-kg) walleye named a walleye. The original paper version debuted 30 years ago and has given way to a fiberglass fish.
There’s definitely a food theme to these New Year’s drops. Just outside of Chicago, watch out for the 10-foot (3-meter) pierogi in Whiting, Indiana. The Idaho Potato Drop has been running in Boise for more than a decade, and Mount Olive, North Carolina, is celebrating its brand of hometown pickles by dropping a bright green pickle up to 6 feet (1.8 meters) long.
All of these events are intended to be fun, promote civic pride, and attract tourists. But one of them caused such a stir that it ended up in court. Residents in western North Carolina no longer drop live opossums into a glass box at midnight, canceling the event in 2019 after years of protests and legal challenges. There is still a decline in the opossum in Tallapoosa, Georgia, which has long been known as the “snout of the opossum.” However, this one stars a stuffed opossum named Spencer.