Crystal ball drops in frigid Times Square
Costa Rica’s Public Safety Ministry via AP This photo released by Costa Rica’s Public Safety Ministry shows the site of a plane crash near in Punta Islita, Guanacaste.
— The glittering crystal ball dropped with a burst of confetti and dazzling fireworks as revelers rang in 2018 in frigid Times Square — the second-coldest celebration there on record.
It was only 10 degrees Fahrenheit in the city, and the celebration was less crowded than other years. Some of the metal pens, usually packed with people, were only partially full. Bundled up in hats, gloves, face masks and numerous layers of clothing, partygoers danced and hugged and kissed as the ball dropped.
Eva Santos, of New York, said she hoped 2018 would bring more unity “for our countries and other countries.”
“I hope for a peaceful year and just love, I hope for more love,” she said. “We’re hoping for better things to come. Our country needs to get better.”
New Yorker Colleen Keenan was with her son Kevin Keenan and his friend Devin Wright when midnight hit.
“It is a beautiful experience. There’s nothing like it, nothing at all like it,” she said as the ball dropped. “Times Square is the place to be on New Year’s Eve, that’s for sure. Now everyone is going to get drunk and get warm.”
Wright, of Long Beach, California, said she was “intoxicatingly in love with every moment of today.”
“I’m freezing, but it’s worth it,” she said. “Every second in this miserable cold is worth it.”
Mariah Carey made it through her set on “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Seth Wenig / AP
Fireworks erupt as the clock strikes midnight during the New Year’s celebration in Times Square as seen from the Marriott Marquis in New York on Monday.
Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest” after bungling the performance last year.
The dazzling finale of the show was the traditional drop of a Waterford Crystal ball down a pole atop 1 Times Square. This year, the ball was 12 feet in diameter, weighs 11,875 pounds and was covered with 2,688 triangles that change colors like a kaleidoscope, illuminated by 32,256 LED lights. When the first ball drop happened in 1907, it was made of iron and wood and adorned with 100 25watt light bulbs. The first celebration in the area was in 1904, the year the city’s first subway line started running.