{"id":82491,"date":"2025-12-28T08:01:17","date_gmt":"2025-12-28T08:01:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/82491\/"},"modified":"2025-12-28T08:01:17","modified_gmt":"2025-12-28T08:01:17","slug":"the-times-square-new-years-eve-ball-will-drop-twice-in-2026-heres-why","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/82491\/","title":{"rendered":"The Times Square New Year\u2019s Eve ball will drop twice in 2026. Here\u2019s why"},"content":{"rendered":"

After the crystal ball drops on New Year\u2019s Eve in New York City, it will rise again, sparkling in red, white and blue to usher in 2026 and kick off months of celebrations<\/a> for the nation\u2019s upcoming 250th birthday<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The patriotic touches at this year\u2019s Times Square gathering, including a second confetti drop, will offer an early glimpse of what\u2019s ahead: hundreds of events and programs, big and small<\/a>, planned nationwide to mark the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m telling you right now, whatever you\u2019re imagining, it\u2019s going to be much more than that,\u201d said America250<\/a> Chair Rosie Rios, who oversees the bipartisan commission created by Congress in 2016 to organize the semiquincentennial anniversary. \u201cIt\u2019s going to be one for the ages, the most inspirational celebration this country and maybe the world has ever seen.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rios and her group worked with the Times Square Alliance business district and One Times Square, the building from where the ball is dropped, to make the changes to this year\u2019s ceremonies. They\u2019re also planning a second ball drop event on July 3, the eve of the nation\u2019s birthday, \u201cin the same beautiful style that Times Square knows how to do it,\u201d Rios said.<\/p>\n

It will mark the first time in 120 years there will be ball drop in Times Square that doesn\u2019t occur on New Year\u2019s Eve, she said.<\/p>\n

A New Year\u2019s Eve ball was first dropped in Times Square in 1907. Built by a young immigrant metalworker named Jacob Starr, the 700-pound (318-kilogram), 5-foot- (1.5-meter-) diameter ball was made of iron and wood and featured 100 25-watt light bulbs. Last year, the Constellation Ball, the ninth and largest version, was unveiled. It measured about 12 feet (3.7 meters) in diameter and weighs nearly 12,000 pounds (5,400 kilograms).<\/p>\n

The only years when no ball drop occurred were 1942 and 1943, when the city instituted a nightly \u201cdimout\u201d during World War II to protect itself from attacks. Crowds instead celebrated the new year with a moment of silence followed by chimes rung from the base of One Times Square.<\/p>\n

This year, the stroke of midnight will also mark the official launch of America Gives, a national service initiative created by America250. Organizers hope to make 2026 the largest year of volunteer hours ever aggregated in the country.<\/p>\n

On the following day, America250 will participate in the New Years Day Rose Parade in Pasadena, California, with a float themed \u201cSoaring Onward Together for 250 Years.\u201d It will feature three larger-than-life bald eagles representing the country\u2019s past, present and future.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to ring in this new year from sea to shining sea. What better way to think about it than going from New York to California,\u201d Rios said. \u201cThis has to be community-driven, this has be grassroots. We\u2019re going from Guam to Alaska, from Fairbanks to Philadelphia, and everything in between.\u201d<\/p>\n

President Donald Trump has also announced the \u201cFreedom 250\u201d initiative to coordinate additional events for the 250th anniversary.<\/p>\n

Rios said she sees the wide range of celebrations and programs planned for the coming months, from large fireworks displays and statewide potluck suppers to student contests and citizen oral histories, as an opportunity to unite a politically divided<\/a> nation.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we can find something for everyone … having those menus of options that people can pick and choose how they want to participate,\u201d she said. \u201cThat\u2019s how we\u2019re going to get to engaging 350 million Americans.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After the crystal ball drops on New Year\u2019s Eve in New York City, it will rise again, sparkling…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":82492,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[40596,9,24,55,54,56,40597,40598],"class_list":["post-82491","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-and-times-square-alliance","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-new-york-city-headlines","tag-new-york-city-news","tag-ny","tag-one-times-square","tag-semiquincentennial-year"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82491","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=82491"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82491\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/82492"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=82491"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=82491"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=82491"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}