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Although several media outlets were on site to record the televised events that were scheduled for midnight on December 31, 2020, in addition to several police officers who were watching for crowds, no crowd witnessed the descent of the iconic huge ball New year.
New Yorkers heeded calls from the NYPD, who a day earlier had insisted that the general public I shouldn’t, couldn’t, go to Times Square to celebrate the last hours of 2020 and the first of 2021:
“Next year we will meet and fill Times Square. (…) But this year, don’t even try to come see him, ”New York Police Department chief Terence Monahan asked at a press conference held on Wednesday.
However, New York wanted to honor essential workers by allowing about four dozen of them, accompanied by their loved ones, to live in the moment in that place from small fenced spaces established on the site for each of them. Among the lucky ones, a pediatrician from Elmhurst hospital, one of the most affected by the coronavirus when the city became the epicenter of the pandemic in the spring, an ambulance technician, or a pizza delivery man who fell ill with coronavirus.
The New Year’s Eve celebrations began in the late afternoon in Times Square and included two hymns that made reference to the hard year lived around the world: ‘I Will Survive’, sang by Gloria Gaynor, while Andra Day performed John Lennon’s ‘Imagine’ at five minutes past midnight, as has been done for years.
An anthem for many and more relevant than ever … #GloriaGaynor #I will Survive #Times Square # NYE2020 pic.twitter.com/CB5I7hQckh
– Juan C Arciniegas (@JuanCarlosCNN) January 1, 2021
Also on stage were Pitbull, who performed ‘Don’t Stop the Party’, ‘I Believe That We Will Win’ and ‘Give Me Everything’, and Anitta, who sang ‘Downtown’, ‘Like’ and ‘Vai Malandra ‘, although Nor was Frank Sinatra’s ‘New York, New York’ missing in the first seconds of 2021, accompanied by fireworks and confetti.
5… 4… 3… 2… 1! Happy New Year from New York City #CNNNYE https://t.co/A1oylm1rPG pic.twitter.com/UmUHSiEg1n
– CNN (@CNN) January 1, 2021
Normally, hundreds of thousands of people attend the massive New Year’s Eve party in Times Square, to which, despite the cold New York, people from all over the world travel expressly to witness the event.
New Years in Times Square, a tradition only interrupted by WWII
The festivities in that square have been held for 112 years, while the descent of the sphere, which this year has been baptized with the name of ‘The gift of happiness’ (The gift of happiness), has become an icon.
It was the owners of The New York Times newspaper who in 1904 they began to celebrate the beginning of the year on the roof of their building, located in Times Square, using an illuminated dial to mark the change of the year. That year, the then editor of the newspaper, Adolph Ochs, wanted to organize a fireworks display on the roof of the new headquarters of the newspaper to mark the move of the medium to its new offices.
New York marks the arrival of 2021 with an almost deserted Times Square.https: //t.co/LW5GZZJkyn pic.twitter.com/x0fRlKyfWL
– EFE News (@EFEnoticias) January 1, 2021
However, it would not be until three years later when the mythical ball made its appearance, which At the time it weighed 317 kilograms, had a diameter of one and a half meters and had a hundred white bulbs attached to it..
More than a century later, and after being absent only in 1942 and 1943 as a result of World War II, the ball is made up of 2,668 glass triangles, illuminated by 32,256 red, blue, green and white led bulbs that form a palette of 16 million colors, and weighs 5,386 kilograms.
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