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Why Do We Drop a Ball on New Year’s Eve?: Media

Every year on New Year’s Eve, people gather in Times Square to watch the ball drop. But does anyone actually know why?

Images

Ready for New Year's Eve
The New Year's Eve ball to be dropped in Times Square in New York City at midnight...
© Alexi Rosenfeld/Getty Images
Welcoming 2000
Steven Goldmacher installing one of the lightbulbs in the New Year's Eve ball that...
© Doug Kanter—AFP/Getty Images