New York, Nov 25 (EFE).- New Yorkers and tourists will ring in 2026 in Times Square with a new ball, which was presented to the media for the first time today before being raised to the top of the building, where it will await the arrival of the New Year at the stroke of midnight on December 31.
This is the ninth version of the famous ball—dubbed 'Constellation' this year—since the tradition began in 1907.
"The ball, like the building, was built by New Yorkers with ingenuity, design, and parts and pieces from all over the world, and it truly represents what is local and grand about our city, but also what the visitors who come here represent," Phillips highlighted.
This tradition was only interrupted in 1942 and 1943 as a result of World War II.
The arrival of the New Year draws thousands of people to this New York tourist area who enjoy various shows on New Year's Eve under a heavy security deployment that mobilizes thousands of police officers.
Photo EFE
The article 'Times Square presents its new sphere to receive the New Year' was first published in La Verdad Panamá.
It has 5,280 handcrafted round Waterford crystals, almost double the previous one, which had triangular-shaped crystals. Additionally, it is the first to have round crystals and has nearly twice as many lights as the ball it replaces.
This new sphere, awaiting the arrival of the new year, will begin its 60-second descent from the 139-foot (42.36-meter) pole atop the 26-story One Times Square building, from where it has descended for over a century.
The new sphere coincides with the culmination of the $550 million renovation of the building.
On the centennial of the ball drop in 2007, the lights were replaced with LED technology, dramatically increasing the brightness and color range of the ball.
The previous one will be displayed as part of an immersive art and culture exhibition at the Times Travel Museum, which will open in 2026 at One Times Square, which began as a communications building, said Michael Phillips, president of Jamestown, the firm that owns the structure, during the presentation.
He referred to the building opening around the same time that the company led by radio pioneer Guglielmo Marconi moved to that location, which was also home to The New York Times.
The tradition of welcoming the year with a ball, which was the idea of then-New York Times owner Adolph Ochs, began with a metal and wood ball in 1907 with 100 lights and was inspired by a 19th-century maritime tradition of dropping a ball at a specific time to help ships synchronize their clocks.
In the 1920s, it was replaced by a lighter model of cast iron, in 1955 it was aluminum, and in the 80s red lights and a green stem were added to resemble an apple, in honor of New York's nickname, 'The Big Apple.'
In 2000, the 'Millennium Ball' of Waterford crystal with 504 triangles and halogen lighting was presented to welcome the new century, and over time it has been updated with modern lighting technologies.
"We have the most digitally evolved sequence of lighting and sound associated with it."
