USA: Excitement builds in New York's Times Square with final preparations for New Year's eve celebrations

Visitors to New York's Times Square got a taste of the New Year's eve celebrations Friday (December 29) when officials performed a confetti air worthiness test. Confetti has been a popular part of the annual New Year's celebrations since 1991 and over 2,000 pounds of the coloured paper will be released over Times Square at the onset of 2007. "The confetti was such a phenomenal success the first year, that it's become a very quick tradition. By the second year we were doing it, people in New York thought, oh they've always had the confetti, it was one of those things that, was, it became a tradition very quickly. But the reaction of the crowd was just incredible when the confetti came out," said Airborne Effects Designer for New Year's in Times Square, Treb Heining. In addition to the midnight confetti drop, this year hourly countdowns will be introduced, accompanied by the release of confetti. The confetti for these countdowns is called "word-fetti" and will have words such as "hope", "dance", "peace" and "celebrate" printed on the paper. The confetti used in Times Square has an added feature which makes its flight lighter -- it is pre-soaked in liquid helium. Possibly the highlight of New York's New Year's eve celebrations is the famous ball drop. The ball is six feet in diameter and weighs 1,070 pounds. It is covered with 504 Waterford crystal triangles, of which 72 new crystals feature dove-like patterns symbolizing messengers of peace. "There're seventy new Waterford crystals and they're designed to match the theme of 'Hope for Peace' and that really grows out of the larger New Year's eve themes of celebration, reflection and renewal. Because of course everyone knows that New Year's eve is a big party and a celebration, but it's also a time when people reflect and look back on where we've been and they also look forward with a sense of hope and renewal," Said Times Square Alliance president, Tim Thompkins. More than 750,000 people will jam Times Square Sunday night and the crowd is likely to extend as far north as Central Park.

ITN Source | January 5, 2007

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