NEW YORK CITY – It was 1981 when Ronald Colbert, who had just returned home after serving in the Navy as a mess specialist on the USS Cavalla, went to Times Square to see the ball fall in person for the first time.
It was a lifelong dream that came true that year, and he has been going there almost every year ever since.
“My little brother and I would stay up with whoever was babysitting to watch the ball fall. Everyone wore their party hats, streamers. They danced in tiaras and tuxedos. The starting ball was just a little white – probably just as big as a bowling ball on the mast. Now they’ve turned it into an electronic monstrosity, “said Colbert.
“The emotion is unbelievable, the energy that everyone has during that last minute. I don’t know how many people I kissed strangely on New Year’s Eve or kissed me.”
Colbert had plans to visit Times Square on December 31 one last time, playing New Year’s Eve along with more than a million strangers who gather from around the world in the heart of the Big Apple to count the last seconds of the year.
Ronald Colbert celebrating New Year’s Eve in Times Square, Manhattan, on December 31, 2019. As a longtime reveler, he hopes to return to the square to see the ball fall for the last time.
(Ronald Colbert)
“I already had it all figured out, my Kentucky Fried Chicken in my Ziplocs and was ready to stay all day,” says Colbert, a Staten Island ferryman.
For the first time in 114 years, the New Year’s Eve spectacle in Times Square will be held without a live audience due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
It would have marked Colbert’s 40th birthday party at Times Square’s New Year celebration.
“I was hoping it would be my last year. I will have to do it next year, ”he says. “It is a disappointment, but it is not a disaster.”
As usual, there will be a live TV broadcast for the celebration of New Year’s Eve 2020 in Times Square. In addition, the event will be accessible to watch on an app called VNYE, where users can also explore the virtual world of Times Square.
“We are adding a whole virtual type of gamified version of it, in addition to [TV]. It has always been virtual in some ways, “says Tim Tompkins, president of the Times Square Alliance, which is one of the producers of the NYE event.” You will be able to create a virtual world of Times Square, create your own avatar, and then you place yourself inside a virtual Time Square to experience New Year’s Eve as if you were there and in real time. “
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VNYE was created by Jamestown, the group that owns the building that houses the £ 11,875 New Year’s Eve ball that is covered by 2,688 Waterford crystal triangles illuminated by 32,256 LEDs.
This year, more than 18 million cases of coronavirus have occurred and more than 318,000 deaths have been reported in the United States since February. Tompkins says the team and organizers of the New Year’s Eve event are working hard to overcome the pandemic, trying to make this event special for people watching at home while the number of COVID-19 continues to increase.
A Times Square employee sanitizes the booth where people can write their New Year’s wishes on confetti that will spread the Crossroads of the World on New Year’s Eve.
(Countdown entertainment)
“One of the challenges is just the uncertainty about changing the health situation. The people who are setting up the stages, building the stages – everyone will be tested. They have to be socially distant, ”he said. he said.
The Times Square Alliance and Countdown Entertainment recently announced that TV personality Jonathan Bennet, the host of “Holiday Wars” and an actor who starred in “Mean Girls”, will be hosting this year’s event, featuring performances by artists like Jennifer Lopez, Billy Porter and Cyndi Lauper.
“Gloria Gaynor will sing ‘I Will Survive’, which is sort of a theme for 2020 both metaphorically and, unfortunately, literally,” said Tompkins.
People like Muhammad Ali and Supreme Court Judge Sonia Sotomayor were honored at Times Square’s New Year’s party in the past. But this year, the many “Heroes of 2020” will be honored on the spot in Times Square for their efforts on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic, especially those who risk their lives at work every day.
No crowds: at this time of year, close to the holidays, the streets of Times Square are packed with people walking shoulder to shoulder. This year will be very different without the millions of visitors.
These honorees include mass transportation workers, doctors, nurses, couriers, rescuers and other essential workers who will be staged in restricted areas of limited capacity and away from other guests, artists and staff.
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“We are honoring the heroes of 2020, the people who, with their courage or creativity, helped us through this year. They will all be New Yorkers who will represent people from all over the world,” added Tompkins.
“2020 was kind of a drain,” says Colbert. “Let’s hope we can get back to normalcy. It’s a new beginning. Let everything be included.”