For the first time in the tradition’s 120-year history, the Times Square ball will drop twice this New Year’s Eve.
The first drop will be at midnight, as usual, to ring in 2026. Drop number two will take place at 12:04 a.m. to honor America’s 250th anniversary.
For the second drop, the Constellation Ball – the brand new, 12,350-pound, Waterford crystal and LED puck-covered Times Square Ball – will shift to red, white and blue, and will bear the number 250.
It will be accompanied by “literally several tons of red, white and blue confetti,” said Rosie Rios, Chair of America250, in a phone interview.
America250 is a nonpartisan group that Congress has tasked with leading the nation’s 250th birthday celebration next year.
“This is seven years in the making,” Rios added, explaining that America250 partnered with One Times Square and the Times Square Alliance soon after its formation.
In addition to the bonus ball drop next week, America250 is also bringing the ball back to Times Square for a Fourth of July ball drop.
“The Fourth of July countdown moment will anchor America250’s nationwide Independence Day celebrations and reinforce New York City’s central role in the nation’s semiquincentennial,” organizers say in a press release.
The July event will also represent another first in the tradition’s history. It will be the first time “in over a century of the ball drop in Times Square where they’re going to do one outside of New Year’s Eve,” the release states.