Some 1 million revelers gathered at New York's
Times Square Thursday night to witness the crystal ball drop and embrace the coming 2010 at this "Crossroads of the World."
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and 12 students from 12 top New York public high schools triggered the traditional ball drop one minute before the New Year.
Colorful fireworks rang out and numerous confetti rained down as the huge crowd rang in the year 2010.
Each year during the New Year's Eve celebration in Times Square, a time ball made of
crystal and electric lights is raised to the top of a pole on the One Times Square building and
then lowered to mark the coming of the New Year. The Ball usually descends 23 meters over the course of a minute, coming to rest at the bottom of its pole at 12:00 am. Toshiba's Times Square billboard directly below the Ball counts down to midnight as well.
Every year up to one million people gather in Times Square to watch the Ball drop, and an estimated 1 billion watch the event's broadcast, 100 million of them in the United States.
However, weather seemed not to be favorable for the celebration on Thursday night. It was drizzling the whole night and temperatures hovered around minus 1 degrees Celcius.
Revelers, however, said they did not feel bothered by the bad weather. "It's such a big fun," said Jessie Kent from Queens Borough of New
York. "So many people are waiting for the same moment is just great."
"I like the shrieking and shouting here," she said, adding she was unlucky in 2009, so she
would make wishes to turn the things around at this special place and moment.
This year's crystal ball featured 2,600 Waterford crystals illuminated with LED lights. The crystals were designed with an interlocking ribbon pattern woven into a Celtic knot called
"Let There Be Courage."
Security in Times Square was fairly tight. Some 3,000 police officers were mobilized to
keep a close watch at such a huge crowd.
Yeung, a Chinese-American police officer who works at China Town but was ordered to join his colleagues at Times Square for this special event, said he wished nothing bad would happen and all could have a prosperous and peaceful new year.