Taylor Goelz
Iron Quill

Since 1907 the Waterford Crystal Ball has been a symbol of the new year. Ever since then, the ball has taken many different forms, shapes, and styles.

The ball drop tradition was thought of by Adolph Ochs, former owner and publisher of the New York Times, after New York City prohibited civilians from setting off fireworks in celebration of the New Year. His idea was to drop a lighted sphere from the top of a building to celebrate New Years Day.

The ball, first constructed out of iron and wood, was covered in one hundred 25-watt light bulbs. Thirteen years later, that sphere was replaced with a 400 pound orb made entirely out of iron.

The ball has taken many different forms over the years, such as an apple for the “I Love New York” event in the 1980’s. By the 1990’s, light weight aluminum was being used to form the ball.

Debuting in 2000 for the millennium celebration, the Waterford Crystal was unveiled with an entirely new design. Covered with more than 500 Waterford crystal triangles, the ball is about 100 high power strobe lights and 700 multicolored bulbs. On top of that, there are exactly 90 rotating pyramid mirrors.

For the 2007 celebration, 72 crystal triangles were arranged in a “Hope for Peace” design with three doves, which symbolized messengers of peace. The new phrase is similar to previous years, which include Hope for Wisdom, Hope for Fellowship, Hope for Unity, Hope for Courage, and Hope for Healing.

To celebrate the 100 year anniversary of the Ball Drop, music sensations like Christina Aguilera, Rascal Flatts, Fergie, Natasha Bedingfield, Meat Loaf, and Latin superstars RBD performed at Dick Clark’s New Years Rockin’ Eve 2007.

Also this year, instead of confetti, 2000 pounds of Wordfetti was dropped inscribed with sayings about peace. In order to keep everyone safe on the 100th anniversary of the ball drop, there were 6000 police officers in Times Square protecting the over one million spectators.