Celebrate the New Year Safely

Celebrate the New Year Safely

A highlight reel of what to watch and do (virtually, of course) to ring in the new year.

Times Square won’t be crowded with people this year, but the tradition will still be live streamed on most networks.

Along with so many things, the pandemic has dashed many of go-to New Year’s traditions — no raging clubs, no in-person ball drop, no kissing strangers at midnight, not even the annual party that you begrudgingly went to year after year.

But before you ditch the night completely and climb into bed at 11, here’s a highlight reel of ways to ring in the new year.
You can still watch the ball drop.

This year, the crystal ball will still drop from One Times Square, the confetti will still fall and “Auld Lang Syne” will still play — it’s just that Times Square itself won’t be crowded with people.

Celebrate the New Year Safely

“Many of the beloved hallmarks of the Times Square New Year’s Eve tradition will be present,” said TJ Witham, a spokesman for The Times Square Alliance, a nonprofit neighborhood organization that helps orchestrate the night’s festivities. “That said, the event will be staged for television and online audiences specifically, and public revelers will not be present in Times Square.”

A livestream of the event starts at 6 p.m. Eastern on timessquarenyc.org, or you can watch on most broadcast networks. The special performances and musical acts planned include Gloria Gaynor performing her signature song, “I Will Survive.”

According to the organizers, the night’s festivities will recognize those Americans getting us through the pandemic — essential, frontline and emergency medical workers. Several of these workers will be the event’s official “Special Guests” — an honor bestowed each year on individuals representing “public service, resiliency and the human spirit.”
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The honor usually includes joining New York’s mayor onstage to count down the final 60 seconds of the year. This time the guests will watch the ball drop from a private, physically distanced viewing area.

Have a New Year’s wish? Submit yours on the Times Square Alliance’s virtual wishing wall at timessquarenyc.org or through social media using #ConfettiWish. Some 100,000 of these hopes and dreams will be printed on colored confetti that will fall over Times Square as the clock strikes midnight.