LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — While hundreds of thousands of people are celebrating in Times Square and on the Las Vegas Strip — people in towns across the country are also ringing in the new year in unique ways.

Many of the local celebrations involve lowering – or dropping – something at the stroke of midnight.

From the traditional ball drop to a pickle drop, hog drop, drag queen drop, and pirogi drop there’s something for everyone.

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The information in the list below was gathered from various sites.

Alabama

• Mobile: A 600-pound, lit Moon Pie is lowered from the RSA Tower in the “MoonPie Over Mobile.”
• Fairhope: A ball is dropped.
• Wetumpka: A meteorite is dropped at the Old Courthouse at 11 pm Central Time in honor of the meteorite that hit the River City. At the stroke of midnight, a big fireworks display takes place over the river.
• Dothan: Nicknamed “The Peanut Capital of the World”, this city has an annual “Peanut Drop”.

Arizona

• Flagstaff: A pine cone is dropped from the balcony of the Weatherford hotel.
• Tempe: An illuminated sunburst was dropped while the Fiesta Bowl Block Party and Parade were sponsored by Sunkist, but replaced by a Giant Tortilla Chip when Tostitos Tortilla Chips took over the sponsorship from Sunkist.
• Show Low: A deuce of clubs (2♣) debuted in 2011–12. The card, which is the namesake of the main road through Show Low, is, according to legend the origin of the town’s name (the town’s founders allegedly derived the name “show low” from a game of poker where the winner showed a 2♣, the lowest card in the deck).
• Tucson: Starting in 2014, a large replica taco was dropped from the roof of the Hotel Congress.
• Prescott: A boot is dropped.
• Yuma: In 2018, the city introduced the “Iceberg Drop”, lowering a giant, illuminated lettuce.

Arkansas

• Fayetteville: A hog sculpture (sometimes covered in lights) is dropped.
• Fort Smith: A ball is dropped.

California

• Orange County: An orange is dropped at Disneyland.
• Sacramento: A diamond-shaped ball was dropped in 2009, but this was discontinued in 2010. A proposal to revive the ball drop for 2013 was rejected.
• South Lake Tahoe: A gondola is lowered at midnight Eastern Time.
• Temecula: A bunch of grapes is dropped.

Delaware

• Dewey Beach: A skimboarder is dropped.

Florida

• The “Big Orange” at the InterContinental Miami hotel.
• Brooksville: A 200-pound tangerine is dropped.
• Fort Lauderdale: As a symbol of the city’s nickname The Venice of America, an anchor is dropped.
• Key West (Sloppy Joe’s Bar): The Key West Conch Drop, where a six-foot Queen Conch Shell drops 20 feet to the top of the bar to usher in the New Year.
• Key West (801 Saloon): The 801 Saloon drops a ruby slipper with drag queen Gary “Sushi” Marion inside each year.
• Miami is home to “The Big Orange” Drop. A 35-foot piece of flat neon signage, dubbed “Mr. Neon” and designed in the shape of an orange with sunglasses, rises 400 feet until it reaches the top of the Hotel Intercontinental Miami and is dropped from the top.
• In years when the Miami Heat play a home game on New Year’s Eve, American Airlines Arena hosts a New Year’s Eve basketball drop for those attending the game.
• Orlando: The Annual Church Street Entertainment New Year’s Eve Street Party includes “a huge video wall, confetti cannons, fireworks, and the tradition of the Orange Drop high above Church Street”.
• Sarasota: A glowing pineapple is dropped at midnight to ring in the new year in southwest Florida.
• Winter Haven (Legoland): A Lego brick is dropped at 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time.
• Destin: A ball is pulled over Destin Harbor.
• Fort Walton Beach: A ball is dropped.
• Panama City: An illuminated, 800-pound beach ball descends from a tower 12 stories high at midnight. At 8:30 p.m. there is a fireworks celebration and a “family ball drop” with 7,000 beach balls.
• Pensacola: A pelican is dropped.

Georgia

• Atlanta: A peach is lowered as part of the annual Peach Drop, which had been held at Underground Atlanta from 1989 to 2017.
• Cornelia: Cornelia hosts a “Little Red Apple” Drop and Dance in honor of the region’s apple growers. The “Big Red Apple” located at the train depot is not dropped.
• Duluth: A disco ball called the Soaring Spirit Ball is raised.
• Gainesville: The “Chuck the Chicken” Drop started in 2009 to benefit the Humane Society of Northeast Georgia.
• Macon: A 6-foot wide lighted ball with metal cherry blossoms and pink lights is dropped in honor of the International Cherry Blossom Festival.
• Perry: A buzzard is lowered.
• Savannah: Since 2014, the Savannah Riverfront has hosted Up the Cup on River Street, featuring the raising of a to-go cup.
• Tallapoosa: A stuffed opossum named Spencer is lowered.
• Unadilla: A hog is lowered at midnight.
• Winder: A Jug Drop takes place at the Barrow County Museum.

Idaho

• Boise: Since 2014, a giant potato was dropped from the US Bank building in downtown Boise. For 2016, the drop moved to the Idaho State Capitol building, and the organizers successfully crowdfunded a new “Glowtato” with internal lighting. KTVB televises the festivities most years.
• Emmett: Since 2016, a cherry has been raised.
• Twin Falls: Since 2002, a metal ball, bought at auction for $14, has been dropped from a pair of grain elevators.

Illinois

• Des Plaines: A diamond is dropped.
• Rockford: A ball is lowered toward the Discovery Center building.

Indiana

• Fort Wayne: A ball is dropped.
• Indianapolis: An Indy car is dropped.
• Kokomo: An aluminum 70-pound Ball with 34,000 lights is dropped.
• Muncie: A ball is dropped.
• Vincennes: The giant 18-foot, 500-pound steel-and-foam Watermelon Ball is raised 100 feet in the air during the 60-second countdown at midnight, then the replica releases 11 real locally-grown watermelons.
• Hammond / Whiting: A 10-foot Illuminated Pierogi will be lowered 90 feet during a countdown to Midnight.
• Tell City: An apple with an arrow through it (symbolizing Tell City’s namesake, William Tell) is dropped at City Hall Park.

Iowa

• Cedar Falls: A large cedar is lowered by a chain.

Kansas

• Manhattan: “The Little Apple”, an apple-shaped aluminum ball (a replica of the 1980s era Times Square Ball), is dropped, with the events televised by WIBW-TV in Topeka until 2013–14.

Kentucky

• Prestonsburg a star is raised.

Maine

• Bangor: A beach ball covered in Christmas lights has been thrown off the top of a local restaurant since 2005.
• Eastport: A sardine is lowered in a nod to the area’s history in the herring fishing and canning industry. In honor of the nearby Canadian town of Saint Andrews, New Brunswick (situated across Passamaquoddy Bay), a red maple leaf is also lowered for 11 p.m ET (midnight Atlantic Time). Both objects were created by sculptor Bill Schaefer of East Machias.
• Kennebunk: A wild blueberry ball has dropped from the town’s First Parish Unitarian Universalist Church on Main Street since 2015.
• Machias: A giant plastic lobster, holding a shovel and blueberries is lowered. It took place at Pat’s Pizza, during 2016.

Maryland

• Baltimore: A disco ball is dropped.
• Berlin: Starting in 2017, a ball will be lowered.
• Easton: A red crab is dropped.
• Frederick: A giant key is dropped above Carroll Creek.
• Havre de Grace: An eight-foot long, five-foot high wood-and-plastic foam-lit duck has been dropped since 2000.
• Ocean City: An illuminated beach ball is dropped.
• Princess Anne: A stuffed muskrat in a top hat and bow tie named Marshall P. Muskrat is dropped.
• Hagerstown: A giant doughnut is dropped in honor of Krumpe’s Do-Nuts, a family-owned bakery that has been in business since 1934.

Michigan

• Ann Arbor: For 2014, a lit hockey puck was “dropped” in honor of the NHL Winter Classic game occurring on New Year’s Day at Michigan Stadium.
• Detroit: A sculpture known as the “D Burst” (which is adorned with a giant letter “D”) is lowered at Campus Martius Park.
• Grand Rapids: A six-foot diameter steel ball is dropped in Rosa Parks Circle.
• Kalamazoo: A recyclable ball has been dropped since 2009.
• Ludington: A 6’ 5” diameter ball lit up with thousands of lights is lowered on a countdown to midnight.
• Marquette: A lighted ball is dropped from the Masonic Center along Washington St.
• Royal Oak: A ball is dropped at midnight.
• Traverse City: A cherry is dropped at midnight.
• Wyandott: A 1,000-pound lit steel ball is dropped at both 9 p.m. and midnight next to The Clock Tower downtown.

Mississippi

• Columbus: An illuminated 10-foot wide by 10-foot tall lit aluminum ball is hoisted over College Street 100 feet high as part of the “Having a Ball Downtown Block Party”.
• Hattiesburg: A replica of the original “Hub-Sign” is lowered in Hattiesburg’s historic downtown district. The original 4-story “Hub-Sign” stood atop a downtown building for 35 years and served as a symbol of Hattiesburg’s heritage as the hub of the Gulf South.

Missouri

• Kansas City, Missouri: Michael “The Doughboy” Maslak, the longest-tenured improviser at the ComedyCity improv theater, is draped in lights and dropped by members of the troupe.

Nevada

• Las Vegas – America’s Party – officials close the Las Vegas Strip to traffic and allow people to gather on Las Vegas Boulevard to watch fireworks being shot off the roofs of several of the large casino hotels. In downtown Las Vegas a party is also held on the Fremont Street Experience.

New Jersey

• Nicole Polizzi dropped in Seaside Heights in 2011.
• Hammonton: A blueberry was dropped to commence the year 2018.
• Point Pleasant: “The Millennium Mossbunker,” a mossbunker fish, was dropped for the year 2000.
• Seaside Heights: Snooki from MTV’s Seaside Heights-based reality series Jersey Shore was lowered inside a “hamster ball” in 2011 for the network’s New Year’s Eve special.

New Mexico

• Las Cruces: A 19-foot illuminated chrome chili pepper is dropped.
• Santa Fe: Since 2015, a Zia symbol has been raised 60 feet into the air over Santa Fe Plaza.

New York

• Binghamton: A 6-foot-lighted ball is dropped.
• Brocton: A 14′ diameter ball is dropped from a height of 165′ in front of the Saint Stephen’s Hotel at the Arches in downtown Brockton.
• Buffalo: A lighted ball is dropped, at one time along with a Ford Edge automobile.
• Cheektowaga: A ball is dropped during the day on New Year’s Eve to offer an alternative for families.
• New York City (Times Square): In its current iteration since 2008–09, an 11,875 pounds (5,386 kg) ball covered in Waterford Crystal panels has been lowered from the top of One Times Square.
• New York City (rotating locations, Greenwood Heights for 2011): A giant lighted ukulele, dropped by “Sonic Uke” (a local ukulele playing duo), has been dropped each year in a different location since 2004–05.
• Niagara Falls, New York: A ten-foot Gibson Guitar is dropped from a specially designed 120-foot scaffold at the stroke of midnight at the Hard Rock Cafe. It draws an anticipated crowd of 15,000 to 20,000.
• North Tonawanda: A ball is dropped as part of New Year’s on the Canal.
• Watertown: A beach ball is dropped at noon New Year’s Eve, which kicks off the city’s season-long winter celebration, Snowtown USA.
• White Plains: A ball drops from a crane on the corner of Main Street and Renaissance Square in downtown.
• Wilson: Two balls are dropped, one at 9 p.m. and the other at midnight.

North Carolina

• Mt. Olive: Pickle Drop
• Marion: Gold Nugget Drop
• Beaufort: A pirate is dropped.
• Black Creek: A large red heart drop represents “A Small Town with a Big Heart”.
• Brasstown: A Plexiglas pyramid containing a living opossum was lowered from the roof of Clay Logan’s convenience store for The Possum Drop. The possum is turned loose at the end of the celebration.
• Burgaw: A blueberry drops in reference to the town’s annual blueberry festival.
• Eastover: A three-foot tall, thirty-pound wooden flea is dropped.
• Charlotte: A lighted crown is raised, representing Charlotte’s nickname as “The Queen City”.
• Marion: A five-foot-tall illuminated gold nugget drops into a large doughnut.
• Mount Olive: The New Year’s Eve Pickle is lowered down the Mt. Olive Pickle Company flagpole at 7 pm EST, midnight Greenwich Mean Time.
• Raleigh: A 900-pound copper-and-steel acorn, designed by sculptor David Benson to celebrate the city’s 1992 Bicentennial and Raleigh’s nickname, “The City of Oaks”, is lowered by a crane.
• In years when the Carolina Hurricanes play at home on New Year’s Eve, PNC Arena holds its own New Year’s Eve “puck drop” inside the arena for fans that attend the game.

Ohio

• Chagrin Falls: A ball of popcorn is dropped.
• Cincinnati: A flying pig is “flown”, not dropped, confirming there is at least one occasion “when pigs fly”.
• Elmore: A sausage is dropped.
• Marion: In the home of the annual Marion Popcorn Festival and the home of the Wyandot Popcorn Company, a giant ball of popcorn is dropped.
• New Carlisle: A 7.5-foot, 200-pound aluminum ball is lowered by 90 feet at midnight.
• Port Clinton: A walleye fish named “Captain Wylie Walleye” is dropped.
• Yellow Springs: A ball is dropped.

Oklahoma

• Bartlesville: An olive is dropped.
• Oklahoma City: A lighted ball is raised during Opening Night.
• Tulsa: The Tulsa Ball Drop, held annually in Brookside, a district famous for its nightlife, features live music, performances, and a street party.

Oregon

• La Grande: Since 2015, a lighted ball has been lowered atop the John Howard Building in downtown La Grande, accompanied by a larger block party.

Pennsylvania

• Allentown: Allentown’s own liberty bell is dropped to commemorate the period when the Liberty Bell was stored in Allentown during the American Revolution.
• Akron: A purple-and-gold shoe is dropped.
• Beavertown: A stuffed beaver is dropped.
• Bethlehem: A 100-pound yellow illuminated Peep made out of fiberglass. (The producer of Peeps, Just Born, is based in Bethlehem)
• Blain: A wooden cow is dropped from a silo.
• Boyertown: A bear has been dropped since 2010.
• Bradford: A model gazebo has been dropped since 2019; previous to that, a ball had been dropped on an irregular basis.
• Burnham: Starting in 2018, a replica railroad wheel was dropped honoring Standard Steel LLC, which has operated for over 200 years.
• Carlisle: A button is dropped.
• Cleona: A pretzel is raised.
• Cornwall: A Cannonball Drop commemorates the historic Cornwall Iron Furnace.
• Dillsburg: Two pickles are dropped; the “Lil’ Dill” at 7:00 p.m. ET (midnight in Ireland, in celebration of Dillsburg’s Irish founders), and “Mr. Pickle” at midnight.
• Drexel Hill: Starting in 2017, a “fire truck” ball will be lowered.
• Duncannon: A sled is dropped.
• East Petersburg: A large “Haydn’s Jug” is dropped.
• Easton: A ten-foot Crayola crayon is dropped at 8 p.m. to accommodate children’s bedtimes.
• Elizabethtown: A giant M&M is dropped at midnight UTC to correspond with midnight in sister city Letterkenny in Ireland. This changed to a Dove chocolate bar in 2012–13; both Dove and M&M’s are manufactured in Elizabethtown.
• Falmouth: A stuffed goat is dropped.
• Halifax: A Hemlock tree is dropped.
• Hallam: A replica of the Haines Shoe House is dropped.
• Harrisburg: A strawberry is dropped.
• Hanover: A Three-Foot Pac-Man is Dropped at Midnight.
• Hershey: A Hershey Kiss replica is raised.
• Highspire: Highspire drops candy in commemoration of the Knights Candy Store that operated there during the 1950s to 1970s.
• Hummelstown: A lollipop is dropped.
• Ickesburg: A french fry is dropped.
• Kennett Square: For 2014, a steel mushroom was dropped. Kennett Square, often called “The Mushroom Capital of the World”, is one of the largest growers of mushrooms.
• Lancaster: A red rose is dropped.
• Lebanon: A 100-pound (or 150-pound) stick of Lebanon Bologna is dropped. The bologna itself is distributed to a local food bank and animal shelter following the drop.
• Lewistown: A bag of Hartley’s potato chips is dropped.
• Lisburn: A pair of yellow pants or “britches” is dropped in honor of the Yellow Breeches Creek.
• Lititz: A Moravian star is raised.
• Liverpool: A canal boat is dropped.
• Marysville: A replica of the Rockville Bridge that was made my a local Cub Scout Pack is being dropped.
• Media: A ball is dropped.
• Manheim: A ball is raised.
• McClure: A kettle is dropped in honor of McClure Bean Soup Festival.
• McVeytown: An ice cream cake is dropped.
• Mechanicsburg: A wrench is dropped.
• Middletown: A metal Rhombicuboctahedron, referred to by the organizers as a “sphoctagon” (portmanteau of sphere and octagon), is dropped.
• Myerstown: A tablet of Bayer aspirin has been dropped since 2013–14; Bayer operates a manufacturing plant in Myerstown.
• New Bloomfield: A box of huckleberry is dropped.
• Newville: A big spring is dropped.
• Palmyra: “The Giant Shoe” is dropped.
• Plains Township: As of 2022, for 2023, a replica brick is dropped.
• Port Royal: A sprint car is dropped.
• Pottsville: A bottle of Yuengling beer is raised.
• Reamstown: “Wobbly Bob” on a beer barrel is dropped.
• Red Lion: A wooden cigar held by a lion is raised.
• Richland: A cigar is dropped.
• Shamokin: A chunk of coal is dropped, turning into a diamond at the bottom; the event has been held since 1987–88.
• Shippensburg: An anchor is dropped.
• Strasburg: Ping-pong balls are dropped.
• Sunbury: An incandescent lamp is lit as an homage to the Hotel Edison and its namesake, Thomas Edison.
• Tamaqua: A group of eagles is raised at The ABC Tamaqua Hi-Rise.
• Wilkes-Barre: A chunk of coal is dropped, turning into a diamond at the bottom.
• York: A white rose is dropped at midnight after a children’s countdown from 6 to 8 p.m.

South Carolina

• Hilton Head Island: A giant, lighted golf ball is lowered from the Harbour Town Lighthouse, in honor of the Sea Pines Resort’s golf courses.
• Folly Beach: A giant pair of flip-flops are dropped at the end of Center Street, which pulls in a very large crowd over the past 8 years. It was started in 2010/2011.

Tennessee 

• Gatlinburg: A ball is dropped.
• Knoxville: A ball is dropped on Market Square.
• Memphis: A mirrored ball is raised; previous to that, a guitar is dropped.
• Nashville: A 15-foot-tall music note is lowered.

Texas

• Houston: A star representing the Lone Star State was raised at midnight.[209] No celebration was held in 2019. There is also a Noon Ball Drop at the Children’s Museum of Houston for families to celebrate New Year’s Noon.
• McAllen: A giant mirrored ball descends just before midnight.
• San Antonio: The elevator on the Tower of the Americas is raised.

Virginia

• Richmond: A copy of the Times Square Ball is raised rather than dropped, at the Byrd Theater in Carytown.
• Roanoke: A 10-foot illuminated star is dropped.
• Charlottesville: A ball is dropped.
• Fredericksburg: An illuminated pear is dropped.
• South Hill: A 6-foot tall illuminated Star is dropped from an 80-foot tall flag pole in the center of town at the Farmer’s Market Square.
• Chincoteague: The Pony Island Horseshoe Drop.

Washington

• Seattle: The elevator of the Space Needle is raised followed by fireworks and sometimes a digital light show.

Wisconsin

• Plymouth: Plymouth drops an 80-pound decorated cheese wedge.
• Prairie du Chien: A carp (real but dead) caught by local fishers and weighing between 25 and 30 pounds is lowered.
• Sister Bay: A cherry-shaped ball is lowered at midnight.

Wyoming

• Cheyenne: A ball is dropped at Midnight.