Bet you didn't realize that other things drop besides the ball depending on where you live in the country and some objects are even raised! Here's a comprehensive  (big word for looooong) list of some of the most interesting and usually bizarre objects by state that are annual New Year's Eve icons for the locals there, and most are anything BUT a ball!

 

CALIFORNIA

An orange is dropped in Orange County (big surprise!)

 

WASHINGTON

The elevator of the Space Needle is raised in Seattle and once it reaches it's apex, fireworks are shot off from the top.

 

IDAHO

A cheap metal ball is driven in Twin Falls by a 1961 Ford Econoline truck (I know, specific right?) and then is lowered by chain down a pair of grain elevators (???) This doozie is actually the only ball drop in the state.

 

ARIZONA

In Flagstaff a pine cone is dropped off the roof of the Weatherford Hotel and in a town called Show Low, the lowest valued card in poker (the deuce of clubs) which is the town's namesake is dropped.

 

WISCONSIN

All of the cheeseheads in Plymouth drop an 80 pound wedge of cheese from a 100 foot ladder. Messy! Possibly grosser is a dead 20ish pound carp is lowered in Prairie du Chien.

 

TEXAS

In Houston they raise a their lone star representing their state namesake, and in San Antonio the elevator of the Tower of the Americas is raised once again to a fireworks display once reaching the top.

 

TENNESSEE

Appropriate to the music capitol of our nation, they drop a guitar in Memphis and a 15-foot tall music note is dropped from 80 feet in Nashville.

 

OKLAHOMA

In Bartlesville they like olives, so they drop one at midnight and in the state capital they raise a lighted ball instead of dropping one.

 

MISSISSIPPI

A 10-foot diameter lighted ball is suspended 100 feet over College Street in Columbus during their block party.

 

LOUISIANA

The drop a fleur-de-lis in New Orleans.

 

KANSAS

In Manhattan (used to live near there!) they drop a little aluminum apple

 

ILLINOIS

They drop a real diamond in De Plaines, but what I wanna know is does a lucky reveler get to catch and keep it?!?

 

FLORIDA

They lower an 800 pound beach ball from 12 stories high in Panama City and then drop 7,000 normal sized beach balls after while in Pensacola the drop a pelican (and then the pelican leaves droppings on them?). In Key West it's a six-foot queen conch shell dropped from 20 feet and a ruby red slipper with a drag queen in it is dropped at a local gay bar and they raise a 30-foot orange up to 400 feet and then drop it in Miami.

 

ARKANSAS

They actually drop a hog in Fayetteville. SPLAT! No, I'm sure they take safety measures, PETA would be all over them otherwise.

 

ALABAMA

Get this, in Mobile they dropa 600 pound electric Moon Pie from the 33-story RSA Tower and in Wetumpka (my sympathies to all the residents that live there) they drop a meteorite in honor of a past meteor strike.

 

VIRGINIA

In Richmond, they raise an  exact replica of the Times Square ball instead of dropping it and in Fredericksburg they drop a lighted pear

 

SOUTH CAROLINA

In Hilton Head an over-sized lighted golf ball is dropped from the Harbour Town Lighthouse

 

PENNSYLVANIA

Possibly the state most into the celebration of the new year, there are 46 towns that get into the festivities by dropping things like a Liberty Bell replica, a purple and gold shoe, a beaver, a wooden cow, an Indy Car, a cannonball, a pair of pickles, a sled, a 10-foot Crayola crayon, a giant M&M, a stuffed goat, a frog, a wild cat, a Hemlock tree, a strawberry, a Hershey Kiss (guess what town that one happens in!), a lollipop, a french fry, a 100-pound stick of Lebanon bologna, a bag of potato chips, a canal boat, a pair of yellow pants, a kettle, a wrench ("if you can dodge a wrench..."), a metal Rhombicuboctahedron, a box huckleberry, an antique truck, a big spring, a giant shoe, a Sprint Car, an anchor, ping pong balls, a chunk of coal, and a white rose. They also raise the likes of a pretzel, a red rose, a Moravian star, a bottle of Yuengling, and a wooden cigar.

 

OHIO

In Elmore they drop a sausage, in Marion they drop a ball of popcorn, in Port Clinton they drop a walleye fish by the name of "Captain Wylie Walleye" and a flying pig is flown somehow in Cincinnati.

 

NORTH CAROLINA

In this state they drop things like a large red heart, a plexiglass pyramid with a living possum inside ((What?!?) (<~~~ Well they did this up until this year because PETA did get ahold of them)), a 3-foot tall 30-pound wooden flea, a 900 pound copper and steel acron, and a hockey puck.

 

NEW YORK (Wayyy down the list, sorry!)

In the Empire State we drop a TON of balls including the biggie in Times Square of course, but we also drop a giant lighted ukelele, a ten-foot Gibson guitar is dropped from 120 feet high, and of course in Syracuse an orange ball is dropped!

 

NEW JERSEY

A mossbunker fish is dropped in Point Pleasant and in Seaside Heights they dropped Snooki last year! (Should've left her down there)

 

MICHIGAN

A 6-foot solid steel ball is dropped in Grand Rapids, and an assortment of other balls in other towns are dropped.

 

MARYLAND

They drop a disco ball in Baltimore, a red crab in Easton, an 8-foot long 5-foot high plastic and wood foam lit duck in Havre de Grace, an illuminated beach ball in Ocean City and a stuffed muskrat in a top hat and bow tie in Princes Anne (again with the question marks).

 

MAINE

In Bangor they throw a beach ball covered in Christmas lights from the top of a restaurant, and they drop a sardine in Eastport.

 

INDIANA

They drop an aluminum 70-pound ball with over 34,000 lights on it in Kokomo, and in Vincennes they raise a giant 18-foot 500-pound steel and foam Watermelon ball up 100 feet which then drops 11 real locally grown ones once it reaches the top (bombs away!)

 

GEORGIA

In Atlanta they drop a peach, in Cornelia they drop the little red apple, in Gainesville it's Chuck the Chicken, in Macon they drop a 6-foot diameter cherry-blossom ball, inTallapoosa they do the possum thing too but only on odd years (shhh, don't tell PETA!), and in Winder they drop a jug.

 

There you have it folks, one thing I know for sure... Too much alcohol consumption and we all will be what's dropping on NYE!! Start off 2013 with a hangover the size of one of those states listed, probably Texas! Have fun at your celebrations and I'll look for you on the news the next day...

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