With less than 100 days until the start of 2021, the organizers of the annual New Year's Eve celebration in Times Square said the event will be held virtually this year because of the coronavirus pandemic. For the first time in 114 years, revelers will not gather in Times Square to ring in the new year. Every year, about one million people brave the cold to spend hours hanging out in Times Square so they can watch the giant crystal ball drop in person.
"One thing that will never change is the ticking of time and the arrival of a New Year at midnight on December 31st," said Tim Tompkins, the president of the Times Square Alliance, in a news release. "But this year, there will be significantly new and enhanced virtual, visual, and digital offerings to complement whatever limited live entertainment or experiences – still in development — will take place in Times Square."
Officials are still working out the details of the event but said it will feature "an extremely limited group of in-person honorees, socially distanced, who will reflect the themes, challenges, and inspirations of 2020."
"More than ever in these divided and fear-filled times, the world desperately needs to come together symbolically and virtually to celebrate the people and things we love and to look forward with a sense of renewal and new beginnings," Tompkins said.
More details about the celebration are expected to be released in the coming weeks.
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