NEW YORK (WCBS 880) — The iconic New Year’s Eve ball in Times Square received its finishing touches on Monday afternoon.
Approximately 192 crystal spheres were added to the structure, which will drop in Times Square on Friday night to help ring in 2022.
The theme for the ball this year is the “Gift of Wisdom,” according to Waterford, the crystalware company that has designed the New Year’s ball for the last two decades.
Jeffrey Strauss, president of Countdown Entertainment, feels that the theme is extremely fitting.
“Wisdom, more than ever, has gotten us through this pandemic,” he told WCBS 880’s Kristie Keleshian. “I mean, the vaccines and all this amazing effort that everyone’s put together – it’s part of what gets us through life.”
Overall, the ball will feature 2,688 individual crystal triangles, each with a number of designs that will represent previous year’s themes, such as the “Gift of Good Will,” “Imagination” and “Serenity.”
“What I love is that the balls a patchwork,” Strauss said. “It's like that patchwork quilt of hopes and dreams.”
“Where you're looking at the ball, all of us have different hopes different dreams, but at the same time really, it's the same things. We all want love, we all want good health,” he added.
The Times Square New Year’s Eve ball will measure 12 feet in diameter and weigh nearly 12,000-pounds.
Each crystal triangle also varies in size, which Strauss said adds to the representation of the world.
“That ball represents all of us,” he said.
In addition to crystals, over 32,000 LED lights are added to the ball’s sparkle, and it has the ability to display more than 16 million colors.
The ball most recently got a test run when it was illuminated green and red on Christmas Day.
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