Brooklyn Gets Its First New Year's Eve Ball Lighting

BROOKLYN, NY — Brooklyn does things it's own way — even when it comes to the New Year's Eve ball drop.

This year, the borough will get it's first New Year's ball lighting ceremony with a twist on the Times Square Tradition: it will rise, not drop.

The LED ball, set up at Atlantic Terminal, will be on display starting this Thursday so that Brooklynites are able to visit it before the holiday while maintaining social distancing. The kick-off event will include a lighting ceremony and a series of neighborhood shout-outs via the structure's LED panels.

"The mission of the NYE Brooklyn Ball (NYEBB) is to promote arts, culture, and diversity while also showcasing the significance of raising the ball rather than lowering it and serving as a pillar for global unity," organizers said in a release. "It is also a remembrance of the lives lost to the COVID-19 pandemic, a thank you to the first responders, and a show of support for the Black Lives Matter Movement."

The New Year's Eve ball is the brainchild of Brooklyn entrepreneur James "Jay" Hill, who first announced in June that the idea would come to fruition to ring in 2021. Hill has been working on the idea for almost 10 years, according to the release.

Thursday's kick off event, held from 4 to 5:30 p.m., will include several speakers and refreshments from Starbucks and Buffalo Wild Wings. After the lighting at 5 p.m., the ball will be on display through Dec. 27 as a "photo opportunity."

Among those visitors will be influencers who can complete a Tik-Tok challenge that Brooklyn Rising, the organizers of the event, will debut on Christmas Eve.

Over the first weekend, the ball will also feature murals from Brooklyn artists, who can create artwork on the walls and platform where it sits.

After the photo-ops the ball will "rise" on New Year's Eve through a virtual event.