BUFFALO, N.Y. — Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown says the city's 33rd annual New Year's Eve ball drop will be held "virtually" this year due to COVID-19 concerns, and encouraged residents to watch the event on television instead of going downtown as has been the custom for more than three decades.
The event usually features thousands of people crowded outside the Electric Tower to watch the ball drop and ring in the New Year, but like many other things in 2020, things will be different this year.
The ball will still drop, the fireworks will go off, but this year there will be no crowds allowed.
However, the mayor said that doesn't mean Buffalo will not celebrate.
"In a year of cancellations, there is one party that can't be postponed," said Mayor Brown, while also announcing performances by the Goo Goo Dolls and the Buffalo Philharmonic Choir as part of the virtual celebration.
"It's gonna be a little bit different, but it will be a wonderful event," said Michael T. Schmand, the executive director of Buffalo Place, an organization which plans, manages, and executes public events along Main Street in the city's central business corridor.
No crowds allowed
According to Buffalo Police, anyone who might venture downtown on New Years Eve will be discouraged by officers patrolling an area several blocks around the Electric Building from gathering.
We're told streets will be closed in an even bigger radius than normal, to the point where revelers might be able to see the fireworks but won't be allowed close enough to be able to witness the ball drop itself.
In that fashion, it'll work sort of like it has, when the Buffalo Bills played home games this season in Orchard Park, and where sheriff's deputies were stationed in a manner to keep people well away from the stadium.
Why bother?
If ever there was a year which people might want to enthusiastically celebrate the end of (while ushering in another), it would be 2020.
And while organizers briefly considered scuttling the event entirely, they decided this was one show which - in even a limited form - must go on.
"The participants all agreed that the ball drop was an important tradition, one that, even more so this year we needed to carry forward with," said Paul B. Iskalo, whose company Iskalo Development owns and operates the Electric Tower where the ball drop is held.
"This is because the new year represents and brings with it hope and anticipation of better things to come," Iskalo said.
Buffalo is not alone
Holding New Year's celebrations virtually is certainly not uncommon this year. One of the biggest celebrations in the world, the ball drop in Times Square in New York City, is also going virtual.
