Tim Tompkins, president of Times Square Alliance, Susan Bloom, director of corporate communications, Phillips Lighting Company, and Jeffrey Straus, president of Countdown Entertainment, from left to right, react as the numbers 'one' and 'zero' are lit up by energy efficient LED light bulbs after arriving in Times Square to be installed atop Times Square for the New Year's Eve ball drop in New York Wednesday Dec. 16, 2009. (AP Photo/David Goldman)
NEW YORK (AP) — The New Year’s Eve crystal ball that drops in New York’s Times Square is getting a makeover to ring in 2010.
Celebration organizers unveiled a new design Sunday for nearly 300 Waterford crystal triangles to be installed on the giant ball. The crystals feature an interlocking ribbon pattern, woven into a Celtic knot, to illustrate the theme “Let There Be Courage.”
One of the event’s producers, Jeffrey Straus of Countdown Entertainment, says the knot’s looping design evokes the yellow ribbons that welcome soldiers home or red ribbons for AIDS awareness.
The triangles are custom-built to withstand high winds, snow, rain and temperature fluctuations in their spot 400 feet above Times Square.
The ball-drop tradition dates to 1907.
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.
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