By now, writing and referencing the year 2015 is likely beginning to become a bit more routine.
The tradition of welcoming the New Year is recorded all throughout history.
Before Julius Caesar replaced the Gregorian calendar with his own Julian calendar in 46 BC, the New Year was celebrated on the first day of spring, the vernal equinox. But the January 1st celebration has stuck, despite the abandonment of honoring Janus, the Roman god of beginnings and passages.
Robin SmithAround the United States, various traditions were celebrated last Wednesday at midnight. A few of those traditions are traced directly back to Chattanooga.
In our own city, the “drop” of the Coca-Cola bottle marked a first honoring our city’s designation as home to bottled Coca-Cola. Down in Mobile, Ala., a 600-pound Moon Pie was dropped as part of the Moon Pie over Mobile festival that resembles a Mardi Gras parade with the Chattanooga-made pies as the “throw.”
The iconic feature, however, of New Year’s celebrations comes from the famous ball drop in New York City that first occurred in the early 1900s and was inspired by a businessman who greatly influenced Chattanooga.
The New York Times, the daily newspaper known for its motto, “All the news that’s fit to print,” had moved to a new building in Longacre Square at 1475 Broadway in 1904. The paper’s owner lobbied to have the area renamed “Times Square,” which we all recognize today.
It is 1 Times Square that serves as the focal point for the ball drop as the last seconds of each year fade and the light of the new year shines, with up to 1 million people estimated in last week’s gathering.
In 1904, the newspaper’s new office location was celebrated by fireworks being set off by its owner, who had acquired the newspaper in 1896. This fireworks celebration just before midnight on New Year’s Eve is recorded as the first New Year’s Eve celebration in the United States that was repeated until New York City banned fireworks in 1907.
This forced the paper’s owner to hire a sign maker to design a lighted ball to be lowered. The time-tested tradition remains after its humble beginnings.
Appreciate that the owner of The New York Times who worked for the naming of Times Square and launching an annual celebration of New Year’s with the universally known crystal ball drop was none other than the same man who bought shared ownership and eventual full ownership of The Chattanooga Times, Adolph Ochs.
Chattanooga continues to be the beneficiary of the work of Och’s granddaughter, Ruth Holmberg.
The 2015 Times Square ball — dropped along a 141-foot descent (covered in 60 seconds) — weighed in at 11,875 pounds and was 12 feet in diameter. The ball was covered with 2,688 Waterford crystal triangles and 32,256 LED lights. What a change from the first version — at 700 pounds and 5 feet in diameter with 100 incandescent light bulbs burning 25 watts of electricity each.
The New Year is here, with hats off to the inspiration of Adolph Ochs that has stood the test of time and grown with the times.
The things we do now serve as the building blocks of our future. Build a great year.
Robin Smith, immediate past Tennessee Republican Party chairwoman, is owner of Rivers Edge Alliance.