The ball was dropped for the first time in Times Square
on New Years Eve at midnight on January 1, 1907.

A New Year’s Eve ball has dropped in Times Square for
over 100 years, starting in 1907, with the exception of
1942 and 1943 when nightly “dimouts” occurred during
World War II to protect the city from attacks.

The crowd waiting for the New Year’s tradition to begin.

Times Square New Year’s Eve Ball displayed at One Times Square, Friday, Dec. 27, 2024, in New York.

The Kraft Heinz Foods Company, formerly the H. J. Heinz
Company and commonly known as Heinz, is a food
processing company headquartered at One PPG Place
in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The company was founded
by Henry J. Heinz in 1869.

Henry John Heinz (1844 – 1919)

The Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company, known as the Wrigley Company,
is a multinational candy and chewing gum company, based in
the Global Innovation Center  in Goose Island, Chicago, Illinois.

Although most Christians celebrate December 25 as the birthday
of Jesus Christ, few in the first two Christian centuries claimed
any knowledge of the exact day or year in which he was born.

The oldest existing record of a Christmas celebration is found in
a Roman almanac that tells of Christ’s Nativity festival led by the
church of Rome in 336 A.D.         
       

SANDY KOZEL

The crew of the Apollo 8 (from left): Frank Borman, William Anders and James Lovell Jr. (AP Photo) 

 

Borman announced that the crew had a final message for
the people of Earth as each man took turns reading the 
first 10 verses of the book of Genesis from the Bible.

The Apollo 8 mission paved the way for Apollo 11, fulfilling
President John F. Kennedy’s goal of landing a man on the
moon before the end of the decade.

Apollo 8 command module in the Museum of
Science and Industry.