Drop-ping in on New Year's Eve

It's been estimated that thousands, perhaps even millions of people gather in Times Square and in front of their TV screens each New Year's Eve to watch the iconic ball drop. This tradition was started in 1907 by New York Times owner Adolph Ochs to spotlight the newspaper's new headquarters. It's been celebrated each year since.

New York, however, is not the only city to host such an event. Other U.S. cities also ring in the New Year with some kind of drop.

One of the, if not the latest city to get in on this act is St. Paul, Minn. The Midway Saloon there, owned by David Tolchiner, adopted a giant fishing bobber to drop at midnight last year for the first time. This bobber stands 6 feet tall and measures 16 feet around. Said the owner, "We just wanted to find something that represented Minnesota best."

Meanwhile, Wylie Walleye, a 20-foot-long, 600-pound fiberglass walleye is being polished up and readied for its big New Year's Eve drop in Port Clinton, Ohio. This event, also known as Walleye Madness at Midnight, has been held annually since the late '90s, even in 2020 as a livestreamed virtual event. As in past years, thousands are expected to fill downtown Port Clinton for the evening.

And the Hard Rock Cafe on Beale Street in Memphis, Tenn., rings in the New Year with its annual guitar drop. The 10-foot Gibson guitar is dropped more than 100 feet as part of a televised event, which incudes live music performances for a crowd of more than 50,000 revelers.

Not to be outdone are these random other cities:
     * Prescott, AZ with a cowboy boot drop
     * Raleigh, NC with a giant acorn drop
     * Mobile, AL with an electric moon pie drop
     * Atlanta, GA with a peach drop
     * Yarmouth, ME with a clam drop
     * Boise, ID with a giant potato drop
     * Bethlehem, PA with a giant peep drop
     * Eastover, NC with an oversized flea drop
     * Prairie du Chien, WI with a real (dead) carp drop
     * Bartlesville, OK with an olive drop
     * Panama City Beach, FL with a beach ball drop
     * Eastport, ME with a sardine drop
     * Mechanicsburg, PA with a wrench drop
     * Havre de Grace, MD with a duck decoy drop
     * Flagstaff, AZ with a pinecone drop
     * Manhattan, KS with an apple drop
     * Plymouth, WI with a chunk of cheese drop
     * Key West, FL with a drag queen in a red high heel drop
     * Lebanon, PA with 200 pounds of bologna drop
     * Princess Anne, MD with a Marshall the muskrat drop
     * Mt. Olive, NC with a pickle drop
     * Frederick, MD with a key drop
     * Temecula, CA with a bunch of grapes drop
     * Nashville, TN with a music note drop
     * Miami, FL with an orange wearing sunglasses drop
     * Vincennes, IN with a giant watermelon drop
     * Akron, PA with a shoe drop