This year’s Times Square New Year’s Eve Celebration will be held on Dec. 31, 2021, amid COVID-19 restrictions.
The event marks 115 years of the ball lowering, a now universal symbol of welcoming the New Year. An annual tradition since Dec. 31, 1907, the event was curtailed last year, with only so-called essential workers and their families allowed to attend. This year’s event has been scaled back to about 15,000 people, about a quarter of the original plan, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said.