People have many traditions to ring in the new year, but among the most famous is the ball drop in Times Square in New York City. There has been a celebration for New Years Eve in Times Square since the early 1900s. The first New Years Eve Ball Drop took place in 1907. The original New Years Eve Ball was constructed from iron and wood and had 100 lightbulbs on it. It weighed 700 pounds. Since then, the Ball has been changed seven different times. The first remodel consisted of changing the material of the Ball to wrought iron and included a reduction of 300 pounds in weight. The next change came in 1955. They made the new Ball out of aluminum and it now weighed only 150 pounds. In the 80s, the aluminum Ball was covered with red lights and a stem was added to make it look like an apple in promotion of the “I Love New York” campaign. In the late 80s, the Ball returned to its original white lights. Then, they added strobes, computer controls, and rhinestones in 1995. The Ball was redesigned once again for the new millennium to contain the newest lightning technology and crystals. Finally, to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Ball Drop, LED lights were introduced, which added to the brightness and allowed for the Ball to change colors. The current Ball can now be seen all year round in Times Square. The Times Square Ball has been dropped every year since 1907, except for 1942 and 1943 because of WWII. As we are coming up on another Ball Drop, it will be interesting to see what changes the Ball undergoes in the future.