The 10 Weirdest Things Cities Drop on New Year's Eve

Gift-giving is the traditional way Americans celebrate Christmas, but what's the best way to celebrate New Year's Eve? Hundreds of years after humanity first began marking the passage of time with the Gregorian calendar, the best idea we've had so far is dropping stuff.

But what to drop? The most iconic tradition of all is the great illuminated ball drop in New York City's Times Square, which began in 1907. This was inspired by an even earlier tradition that began in 1833 at England's Royal Observatory at Greenwich, which would drop a "time-ball" at 1 p.m. every day so nearby ships could coordinate their clocks.

Other cities have now taken up Manhattan's tradition of dropping a large object at midnight after a countdown, but they put their own regional spin on the festivities. With so many celebrations around the country, local organizers have had to get creative to stay unique, leading to some truly bizarre object choices. Here are some of our favorites:

#1. Pickle

Mount Olive, North Carolina

Fittingly, the New Year's Eve pickle drop in Mount Olive is held at the corner of Cucumber and Vine streets. It's hosted by Mt. Olive Pickles, a modest local pickle-producing company. Incidentally, Dillsburg, Pennsylvania, also drops a pickle on New Year's Eve.

#2. Acorn

Raleigh, North Carolina

Raleigh's First Night celebrations are presented by Artsplosure and feature an acorn drop at the night's end. Attendees also have nearly 100 musical performances to enjoy throughout the day.

#3. Crab

Easton, Maryland

Easton's choice to drop a crab to celebrate New Year's Eve is certainly an odd one. What's even weirder is that this is what they seem to think crabs look like:

#4. Wrench

Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania

When you're from a city called Mechanicsburg, what choice do you have? Only one: You drop a wrench.

#5. Bushel of grapes

Temecula, California

In some ways, dropping a simulacrum of a bushel of grapes is the least odd of these traditions. Grapes are used to make wine, and wine is frequently paired with celebration. It's a rather natural choice to make in California's wine country.

On the other hand, it's still just pretty weird and goofy to behold:

#6. Chili pepper

La Cruces, New Mexico

La Cruces is new to the party — it only began dropping a giant, 19-foot-long chili pepper in 2014. But it is a fine and entertaining contribution to the genre nonetheless.

#7. Mushroom

Kennett Square, Pennsylvania

Kennett Square may take the cake in terms of artful construction of a New Year's Eve dropped object. Yes, it's a giant mushroom, but its design is actually rather eye-catching.

#8. Indy car

Indianapolis, Indiana

While most municipalities have decided to create giant replicas of iconic objects to drop at the end of December, Indianapolis doesn't think that way. Instead, it chose a symbol that is already quite large — an Indy racing car — then strings it up and drops it down.

#9. Beach ball

Panama City Beach, Florida

If you want to head home early, Panama City Beach provides an early climax to the night by dropping 10,000 inflatable beach balls on partygoers around 8 p.m. But those who stay out until midnight will get to watch the giant 800-pound beach ball drop as the year really comes to close. Would we have it any other way in the Sunshine State?

#10. Guitar

Memphis, Tennessee

Memphis is widely associated with many music genres, including soul, blues and rock n' roll, so it's no surprise the city chooses to use a guitar to signal year's end. Up the road in Nashville, they also drop a guitar, though in 2011 it was replaced by a large musical note.

First Photo: Lance Murphey/AP