Albuquerque eyes big New Year’s celebration
By Chris McKee
KRQE
ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) – From Atlanta, Georgia to Elmore, Ohio, cities both large and small throw big parties to ring in the New Year nearly every year. Las Cruces is now joining the mix as well, so why doesn’t Albuquerque throw a big party for New Year’s Eve? KRQE News 13 went to the city to find out and learned something may be in the works shortly.
New Year’s events in the U.S. range from the iconic to the strange. In New York City, it’s the crystal ball drop. In Atlanta, it’s the Peach Drop. Over in Raleigh, North Carolina, it’s the Acorn Drop.
The list of cities that drop things on New Year’s is long, but New Mexico has been missing from it for years. That is, until now.
Las Cruces will host the so-called Chile Drop this New Year’s. The plan is to drop a 15- to 16-foot metallic chile lit with Christmas lights from a crane in the city’s downtown in order to ring in 2015.
“At midnight we do have that 30-second countdown to an exploding color of red or green which is essentially the voting in the community,” said Russ Smith, chairman of the Las Cruces Main Street program and the Chile Drop planning committee.
Smith says the event is brand new for Las Cruces and spawned out of a push to drive more people toward downtown events.