Final crystal triangles installed on Times Square ball ahead of New Year’s Eve

The final crystal triangles that make up this year’s Times Square New Year’s Eve ball have been installed, marking the first time in 10 years that all 2,688 have been replaced at once

NEW YORK– The final crystal triangles that make up this year’s Times Square New Year’s Eve ball were installed Friday morning. This is the first time in ten years that all 2,688 have been replaced at once.

Rapper Pitbull And inventor Joy Mangano were among those who helped party organizers place the final pieces atop One Times Square, the skyscraper from which the 5,386-kilogram geodesic sphere will fall to mark the new year.

In 1907, a New Year’s Eve ball was dropped on Times Square for the first time. The ball, built by a young immigrant metalworker named Jacob Starr, was made of iron and wood. and contained 100 25-watt light bulbs. Since that first celebration, six newer versions of the ball have been seen in the past century.

The only years when there was no ball drop were 1942 and 1943, when the city instituted a nightly “dimout” during World War II to protect itself from attack. Instead, the crowd celebrated the new year with a moment of silence, followed by a chime from the base of One Times Square.