Which New Year's Eve celebration in New York is held at One Times Square and attracts a televised crowd for the midnight ball drop?

Times Square New Year's Eve is the New York celebration held at One Times Square for the televised midnight ball drop.

The event grew from the New York Times' 1904 celebration of its new headquarters in Times Square, then called Longacre Square. Fireworks were used for the first celebration, but a lighted ball was introduced for the 1907 New Year's Eve event because fireworks could no longer be used in the same way.

The gathering now includes musical performances, a countdown, confetti, and the descent of the illuminated ball. Millions of viewers watch remotely, while visitors in the surrounding streets wait for hours in controlled viewing areas. The ball itself has been redesigned several times as technology and materials changed.

One Times Square is the building at the center of the ceremony, but the public event spreads through much of the surrounding square. The celebration is sometimes described simply as “the ball drop”; that phrase refers specifically to the Times Square ceremony, not every New York New Year's event.