These Quirky New Year’s Eve Destinations Totally Outdo NYC’s Ball Drop

Watermelon Drop

Vincennes, Indiana

When the clock strikes midnight on New Year’s Eve in Vincennes, Indiana, an 18-foot, 500-pound, cardboard-and-foam-covered steel watermelon descends from a crane in the sky. As it nears the ground, the giant melon opens, and watermelons from Knox County, Indiana, are dropped onto a large “splatform” as fireworks erupt. Indiana is home to more than 7,000 acres of watermelons. The New Year’s Eve drop is a fun 
and festive way for our community to celebrate 
its agricultural heritage.—Loretta Day


MoonPie Drop

Mobile, Alabama

On Dec. 31, we celebrate Mardi Gras-style. Our Mardi Gras celebration is the oldest in the United States, making its debut here in 1703. The party includes a second-line parade featuring a brass band and floats. MoonPies are thrown from the floats—an old Mardi Gras tradition—to a crowd of 50,000 people, and a 600-pound electric MoonPie drops from the side of 
a building at midnight. The night concludes with the cutting of the world’s largest edible MoonPie, which weighs in at 154 pounds.—Michelle Browning 

Pickle Drop

Dillsburg, Pennsylvania

On New Year’s Eve, we drop papier-mache pickles into a barrel. At 7 p.m., or midnight in Ireland, a 16-inch-long pickle named Lil’ Dill descends from the town’s ladder fire truck. This early drop is a nod to Dillsburg’s first settler, Irish immigrant Matthew Dill. Mr. Pickle, the larger, 6-foot-tall version, lands in the barrel at midnight. Our town doesn’t have a connection to pickles, but we sure love a good play on words.—Sharon Stauffer 

If none of these towns are close by try traveling to one of these other top New Year’s Eve destinations.

The post These Quirky New Year’s Eve Destinations Totally Outdo NYC’s Ball Drop appeared first on Reader's Digest.

from Reader's Digest http://ift.tt/2AYHVO7