Wed, December 31, 2008
The countdown to 2009 is on.
Preparations are underway for the annual New Year's Eve Celebration in New York City's Times Square.
Organizers released video -- showing workers hoisting the giant 2009 sign to the top of the One Times Square Building and others making the huge crystal ball that will be dropped on New Year's Eve.
The ball is covered in more than 2500 pieces of Waterford Crystal and is powered by more than 32 thousand LED lights.
Some organizers went to work testing the confetti. They threw out handfulls of the colored paper - to make sure the paper would float in the air before dropping to the ground. About 3 thousand pounds of confetti will be released Wednesday night.
More than a million people are expected to gather in Times Square for the celebration -- but if you can't make it to New York this New Year's Eve - organizers say this crystal ball will bremain on display all year long.
Sarah Irwin, Reuters.
