The Town Crier: New Year’s elsewhere

Published 12:04 am Sunday, December 30, 2018

For the vast majority of my life, New Year’s Eve has been spent welcoming in the new year right here in Dalton. The fact that the new year comes in the middle of winter means the weather is usually cold and frequently yucky. And the days are still very short with the cold, dark winter night making the countdown to the ball drop seem to take even longer.

My personal experience has been that a New Year’s Eve here has rarely lived up to the festive hype of how it’s portrayed in the media. Even the New York drop on TV goes from performer to performer with only quick cutaways of the people who’ve been freezing in the Times Square mob for hours. I hope they have port-o-potties down there. And heated ones at that.

What did I know?

When I was a little kid New Year’s Eve was so faint compared to Christmas Eve that it almost went unnoticed. I was still playing with my new toys that Santa had brought while the grownups were getting ready for something. But when you’re a kid, grownups are always getting ready for something and it’s rarely explained to you.

Bedtime was the same as any other night. Maybe I would wake up in the night and hear some laughing and music from the 45s spinning on the old turntable but I wouldn’t think anything about it and go back to sleep. The next day we would go to my grandparents for lunch and we’d have black-eyed peas and greens, but then we did that most every Sunday. What did I know?

As momentous as a birthday

Then there came a time when I was old enough to understand that the year was changing over. I still couldn’t stay up until midnight but my parents would wake me up to watch the ball drop on TV. I spent maybe 30 minutes up right around midnight to watch the cheers. It bugged me that the adults weren’t paying that much attention to what was going on until right at the changeover. Didn’t they realize that this was as momentous as a birthday? When you’re a kid there are few things as big-deal as a birthday.

In an instant the old year would be gone and the new year was magically here. The year that had taken up a whole eighth of your life (if you were 8) was nixed, and the year you would turn 9 was finally here. Well, one thing’s for sure, when I look back on those days I realize how fast New Year’s Eves come now.

Midnight madness

About the time I was old enough to have buddies over for overnight adventures I was considered old enough to stay up to see the new year in. Those first few years of midnight madness I was trying to emulate all the fun and excitement I saw portrayed on TV. Have you ever been outside playing football or some other game in the yard and the dog is running around just as excited because something was going on even though the dog doesn’t really understand it all? Well, on New Year’s I was like that dog, running around, jumping up and down and cheering but not really getting the whole picture.

Then, finally, I was old enough in high school to have my own party on New Year’s. My friends were old enough to drive and stay out, at least on this night, past midnight. We generated our own fun but because of the weather it was always an indoor party. And that’s here in Georgia. I’ve never experienced New Year’s up North so I can’t imagine how that must be. Sure, they do have warmer jackets there than they sell down here, but I’m not convinced that when they announce it’s 14 degrees up there that the smiles on the faces only come to life when the cameras are actually on them. The TV hosts seem warm but they’re rich enough to afford electric underwear. Perhaps those crowds appear to be having the best time in the world because that’s what they’re supposed to be doing.

With the cold, rain and short days here the big party has to fit in my living room. But I have had the opportunity to spend a few New Year’s Eves elsewhere and they have been nice adventures, very different from what I’m used to at home.

A good laugh

I’ve never been to New York to watch the big Times Square ball drop with all the flashing lights and sparkling reflections but I did go to Atlanta once to watch the Big Peach drop. One year we got a whole group of friends together, probably close to 20 of us, and we made reservations at a Japanese steakhouse that was within walking distance of the Big Peach. They drop it each year right downtown next to Underground Atlanta. It’s a pretty big peach but I’m not sure what it’s made out of. At the Japanese restaurant they cooked the food in front of us on the table-top grill. If you’ve never been to one of these places, and we have them here, the show is even better than the food. The cook flings shrimp around in the air, tosses eggs and makes flaming volcanos of rice.

After dinner we walked to the Peach and tried to elbow our way closer to the front. The crowd wasn’t huge but it was packed tightly together. It was a cold night so we were jammed together for warmth. There was a clock showing the time and as the last minute of the year ticked away we joined our voices together to count down to the new year. The peach started its descent on the last 10 seconds and as it hit we all cheered. They played “Auld Lang Syne” on the loudspeaker and then the crowd broke up, walking down the street to find parked cars. We got a good laugh from the peach but the wait in traffic to get out of the parking deck used up the first few hours of that new year.

A hitch in the giddy-up

Several years back, my wife and I were in Los Angeles while I was working on a job there that took several months. We spent a Christmas and New Year’s out there. For New Year’s we decided to go to Disneyland. If you’ve never been it’s got several things that are different from Disney World in Florida. There are extra rides, and some of the ones they have duplicates of are different. We thought it would be a fun way to see in the new year. As midnight approached, we took up our position on Main Street facing the Sleeping Beauty castle to watch the fireworks that would go off behind it. But there was a hitch in the giddy-up.

I’m sure you’ve seen on the news where those strong winds out in California fan those wildfires. Those winds are called Santa Ana winds and although there were thankfully no wildfires, these gusty winds were blowing through the area. They were so strong it looked like Disneyland wouldn’t be able to shoot off the fireworks. The crowd was packed and I think this must be similar to the Times Square crowd. We stood next to Canadians, which I think you might also do up in New York. The time was projected on the castle and as the final seconds arrived, you had an amusement park full of people counting down the big changeover. It wasn’t freezing cold, just jacket weather, so we were comfortable while experiencing a big, happy crowd. And sure enough, the fireworks went off as scheduled although the wind blew them off to the side of the castle.

The party lasts all night

The place I would spend every New Year’s if I could is Brazil. My wife has family there and so we’ve been there three times over the years. The first thing to know is that it’s summer down there that time of year, so it’s good and warm, and how great is it to spend New Year’s Day in a swimming pool or swimming in the ocean?

Their party starts at 11:30 at night with the countdown, and then after cheering in the new year with music and fireworks, they sit down to a big feast. After about an hour or two of eating, the dancing starts. The band plays till at least 6 in the morning! The weather is good, the people are happy and friendly, and the party lasts all night. Now that’s the way to see in the new year: warm, full and having fun.

This year I’ll be here for New Year’s instead of Brazil but I think I’ll turn the heat up, crank up the radio and put on my swimsuit and soak in the tub. I’ll let those New Yorkers stand in the cold and at the end of the night we’ll all still get the same new year.

Mark Hannah, a Dalton native, works in video and film production.