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Ball drop from City Hall Annex to top off First Night celebration
Gallery
By Elise Franco
YOUNGSTOWN — Times Square isn’t the only place to watch a ball drop on New Year’s Eve.
Five city workers climbed to the top of City Hall Annex on Front Street Tuesday afternoon to piece together Youngstown’s very own “First Night Ball.”
Street department supervisor Mickey Koziorynsky said that since 2000, on the day before New Year’s Eve, the crew assembles the iron ball, which is 5 feet in diameter, strings it with lights and hoists it up onto a pole.
“Al [Nagy] and I designed the pole and the rigging to drop it down from,” he said. “The kids at Choffin Career and Technical Center built [the ball] for us.”
Until the current ball was built in 2003, Koziorynsky said they used nothing more than a disco ball and strung-up Christmas lights.
Since then, he said getting everything ready has become much more than he and Nagy, who is retired from the street department, could handle.
“As the ball got bigger, we needed more people to help so we recruited these guys,” Koziorynsky said about three other street department workers, J.R. Pierce, John Miller and Ron Christoff.
Koziorynsky said that after the ball is in place, they wait until it gets dark, then light it and drop it to make sure everything will run smoothly on the big day.
Since the first year, he said the crew has only run into one major glitch.
“One year we had a bunch of broken bulbs because of the wind,” Koziorynsky said. “We were up there trying to fix it, and at 10 to 12 we got everything working, but we almost didn’t have it.”
He said the crew begins its work on New Year’s Eve just before 11 p.m.
“We come up and run the ball up the pole and leave it lit for that hour before it drops,” Koziorynsky said.
Next year Nagy said they’ll be working from their third location since the tradition began. “They’re moving it to the Chevy Centre,” he said.
Nagy said the first ball dropping was from on top of the annex. In 2001 and 2002, they switched locations to Home Savings and Loan on West Federal Street, and in 2003 they moved back to the annex.
“The fireworks are right behind the Chevy Centre,” Koziorynsky said. “And I think the city’s trying to utilize the building more.”
All the men said they have fun ringing in the new year on the roof of the annex.
“I just know these guys,” Nagy said. “We’re all friends. We have a good time.”
The ball drop at midnight and fireworks immediately afterward are the conclusion to First Night Youngstown, which is an evening about spending time with members of the community and family in an alcohol-free environment.
Bob Barko, president of First Night Youngstown, said 2,000 buttons were distributed at Henry Nemenz IGA stores in the area.
“Last year we saw around 4,000 people,” he said. “I’d love to see us top out at 5,000 or so this year.”
efranco@vindy.com