things to see and do in Texas

How Big is Texas Ball Drop – Goodbye 2020! Hello 2021!

Posted by diannbayes on

What a year 2020 brought us. While we know January 1, 2021, will not make everything brought on during this year disappear, we thought we’d do a little something from our home to kick out 2020 and kick off 2021. So I share with you, my readers, the misadventures of our own personal How Big is Texas Ball Drop!

Ready with streamers, noise makers, a blinged-out 2021 sign, and the epic How Big is Texas Ball.

I came up with the ball drop idea a couple of weeks ago when I was walking through the lights at the Chicken Farm Art Center in San Angelo. Several sparkle balls were hanging at the entrance of the center and they brought an immediate smile to my face. I pondered over it for a few days and then thought, why not create a ball like the one at Time Square in New York City? So create it, I did.

Facts about the How Big is Texas Ball (aka HBITB)

  • A geodesic sphere like the one in the Big Apple, HBITB is 14 inches in diameter, while the NYC version is 12 feet in diameter. As Shrek said in the film of the same name, I think they’re compensating for something.
  • HBITB is a manageable 1.14 pounds, not a gargantuan 11,875.
  • 50 9 oz. Solo Cups in the clear variety make up the HBITB sphere. Toby Keith might have gone with red. No matter the color, it’s still time to party.
  • 100 Holiday Time LED Micro Battery-Operated Lights provide the power for this magical ball of luminescence. Why battery-operated instead of electric? We had an ice and snow storm today and a power outage could have been imminent.
  • More staples than I care to count keep the HBITB together. Here’s hoping it last more than one drop.
  • And the pièce de résistance for my French readers or the showpiece for everyone else are the 2,866 adhesive gemstones, painstakingly applied to the cups by yours truly. (By the way, the second largest country reading this blog is France, all 33 of them, after the United States).

Sharing an inside view of just one of the 50 blinged-out cups.

DID YOU KNOW?

The Time Square New Year’s Eve Ball and the HBITB both have the same number of bling. New York’s version is made up of 2,866 Swarovski Crystals and mine, as you read above, has 2,866 adhesive gemstones. Coincidence? I think not.
Hint: If you squint when you’re looking at the HBITB and the Time Square Ball, they’re practically identical.

Early this morning, we woke to the sounds of sleet falling on the roof and against the windows, as the wind began to howl. It fell all morning and then the temperatures dropped and snow started to fall. Our area desperately needs the moisture so you’ll hear no complaint from me.

Ice, ice, baby…and snow.
Dan created a pulley system a few weeks ago to help raise and lower the HBITB on the flag poll.

As I write this, I feel I need to be transparent with you. I don’t remember the last time I stayed up past 12am on New Year’s Eve. At best, my husband Dan and I might last until midnight east coast time and see the Time Square countdown.

After much planning including hours of adhesive gemstone sticking, adding a pulley system to an existing flagpole, and stapling plastic cups, we went out for a practice run. Unfortunately, after all day rains, a freeze, and snowfall, we found the pulley had attached itself to the poll like mistletoe to mesquite. It took a pocket knife to disconnect rope from the ice.

Dan thought it was just a practice run but since the temperature was 30 degrees F and the windchill was a whopping 18 degrees F, snow was still falling and there was a chance the pulley would stick to the poll again in a few hours, I thought it best we just go with the practice run. We had no streamers, no horns, no fanfare. We settled for a somewhat lackluster 2020, much like we’ve seen most of the year, except when I took my perimeter tour of the great state of Texas earlier in 2020.

So without further ado, I bring you the not-so-epic video of our 1st Annual How Big is Texas Ball Drop that we did at 8:05pm central standard time.

Here’s the HBITB after the ball drop. Notice the snow that accumulated inside the cups. So it wasn’t quite as epic as we originally planned, but that’s kind of the definition of 2020.

On another note, the good thing about the HBITB is you can take it anywhere so depending where we are for New Year’s Eve for years to come, we can take the ball with us. While the Time Square Ball is significantly larger, the HBITB was made by hand with a big heart, big smiles, and big love for the great state of Texas.

Wishing you, your family, and your friends a Happy, Safe, Prosperous, and Healthy New Year! Hope to see you around Texas in 2021!

P.S. And just like that, NBC News picked up our How Big Is Texas Ball Drop. See the link here. Here’s to a much improved 2021!

Until next time from Texas … safe travels!

Published by diannbayes

I’ve worked in the travel industry for more than 25 years and I’ve been known to wander all my life. I’ve lived in more than 20 cities and towns and had the opportunity to experience a variety of people and places, introducing me to different cultures and allowing me to make friends along the way. I also majored in English in college. I don’t claim to be an excellent writer, proofreader, or grammar queen. I’m an amateur photographer and enjoy sharing the beauty of places I visit and and where I live.

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