Pensacola, Florida

Pelican Drop

For a listing of other ball drops or raisings around the world, see List of objects dropped on New Year's Eve.

 

The Pelican Drop is a New Year's Eve celebration that take place each year in Downtown Pensacola, Florida. At the ceremony, a Pelican, Pensacola's mascot, is dropped instead of the typical New Year's ball. Since 2008, The Pelican Drop has become a significant attraction in the area, drawing in crowds of up to 50,000 local residents, making it one of the largest events of its kind in the Central Time Zone.

History

The First Pelican Drop New Year's Celebration took place in 2008. The Pensacola News Journal released an article stating that the CRA (or Pensacola Community Redevelopment Agency) was working on making a new kind of New Year's Eve celebration. The paper said that the celebration will be held at the Plaza Ferdinand VII and will also be live on WEAR-TV. Almost 45,000 people showed up for the event, including residents of Mobile, Alabama (which hosts its own competing drop, a Moon Pie), Milton, Florida, Navarre, Florida,and Destin, Florida.

The pelican was made and designed by Emmett Andrews LLC. Made of polished aluminum and decorated with over 2,000 lights, the bird has a 17-foot (5.2 m) wingspan and is 12 feet (3.7 m) high.