New York City has the ball that drops in Times Square. The small Scottish town of Stonehaven, in Aberdeenshire, has fireballs that villagers swing around their heads. And in Japan, the night-watch bell rings 108 times, which is said to rid any leftover bad luck so the new year can start fresh.
Sure, those traditions to bring in the new year are quaint, but we have a big soft spot for Flagstaff's tradition: The annual dropping of a giant pine cone from the top of the Hotel Weatherford.
It first came about as a way to greet the millennium, said Pamela Green, who owns the Weatherford with her husband, Henry Taylor.
"We were looking for something to do to celebrate it," Green said from her office at the hotel in downtown Flagstaff. "People do odd things all over to celebrate the new year, and we live in the biggest ponderosa pine forest in the world."
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An engineer studied the concept, gave a thumbs up, and the drop was on.
That first one, on Dec. 31, 1999, was a 55-gallon can that Green found in the hotel basement, covered with pine cones and spray painted. The can was weighted down with sand and a rope and two men on the roof was the sophisticated drop method.
At midnight it hit the ground and a tradition was born, though the pine cone has improved over the years.
Now she uses a "professionally made" pine cone. "I had welder design it out of tin. It's a cage with 250 pieces of tin that look like pine cone petals. It's about 6 feet high and 5 feet wide." The weight? About 150 pounds.
The drop is motorized now, and there's a light show that goes with the lowering of the giant cone.
As the time draws near, people crowd the streets around the hotel. You'll see children in pajamas and folks wrapped up all cozy and lounging in the lawn chairs they've set up for a good view.
Two drops are scheduled - one to mark the new year in Times Square, and the other for Flagstaff time.
IF YOU GO
• What: Giant pine cone drop to mark the new year.
• When: Block party with music starts at 8 p.m.; cone drop at 10 p.m. and midnight Dec. 31.
• Where: Outside the Hotel Weatherford, 23 N. Leroux St. in downtown Flagstaff.
• Cost: Free.
• To get there: Flagstaff is about 250 miles north of Tucson. Take Interstate 10 west through Phoenix; merge onto I-17 toward Flagstaff .
• Bundle up: Flagstaff is cold. Really cold. It might even snow. The average daily high for December is 43, with a low of 15.
Kathleen Allen
