The Peach Drop sometimes comes in for ribbing when compared with New York’s ball drop. But the big peach -- all 800 pounds of it -- has its own charms. It’s been delighting New Year’s revelers from Atlanta and the Southeast since it descended to ring in the year 1990.
The peach is 8 feet tall and 8 feet wide. It is made of foam and fiberglass. It takes about 58 seconds to descend the 138-foot tower of lights and land at the bottom at the stroke of midnight.
It was billed in 1989 as Atlanta continuing “its longstanding tradition of emulating New York.” Backers for the event at Underground Atlanta in 1989 said they hoped it would usher in a new era, replacing the bad memories of a June 1986 street festival nearby that ended in a bottle-throwing melee and a weekend of crime and violence, including one shooting death.
By New Year’s Eve 1990, a mostly well-behaved crowd estimated at 130,000 gathered to watch the drop.
Here’s 13 reasons the tradition endures.
