As the country prepares to celebrate the 250th anniversary of America, Times Square will kick off the party in just a few days.
The Times Square ball will drop and confetti will rain down as normal to ring in 2026, but minutes later, the colors of the ball will change to red, white and blue with a second patriotic confetti launch to kick off the semiquincentennial of the U.S. With the second celebration comes the video “America Turns 250″ and a pyrotechnic show.
Information about the celebration was shared by America 250, One Times Square and Times Square Alliance.
Dec. 31 won’t be the only time the ball will be used for the birthday of America.
The ball will be rolled out again for a second celebration later in 2026 for a ball drop on the eve of the nation’s birthday on July 3, to ring in July 4, the organization said in a news release.
It will be “in the same beautiful style that Times Square knows how to do it,” America 250 Chair Rosie Rios said, according to The Associated Press.
The July 3 event will be the first time in more than a century that there will be a ball drop for something other than the new year.
The ball was dropped for the first time in Times Square in 1907 when a metalworker named Jacob Starr created the 700-pound ball out of iron and wood, the AP reported. It had 100 light bulbs to help spotlight the celebration. The newest ball was unveiled in 2024, called the Constellation Ball. It is the largest Times Square ball and is 12 and a half feet in diameter, more than double the original, which was only five feet in diameter. It also weighs 12,350 pounds. The Constellation Ball lives up to its name with 5,280 crystals lit with LED light pucks, according to TimeSquareNYC.org.
The circular crystals on the Constellation Ball are different from their 1999 predecessors, which were triangle-shaped. They were made by Waterford Crystals.
The ball is also built with technology in mind, with “state-of-the-art lighting, motion, and control system.” It has a system that “creates reactive and generative designs based on music or other audio input,” TimeSquareNYC.org said.
© 2025 Cox Media Group
