DAVID DUST: Dropping Stuff On New Year's Eve

Everyone knows about the big ball drop in Times Square on New Year's Eve (above). But you might not know about all the crap they "drop" on New Year's Eve in the land of my birth ... South Central Pennsylvania.

Most of these PA droppings began after I moved to New York City. In fact, I can only remember the Strawberry Drop in Harrisburg - an event I always missed because I wasn't about to leave the warmth of "Stallions" (the local gay club) and go outside to watch a piece of fruit going down at midnight. I waited until later for that...

Now every local town seems to drop something to ring in the New Year. What cracks me up is that for the most part whatever is being dropped is simply hoisted up on a crane and lowered at midnight while people watch. We are all about 'no-frills' in Pennsyltucky!

Some of these drops make sense. The strawberry in Harrisburg was dropped from "Strawberry Square", a downtown mall. York, PA drops a White Rose, because it's known as "The White Rose City". And Heshey drops a big Hershey Kiss, for obvious reasons...

Some of the dropped items are less obvious. My hometown of Carlisle boasts a "Mini Indy Car Drop". I'm assuming this is due to the fact that Carlisle hosts huge annual automobile shows, and because you "Can't have Carlisle without the 'Car'". And, from what I've read, they drop a mini-Indy car because the local YMCA wasn't using it anymore...

The neighboring town of Mechanicsburg drops a wrench...

Shippensburg drops an anchor...

Red Lion drops a cigar (an homage to Red Lion's connection to the Tobacco industry). And Elizabethtown drops an M&M because of the M&M/Mars plant in town. Dillsburg drops a big pickle dressed in formalwear ...

But my favorite is the town of Lebanon. If you grow up in South Central PA, you know Lebanon as the town where "Lebanon Bologna" (pronounced "LEB-nun Ba-LO-nie") comes from. So Lebanon drops a big, long, edible, delicious bologna on New Year's Eve.