Stock up on noisemakers and confetti, put the kids in their pajamas, and ring in 2013 with revelers in Times Square without making a trip to New York City. The official Times Square website has posted the schedule for tonight’s festivities, which will be streamed live beginning at 6 p.m. on Dec. 31. A Live webcast will bring the event into homes around the world.
Opening ceremonies begin at 6:03 p.m. with the lighting and rising of the New Year’s Eve ball and a Panda Dance presented by the Sino-American Friendship Association to bring good luck with the new year.
Live performances by Taylor Swift, PSY, Carly Rae Jepsen, Cassadee Pope, and a special rendition of John Lennon’s Imagine, performed by Train, will lead up to the midnight ball drop. Carsen Daly, Megyn Kelly and Anderson Cooper, among others, will lead hourly countdowns, with New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg counting down the final 60-seconds of 2012.
New Yorkers have been celebrating New Year’s in Times Square since 1904 when the first New Year’s party was held to commemorate the opening of the New York Times headquarters in the square that was named for the newspaper. Alfred Ochs, New York Times owner, sponsored the daylong New Year’s Eve party that culminated in fireworks set off from the base of the building’s tower. The event drew a crowd of over 200,000 and Times Square became the place to be on New Year’s Eve.
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