Long Island communities mark new year with ball drops (or rise)

Wearing a black party hat and “2023” glasses, Jeanne Barton smiled as the Top 40 cover band The Good Life performed on stage in Lindenhurst’s Village on Square Saturday evening.

As the crowd filtered in for the New Year’s Eve Centennial Ball Drop, Barton had another reason to celebrate: It was her 75th birthday.

She came down to the village’s inaugural New Year’s Eve celebration with her daughter, Jaime Layton.

“I said, 'Ma, everybody celebrates your birthday!' ” said Layton, who lives in Lindenhurst with her mother.

Despite a steady rain falling throughout the night, residents rang in the new year in style at events in Lindenhurst, Farmingdale and Patchogue. The family-friendly events featured a ball drop (or ball rise, in Patchogue’s case) designed to mimic the traditional Times Square party. Farmingdale and Patchogue beat the Manhattan observances by choosing to mark the start of the new year at 9 p.m. and Lindenhurst celebrated even ahead of its expected 9 p.m. schedule by dropping its ball at 8:45 p.m. followed by fireworks. 

The Lindenhurst event, hosted by the Lindenhurst Chamber of Commerce and Village of Lindenhurst, served as the kickoff to a yearlong 100th-anniversary celebration for the village. The hope is for the New Year’s event to become an annual tradition.

Nathalia Valentin of Lindenhurst brought her 9-month-old daughter Mia to the festivities. She said she had just learned about the celebration earlier that day through social media. Because her husband, an FDNY firefighter in Queens, had to work, she was looking for something to do locally with her daughter.

“I wanted to celebrate with her and I love that the ball drops at 9 o’clock,” Valentin said. “At least we’re out, we’re celebrating, it’s local and it’s in town.”

Volunteers handed out festive hats and noisemakers while members of the Lindenhurst Moose Lodge provided free cups of hot chocolate.

John Reynolds, a member of the chamber of commerce, said he was excited at the turnout when people began to fill up the area even before the scheduled 7 p.m. start time.

“As a former merchant in the village for 38 years, it’s great to just be able to give things away,” he said. He and his wife sold their business, Diane’s Dance Center, in 2019 to retire, he said.

Shortly after 7 p.m., the ball built by Chivvis Enterprises of Copiague arrived at the site on a flatbed truck from the Lindenhurst Fire Department, setting the stage for what would come two hours later.

The Village of Patchogue’s “Midnight on Main Street,” which debuted in 2014, returned for the first time in three years as the ball rose to its apex at 9 p.m., followed by a fireworks display by Grucci Grand Illuminations.

This year’s event honored the memory of an event founder, Louis Giancontieri of Patchogue-based LFG Rigging. Giancontieri died in June at the age of 68. His family members were invited to the stage to press the button beginning the countdown.

Joseph Garcia, the president of the Farmingdale Chamber of Commerce, said the 9 p.m. ball drop on the Village Green provided an ideal window for people with younger children or for those staying out for a late dinner.

“This kind of complements our downtown,” he said.

The Village of Farmingdale last held its ball drop in 2019.

“I think our businesses downtown, they like having it, too,” Garcia said. “Anything that draws more people to our downtown is always a plus for Farmingdale.”

By Joe Werkmeister

joe.werkmeister@newsday.com

Joe Werkmeister covers the towns of Southampton, East Hampton and Shelter Island. He is a graduate of St. Bonaventure University and previously worked as the editor of two North Fork community newspapers.

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