Buffalo officials are anticipating a strong turnout to this year's New Year's Eve ball drop at the Electric Tower, aided by unusually mild weather as well as other events happening downtown earlier in the evening.
In less than two weeks, thousands will gather once again in Roosevelt Plaza, where Main, Huron and Genesee Streets converge, to watch the illuminated ball descend from atop Electric Tower and then enjoy a fireworks display marking the arrival of 2016.
Monday morning in the lobby of the building, Mayor Byron Brown and representatives of event partners and sponsors hosted a news conference to preview the ball drop, which officials say is the nation's second-largest such celebration. Only the drop in New York City, they say, has a higher attendance.
Brown noted that many guests from First Night Buffalo, being held earlier in the evening inside the Buffalo Niagara Convention Center, are expected to head up the street for the ball drop. They're expected to be joined by many attending that evening's Buffalo Sabres home game.
The mayor is looking forward to the opportunity for his city to show off some of its new development near the ball drop, along the 500 block of Main Street.
"The 500 block is already tremendously vibrant," Brown said. "Tens of millions of dollars of private sector investment on Main Street. It will be an amazing showcase for all of the development that has taken place, and will continue to take place, in downtown Buffalo."
The annual ball drop supports the Buffalo Police Athletic League.
