This New Years Eve celebration in Times Square will take place as scheduled except for one important detail: there will be no people, except a few frontline workers who have been invited to attend.
According to The New York Times, the organizers of the event have been debating what to do since March, when the lockdown in New York City started. With all major Broadway theaters shut down, it seemed to them that things would have to be different this year.
So it has been decided that, in 2020, Times Square will be closed to the public. The area will be barricaded off completely. Only people working in the actual production of the event will be allowed, with an exception made only for a few dozen selected frontline workers.
NYC Police Chief Terence A. Monahan said during a press conference that the NYPD will be enforcing the rule strictly. "There are absolutely no spectators allowed in Times Square. Don't even attempt to come down there and watch it."
"Anyone that starts to gather, they're going to be told to move along. We are not going to allow people to stand on the street corner and stare up."
Tim Tompkins, the president of the Times Square Alliance, commented, "We knew that we had to be prepared for a crowd no matter what. And then it was just a question of 'Oh my God, how are we going to do this?'"
Barricades have been erected, just like they have been for decades now. The difference is that this time, instead of screening people and slowly letting them fill the space up, this time, nobody will be allowed in, period.
This has never happened since the first ball drop in 1907. In fact, and ironically, the ball drop itself was cancelled in 1942 and 1943 due to fear of an Axis air attack during the war, but the celebrations went on, albeit in relative darkness due to the wartime "dimout."
Musical guests this year will include iconic New Yorkers Cyndi Lauper and Jennifer Lopez, as well as Billy Porter and Gloria Gaynor, who will be singing her disco anthem "I Will Survive."
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