The CherryT Ball Drop is on Saturday in downtown Traverse City.
The annual event has been going strong for 13 years, helping locals and visitors celebrate the end of one year and the start of a new one.
“Around 4:30 pm on Saturday, we will start to close down one end of Cass and Front Street,” said Kat Paye, Executive Director for the National Cherry Festival & CherryT Ball Drop. “Gates will start to open around 10:30 pm. Music will already be going. We will just dance and have fun that night for a couple of hours until midnight. Then the giant cherry will drop and descend to the road with 8,000 10,000 of our favorite friends.”
This year the 600-pound lit-up cherry is moving to a new location, the corner of Cass and Front Street.
“A lot of the move had to do with our great friends over at North Bar TC. They came to us with an amazing opportunity of hosting a party up on the rooftop to offer more opportunity for those who do not want to stand out in the cold,” explained Paye.
A majority of money raised at the North Bar TC Masquerade 23 party will go towards the Festival Foundation.
“We try to make sure that we are creating generations of fun and building memories and doing all of that good stuff into the community. So some of these funds help with various events throughout the year,” said Paye.
You can also watch the CherryT Ball Drop from ground level for a suggested donation of five dollars.
That money will go towards Goodwill Food Rescue and Northwest Food Coalition to help families in the area in the new year.
“Every dollar donated to Food Rescue, 4 pounds of food gets distributed to food pantries and meal sites. That’s about $6 worth of food going to families and other people in our community,” explained Taylor Moore, Director at Goodwill Food Rescue.
“This is a good example of how you can go out and have fun and raise money. It’s a cheap date for everyone,” said Val Stone, Coordinator for Northwest Food Coalition.
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