From Passaic’s piñata to drag queens and Snooki, we drop everything on New Year’s Eve

America, it's time to drop everything and lower your standards.

We've developed a habit in the U.S. of watching objects majestic and mundane slowly give in to gravity to start the new year.

New York, of course, has its 12,000-pound, Waterford crystal-encrusted ball that will descend from 1 Times Square on Saturday night. But elsewhere, we'll count down as hunks of cheese and chrome chili peppers and even a drag queen are lowered from their perches.

In North Jersey, the party of choice for many will be in Passaic, which is once again offering a local alterative to joining the masses packed into midtown Manhattan. On Thursday, Passaic workers hoisted an 11-foot-wide piñata atop the city's highest building in preparation for the annual New Year's Eve plunge. The 5-year-old tradition is an attractive substitute for spending the night in Times Square for several reasons, said Mayor Hector Lora. For one, getting into and out of the Passaic County city is way cheaper and pretty painless, he said.

Revelers can decide to attend at the last minute, and Passaic has lots to offer in the way of restaurants, he added.

"We want to help out local businesses and keep our residents safe by keeping off the roads," Lora said. "We allow our restaurants to be open to 5 a.m. for those celebrating, especially those heading home."

Crafted by 3Reyes Dulcelandia ("Three Kings Candyland"), a Passaic candy shop, the piñata will be hauled up and then lowered down the side of 663 Main Ave., a 12-story building that is also home to the city's Board of Education, a gym and, on the street level, a Mama Sushi restaurant. Local DJs will provide entertainment, and adult beverages will be sold.

After it's lowered at midnight, the piñata will spew confetti among the crowd.

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Passaic is part of of a growing list of cities that lower iconic objects to the ground as they turn the page on the calendar. It remains something of an anomaly in New Jersey for its staying power, even as other would-be traditions have come and gone.

At the end of 2010, "Jersey Shore" star Snooki was lowered in a giant hamster ball in Seaside Heights to ring in the new year.

Eleven years earlier, as part of its millennial celebration, Point Pleasant embraced its shore-town vibe and dropped a mossbunker fish, also known as a menhadden.

Both were apparent one-offs. Passaic, by contrast, began it's piñata dive in 2018 and has kept it going ever since, even in bad weather. The event draws sizable crowds to the city's downtown for a drink, dancing and the chance to wish neighbors a happy New Year. It has persisted even through the dread of COVID-19 the last two years.

In South Jersey, Hammonton, which some consider the blueberry capital of the world, will continue its tradition of lowering a giant blueberry-colored sphere in its downtown, at South Egg Harbor Road. The effort began in 2018 and includes food, music and a fireworks show. The final seconds of 2022 will tick down on the the town's historic downtown clock.

For those looking for a less urban setting, the village of Warwick in Orange County, New York, just over the border from West Milford, will once again hold its apple drop this Saturday night.

Warwick, which many New Jerseyans may know best for its Applefest and apple picking each fall, began the tradition in 2017 as part of the village's sesquicentennial celebrations. The 3-foot-wide apple is dropped at the Railroad Green off Railroad Avenue and within short walking distance of downtown restaurants.

People start gathering around 11:30 p.m., Warwick Valley Chamber of Commerce officials said.

The apple is lowered from a firetruck ladder.

"It's amazing," said Mayor Michael Newhard. "All of a sudden people start coming out of the woodwork."

The other shoe to drop

One favorite New Year's drop for TV broadcasters occurs in southernmost Florida, and for many, it suits the locale.

There, in Key West, the centerpiece of the city’s New Year's celebration since 1996 has been the lowering of Sushi, the island’s best-known drag queen. She descends each year from a giant high-heeled shoe.

Sushi is lowered from a balcony of the Bourbon Street Pub, helping the cheering crowd on Duval Street welcome the new year.

That's hard to top, but a few other communities give it a go each Dec. 31:

• In Wisconsin, the city of Plymouth lowers an 80-pound decorated cheese wedge from a 100-foot-tall ladder truck in a tribute to the region's dairy industry.

• In Las Cruces, New Mexico, residents cheer as a 19-foot illuminated chrome chili pepper comes down.

• Disneyland, in Orange County, California, has an annual orange drop.

• In the golfer's paradise of Hilton Head, South Carolina, a giant, lighted golf ball is lowered from the Harbour Town Lighthouse in honor of the Sea Pines Resort golf courses.

• In Wetumpka, Alabama, locals drop a man-made "meteorite" at the Old Courthouse at 11 p.m. in honor of the real space rock that left a huge crater in the area. At the stroke of midnight, a big fireworks display takes place, according to website Interesly.

• In Boise, Idaho, the city deploys a giant potato from the US Bank building in downtown.

• In Fayetteville, Arkansas, a hog, perhaps an homage to the University of Arkansas mascot, is lowered.

• In Panama City, Florida, an illuminated, 800-pound beach ball is lowered 12 stories at midnight.

• Easton, Pennsylvania, home of a Crayola factory, lowers a crayon but does so at 8 p.m. because it's for the kiddies.

• And Mobile, Alabama, drops a 600-pound, lighted Moon Pie from a local tower for the “Moon Pie Over Mobile” festivities.

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Passaic NJ pinata drop is latest New Year's Eve celebration tradition