End of an era for traditional New Year countdown
Times Square mall to repeat last year’s format following ‘positive reaction’
The decades-old New Year countdown at Times Square in Causeway Bay looks to be out of time.
After cancelling its traditional stroke of midnight ceremony for the first time last year - ostensibly due to the Occupy protests - one of the world's most expensive expanses of retail real estates ditched last night’s countdown saying that “public reception towards last year’s new celebration format for Christmas and New Year’s Eve was positive.”
The mall has hosted its New Year’s Eve event - a countdown with a ball dropping from a 22-metre LED tower at midnight - since 1993.
For Hongkongers who grew up attending and watching the event on television, the cancellation brings a sense of loss and confusion. About 100,000 people on average participated in the countdown each year.
“It feels strange. We already don’t have many places to countdown,” said Bryan Wong, a 27-year-old local banker who had attended the event twice before. “Times Square was different because the method of counting down was always the same, unlike places like Tsim Sha Tsui. At least there was a place for people to gather and be happy.”
Times Square this year will feature a LEGO Star Wars exhibition showcasing the world’s largest Millennium Falcon mode - a spacecraft in the Star Wars series. A “Happy 2016 Music Concert” will also be held at the Covered Piazza from 5pm to 7pm, featuring performances by Joyce Cheng, Super Girls, Endy Chow and other artists.