Michigan New Year’s Eve Spot Named Better Than Times Square

New Year's Eve is often a fun time, no matter where you're celebrating it. Of course, the big destination for New Year's Eve is usually New York City's Times Square. However, one Michigan New Year's Eve spot is ranked as having a better experience than Times Square by travel experts. It's pretty cool to think that a spot close to home offers a better time to ring in the New Year than New York City. That's not to dis the New York experience, because that's a very special one. But, if you want to celebrate the coming year without having to make that massive trip, then this is for you.

The best New Year's Eve ball drop, according to USA Today readers, is in Ludington in northern Michigan. Ludington was ranked No. 1 on the the USA Today 10Best Readers' Choice tally for "Best New Year's Eve Ball Drop."

"Welcoming a new year means reflection, anticipation, and, most often, celebration for many people across the country," USA Today notes in their feature about the best places to experience a New Year's Eve ball drop. "And one of the most popular traditions for this festive event is the New Year's Eve drop, which sees a large object descend with the stroke of midnight." As for methodology, the top 10 New Year's Eve drops were nominated by USA Today's travel editors and voted on by readers as the best in the United States.

The top five on the tally is the aforementioned Ludington New Year's Eve Ball Drop in Michigan; the Idaho Potato Drop in Boise, Idaho; the New Year's Eve Shrimp Drop in Amelia Island, Florida; the Pierogi Drop in Whiting, Indiana; and the Great Pinecone Drop in Flagstaff, Arizona.

Of course, the whole idea of the ball drop really does come from New York's event. As for the history of that ball drop, according to CNN, "The Times Square ball began thanks to a Ukrainian immigrant and metalworker, named Jacob Starr, and the former New York Times publisher, Adolph Ochs," they note. CNN adds, "The latter had successfully drawn crowds to the newspaper's new skyscraper home in Times Square through pyrotechnics and fireworks to celebrate the forthcoming year, but city officials banned explosives from being used after just a few years."

BallDrop.com notes that "An electrician was hired to construct a lighted Ball to be lowered from the flagpole on the roof of One Times Square." Also, the iron ball, according to BallDrop.com, was only 5 feet in diameter.