Ringing in the Southern New Year

             You're probably familiar with the crystal ball drop that occurs at midnight in Times Square, New York, on New Year’s Eve, the massive televised event that rings in the New Year. Not to be outdone, the South has a few of its own.
            Alabama is home to the 12-foot-tall, 350-pound MoonPie that's lowered 34 stories from the RSA BankTrust Tower in downtown Mobile. Known as MoonPie Over Mobile, the celebration attracts 40,000 visitors and has been recognized by Oprah and Good Morning America as one of the most fun-filled New Year's celebrations in the country. And because Carnival begins on Jan. 6, the New Year celebration includes a Mardi Gras-style parade, a laser light show and live performances by the Village People and Evelyn Champagne King. Watch the video here. 

           A fleur de lis falls over the crowd from the top of Jax Brewery in New Orleans, followed by a 15-minute fireworks display over the Mississippi River at the New Orleans New Year's Eve fun. There's also a ball drop for the kids at the Louisiana Children's Museum starting at noon on New Year's Eve. You can view a video of the fun here. 

Geno Delafose

            The same can be said for Lafayette, Louisiana, the heart of Cajun Country, where the Children's Museum of Acadiana hosts a "New Year's Noon" ball drop and party for the little ones. Adults may want to head over to Lafayette's Vermilionville to catch Geno Delafose party on zydeco-style into the New Year.

            The original name for Tallapoosa, Georgia, was “Possum Snout” but was later changed to the more dignified Native American name that means “Golden River.” Folks here still like their possum, however, and drop a stuffed version of one named Spencer on New Year’s Eve. In addition to the New Year’s Eve drop, there will be entertainment, food and the crowning of the Possum Drop King and Queen (who are not stuffed, just an FYI) with a conclusion of fireworks.

Tallapoosa Possum Drop

             A giant pelican drops down from a 100-foot platform at the intersection of Palafox and Government streets in Pensacola. Festivities begin at 3 p.m. on New Year's Eve with live performances, a kids’ area and more. At the stroke of midnight, the whole city celebrates as the Pelican descends amidst fireworks and confetti.
            For New Year’s Eve, Key West drops three items: A large conch shell from the top of the famous Sloppy Joe’s Bar, a pirate wench from a schooner mast in the harbor and drag queen Sushi from a balcony on a bright red six-foot high heel at the Bourbon Street Pub/New Orleans House complex, followed by fireworks on the Back Bay.

            The largest drop in the South occurs in Historic Underground Atlanta, where a giant peach falls in front of more than 100,000 people, the largest New Year’s celebration of its kind in the southeast and second to New York nationwide. 

            For something more traditional, visit Fincastle, Virginia, which dates back to the 1700s. On New Year’s Eve, about 15 minutes before midnight, the courthouse bell begins ringing. Then the town’s churches ring their bells and it all continues until the courthouse bell strikes 12. Taps are then played to signify respect for the dying year and bell-ringers in the courthouse strike the digits of the New Year. Then three shotgun blasts indicate that it is time for the bells to joyously welcome the New Year by ringing for an additional 10 minutes.

Celebrate earth’s rotation in Key West’s Mallory Square

Photo by Bob Krist/Florida Keys News Bureau

             My mom’s favorite time of day is sunset. When we lived in South Florida we would carry our cocktails out on the dock and watch the sky turn brilliant shades of auburn, orange and magenta.

            But we got an earful if we called it a sunset.

            Tom, my physics loving stepfather who had degrees in electrical engineering, used to chide us for such language, insisting the earth was tilting away from the sun and the sun wasn’t moving — or setting — at all.

            He was right, of course, but we still call it sunset. And yet, as I write this blog about Key West’s daily sunset celebration, I can’t help wanting to call it an earth tilting party. Because Tom’s favorite place in the whole world was the Florida Keys, and he left us recently and we imagine him still fishing right off the coast of the southernmost U.S. city.

            In Key West, that eclectic island at the bottom of a long chain of islands known as the Florida Keys, the Atlantic Ocean exists on one side and the Gulf of Mexico graces the other. Key West exists in its own time zone, so to speak, where no one needs an excuse to have a party or a chance to raise a drink in homage. For instance, when the sun appears to be descending into the Gulf of Mexico, it’s time for a celebration.

            Every day at sunset (or earth tilting time) folks gather at Key West’s Mallory Square on the west side of the island and watch what looks like the sun sinking into the water. While the “sun sets” people play music and perform other theatrics (check out the photo of Busker Will Soto juggling on a tightrope) until the last rays of sunlight are visible.

            As the light disappears from the sky, everyone applauds, because the earth’s tilting is indeed a great performance.
            And I’m sure Tom’s out there watching.

Hemingway's Key West cats — and we’re not talking poetry readings

            American author Ernest Hemingway spent part of his life living and writing in Key West, first at Casa Antigua at 314 Simonton St., then at the Spanish Colonial home at 907 Whitehead St., that is now open for tours. While Hemingway was penning some of his best-known works in the southernmost point of the continental U.S.A., he was presented with a white six-toed cat by a ship captain.

            Hemingway named the unusual cat Snowball.

Six-toed Harry Truman at Hemingway House in Key West.
Photo by Rob O'Neal photography.

            Today, about 40 to 50 of Snowball’s descendants reside at the home, named after famous people in the tradition of Hemingway (not sure who Snowball was named after, however). About half of the cats have six toes but they all carry the polydactyl gene in their DNA, according to the home’s web site; the gene allows those with only four and five toes to mother or father cats with six. The web site claims, “The polydactyl cats are not a particular breed. The trait can appear in any breed, calicos, tabbies, tortoise shell. white, black, etc. They vary in shapes, sizes, colors and personalities.”

            The historic property known as the Hemingway House also hosts its own veterinarian, Dr. Edie Clark, who performs routine health care for the Hemingway cats.
             While you’re visiting Hemingway’s Key West house and his menagerie of felines, check out the city’s first in-ground pool, which was built for $20,000 in 1937-38. Hemingway felt the pool’s cost was so exorbitant that he took out a penny from his pocket and placed it in the wet cement on the pool’s side. “Here, take the last penny I’ve got,” he is rumored to have said. The penny is still there, located between flagstones at the north end of the pool.