There is no New Year’s Eve ball drop without the committee behind it.

Peekskill residents and visitors braved the rain at the intersection of Park Street and Division Street and marked the end of 2024 with live music from On The One, fireworks from Garden State, and a live countdown with a ball drop.

Kenny Lewis, a host at the annual ball drop and chair of the ball drop committee, told the Herald the event was supported by the police department, fire department, Department of Public Works, and the Peekskill Volunteer Ambulance Corps. The event, which started at 10 p.m. on Tuesday, was sponsored by several businesses including Cloud 914, AAA Carting,, and J.K. Fence Contractors.

“We’re like New York City,” Lewis said. “No matter what happens, that ball is coming down. Rain, snow, sleet, hail, we did it in every type of weather.” The ball was made of aluminum by Highland Welding.  Glow sticks and t-shirts thrown to the crowd from the stage of the city’s Showmobile. 

Lewis, who is the owner of J.K. Fence Contractors in Peekskill, donates his time and raises money for the annual event from sponsors such as Gleason’s, the Lanza Family Foundation, Slainte of Peekskill, United Tour Rental, and Westchester Tool Rentals. Each year Lewis meets with the city manager and department heads, going over safety, blocking the streets, and figuring out what time everything closes.

“It’s a lot to put together, I can tell you that,” Lewis said. “To go raise money, to have the people help you every year who’ve been dedicated, which they’re all my friends, and for 11 years they stood by me and we did that.”

The history of the ball drop in Peekskill goes back 11 years ago during the 75th anniversary of the City of Peekskill in 2015. Lewis recalled coming up with ideas to celebrate the new year with then Mayor Frank Catalina and eventually settled on a ball drop. Lewis called on several friends and a ball was created by Highland Welding Services in Peekskill.

Those first two years the ball was lowered by a crane owned by Dominick Giusti from Highland Welding. After that ball was purchased by the town of Yorktown, Giusti made a new ball for 2016. It was later redesigned by Vivid RGB Lighting’s Sepp Spenlinhauer and Councilman Brian Fassett with LED lights and a computerized countdown.

The ball drop tradition carried past Mayor Catalina, to Mayor Andre Rainey, and now to Mayor Vivian McKenzie.

Tree’s haircut doesn’t prevent annual light display on Hudson Avenue

One homeowner didn’t let a tree trimming stop him from bringing back an annual tradition.

Andrew Bell of 1204 Hudson Avenue has been lighting up a large tree in front of his house for the holidays since 2017. However, this past summer Bell received a message from Con Edison saying they were coming to trim the trees due to it being near a power line.

“Unfortunately the tree has just been getting bigger over the years, and it finally got to the point where the branches were near the [power lines],” Bell told the Herald. “They had to cut it back and they did what they had to do. They put a giant wedge in my tree, cutting three or four feet away from the power lines.”

Initially Bell was unsure how he would fill in the gap, but in the end decided to just throw the lights up there and see what it looked like before he made it more of a problem than it actually was. While the tree was a little bright on one spot due to being able to see through the branches, it turned out to look just fine, Bell said, particularly at night.

“I was very happy with the way it came out this year,” Bell said. “…It really wasn’t that much of an issue thankfully. I was very nervous that I wouldn’t be able to get it to look as good as it has the last couple years. But thankfully it seems to be just about right.”

The majority of work on this year’s tree came from maintenance of the lights, replacing and fixing broken bulbs, and mixing the old bulbs and new bulbs together so one side isn’t brighter than the other.

Bell’s goal is to put his annual tree up right after Thanksgiving. This year it was his goal to beat the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree in being first to put the tree up.

Asked what inspires him to put the tree up every holiday season, Bell said, “It’s the same as everyone who wants Christmas lights out. I find it attractive and it’s pretty.”

Since Bell has figured out how to decorate the large tree it has become something the neighborhood has grown to admire each year.

“Every time I put it up, I constantly have people stop by to tell me how much they like it, pull over the car to say thank you,” he said. “It’s a lovely ego boost. It just feels good. And every time I drive up the street at  night and it rises up over the hill it looks great. I’m happy it’s there. And I’m actually very sad when I finally turn it off because it looks very bleak afterwards.”

Bell said the lights on the tree will stay lit until about Feb. 13.