After a decade of New Year’s Eve ball drops and celebrations, ball drop committee chair Kenny Lewis and fellow committee members have announced that 2025 was their last hurrah. They have passed the ball to the City of Peekskill.
Lewis, who volunteered his time both as the committee chair and ball drop host, told the Peekskill Herald in a phone call that several who have served on the committee from day one have grown tired and that it was time to turn it over.
“It’s been an honor to do it for the city,” said Lewis, owner of J.K. Fence Contractors in Peekskill for 45 years and the former Old Fashioned Pizza in Montrose for 30 years. “It was something to give back to the community.”
At the committee of the whole meeting on Jan. 5, Peekskill Mayor Vivian McKenzie asked the city manager for a new committee to be formed as soon as possible so that the city is prepared for the 2026 holiday season.
In 2015, then-Mayor Frank Catalina and committee members volleyed ideas to celebrate the City of Peekskill’s 75th anniversary milestone. The idea of a ball drop initially sparked some pushback, but the city eventually came on board. Thus marked the start of a decade-long tradition.
“I was part of the 75th anniversary committee, and when Frank brought it up, nobody wanted to do it because it was a lot of work to get it all done,” Lewis said. “I made the call to Frank: ‘I’ll do it. I need to be in control and I need to run with it.’ And he said, ‘You’ve got it. I’ll help you in any way.’”
Other committee members who lent their support from that first day were volunteers Diane Marazino and husband Joe, Lisa Orwell, Michael Sheriff, Steve Laker and wife Clarabelle.
The first year, a fundraising gala was held to raise money for the event with the Elks Lodge, several sponsors were secured — including Suburban Propane, who paid for the fireworks — and a ball was created by Dominick Giusti of Highland Welding.
“It was 10 degrees outside that first year. I’ll never forget it,” Catalina told the Herald on the phone, recalling he was at the Hudson Room with others prior to the drop. “I said, ‘You’re freaking crazy. These are hardened conditions. Nobody’s going to be here.’ And sure enough, we put [thousands] on the street that first year. It was an unbelievable success.”
Larry Gomez, a member of the 75th anniversary committee who helped with ball drop logistics the first few years, told the Herald over the phone that they got Lewis involved, knowing he was a “dynamo” and “get-it-done type of guy.”
“Kenny just took the ball and he’s been running with it for [11] years,” Gomez said. “Kenny was the catalyst that kept it going year after year. It started with Frank Catalina, but Kenny is the type of guy that can, in essence, cross party lines or be involved with whoever, whatever. He did it with [former Mayor] Andre Rainey, and he’s been able to do it with [Mayor] McKenzie. It was not a political thing. It really was something that was for the city.”
The event was put in the city budget in 2017 and has stayed in it since. The event costs range between $8,000 and $14,000, Lewis said, including fireworks and bands. Lewis also raised money every year for the band and to buy glow sticks, as well as shirts to launch into the crowd from handheld cannons.
The first two years, the ball was lowered by a crane owned by Giusti. Later, that ball was purchased by the Town of Yorktown for its own ball drop and Giusti made a new ball to be dropped at the flag pole. It was later redesigned by Vivid RGB Lighting owners Sepp Spenlinhauer and Brian Fassett (a Peekskill councilman), to be adorned with LED lights and include a computerized countdown.
“Me being in the steel business and the cranes, I built the ball,” Giusti said of the first ball, which was covered in string lights then later replaced. “It’s a nice event for the city. It brings a lot of business downtown. People are down at restaurants and hanging out. It’s been a nice thing for the city.”
Steve Laker, a co-host of the ball drop with Lewis and deputy mayor of the Village of Buchanan, told the Herald over the phone that it was time to turn the ball drop over and get some other fresh ideas.
“We’ve dealt with a lot of different things, whether it’s the snow, rain, sleet, a pandemic. We had everything thrown at us,” Laker said. “I sat there this year thinking about how as we rang in 2025, the year before, it rained pretty much all night. There was lightning, thunder. We didn’t even know if we would be able to pull it off. But within the last half, the skies opened up and the streets were filled. The band was playing, the fireworks went off. It was just fantastic. It’s always been a great time.”
In addition to the aforementioned individuals, Lewis thanked Susan and Elizabeth Giusti of Highland Welding for their work on the ball, Joe and Michelle Panda, who would come down from Putnam County to throw shirts, Paul Crumb of the Elks Lodge, and Garden State Fireworks’ Anthony Capicotti.
He also thanked sponsors over the years, including those who made donations, like AAA Carting, the Lanza Family Foundation, and United Rental and Westchester Tool Rental; the three mayors who have supported his efforts, plus the Peekskill Police and Fire Departments, Peekskill Volunteer Ambulance Corps, and the Department of Public Works, for their respective roles in the event.
While Lewis is stepping back from the helm for future ball drops, he said he will be around for a few days before the next ball drops if assistance is needed.
Asked if he had any farewell thoughts to pass along to those picking up the ball from him, Lewis said, “Just keep it going. It’s a good thing. It brings out a lot of people on New Year’s Eve. No matter what the weather is, do not stop having the ball drop, in any conditions. It does not matter. New York City doesn’t stop, Peekskill doesn’t stop.”
