Archives of the Mayor's Press Office

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Date: December 27, 1996

Release #685-96

Contact: Colleen Roche or Kim Serafin (212) 788-2958


MAYOR GIULIANI ANNOUNCES NEW TRADITION FOR NEW YEAR’S EVE:
COMMUNITY HERO TO LEAD TIMES SQUARE CELEBRATION

Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani and Gretchen Dykstra, President of the Times Square Business Improvement District (BID), today announced the start of a new New Year’s Eve tradition. Starting this year, the Times Square BID will invite an individual who has made a significant contribution to the community to flip the switch that lowers the Times Square New Year’s Eve Ball. This year, Oseola McCarty, the 88-year-old Mississippi woman who donated her life savings to the University of Southern Mississippi, will do the honors.

“Celebrating New Year’s Eve in Times Square -- in the heart of the most exciting City in the world -- is one of New York City’s most time honored traditions. It provides an exciting, safe and free way to ring in the New Year. The presence this year of Oseola McCarty, a true American hero, adds a wonderful element to a very special celebration,” said Mayor Giuliani. “I’m sure all New Yorkers join me in applauding her generosity and selflessness. We are proud to have Miss McCarty in New York to usher in the New Year.”

Ms. McCarty will begin 1997 at the Crossroads of the World in Times Square, joining more than half-a-million New Year’s Eve revelers. She will flip the switch to activate the laser light that causes the Ball to descend. Ms. McCarty gained national attention after donating her life savings of $150,000, which she saved during a lifetime of washing and ironing, to a scholarship fund at the University of Southern Mississippi.


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