Yuma’s New Year’s Eve Iceberg Drop featured in USA Today

Sneak peek at this year's iceberg

YUMA, Ariz. (KYMA) - For over a hundred years, New York City’s Times Square ball drop has stolen the show as the country’s classic New Year’s Eve tradition.

But around the country, communities are ringing in the new year by dropping over-sized objects that reflect their community.

It's no secret Yuma is most well known as the winter lettuce capital of the world.

Last year the city rang in the new year than with an iceberg drop!

Friday, USA Today ranked Yuma's illuminated lettuce head as the second most surprising drop in the country.

Penn Signs & Graphics has been a part of the Yuma community since the ’40s.

You may know the family-owned business for their signs around town like the historic Downtown Yuma sign.

When the idea for a New Year’s Eve lettuce ball drop came about, Visit Yuma came straight to Perry Pensky of Penn Signs & Graphics.

This year, the team has invested over 50 hours working to make the lettuce head brighter and better than the first.

Pensky said, “We’re trying to make it look as much like a head of lettuce as possible. So this year we’re trying to do layers. You can see little wrinkled areas where we’re trying to make it imperfect.”

Jen McDonald from Visit Yuma said, “People loved it last year and we know this now because we have so many more people talking about it. We really do plan on this being something that people look forward to year in and year out.”

This year’s iceberg is made of vinyl layers, digitally printed with translucent inks.

There's a large 400 watt light bulb in the center.

An 80-foot crane will be set up on Main Street to raise the ball up 30 to 40-feet in the sky.

This year, the city will drop the iceberg twice.

The first drop will be at 10 pm to coincide with New York City's ball drop.

The final drop will happen at midnight to officially countdown the new year in Yuma!