The CherryT Ball Drop - Traverse City’s New Year’s Eve celebration typically held downtown - will move to a virtual event this year due to the pandemic.

The CherryT Ball Drop committee and The Festival Foundation Board of Directors announced Wednesday that a live stream of a cherry dropping will be broadcast on the CherryT Facebook Page and UpNorthLive Facebook page and website so residents can watch the drop from home rather than gathering in person.

“Due to this unprecedented year and the unpredictability of the future, we could not safely bring 10,000 of our friends to downtown Traverse City to celebrate the new year,” says Kat Paye, executive director of the CherryT Ball Drop. “However we felt that is was important to still ring in the New Year that everyone needs in true cherry fashion.”

The main fundraising component of the CherryT Ball Drop is raising dollars for a northern Michigan food bank each year to help in the fight against food insecurity. This year, the event is driving online donations to Food Rescue, a program of Goodwill Northern Michigan. The CherryT Ball Drop is also partnering with MAWBY to promote a CherryT Ball Drop Bubbly. Residents over 21 can order a bottle online or in the MAWBY tasting room after the first week of December. For every bottle sold, The Festival Foundation will receive a portion of the price.