One Georgia New Year's Eve tradition returns while others continue. Another is radically changed

Caption

Atlanta's Peach Drop, seen here on Dec. 31, 2024.

Credit: Khari J. Sampson / GPB News

One Georgia New Year's Eve tradition is returning this year — while others continue and another is radically changed.

The Downtown Development Authority in coastal Brunswick plans to bring back an event held off-and-on — in two-previous iterations — since the late-'90s.

It's called the Shrimp Drop.

The authority's Matthew Hill said they'll drop a 4-foot-tall metal shrimp from a 65-foot-high perch.

The aquatic crustacean will keep his previous name.

"The shrimp is still named Bob," Hill said. "I guess you can call this one Bob the Third. Yeah, he's just always called Bob."

But unlike in previous years, Bob will not drop into a vat of cocktail sauce.

In the North Georgia mountains, Helen celebrates the new year with the dropping of the Edelweiss: the mountain flower you see adorning beer steins during Helen's Oktoberfest. 

Meanwhile, In South Georgia's Tifton, they'll drop a gnat named Matt. 

Why a gnat? Well, Tift County Commissioner Melissa Hughes told WALB TV that she created the Gnat Drop as a way to bring people together in an odd but funny way. Hughes said she considers gnats the welcoming committee of the South, and what better way to welcome the new year than with a familiar face? 

In West Georgia's Tallapoosa, they'll drop a taxidermied opossum named Spencer. Once named Possum Snout, Talapoosa celebrates its heritage every year with the Possum Drop to welcome the new year. It's named after Ralph L. Spencer, the businessman who is credited with creating the late 19th-century boom in Tallapoosa. 

In Middle Georgia, you can celebrate the New Year's Eve in Perry, with the nationally recognized Perry Buzzard Drop. According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the Buzzard Drop tradition in Perry started with a problem: More than a decade ago, buzzards migrating for the winter would come to Perry and rest on the town's water tower, damaging it, so the town took action. A plastic buzzard made with real feathers wards off the migrating birds as a practical form of pest control. It's since turned into a New Year's tradition. 

And for the first time, Atlanta's Peach Drop won't be a downtown party with live bands and its trademark descending fiberglass and foam peach. Instead, it'll be a drone and fireworks show that officials say will be visible, quote, "across Atlanta." Atlanta officials have released a list of dozens of businesses participating in events, specifically marketing views of the aerial display.