Prior to the first ball drop, Ochs had held a fireworks display ... not hitting the bottom on time during multiple festivities or heavy rain causing the fireworks to smoke in the 2018-19 celebration.

[Dino] wanted to make this New Year’s celebration a bit more interesting, but he can’t make it to New York for the ball drop. Instead, he decided to make his own mini display in his workshop.

Do I still get a reasonable amount of time for the ball to drop in for birdie? —Philip Frazier, Montgomery, Texas As Orson Welles might have advised, “accept no gimme before its time.” ...