Imagine Times Square on New Year’s Eve.

A spectacle that few have attended, but many Evanstonians have watched on TV. This event is the pinnacle of New Year’s Eve–the Holy Grail of the New Year–and Evanston needs work on its own version of this event.

There are plenty of fun activities to do on New Year’s Eve such as going to Evanston First Night, a friend’s house, a party, or simply spending time with family.

However, this year with the revival of Evanston First Night, we can do create a more fun New Year’s Eve.

We need a ball drop.

A communal “can’t miss” event downtown such as a ball drop would cut down on the inevitable crime on New Year’s. Everybody should be able to enjoy themselves on New Year’s; this is a special time of year that should be spent celebrating, not participating in stopping illegal activities.

If we had a ball drop that attracted thousands of people, then more people would go downtown to spend money at stores, on parking meters, and at restaurants, all good for the city of Evanston. This would help the city generate some more revenue, which could help pay for the ball drop.

That being said, we are fortunate to have Evanston First Night. This program, which began in 1992, has been recently working on targeting a wider range of audiences, especially teens, with activities such as a battle of the teen bands contest, teen improve shows and a fire juggling performance near midnight.

With new and improved events this year First Night boasts higher quality entertainment and an expansion of venues to accommodate more acts and to create a more centralized feel than in previous years. This event does a great job of engaging young children as well as adults.

However, if First Night wants to seriously attract a bigger teen audience and make a bigger influence on Evanston it needs a marque communal event when the New Year strikes.

The communal feel that First Night is going after will be more successful if they get a ball drop. Also, this ball drop would attract larger audiences to the other performances, which teens may find out that they appreciate.

The people of Evanston deserve a better New Year’s, and a ball drop would ensure that Evanstonians would get the most out of New Year’s for years to come.