BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — The ball will drop in Times Square on New Year’s Eve, but an Alabama zoo will have its own celebration.
A 5-foot plush monkey named Jingles will climb down a vine to welcome 2024 at the Birmingham Zoo, AL.com reported. It will be the first time the zoo is hosting the event.
“He’ll be lowered down on a rope that looks like a vine, swinging carefree,” Bill Lang, director of marketing and events, told the news outlet. “We will have some educational components with it and do the big countdown.”
Jingles will swing twice, several hours before the official start to 2024.
The plush monkey will first descend at 2 p.m. in the plaza of the zoo and again at 6 p.m., WBRC-TV reported.
Other activities include a Primates & Pajamas Nighttime celebration between 5 p.m. and 7 p.m., according to the zoo’s website. The Primate Lantern Scavenger Hunt throughout Wild Glow will also run from 5 to 9 p.m.
“It’s a way to come out and not be up till midnight to do that for good family fun,” Lang told AL.com.
Why a monkey? The first exhibit at the zoo was Monkey Island, Lang told the news outlet.
Lang has done New Year’s drops at other venues while working for Retirement Systems of Alabama and its Renaissance Hotels, AL.com reported. He was part of the team that created the MoonPie Drop in Mobile, Alabama. The downtown event was named one of the top 10 drops nationally by USA Today.
“It generated a lot of attention for Mobile, the hotel, and the building there, so I wanted this to be zoo specific and fun,” Lang told AL.com. “I think is going to be fantastic. I researched possum drops and sweet potato drops.
”This is an area where I have expertise -- obscure New Year’s Eve drops.”