ATLANTA,None — Ringing in 2010 was peachy for more than 100,000 visitors who descended on Downtown Atlanta for the 21st Annual Peach Drop.
Atlanta native Deidra Collins summed it up like this: "Yeah, I just love the excitement and watching the peach drop, you know, because I am a Georgia peach."
We caught up with many folks who came to the event for the first time.
Felisha Chambley drove all the way from Griffin and told us why, "Because usually we just sit at the house and watch the peach drop on the TV, I've lived in Griffin my whole life, and we just decided to come out."
Atlanta resident Najla Salaam emphasized "I needed to do something different for 2010...It's Atlanta, I mean, who wouldn't want to be here if not New York, you know."
Lolita Mondragon was visiting from Kansas City, Mo. She said, "It's a new year and, and this is gonna be a new adventure for me, I've never seen the peach drop."
Atlanta resident Charles Cohen attended his first peach drop. He told us it was a matter of pride, saying "It's our ball drop, it's Atlanta's thing that, you know, biggest drop in the South, so it's something we gotta do."
Fifteen bands took the stage at different venues throughout the Underground Atlanta area. Morris Day and the Time performed on center stage until the midnight Peach Drop into 2010.
Even though the event was free to the public, organizers say the New Year's Eve crowd provides a healthy financial push for downtown businesses.
Underground Atlanta Marketing Director Michelle Lawrence told Channel 2 "The Peach Drop is a huge economic development piece for the city of Atlanta, you know, we have people wanting hotels, transportation companies, restaurants, bars all over town do benefit from this event."
Atlanta resident Benjamin Watson said he wanted to do his part to stimulate the economy by taking his family to the Peach Drop. "We spent different when the economy went down, so we was able to save a bit, cut back on certain things, and when you get little special events like this, you're able to splurge just a little bit," said Watson.
Atlanta resident Sharon McConnell put it this way, "We've already been buyin' candy in the candy shop, buyin' food, buyin' souvenirs, come spend your money in Atlanta."
The Peach Drop could be a life-changing experience for Gwendolyn Salaam who travelled from Cincinnati, Ohio, to visit family here in Atlanta. This was her first Peach Drop as well, and she told us it might not be her last, saying "2010 is when we're really gonna wake up, we might wake up in Atlanta and be living here."
But for people already living in Atlanta, the Peach Drop was the perfect way to ring in 2010.