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Times Square New Year's Eve to honor essential workers, first responders

Gloria Gaynor, Jennifer Lopez, Cyndi Lauper and Billy Porter will perform.
Credit: Getty Images/iStockphoto

The New Year's Eve celebration in Times Square will be a celebration of perseverance, honoring essential workers and featuring Gloria Gaynor singing her anthem, "I Will Survive," organizers said Tuesday.

They had announced previously that the annual event will be virtual this year, with no public audience as in other years, and aimed at broadcast viewers.

The broadcasts that usually set up shop in Times Square will be there, including "Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve with Ryan Seacrest 2021," and “NBC’s New Year’s Eve 2021.”

How to watch

The Times Square New Year’s Eve webcast will be commercial free. The ball raising will happen at 6 p.m. Eastern with live musical performances and hourly countdowns to follow on New Years Eve, Dec. 31. 

To build anticipation for the welcoming of 2021, celebrity and noteworthy names will appear live for interviews and other behind the scenes stories. 

You can stream the webcast via multiple websites including, TimesSquareNYC.org, NewYearsEve.nyc, Livestream.com/2021 and TimesSquareBall.net

Honoring essential workers 

Organizers said they would be honoring essential workers as the "Heroes of 2020" and designate a group of them as Special Guests, an annual tradition since the 1990s.

Tim Tompkins, president of the Times Square Alliance, said in a statement, "This year, it feels most appropriate to shine a spotlight on the individuals who are tirelessly leading our nation through hard times with unshakable strength, determination and poise."

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