Can’t rain on their ball drop.
Thunderstorms didn’t dampen the spirits in Times Square on New Year’s Eve as thousands of revelers rang in 2025 with a bang.
As the festive, poncho-clad masses waited in anticipation for the clock to strike midnight, a group of a dozen or so partiers, including Tiffany Lopez of the Bronx, danced to salsa with the rain pouring down Tuesday night.
New Year’s revelers embrace the rain as they await the ball drop in Times Square on Dec. 31, 2024. REUTERS“I’m from New York. And it’s an epic experience — something a New Yorker never does,” Lopez, 41, said gleefully. “You’re in the middle of Times Square. And it’s raining and people are so happy.”
Many people lined up in Times Square bright and early Tuesday to secure a spot for the celebration.
A group of friends from Japan camped out at 3 a.m. to get right behind the stage in the middle of Seventh Avenue to watch the ball drop.
The six pals, ranging in age from 23 to 27, pulled on their ponchos, not letting the weather ruin the occasion.
“We’re ready for anything,” Natsuki Maeda exclaimed.
Fireworks erupt after the ball dropped in Times Square welcoming the new year on Jan. 1, 2025. REUTERS
A worker clears rainwater off a stage. William C Lopez/New York Post
Singer Megan Moroney dances in Times Square as she holds an umbrella to keep her dry. FilmMagicNearby, a veteran Times Square New Year’s Eve reveler — decked out in a 2025 foam top hat, 2025 glasses and colorful boas — shrugged off the stormy weather.
“[My] eighth year in a row — minus the COVID year,” Tommy Onolfo, 42, told The Post. “I got here at 6 a.m. Not all worried about the rain. I’m a lifeguard and diving board coach in the summer. Water doesn’t bother me.”
Tommy Onolfo of Long Island arrived in Times Square at 6 a.m. to ring in the New Year. Marie Pohl/NY Post
A couple kisses as others celebrate the ball dropping. Aristide Economopoulos
Rita Ora gets ready to perform in Times Square. Marie Pohl/NY Post“This year wasn’t so good to me so I’m just gonna go day by day,” the Long Island resident said. “It’s already getting better tonight. We didn’t even start the year and it’s already starting off good.”
He said he was looking forward to when the raindrops were replaced with falling confetti over the Crossroads of the World.
A partier dons a poncho as rain falls on the festivities in Times Square on New Year’s Eve. Aristide Economopoulos
Rain falls on the crowd waiting for the ball to drop to mark the New Year in NYC. AP
Revelers take cover in ponchos to protect themselves from the rain. Aristide Economopoulos“There’s no other place to be than on Times Square on New Year’s especially when the confetti falls,” Onolfo said.
The rain stopped about a half-hour before the 11,875-pound ball, covered with 2,688 crystal triangles and 32,256 LEDs, dropped from One Times Square — a tradition dating back to 1907.
After midnight, confetti poured over friends hugging, relatives cheering, lovers kissing — and at least one man proposing.
“I loved the confetti,” wide-eyed Angel Ruiz, 9, told The Post.
Angel and his father, Charly Ruiz, made the trip to Times Square from Queens.
Clean-up crews work to clear Times Square of confetti and other garbage. Aristide Economopoulos
A street sweeper moves through Times Square clearing debris from the street. Aristide EconomopoulosThe dad said his own parents took him to see the ball drop when he was a kid and he wanted to give his own son the same fond memory.
“I wanted to do something special with my kid,” he shared.
In the very first minutes of 2025, Dominik Mildner got down on one knee and asked his girlfriend of two and a half years, Wesley Concepción, to marry him.
“She said yes!” he shouted as Concepción cried and hugged her relatives who all braved the rain for the special moment.
Dominik Milnder and Wesley Concepción got engaged right after midnight. Marie Pohl
Mildner said the New Year proposal almost didn’t happen when the ring’s shipping was delayed. Marie PohlBeaming with joy, the bride-to-be told The Post afterward that she was completely shocked by the proposal and had told Mildner that she had wanted an intimate proposal knowing she would be in tears.
Mildner said the New Year proposal almost didn’t happen. The ring’s shipping was delayed but it finally arrived Tuesday.
The couple met on a dating app. Mildner is originally from Germany but has lived in the city for the past four years, while Concepción was born in the Dominican Republic and has called the Big Apple home for 13 years.
Her parents, niece and nephew and friends of Mildner’s shared champagne in plastic cups to celebrate while Frank Sinatra’s “New York, New York” played throughout the Crossroads of the World.
