ALLENTOWN, Pa. - In Bethlehem, they drop a marshmallow Peep. In Lebanon, a giant length of bologna.
Add a new one to the list of unique New Year’s Eve drops in Pennsylvania: a hockey puck.
- Allentown is hosting a New Year's Eve celebration at Hamilton Street Plaza
- It follows a Phantoms game at the PPL Center
- A crane will suspend a half-ton illuminated hockey puck that drops at midnight
That’s what will happen this year in Allentown, as the Lehigh Valley Phantoms team up with the Downtown Allentown Business Alliance and the Greater Lehigh Valley Chamber of Commerce.
And this will be no ordinary hockey puck. The Phantoms are billing it as the biggest one in the world.
“They’re fabricating it as we speak,” said Richard Lintker, vice president of ticketing and marketing for the PPL Center and the Phantoms. “The Guinness Book of World Records won’t be here to verify it, but we certainly can claim it as the largest in the world.”
Richmond Machine & Welding is building the puck, which will be 20 feet in diameter and weigh about 1,000 pounds, said John Steenland, vice president of operations for the company in Hanover Township, Northampton County.
"As the Phantoms described it, they kind of wanted it to look like the bat signal from Batman."John Steenland, Richmond Machine & Welding
It will be illuminated from the inside and emblazoned with the Phantoms logo on its face.
"As the Phantoms described it, they kind of wanted it to look like the bat signal from Batman," Steenland said.
FastSigns of Easton is handling the printing, which includes the team logo and a vinyl-material wrap that will replicate a puck's rubber, Steenland said.
"It's a pretty thick material and has the texture printed on it for a puck," he said.
Steenland and his team designed and engineered the puck using an aluminum tubing skeleton. They've been working about a month on the project.
Lintker said the puck will be suspended by a crane on Hamilton Street Plaza just outside the PPL Center.
Richmond Machine & Welding has enlisted Fast Lane Towing of Lower Nazareth Township to deliver the puck in two pieces on New Year's Eve.
The Phantoms are actually hosting a game that night, at 7 p.m. against the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins.
The New Year’s Eve festivities will kick off at 9 p.m. on the plaza and feature live music, giveaways and downtown business specials.
Lintker said the Phantoms were delighted to get involved in hopes of creating a buzz and bringing folks to Center City to ring in the new year.
Saturday night’s game may help.
“We’re hoping that a lot of the fans go right from the game to the party downtown,” he said.
After the game, around 9:30 p.m. the giant puck will be low enough so folks can take photos with it. Then the crane will hoist it in preparation for the drop at midnight.
The countdown to the new year will take place on the arena marquee, he said.
