Ring in The New Year – Water Valley Style
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The six-foot crappie will be dropped at midnight on New Year’s Eve at the Pocket Park on Main Street.
WATER VALLEY – Anticipation is building for the New Year’s Eve celebration on Main Street as work continues to ensure this year’s Crappie Drop is another resounding success. In a nod to the world record five-pound, three ounce white crappie caught at Enid Lake in 1957, Water Valley’s first annual Crappie Drop was held on New Year’s Eve, 2017. A six-foot, piñata-style crappie was lowered from the top of Yalorun Textiles building at midnight in a Water Valley style emulation of the Times Square shiny ball drop.
This year the party starts at 11 p.m. in front of the Pocket Park on Main Street. Each attendee will be given a strip of paper to write their burdens of 2024 for the Burning of the Burdens as the clock ticks closer to the new year.
The Water Valley Main Street Association event features a six-foot Steampunk Crappie Contraption with fire bell eyes, an ooga horn, confetti breath along with new tricks that will remain a secret until the big night. The crappie contraption was created last year by event co-sponsor James McCormick and is the third generation fish for the celebration.
The second generation crappie, also created by McCormick, was made of wood and was retired after the 2022 year-end celebration. The idea for a long-lasting crappie was spawned prior to last year’s drop when event co-sponsor Lawton Gafford asked McCormick for ideas for an all-weather crappie.
This year’s Krewe of Crappie will be the largest in event history. Water Valley High School homecoming queen Bree Spearman will be the ceremonial torch bearer. Members of the high school chess club will help hoist and lower Steampunk Crappie. A contingent from the high school band will serve as a the brass ensemble.
Accompanied by a couple of clarinet players and band director Wes Brown on the tuba, the band will regale the crowd with a rendition of “Auld Lang Syne” after the crappie drops.
Friends of Blackmur Library are making commemorative Crappie Drop bookmarks that will have the lyrics of “Auld Lang Syne.”
The Krewe of Crappie also includes Joe York, a roving reporter assisted by cub reporters from the Water Valley High School yearbook staff. Izzy Thornton has been tapped as chief Crappienaut and is in charge of the crappie electronics that will allow the bells and whistles to be remotely activated during the drop.
Cliff Johnson will serve as Master of Ceremonies. Elizabeth Wright is the fire chief for the burning of the burdens, and Rod Mazzone is co-fire chief. Joseph Gurner returns as the DJ for the drop. Water Valley Main Street Association Director Keli Lindsey has created Crappie Drop Christmas ornaments that will be available for purchase, along with Main Street Association merchandise. Camille Breckenridge is in charge of the merchandise booth. Lee McMinn is providing sparklers for the crowd and Gray’s Power Supply has graciously providing a 42-foot boom truck to hoist and lower the crappie. Others in the community have helped provide funding to support the annual event.
