(MOBILE, Ala.) As 2012 winds down on this New Year's Eve. If you're in Mobile, thousands are expected to head downtown and ring in the new year with the annual MoonPie drop.
On the sixth floor of the Bank Trust Building in Downtown Mobile, final touches are being applied to a bigger and better Chattanooga MoonPie. There's a new year for the new year, and new light's to make sure 2013 shines bright!
Bands of LED lights have been added around the perimeter to make it a little more noticeable. This year, tens of thousands of revelers will watch Mobile's MoonPie descend, while millions more watch on television. When it does, no one will be more proud than Mr. Moon Pie himself, mobile city councilman Fred Richardson.
Richardson took a lot of ribbing for his New Year's Eve idea when he proposed it in 2009. Downtown Mobile was not a welcoming place for a new year. Then Richardson said Mobile's favorite Mardi Gras treat should become the icon for a stepped up celebration. And this humble pie was born.
"What we were trying to do at first, we were trying to corner the market in the central time zone, all of the attention to be focused on us at midnight. Well, we've overcome that. This year we're broadcasting nationwide," Richardson said.
But the best seat in the house will still be downtown Mobile, where Richardson says they're upping the game this year. There are several music stages, a Mardi Gras parade at 7:30, and later, on the big stage by the MoonPie, the Commodores play in the new year.
"The Bank Trust building, all sides are gonna be lit up with laser! All sides! After 11 o'clock, all downtown is gonna light up in a way they have never seen before," Richardson said.
That's a promise from Mr. MoonPie himself, who promises the MoonPie is about to snatch the sparkle from New York's famous crystal ball.
