But you may not have heard about the dropping of the sausage, or the gumbo pot, or the giant Peep, an 11-kilogram fibreglass replica of the famed marshmallowy candy made in Pennsylvania.
TripAdvisor.com has assembled a list of these and other quirky New Year's Eve events to create a top 10 list of wacky things that get lowered on Dec. 31 around the country to mark the arrival of the new year.
The Peep show is in Bethlehem, Pa., marking the third time the city has dropped the illuminated treat from a crane at midnight as part of a family-friendly First Night celebration.
Also in Pennsylvania, in the town of Lebanon, a 2.3-metre edible bologna made by the Weaver-Kutztown Bologna Company is lowered at midnight and then donated to area charities.
In Key West, Fla., there are three such countdown celebrations: a conch shell lowered on a pole to the roof of Sloppy Joe's Bar, the lowering of "Drag Queen Sushi" in a two-metre-tall shoe at the Bourbon Street Pub, and the descent of a costumed pirate "wench" from a schooner in the harbour.
In Port Clinton, Ohio, the self-proclaimed "Walleye Capital of the World" drops a six-metre, 272-kilogram fibreglass walleye fish at midnight.
In Elmore, Ohio, there's a sausage fest, inspired by a local business,Tank's Meats. A lit-up 5.5-metre sausage drops to welcome in the New Year, but there's also a sausage toss and a sausage-eating contest.
Mount Olive, N.C., has a pickle drop with a metre-high glowing pickle plunging down the Mount Olive Pickle Company's flagpole into a tank.
Raleigh, N.C., lowers a massive copper acorn weighing 567 kilograms from atop the city's civic centre as part of a First Night event.
A giant gumbo pot is lowered in New Orleans to mark the New Year, along with fireworks on the Mississippi.
In Easton, Md., a giant crab is what gets lowered as part of a First Night celebration, and in Plymouth, Wis., it's a great big hunk of cheese - though not an edible hunk.
