BOISE, Idaho — New Year's Eve in Boise features a giant potato that will fall out of the sky, this marks the tenth year of the Idaho Potato Drop in downtown Boise.
This year our event is getting some worldwide coverage as CNN sent a crew to cover the Idaho Potato Drop, we got a chance to meet the father-daughter team of Gary and Lindsay Tuchman.
"Every year on our New Year’s show that is hosted by Anderson Cooper and Andy Cohen my daughter and I go to some great place in the United States to celebrate New Year’s," said Gary.
Gary and Lindsay have a say in where they want to go and they have been to several places including Times Square in New York, Niagara Falls, last year it was Puerto Rico, but this year they chose Boise, Idaho.
"We like to have unique experiences," said Lindsay who works with Scripps, our parent company. "Everyone knows about the ball drop in Times Square, but we want to show the places where Americans are also celebrating that are a little different."
The giant potato with wings that drops out of the sky is certainly unique and I will let these professionals explain because they can do it better than I can.
"It’s not a real potato, they don’t make potatoes that big," said Gary. "It is made of fiberglass, has lasers and 10,000 LEDs and it is a cool thing to do, that is why we are here."
"Yeah I imagined it was big in my head, but then when we showed up and stood next to it you can’t even get the whole thing in a picture," said Lindsay. "We were kind of amazed to see that, being here together is really fun, our family is watching at home and it is just a really cool thing to do."
The potato isn't the only thing unique about the celebration in Boise, the Onslaught Crew hosts an urban air competition on a 28-foot gap jump they built themselves with snow from Tamarack.
Justin "Juice" Kennedy was excited to get more exposure with CNN in town, it's the only competition of its kind using a wench to pull skiers into the feature bringing the magic of the mountains down to the valley.
"Boise has gone global this year to over 200 countries I've heard," said Juice. "Boise is on the map."
The Idaho Potato Drop also features live music leading up to midnight, fireworks with the potato drop, a party atmosphere and good food.
New Year's Eve is a special time, for some of us, we want to keep the momentum going after an amazing 2022.
"Our year has been so great," said Amanda Casey who moved to Idaho this year and will experience her first potato drop. "The kids are doing good in school, everybody has been healthy and it has been wonderful."
For those who had a rough year, the new year symbolizes a fresh start and optimism for a better 2023.
"In 2022 we had a lot of issues, a lot of health issues, but we are looking forward to 2023," said Rita Fell. "We are going to be healthy, wealthy and wise."
Happy New Year from our team here at Idaho News 6!
