Atlanta New Year's Eve gala the 12th annual Peach Drop was the most successful year ever with 100, 000 people packing Underground Atlanta and the downtown streets for the Southeast's largest New Year's Eve celebration.
Bill Ciccaglione, General Manager of Underground Atlanta, said, "This event was the best ever!!! We reached a record attendance and everyone in the crowd was very pleasant and seemed to enjoy this special time with their family and friends. The activities and entertainment throughout the day and evening was outstanding. I thank our presenting sponsor Ingles, Bayer Aspirin, WXIA, Z93, V-103, Air France, Chick-fil-a Peach Bowl and the AJC for their sponsorship support of the Peach Drop 2002."
The existing Peach Drop crowd was joined by all of the football fans from the Peach Bowl, which was over around 11pm. They arrived just in time to chime in for the countdown. Atlanta Firefighter and 2000 Courage Award recipient, Matt Moseley "dropped the peach" this year in celebration of the New Year and in remembrance of the lives lost on September 11th.
Moseley received the Courage Award on April 28, 2000 in honor of the 1st year anniversary of his heroic efforts during April 1999's seven-alarm fire at the Fulton Bag and Cotton Mill, where he helped save the life of crane operator Ivers Sims during a seven-alarm fire. After the dissension of the 800- pound peach, a beautiful eruption of fireworks lit the Atlanta skyline in a perfect finale to a great evening!
The 16-hour celebration began in Kenny's Alley at noon as all Underground Atlanta merchants, restaurants and vendors kicked off the festivities. There were many activities for all ages including softball fast pitch, magicians, balloon artists, mimes, a moonwalk, talking robots and much more. The streets were not only filled with people, but also tons of great live music from artists such as Sugar Hill Gang, Supermatic, Masque, Nattie Love Joys and Three Dog Night.
