Submitted Photo This ball will be dropped to mark the end of 2024 in Fredonia.

Fredonia has plans for a New Year’s Eve ball drop at the White Inn.

The ball, crafted by artist Chuck Ruffino, will get dropped from a Fredonia Fire Department ladder truck as the final seconds of 2024 tick to a close.

Fredonia Mayor Michael Ferguson said the event is a collaboration between the village and the town of Pomfret. Ferguson said he originally suggested the ball drop for Village Hall, but Pomfret Town Supervisor Dan Pacos “made the suggestion that it would also make a nice ‘welcome back’ event for the reopening of the White Inn in the downtown core.”

Ferguson hopes the ball drop begins a new tradition in downtown Fredonia. He said event planners “will continue to make it bigger and better each year, moving it around the village from year to year,” visiting other sites downtown.

“We would like to thank Ruffino for crafting the ball we will be using New Year’s Eve,” Pacos said. “Chuck is the art teacher at Lake Shore Central School, as well as one of the original founders of the Lake Erie FX program which encourages art development in area school children.” (Pacos is superintendent of the Lake Shore school district.)

The ball has a steel frame holding backlit green and purple balls, signifying the history of the grape industry in this part of Chautauqua County.

The event begins at 11:30 p.m., and is free to attend. The Smith Bros. will play live music inside the White Inn from 9:30 to 11:30 p.m.

“We are hoping that this event will draw people downtown wherever they may be going for New Year’s Eve,” said Ferguson. “This will be designed in the future to give our business community a better chance to plan and benefit from people coming downtown to see the ball and visit not only the historic White Inn, but the many restaurants, bars and shops in the area, to welcome in the coming New Years.”