Even though rain is forecast for Times Square this evening, where New York City’s New Year’s Eve Ball takes place every year, the program is expected to be great and history will also be made.

At 6:00 p.m. ET, the festivities begin at One Times Square – the building at the intersection of 42^nd Street, Seventh Avenue and Broadway in the heart of Times Square – where the ball is lit and lifted, accompanied by special pyrotechnic effects.

The cast of ABC’s “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve” includes Rita Ora, the Jonas Brothers, Megan Moroney, Sophie Ellis-Bextor, TLC and Carrie Underwood, while CNN’s “New Year’s Eve Live” will feature Mickey Guyton and Underwood . and Univision’s “Feliz 2025!” will feature Greeicy, De La Ghetto and Kapo.

A 400cc race will take place in New York City at 11:10 p.m. ET^Th birthday celebration — it was first settled by French Huguenots who were transported there by the Dutch West India Company in 1624 — while Guyton will perform her version of John Lennon’s song “Imagine” at 11:55 p.m. ET.

At 11:59 p.m. ET, New York City Mayor Eric Adams presses the crystal button signaling the descent of the New Year’s Eve Ball, beginning the final 60-second countdown to New Year’s Day 2025 on the One Times Square Countdown Stage .

At exactly midnight, the lights of the New Year’s Eve Ball will be turned off as the numbers of 2025 will be illuminated high above Times Square. At the same time, 3,000 pounds of confetti – including thousands of wishes from Relevelers around the world hoping for peace, love, good health and a better future – will be released from building roofs in Times Square.

Tonight will be the last night of the legendary, current New Year’s Eve Ball: it will be exhibited next year in a museum at the newly restored One Times Square.

This 26-story building opened in 1904 as the newspaper’s headquarters. The New York Times; The New Year’s Eve ball dropping ceremony has taken place here since 1907.

In 2022, Jamestown, the global real estate company that owns and manages One Times Square, launched a $500 million redevelopment of the building into a 21st century^st Visitor Center of the Century. This renovation will open much of the building’s interior to the public for the first time in decades.

Michael Phillips, director, chairman and president of Jamestown, said in an interview with Forbes.com this week that the building will provide visitors with immersive experiences; a museum displaying the current New Year’s Eve ball as well as two previous ball games; an observation deck; event and VIP rooms; and a wedding chapel that he says will be Times Square’s equivalent of City Hall, New York’s marriage bureau in Lower Manhattan that performs in-person, civil ceremonies.

He said the opening of the building’s new functions will begin next August and will continue to do so gradually until the end of 2025.

Earlier this month, Jamestown opened Times Square Island, a new Fortnite island based on One Times Square’s annual New Year’s Eve celebration, bringing Ball Drop celebrations to the over 650 million Fortnite players worldwide.