Throngs of children stood in anticipation to usher in the New Year without breaking their bedtime at Imagination Station’s New Year’s Eve Eve bouncy ball drop.
Following the 2022 theme, 22,000 bouncing balls were released at 2:22 p.m., as about a thousand children clamored to catch the bouncy balls as they bounced in every direction.
“My personal favorite part is the build up and the excitement that comes around the ball drop,” said Dan Clements, the Education Manager for the Imagination Station. “It gives us an opportunity to talk about science and physics, and things bouncing. It’s a lot of fun.”
Amy Doyle, who came down from Fenton, Michigan to enjoy the bouncy ball drop at Imagination Station with her family concurred with Mr. Clements, “The kids got very excited when they all just started bouncing all over.”
This is the fifth year the science emporium has hosted the controlled madness of the bouncy ball drop, which is a play on the New Year’s Eve Time’s Square ball drop.
Kids had the opportunity to play with noisemakers, assemble custom 2022 foam glasses with glue, and even had the opportunity to make their own bouncy balls with the supervision of the helpful folks at Imagination Station.
In addition to the ball drop, Imagination Station added a ballplosion event this year 22 minutes after the original countdown. Trash cans filled with playpen balls then had liquid nitrogen poured into the bottoms of the trash cans, causing so much pressure that the trash cans exploded the balls all over the audience with a loud thundering boom.
Once the scene was safe, kids happily cleaned the area of all the playpen balls.
“It’s a big demonstration that really shows off what we do here at Imagination Station,” said Mr. Clements, talking about the allplosion part of the New Year’s Eve Eve event.
A newcomer to the event, Selena Snyder, of Detroit, came with her son Titus, a four year old who had been able to collect 20 bouncy balls during the ball drop.
Snyder summed up the afternoon saying, “It’s lots of fun, and [Titus] really enjoyed the crafts too.”
First Published December 30, 2021, 11:25 p.m.
