NEW YORK - On the 100th anniversary of the Times Square ball drop, hundreds of thousands of revelers jammed the area Monday night to watch the giant crystal ball slither down a flag pole and usher in the new year.

A century ago the tradition began with a 700-pound ball of wood and iron, lit with 100 25-watt incandescent bulbs.

This year's event features an energy-efficient sphere clad in Waterford crystal, with 9,576 light-emitting diodes capable of generating more than 16 million colors.

Crowds gathered hours before midnight despite temperatures in the 30s.

Diana and David Sutton, of Fort Myers, Fla., and their three young children had been waiting since 10 a.m. for the big event.

They bought plastic chairs at a nearby Toys “R” Us and bundled up with Spider-Man hats as they waited.

“It's such an experience,” David Sutton said. “The kids are behaving; they're loving this. They've never seen snow before, and they got to see that, too, earlier this week.”

Milwaukee resident Jennelle Joset and her mother, Wanda Bowers, had been standing around since 1 p.m., wearing hats with big plastic wheels of cheese to show their Wisconsin pride.

“It's on my bucket list,” Bowers said. “I had to do this once, to see it once before I die.”

The person chosen to push the button to make the ball cascade down the 77-foot flag pole atop 1 Times Square was newly minted police officer Karolina Wierzchowska.

Wierzchowska, who was to share the stage with Mayor Michael Bloomberg, is a Polish immigrant who worked at ground zero after the 2001 terrorist attacks, served with the National Guard in Iraq and was valedictorian of the latest Police Academy class.

As part of the now familiar post-Sept. 11 security preparations, a large swath of midtown Manhattan around Times Square was blocked off to drivers in the late afternoon.

The area also was closed to air traffic, except for police helicopters.

Thick crowds bustled on avenues east and west of the area, and traffic on open streets was moving slowly.

Workers welded shut mailboxes, trash containers and manholes in the blocks around Times Square.

Additional security was provided by plainclothes officers mingling in the crowd, bomb-sniffing dogs and police sharpshooters stationed on rooftops and in trucks.

There were strict rules for revelers: no alcohol, large bags or backpacks - and no re-entry after leaving the viewing area. The few public restrooms were closed by the afternoon.

Chase Pellegrin, 18, his sister Chandler, 13, and their parents were steps away from their hotel but didn't want to lose their viewing spots.

“I'm just not drinking anything. No water, nothing. I don't want to worry about it,” said Chase Pellegrin, of Covington, La., located on the opposite side of Lake Ponchartrain from New Orleans.

The entertainment lineup included Dick Clark, Carson Daly and Ryan Seacrest handling hourly countdowns to 2008, with musical performances by Lenny Kravitz, Kid Rock, Jordin Sparks, Carrie Underwood, Miley Cyrus and The Bravery.

The Times Square Alliance, the business group running the event, had balloons and a ton of colorful confetti on hand to be scattered into the urban canyon at the stroke of midnight.

The confetti included pieces of paper with the new year's wishes and resolutions of people who submitted them in advance.

A small army of sanitation workers was on call to sweep up the more than 40 tons of party hats, noisemakers and paper streamers that end up on the streets after the event.

The first celebration in the area, in 1904, was held by New York Times owner Adolph Ochs, who was building a new headquarters in the neighborhood.

The city had just renamed the oddly shaped square in the newspaper's honor, and at midnight Ochs had pyrotechnists illuminate his new building at 1 Times Square with fireworks shot from street level.

Three years later, when the city banned fireworks, Ochs brought in an illuminated iron and wooden ball, to be lowered from the building's flagpole at midnight.