Orange County Native Marks 30 Years of "Confetti Blizzard" on Times Square
CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES, December 21, 2021 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Widely known for his confetti and balloon spectaculars Treb Heining of Newport Beach will celebrate 30 years of showering Times Square with a gazillion bits of colored paper on New Year’s Eve to thrill not only the crowd below but television audiences around the world.
From their perches high atop various buildings overlooking the Square Treb and his crew of volunteers stand in readiness. Then, as the famous Ball starts to drop, and the music plays Give My Regards to Broadway, he issues the order from his walkie-talkie to the crew, “Go confetti,” and suddenly the whole sky magically lights up with confetti in an incredible array of shapes and colors.
There is no launcher or confetti canon used here. Instead, 3,000 pounds of fluffed confetti are dispersed by hand, and that’s no easy task. On New Year’s eve, Treb gives the dozens and dozens of volunteers an hour of orientation, teaching them the correct technique for dispersing confetti, He says, ”If they do it right, their arms will be sore by the end of the night.“
The volunteers come from all parts of the country because it’s an exciting opportunity and half of the crew are returnees, On New Year’s Eve, they are assigned to eight locations on top of the Marriott, the ABC building and so forth, and each has an incredible view looking down at the Ball, the lights, and all of Times Square. Treb exclaims, “I don’t care if it’s 40 below zero or windy, it’s the best seat they will ever have and the view from up there is electrifying!”
Nicknamed the “Confetti King,” Treb explains how weather predicts what mix of confetti he’ll use. His confetti is a trade secret, but he buys from various manufacturers and depending on current conditions, he mixes his recipe on site before the event.
The Times Square New Year’s Eve spectacular that exists today took years in the making. Beginning in the late 1980’s, a few dynamic people from the Times Square Business Improvement District (BID), the forerunner of the current organization, The Times Square Alliance. They had a vision to clean up the seedy conditions that existed on Times Square, and they intended to bring in new business and increase tourism. In addition, they wanted to create an annual event where families could watch the famous Ball come down the pole. Back then, the Ball was electrified by approximately 100 light bulbs screwed into the metal surface and was small enough to be put in a closet, a far cry from what it is today.
In 1992, Treb was called in to discuss effects he might do to add excitement to the Ball Drop. They knew him from balloon spectaculars he staged including the 200th Anniversary of George Washington’s Presidential Inauguration, the bicentennial celebrations for the Constitution, the Super Bowls, the political conventions, and the 1984 Olympic Games.
Treb describes their meeting as cautionary, “Confetti was the first thing that came to my mind; however, when given the tour of Times Square, it was hard for me to picture the utopia the BID officials imagined because the Square required radical transformation. Holding my breath, I agreed and went to work on something I wasn’t sure would work. When the big night came to do the first confetti drop, we literally saw it transform the Times Square area and my confetti was the icing on the cake.”
The New Year’s Eve confetti drop is now a time-honored American tradition and Treb considers it one of the highlights of his extraordinary career.
Treb Heining’s first job was at Disneyland today he designs and markets all the balloons sold at the Disney Parks. In addition to his inventions and patents of balloon firsts, he is an international businessman and various aspects of Treb’s mega businesses are structured through his four privately held corporations.
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Treb Heining; 949 637 3080
l Lynn Dorr Pedersen
Dorr Public Relations
+1 626-351-1915
dorr.pr.lynn@gmail.com
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