Editing Pensacola, Florida (section)

===Pelican Drop===
The Pelican Drop was a [[New Year's Eve]] celebration that took place each year in downtown Pensacola. At the ceremony, an aluminum [[pelican]], the city's mascot, was dropped instead of the typical New Year's ball. The event included live music and fireworks. From 2008 to 2018, The Pelican Drop was a significant attraction in the area, drawing in crowds of up to 50,000 local residents and visitors, making it one of the largest [[List of objects dropped on New Year's Eve|events of its kind]] in the [[Central Time Zone (North America)|Central Time Zone]]. In 2014, the event was named as one of the top-20 events in the Southeast by the Southeast Tourism Society.<ref name="fox10" />

====History====
The First Pelican Drop New Year's Celebration took place in 2008. The ''[[Pensacola News Journal]]'' released an article stating that the Pensacola Community Redevelopment Agency was planning a new kind of New Year's Eve celebration, to be held at the [[Plaza Ferdinand VII]] and broadcast live on [[WEAR-TV]]; beginning with the 2017 celebration, events were carried in simulcast on WEAR's website. Almost 45,000 people showed up for the event, including residents of Mobile, Alabama (which hosts its own competing drop, a [[Moon Pie]]), [[Milton, Florida]], [[Navarre, Florida]], and [[Destin, Florida]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Visit South No Longer Exists But Travel Sweepstakes Are Still Here |url=https://www.compassmedia.com/visit-south/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130205164859/http://visitsouth.com/articles/article/pensacola-pelican-drop-pensacola-fl/ |archive-date=February 5, 2013 |access-date=December 28, 2021 }}</ref>

In December 2019, organizers announced that the Pelican Drop had been canceled due to financial issues and the burden the event had caused on local police and public services. A smaller fireworks display, which does not require the same amount of traffic disruption, would be held, instead.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Beninate |first=Renee |date=December 30, 2019 |title=Fireworks, but no Pelican Drop, for this year's NYE celebration in downtown Pensacola |url=https://weartv.com/news/local/fireworks-but-no-pelican-drop-for-this-years-nye-celebration-in-downtown-pensacola |website=WEAR |access-date=December 28, 2021 |archive-date=December 28, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211228195827/https://weartv.com/news/local/fireworks-but-no-pelican-drop-for-this-years-nye-celebration-in-downtown-pensacola |url-status=live }}</ref>

The pelican was made and designed by Emmett Andrews LLC.<ref name="buildbird">{{Cite news |last=Ross, Rebecca |date=December 7, 2008 |title=Build-a-bird |pages=E1 |work=Pensacola News Journal |location=Pensacola, FL |url=https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/pnj/access/1693232761.html?FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&date=Dec+7%2C+2008&author=Rebecca+Ross&pub=Pensacola+News+Journal&edition=&startpage=E.1&desc=Build-a-bird |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130131170955/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/pnj/access/1693232761.html?FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&date=Dec+7,+2008&author=Rebecca+Ross&pub=Pensacola+News+Journal&edition=&startpage=E.1&desc=Build-a-bird |url-status=dead |archive-date=January 31, 2013 |access-date=November 23, 2011 }}</ref> Made of polished aluminum and decorated with over 2,000 lights, the bird had a {{convert|17|ft|adj=on}} wingspan and is {{convert|12|ft}} high.<ref name="fox10">{{Cite news |last=Scheurich, Hal |date=December 31, 2010 |title=Pensy Pelican readies for New Year drop |work=Fox10 TV |agency=WALA-TV |url=http://www.fox10tv.com/dpp/news/local_news/pensacola/pensy-pelican-readies-for-new-year-drop |url-status=dead |access-date=November 23, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120405133656/http://www.fox10tv.com/dpp/news/local_news/pensacola/pensy-pelican-readies-for-new-year-drop |archive-date=April 5, 2012 }}</ref>