Scores of vendors from across the city descended on Midtown Manhattan on Tuesday ahead of the New Year’s Eve ball drop, selling merch by the minute and even revealing one of the places they get the quirky goods.
“My mom talked with family here, and they say, ‘Go to the factory on Flushing Avenue and Knickerbocker Avenue’ [in Brooklyn]. We bought all the stuff there,” said a 15-year-old boy who only gave his first name, Bladimir, as he ran a stand filled with New Year’s hats, glasses and balloons on the corner of 50th Street and Sixth Avenue in Manhattan with his mom, Maria, 39.
The pair of migrants said they came from Ecuador earlier this year and have been selling mango slices in Central Park since their arrival — but decided they would be going for the big money Tuesday, peddling hats for $10 and glasses for $5.
“We started one hour ago — we sold 51 hats and 62 pairs of glasses,” the teen said. “It’s a good spot. It is going to be [a] very long day today, so we started a little later.
“We were on the train around 10 a.m. from Brooklyn,” he added. “The spots filled up very, very quick. Later we will move closer [to Times Square].”
Dwayne Hibbert, 60, a chef who originally hails from Jamaica and has lived in New York City for the past 30 years, was hawking hats, glasses and noisemakers on the corner of 48th Street and Sixth Avenue.
“This entrance is the best,” he remarked, noting his location is near the subway line for the Times Square ball drop crowd. “We came early.
“This isn’t our first time, but the people from Brooklyn, the people from Queens, the people from the Bronx — they show up a little later, and the spots are taken.”
The Manhattan resident noted he embarks on the side hustle for extra cash during the holidays.
“Everybody needs extra dough now,” he said. “We also sell these earmuffs because at night when it gets cold, people start looking for anything to warm up. Last night, we did OK — [but] tonight, we’ll do a lot better.”
Guatemalan tourists Telma Saravia and Jose Corado were some of the vendors’ patrons, purchasing two New Years’ hats for $10 each near Radio City Music Hall.
“I picked the one with no year so I can use it again next year,” Saravia said.
“We bought these so that we could remember our visit here to New York. We came to see the show, the Rockettes. We are just staying here for one night,” the tourist said.
The couple said they were unsure about whether they’d be able to make it to see the ball drop – not because of the whopping crowds already gathered in Times Square but for weather, which was threatening to drop heavy rain on an estimated 1 million attendees.
“If the weather is good, we will see the ball drop tonight,” Saravia said.
