Happy New Year 2024!

2024 has begun!

Read­ers, vol­un­teers, donors, sup­port­ers, on behalf of the team at NPI, please accept our wish­es for a hap­py, healthy, and pros­per­ous new year.

Below are a few of my favorite pho­tos from the just-con­clud­ed New Year’s At The Nee­dle fire­works show, which was broad­cast on KING5. Heavy fog rolled in just before the pyrotech­nics were set off, which means you can’t see the top of the Nee­dle in any of the pho­tographs. But the flip side of that is that the fog yield­ed some superbly eerie and super­nat­ur­al look­ing images. Enjoy!

About the images

These images are all live com­pos­ites… a series of pho­tographs cap­tured using the exact same expo­sure time, with each snap record­ing only new sources of light. Some pho­tog­ra­phers call this means of cre­at­ing an image paint­ing with light. Aside from being extreme­ly help­ful for cap­tur­ing fire­works dis­plays, live com­posit­ing can be used to cre­ate star trails and traf­fic trails.

About the show

This was the largest show yet in the even­t’s thir­ty-two year his­to­ry, accord­ing to a press release from the com­pa­ny that owns the Space Nee­dle.

“We are thrilled to share that T‑Mobile New Year’s at the Nee­dle will be our longest and most bril­liant show to date to ring in 2024,” said Ron Sevart, Space Nee­dle Pres­i­dent & CEO. “The Space Nee­dle and West Coast rep­re­sent the last major time zone to ring in the New Year. We’re excit­ed to see the rest of the Pacif­ic North­west join in the cel­e­bra­tion with the expand­ed broad­cast this year and hope to cel­e­brate across the West Coast in the future.”

The expand­ed 18-minute show will begin sev­en min­utes before mid­night with a per­for­mance by 500 drones illu­mi­nat­ing the skies next to the Space Nee­dle. This is the sec­ond year that Sky Ele­ments drones have been includ­ed in the New Year’s cel­e­bra­tion, adding an excit­ing visu­al ele­ment to the pro­gram. For an explo­sive main act, Pyro Spec­tac­u­lar by Souza will launch the fire­work extrav­a­gan­za from the land­mark itself. Plus, rev­el­ers at Seat­tle Cen­ter will watch the tow­er become a can­vas for the impres­sive 10-minute light shows hap­pen­ing at 10:00 PM PT, 10:30 PM PT, 11:00 PM PT, and 11:30 PM PT.

Those cel­e­brat­ing in Seat­tle are invit­ed to come watch the skies sparkle with thou­sands of spec­ta­tors at Seat­tle Cen­ter (best view­ing near the Inter­na­tion­al Foun­tain). View­ers at home can tune-in to the live one-hour broad­cast start­ing at 11:30PM PT on KING 5 in Seat­tle, KGW 8 in Port­land, and KREM 2 in Spokane. Those watch­ing the show in the sur­round­ing area can tune in to a live simul­cast of the sound­track on HITS 106.1 in Seattle.

This marks the 11th year T‑Mobile has been the pre­sent­ing spon­sor of New Year’s at the Nee­dle. The Space Nee­dle will be illu­mi­nat­ed in magen­ta, the company’s dis­tinc­tive trade­mark col­or, on Decem­ber 30th and 31st as a pre­cur­sor to the T‑Mobile New Year’s at the Nee­dle celebration.

“T‑Mobile is ready to bring on 2024 with anoth­er incred­i­ble New Year’s at the Nee­dle!” said Mike Siev­ert, T‑Mobile CEO. “For the 11th year, we’re excit­ed to cel­e­brate this spe­cial tra­di­tion and the Un- carrier’s com­mit­ment to our home­town com­mu­ni­ty. And with hun­dreds of drones light­ing up the icon­ic Seat­tle sky­line, I can’t imag­ine a bet­ter way to ring in the new year together!”

Be safe and have a won­der­ful New Year’s Day!