Melissa Holland tells the story of the New Year’s Eve towers lights at Ithaca College

By Marjorie Olds, as told by Melissa Holland 

A couple of times a year, my stepfather, Ted Dean, would bring work home to plan an event for his job at Ithaca College. Ted planned the setup of graduation, concerts, and the change of the Tower lights at midnight on New Year’s Eve.

After Thanksgiving, Ted would take over the dining room table for his temporary office/planning board. He had multiple drawings for the Towers, note paper, folders, pencils, ruler, yellow highlighters, big erasers, reading glasses and his cigarettes. Ted would work weeks to plan how to best switch the numbers on the Towers using windows, curtains, and desk lamps. The current year, like the ‘79’ of 1979, was created by moving desk lamps lit in windows with carefully arranged curtains, so that the lights that shined out created part of the huge numbers sparkling on the building to celebrate the new year. Back then, there was no technology to plan or carry out the simultaneous switch of numbers at midnight. It was all done by people manipulating simple items in rooms.

The first year I got to help was New Year’s Eve, December 31, 1979, when I was 10 years old. Both Towers had the numbers ‘7’ and ‘9’ lit up for the year, 1979, from inside each building. At midnight, the numbers on the Towers had to be switched from ‘79’ to ‘80’. Many people were needed to handle the multiple floors in both buildings.

Ted would prepare at home and at the office, reviewing previous years’ plans, to decide which rooms would be used and what specific curtain in the selected room to open/close, or which lamp positioned in the middle of selected windows needed to be turned on/off. He and his staff also figured out how many people would need to be on a particular floor of the Tower to make the transition run smoothly.

The goal was to make the people in Ithaca think it was a flawless automatic process. That once midnight hit and the New Year began, the light instantly changed to the new year. So, the change had to happen quickly, as if by a master switch; when in reality, it took a whole team of volunteers running from room to room at the same time, to make it look like someone flipped a switch.

We left our New Year’s Eve party around 11:30 p.m. and drove to the IC Towers. At midnight, the fire alarm (our signal) would activate, and we had to go to the assigned rooms on our floor and make the lamp and/or curtain adjustment needed, then move to the next room. Even though Ted and the staff had advised us volunteers what needed to be done, on NYE they reminded us of our assignments. And as we were heading out to our first room assignment, Ted reminded us “not to leave the dorm room doors open, to avoid the hallway lights shining into the darkened rooms!

My sister and I were assigned to work with our Mom in 1979. Mom had done the switch before, so she was our guide. We had one floor and Mommy assigned us the room to which we would each run to complete the task.

I remember I was nervous. I did not want to let my stepfather down by messing up the task he had assigned us. I am not the fastest person. Mommy assured me we would do fine. “Just remember to try to move fast, and don’t let the hall light inside be seen out the window.” We stood at the end of the hall waiting for the alarm and remembering to breathe.

After more than 40 years I cannot remember what my exact task was, but I suspect it was unplugging or plugging in a lamp. Something easy for my first assignment. We were escorted to the floors we were assigned to cover. Ted and his staff had unlocked the doors we would need to access. After the switch, we would wait for them to return, relock the doors and escort us back downstairs to the parking lot.

Ted assured us all we did a great job. Once we all gathered together in the parking lot, we could finally wish each other Happy New Year, then return back home to our New Year’s Eve party and guests.

I helped switch the lights for a few more years. The last year I helped was December 31, 1985. We only had to switch the ‘5’ to the ‘6’, so not as many people were needed. I partnered with my cousin, Kathy Love, that year.

Ted let us know we did a good job every time we helped. I would also ask the kids at school that knew I did this odd and magical New Year’s Eve custom, if they saw the changing of the year on IC’s tower. They always gave positive feedback. It was fun, but it was very nerve wracking. Nice to be part of something the town loves, but I didn’t want to be the one who messed it all up.

My stepfather worked on the event until 1987 or 1988, when he had to leave his job, due to medical issues. For a short time, thanks to my stepfather, my family got to be a part of something that was and still remains, a unique and beloved Ithaca tradition.