Celebrate New Year's Eve Mountain Style at the 16th Annual Possum Drop in Brasstown North Carolina

Times Square may have that famous ball and Key West has a conch shell, but Clay's Corners in Brasstown North Carolina will once again ring in the New Year with the one and only 16th Annual Possum Drop.

Home of the internationally acclaimed John C. Campbell Folk School, Brasstown is a picturesque community in the mountains of Western North Carolina.

Clays Corners is a local landmark that has gained national recognition in the last few years for hosting the midnight Possum Drop.

The family-friendly, no alcohol event takes place on December 31. Festivities begin at 10 PM with a blessing by a local minister, followed by live music and the ever-popular womanless beauty pageant dubbed the Miss Possum Contest.

Just before midnight, a live possum is put into a glass cage, then slowly lowered from the roof of Clay's Corners as the crowd counts down to the New Year.

After an article about the local festivities appeared in the New York Times in 2004, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals filed a last-minute lawsuit to stop the lowering of the possum. That year, according to host Clay Logan, he substituted a "nice roadkill" - washed him up, blow dried him, and sent him on the famous one-way trip.

The following year, Logan obtained 1 federal and 3 state permits, and the possum arrived in a limousine!

This year's Possum Drop celebration will begin at 8:45 with a preshow by the Barker Bros. There will be bluegrass music and a performance by the Little Brasstown Church Choir. At 10 PM, the possum will be presented to the crowd and the beauty pageant Possum Queens of the last 10 years will make a special appearance as part of this year's pageant.

For more information and directions to the Possum Drop, visit www.Clayscorner.com or call 828-837-3797. It's worth a visit to the website just to see the video highlighting past celebrations in a slide show with Dueling Banjos playing in the background!