Thousands expected for fourth annual Las Cruces Chile Drop

New York has the Ball Drop. Atlanta has a Peach Drop. For the fourth year in a row, our very own Las Cruces has the Chile Drop.

The verdict is in: This year’s chile pepper was both red and green, or “Christmas” colored!

“Las Cruces now claims it as its own,” said Russ Smith, with the Downtown Las Cruces Partnership. “We’ve learned how to party.”

ABC-7’s own Kate Bieri was the grand marshal of the Chile Drop this year. Earlier in the night, everyone asked the question: would the chile pepper be red, green, or Christmas colored?

“I would choose green,” said Dennis Sanchez.

“I think it’s red,” said Laura DeLeon.

For the first time ever, social media users heavily influenced the color of the chile pepper. Smith said voters overwhelmingly chose one color.

“That one choice, we’ll honor it,” Smith said. “We’ll make our chile glow at midnight honoring that.”

The rigging of the crane holding up the child pepper supports eleven thousand pounds. The chile pepper itself is between three and four hundred pounds, said Richard Weaver, owner of Weaver’s Crane Service in Las Cruces.

“The countdown is loud and the mystery of the color is a lot of fun,” Weaver said. “I don’t even know.”

The event was from 8 p.m. to 12:30 a.m. in the Las Cruces plaza.