“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.
“I picked the one with no year so I can use it again next year,” Saravia said.
“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 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 the skies, which were threatening to drop heavy rain on an estimated 1 million attendees.
“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.
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 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.”
“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.”
