We don’t ordinarily associate marshmallow peeps with New Year’s Eve; that’s really more Easter territory. But for several years, the city of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, has been doing a Peeps Chick Drop to mark the transition from one year to another. It’s wacky enough that we love it, and frankly we’re going to be disappointed when Times Square drops a ball instead of a giant 400 pound yellow blob of a chicken with a stony gaze.
Bethlehem celebrates with a full-on two-day PEEPSFEST, which includes live music and a skating rink, a kids’ fun run and a grownups’ 5k. And this year there’s a special culinary reveal. The makers of PEEPS, Just Born Quality Confections (they also make Mike and Ikes!), are going to show attendees the new 2023 Peeps lineup. The event will be limited to 2,500 people and kids under the age of 13 get a free gift bag with the $5 admission fee (skating is extra).
The lineup of activities is wonderfully festive. There will be clowns (if that's your idea of festive), a kids’ disco lounge, animals, s’mores making (you can guess what the marshmallow is!), a diorama contest (we’re so in), Peeps sampling stations, a chance to take photos with the chick and with the Peepsmobile (a yellow VW bug with you-guessed-it on top), a scavenger hunt, the Leaning Tower of PEEPS, ever-popular cornhole, Giant Jenga and crafts stations.
And check this out: the 4’ 9” Peeps chick drops twice! You get two New Year’s Eves this year. The chick drops on 12/30 and 12/31 at 5:35 p.m., followed by fireworks both days. That’s pretty generous—we all would love to get a do-over, right? It’s like Groundhog Day meets New Year’s Eve meets Easter. Dick Clark would approve.