The City of Pharr rang in the New Year's nearly 8,500 attendees, according to a news release. 

The city held their second ever New Year’s ball drop on Sunday. The crowd of 8,447 people was higher than the amount of attendees in last year’s ball drop, which had 6,000 people attend.

The city spent $175,000 on the free event, which included the city's first-ever drone light show, a live band, a laser show and fireworks.

The ball drop was paid for with funding set aside in the city's budget for special community events.

“Anytime you get these kinds of events, and you get that many people in your city, it's going to have an economic impact because they're going to come out and see the amenities that you have,” Pharr City Manager Jonathon Flores said. “The city of Pharr has a lot of amenities for the public for whoever's visiting or residing. We wanna highlight that, so hopefully people come back to the city of Pharr and do business here.”

The city plans to hold another ball drop to ring in 2025.