A yearly tradition is to touch and get a photograph with the ball after it drops at 6 p.m. — which is midnight in Germany — at Silvester in Harmony on New Year’s Eve on Saturday, Dec. 31, 2022. Justin Guido/Butler Eagle

HARMONY — You know an event is successful if folks are smiling and having fun despite a chilly, gloomy drizzle.

Harmony Silvester, the borough’s German-themed New Year’s Eve celebration, was held from 3 to 7 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 31.

Happy participants wore hoods, hats or carried umbrellas as they traversed the borough while shopping, eating or participating in the event’s activities.

Adults participated in the annual Christmas Tree Toss behind Harmony Museum, where competitors flung a pine tree onto a course to try and get the farthest distance.

Derek Papakie, of South Fayette in Fayette County, tossed the ungainly projectile twice.

“I’ve never thrown a Christmas tree before,” Papakie said of his decision to pay $5 for two tosses. “It sounded fun.”

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