All you need is confetti

There they were, maybe a million strong, and they were all singing, “All You Need is Love.”

That alone would have been a sight for almost anyone, but it was especially amazing and poignant to Treb Heining as he directed his trademark confetti drop for the Times Square New Year’s Eve countdown. It was the year 2000, and despite doomsday predictions from too many crackpots that the world’s computers would all shut down, New Yorkers and all those countdown-loving tourists stood there defiantly reveling in the moment as they do every year. Each hour, as a new nation or part of America celebrated a countdown, the ball would drop and Heining and his troops would hurl confetti from neighboring rooftops. When it was London’s turn, the Beatles classic rang out and the crowd joined in with the Fab Four’s refrain as one.

“It’s amazing when you get a whole crowd of people on the same wavelength,” the Newport Beach man said, recalling the memory with amazement. “A lot of people can’t remember where they were last year on New Year’s Eve, but I can tell you exactly where I was the last 18 years, and hopefully for the next 18 years. I’ll be doing this as long as they’ll have me.”

Judging by the praise Heining receives from his boss, that’ll be a long time.

“He is Mr. Calm, Cool and Collected,” said Tim Tompkins, the president of the Times Square Alliance, the business district that sponsors the annual New Year’s Eve party in midtown Manhattan. “He’s such a very cool, organized team player. You want that — it’s one less thing to worry about.”

Heining got his start in the crazy business of mega-party special effects when he was 15 selling balloons at Disneyland. Now known as the father of balloon decorating, he started a company in the late ’70s as word spread about his elaborate balloon displays. There have been many highlights since then, including the opening ceremonies of the 1984 Olympics, Academy Award nights, GOP national conventions and the Times Square New Year’s Eve shows each year.

About the mid-1990s, Heining turned over the New Year’s Eve balloon job to another expert, Danny McGowan.

“I’m known as the Balloon Man, but I didn’t want to have the distraction so I called Danny and he handles it,” Heining said.

The New Year’s gig came to him after a call from the Times Square Alliance to help with balloons for a welcome-home parade for Desert Storm veterans. He worked with the same organizers on the 200th anniversary of George Washington’s inauguration in New York, so when they decided they wanted to spritz up the Times Square countdown they knew who to summon for help. At that time, Times Square was poised for a renaissance as years of high crime had left the area mostly open to only peep shows and adult bookstores. Ultimately, they cleaned up Times Square and the New Year’s Eve show has regained some of its past glory.

Heining and his volunteers, who he joking calls his “confetti dispersal engineers,” stand on nine buildings around Times Square and hurl the confetti. They number about 100 each year and 40 to 50 are regulars who keep coming back.

“We have to start saying no or turning people down in July or August,” he said. “It’s become a thing people really want to do.”

Who can blame them? They get a great view from about the seventh or eighth floor, a place to retreat to for warmth when necessary and the camaraderie of friends they see sometimes once a year, he said. It’s almost like a convention.

Heining doesn’t use machines to launch the confetti because he worries it might break down or an electrical outage might shut things down. Because of the unique “bow-tie” of buildings around the square it’s just more efficient to fling the confetti from the rooftops, he said.

“There really aren’t machines that can deliver the quantity as fast as we need it,” he said.

Tompkins continues to marvel at Heining’s engineering.

“In some ways it’s a complex thing, and in some ways it’s the most basic thing here amid all the technology,” Tompkins said. “There are so many new technological advances like the bright new LED ball, and then there’s this old-fashioned technology of simply folks manually throwing confetti out at Times Square. It’s great and a wonderful effect.”

This year he promises a new twist, as there is every year, but he won’t dish on the surprise because he wants to keep it that way.

Each year of the celebration has its own personality, Heining said. He can vividly remember the countdown after 9/11.

“New Yorkers came out in droves that year and came out early,” he said. “The spirit that year was unbelievable. It was like the whole city came out.”

This year he expects will also be momentous as the country anticipates a new president. Times Square was the site of some of the most memorable spontaneous demonstrations of joy when Barack Obama was elected president.

“This will definitely be a year of a lot of revelry in the square. People are really ready to celebrate,” he said. “We need this release more than ever. It’s a time to say goodbye to ’08 and hello to ’09.”