The star of the first annual The Drop has gone. The 6 foot tall script neon D used in the inaugural edition has been replaced this year by an 8-foot tall red D using the same font as a local radio station.
The Drop, now in its second year, will turn the Compuware Atrium and Hard Rock Cafe into a destination for revelers on New Year's Eve, with food, drink, music, and dancing, in addition to dropping the D.
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“The Drop was originally inspired by the core team last year with the desire to create a new tradition for Metro Detroiter’s to enjoy on New Year’s Eve,” Matthew Severson, the founder and president of Stockbridge-based Fire House Neon, created the original "D" in neon that was dropped for the first time at midnight 2011. He was originally asked to create an Old English style D for the drop until he got cease-and-desist call from the Ilitch family, which owns the Detroit Tigers. When presented with 2 pages of MLB copyright protected Old English style D's, organizers decided to reconstruct a simple script style D on the fly.