While millions of partygoers watch the ball drop in Times Square to ring in the New Year, Vicksburg residents will be able to see a giant chicken nugget splash down into a vat of Chick-fil-A sauce when the clock strikes midnight Wednesday.

Dropping the six-foot foam nugget from a 25-foot bucket crane outside the Halls Ferry Road restaurant will culminate a New Year’s Eve event at Chick-fil-A. Organizers hope to create a family atmosphere for people in the area to celebrate the start of a new year.

The event, which starts at 5 p.m., will also feature inflatable games, eating contests and business booths.

Like all good nugget drops, this one will spark a laser show to begin immediately after the faux nugget hits the concoction of fake Chick-fil-A sauce on the ground.

It’s a tradition that has been passed on to Vicksburg from Atlanta, where for 10 years the original Chick-fil-A restaurant dropped a nugget like the ball in Times Square to officially mark the New Year.

The Vicksburg location will be only the second to host the nugget drop with hopes of expanding the occasion throughout the southeast.

“They actually passed the nugget on to us to where we actually have their nugget. A goal of ours is to basically start something among the Chick-fil-A community to expand this to where the nugget will drop in Vicksburg, the nugget will drop in Atlanta and the nugget will drop in Louisiana,” Chick-fil-A marketing director Alvin Foster said. “Basically, we’ll be unified on an evening by having the nugget drop.”

A scaled down version of the event will happen at 9 p.m. for families with children who don’t want to stay up until midnight.

Admission to the nugget drop is free, but the restaurant will be selling $10 wristbands that will provide full access to all games and a boxed meal. Five-dollar wristbands can be purchased as well for those who want to just play in the inflatable games.

Money raised during the event will go to help raise awareness for WinShape Camps — a set of retreat-style camps for elementary school children established by Chick-fil-A founder Truett Cathy in 1985. Vicksburg’s edition of the WinShape Camp is hosted by Crossway Church

“It’s a five-day camp for grades 1 through 6. They have different activities,” Foster said. “They have cheerleading, archery, basketball, dance, gymnastics, theater and painting. (There are) just different activities they can do to basically learn different skills. This entire event is set to raise awareness and raise support for WinShape Camps.”