TIFTON, Ga. — When 2018 comes to a close, Tift County Commissioner Melissa Hughes wants to celebrate the new year with a southern spin on the New Year’s Eve tradition of dropping the ball at midnight.

She wants to drop a giant gnat.

It’s an idea partly inspired by Georgia festivals, such as The Possum Drop, held in Tallapoosa for New Year’s Eve.

“I really want to do this,” Hughes said. “We have surrounding counties that do things like this. Tifton is a larger county than some of them.”

Tentatively titled Gnat Fest Drop, it would take place New Year’s Eve, culminating in the dropping of a gnat ball or gnat sculpture at the stroke of midnight in front of the county’s Administration Building on North Tift Avenue.

“It’d be something catchy,” Hughes said. “People are always talking about after you pass Macon, it’s the gnat line.”

Of course, no community event happens without a group of people behind it, and Hughes wants to get a committee together to start planning the event out in time for New Year’s Eve.

“I’d like to get a social committee together, schools, the college, all on board to help,” she said.

For the actual design of the gnat, Hughes wants to hold a contest and open it up for high school and college students and see what designs they come up with.

“If I can find someone to come up with a form for the gnat, we can do it,” said Hughes. “We can definitely do it by Dec. 31.”

For more information, contact Melissa Hughes at 229-326-0241 or melissa.hughes@tiftcounty.org.