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Release Date: Dec 28, 2011
New York, N.Y. -- The co-producers of Times Square New Year’s Eve -- Times Square Alliance and Countdown Entertainment -- invite the public to say farewell, once and for all, to those bad memories of 2011 and welcome a fresh start to the New Year at the fifth annual Good Riddance Day. On Wednesday, December 28 from Noon to 1 p.m., New Yorkers and visitors can shred, dump, pummel and discard depressing memories on the Broadway Plaza between 43rd and 44th Streets.
For this New Year’s tradition, Cintas is providing one of its secure, mobile shredding trucks in Times Square for participants to watch their funny, bizarre and heartfelt bad memories of 2011 get shredded into pieces. Participants are welcome to shred anything from a picture of an old flame, to pink slips or a bad tax return. Katie Selman of Tampa, Fla.-- the grand prize winner of Cintas’ recently completed Good Riddance Day online contest -- will lead the way by shredding military deployment papers for her husband. She is wishing “Good Riddance” to long military deployments so that her five children can see their father more often.
A dumpster will be on-site for any un-shreddable items, and a sledgehammer will be available for participants to smash away bad memories. The public can also write their worst funny, outlandish and depressing memories from 2011 on stationery provided on-site.
Recent Good Riddance Days welcomed scores of people lining-up to shed and shred everything from disappointing report cards to divorce papers to fattening foods they’d sworn to renounce – anything with a bad memory from the previous year. This year, Cintas will award the most creative entry with an iPad2.
Among the memories people were most anxious to discard in recent years:
- Images of a recently-removed appendix
- A 30-year mortgage, finally paid off
- A picture of a demonic boss
- Failed test scores from a disappointing CPA exam
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A photo of a woman put through the shredder by her ex-fiancée
“New Year’s is about starting anew, but it’s also about letting go of the past. Every year brings new trials and tribulations, and 2011 was no exception, especially given the economy, which is why we’re encouraging people to get rid of anything bad before ringing in the New Year,” said Tim Tompkins, President of the Times Square Alliance. “In Times Square, we do everything big, which is why we’ll be shredding, pummeling and obliterating a whole year’s worth of unwanted detritus in order to begin 2012 with a fresh perspective and clean slate.”
“Good Riddance Day is a great way to put 2011 behind us, and begin celebrating the anticipation of a new year and new beginnings in 2012,” said Jeff Straus, President of Countdown Entertainment.
As the winner of Cintas’ recent Good Riddance Day online contest, Katie Selman also received two roundtrip airfare tickets and a five-night stay at Wyndham Garden Hotel – Times Square South, two VIP passes to an exclusive pre-viewing of the Waterford Crystal Times Square New Year's Eve Ball, two tickets to Madame Tussauds New York, two tickets to Broadway shows Godspell and Rock of Ages as well as Off-Broadway’s Freud’s Last Session, a ticket package to Ripley’s Believe it or Not!, ticket package to experience THE RIDE, ticket package to Discovery Times Square, and dinner for two at Dave & Busters and Planet Hollywood.
For more information about Good Riddance Day or to submit a bad memory online, visit www.TimesSquareNYC.org.
Please note that Good Riddance Day is a symbolic event intended for shredding, dumping or destroying single memories or ideas. It is not a mass shredding or disposal event, and we are unable to accommodate requests to shred large amounts of paper material.
About Times Square New Year's Eve
The Times Square Alliance and Countdown Entertainment are the organizers of Times Square New Year's Eve. The Times Square Alliance works to improve and promote Times Square so that it retains the energy, edge and distinctiveness that have made it an icon of entertainment, culture and urban life. Countdown Entertainment, which represents the owners of One Times Square, and the New Year’s Eve Ball, is a marketing management and consulting services company specializing in the Times Square area.
About Cintas Corporation
Headquartered in Cincinnati, Cintas Corporation provides highly specialized services to businesses of all types primarily throughout North America. Cintas designs, manufactures and implements corporate identity uniform programs, and provides entrance mats, restroom supplies, promotional products, first aid, safety, fire protection products and services and document management services for approximately 800,000 businesses. Cintas is a publicly held company traded over the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the symbol CTAS, and is a component of the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index.