Borrego Sun - Since 1949

At 6 p.m. local time, celebrations were already well under way for the ball to drop in a fully packed Times Square, but our Christmas Circle and the surrounding area was all but silent.

Both restaurants at Rams Hill and La Casa del Zorro were filled to capacity with fine diners, and soloists sang and played guitar or bowed a violin, respectively. In formal, comfortable settings, folks were enjoying a relatively quiet evening. Up at the Big Horn Restaurant and Saloon, the 3-women, 2-men band "Haywire" had adults and kids dancing during a buffet-style dinner.

But dinner and dancing all but ended in Borrego around 9 p.m. At the stroke of midnight at Times Square, turning 2019 into 2020, the ball dropped on time, and folks went appropriately wild. And here, Borrego Midnight brought an enthusiastic, overflow crowd of celebrants at Carlee's to their feet; the band "Exit" was rockin' a packed house, and folks were dancing and kicking up their heels to help usher in a New year.

"Born on the Bajou" and the long version of "Ride Sally Ride" set the tone. Tom Papa George's full vocal range was on display while he played bass, Blair Davey went postal on electric guitar, Tommy Hanks kept up the beat with a fine drum set, and Mike Grossman played a mean keyboard and meaner harmonica. The dancers, including Borrego Sun contributing writer Ernie Cowan and wife of 15 years, Kati, showed great stamina out there on the dance floor. And for those folks who ordered the steak and lobster dinners, those calories were long burned up by the stroke of midnight.

Whether it was a quiet dinner at one of our fine dining establishments, or rockin' the house at Carlee's here in Borrego, it was goodbye 2019, hello 2020 nice to meet you.