17 Days From 8's Big Night

Yesterday we heard the "8" which will create the "2008" sign that millions will see in person and on screen during the New Years Eve Rockin' Eve extravaganza...was reduced to take mass transit to Times Square. This number is a true New Yorker! The Daily News has some quotes from its fellow straphangers and handlers:

"It's not every day you ride with an 8," said the 30-year-old from Rego Park, Queens. "It's going to be the first thing I mention when I get to work."

"It's exciting," said Karl Kowalzik, 56, Landmark's project manager, who helped maneuver the numeral in and out of the trains. "Who else could say they've taken a No. 8 for New Year's on the subway? It's a first."

It's hard enough to lug groceries on the subway, could you imagine carrying a 500-lb number? Not to mention one with 180 light bulbs that one probably doesn't want to shatter. The good news is that "8" made it to Times Square safe and sound, where it will be on display at the Information Center through the 19th.

Photograph of Landmark Signs & Electric workers, wearing green jackets, preparing to lift a 500 lb., seven foot tall numeral "8" up to the Elder Street station subway platform in the Bronx borough of New York as the numeral is transported by subway to New York's TimesSquare for public display, by Tina Fineberg/AP