New Years Eve in Fincastle

Fincastle has an interesting way of ringing in the new year.  Actually, they do "ring" in the new year!

There are four churches and the courthouse with bell towers that ring the village.  Folks go up in each of the towers and as the new year approaches, they ring the bell in each tower one by one every 12 seconds or so.  It goes in the same order until the stroke of midnight when the bell on the courthouse rings out the old year.

This year the ring pattern will be:
2    two rings
0    ten rings
1    one ring
10  ten rings

Then they will play taps and ring in the new year:
2    two rings
0    ten rings
1    one ring
1    one ring

The crowd usually gets a little antsy during this and doesn't pay proper attention to the details.

Next a guy fires off a shotgun and all the bells at all the places ring for 15 minutes or so.  sometimes there are fireworks as well, just a couple of blasts to bring in the new year.  This all happens a block from the sheriffs office so the pyrotecnics need to be discreet or hit and run.

Beverages people carry to the corner are ignored for the most part by the local constabulary, I've never seen anyone arrested at the event.