It’s New Year’s Eve every night for all with eyes to see.
The “Midnight Moment” in Times Square has been lighting up the tourist attraction every night for 12 years, but is enjoying renewed interest thanks to the power of social media.
As many as 70 people recently braved pouring rain to witness the art installation — which is a synchronized show across dozens of electronic billboards for just three minutes ahead of midnight that showcases the eye-catching work of rotating artists.
And much like the infamous New Year’s Eve event, the crowd counted down in unison as old-school, silent cinema-style numbers appeared on the screen before exploding into images of women dressed in mid-century garb carrying cellphones.
“It’s magical,” Nicholas Hinton, 30, who is visiting the Big Apple from London, told The Post.
“I was at my hotel and I remember seeing something on TikTok about this. So I made sure that I came out just to see it. It’s just magical.”
Mother-daughter duo Andrea, 48, and Megan Pitura, 21, were enjoying a girl’s trip from Toronto and made sure to add the Midnight Moment to their itinerary — even though it meant dragging themselves out of bed for the show despite having a 5 a.m. wake-up call.
“It was great, it was really cool. I was kinda doubting that it would even be up there,” Megan said.
“I just think how all the screens got together, all the advertisers, everything got together, everything was in sync, that was really cool, just to have the same picture, to be surrounded by the same photo,” her mother added.
The pair discovered the nightly phenomena on TikTok — which has seen a boom of videos documenting the show in recent months, inspiring hundreds to flock to Times Square and witness it for themselves.
The “world’s largest and longest-running digital public art program” began in 2012 and runs every single night — except for New Year’s Eve.
Christopher Sadowski
Renoldo Wright, the general manager for Levi’s between 45th and 46th streets estimates the surge began at the tail end of the summer, but the crowds have been strong for the past several months.
“When it got on TikTok, it increased like crazy,” Wright explained, noting that only weather deters the crowds.
Wednesday’s heavy rains likely discouraged the typical hundreds who check out the nightly show, Daren, a sanitation worker, theorized.
Times Square at midnight is usually “jam-packed” on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, he said.
“Tourists come from all over to see this. If it wasn’t raining, it’d be packed out here. They stand here and wait for it. It’s a big deal to some people,” Daren said, adding that he was “not impressed.”
The surge in crowds has not been lost on Times Square Arts, which is behind Midnight Moment, which said it noticed a “big increase in buzz around the program recently.”
“Especially in the past few months we’ve witnessed the power of social media in generating incredible buzz about the program, and more and more people are coming out to see it and sharing it online,” director Jean Cooney said in a statement.
“And you can really feel it in the plazas! When the Midnight Moment countdown clocks start at 11:57 p.m. across the screens, there is an audible hush, heads tilt up, phones instinctually raise, and with arms outstretched, thousands of people turn in circles to capture the illuminated theater above them — the iconic signs all of the sudden, magically, are in sync, as are the public audiences on the ground,” she added.
“It’s a rare moment of unity in one of the world’s busiest places and an incredible platform for artists to share their work with the world. I think it sends a powerful message that art is important in our most public spaces.”
More than 100 artists have been featured since Midnight Moment began — and Laurie Simmons’ “Autofiction: Moving Pictures, Waiting & Looking Up” is stealing the show for the month of December.
Her piece uses “AI to construct real and imagined scenes from her own life,” according to the Times Square Alliance.
“Loved it. I like the beginning, where it was all like the women who were dressed way before phones ever existed, like obviously that time period. They all had a cellphone in their hands, and they seemed somewhat distraught,” said Kennedy Hassan, who traveled with her wife, Javi, from Dallas.
“It’s gonna just be a cool and calming moment for New York, which I feel like is never happening. Even at midnight.”
The show provided the perfect opportunity for the pair to celebrate Hassan, who turned 30 the moment the show began.
Jalen Stephenson, who was celebrating his birthday at a bar down the block, was one of the few in the crowd who accidentally caught the Midnight Moment.
“I never seen anything like this. I have been in New York City my whole life and I’ve never seen this,” the East Harlem resident told The Post, adding that it was his first time ever stepping foot into Times Square.
“We came from the bar and said, let’s look at the billboards, and then we saw the three, two, one and then everything was just the same thing. Everything resonated. Boom!” his buddy, Antonio Cotto, 26, said.
“Yeah, I’ve never seen anything like this.”
