BANGOR – Tobin and Martina Slaven’s four children, ages 4 to 9, lifted their little faces to the sky. Their sleepy eyelids defied gravity Saturday night as the Bangor family watched and waited for 2006 to arrive.

High above their heads a big green ball wrapped in white lights rocked on the edge of the roof, teasing the crowd below. A man lifted the huge sphere above his head and held it tight, as the new year crept closer.

The sound of honking paper horns and noisemakers drowned out the radio station’s DJ, and the countdown hit five before most of the revelers caught up and joined in.

“Four. Three. Two. One.”

Gov. John Baldacci, along with Bangor Mayor John Cashwell III, chucked the huge ball over the side of 26 Main St. on the stroke of midnight. It plunged to the sidewalk below as white confetti fell like paper snow from the rooftop.

Hugs and kisses were exchanged and “Happy New Year” was shouted as an estimated 1,000 people took part in Bangor’s laid-back version of the Times Square ball drop in New York.

Elise Butterfield of Clifton had to be in West Market Square since her son, who lives in Portland, was standing in Times Square for a more crowded and elaborate ball drop.

“We probably have a better view than he does,” she observed.

She and her friends Lori Trundy of Clifton and Amanda Libby of Masardis had dinner and went bowling before they headed to downtown Bangor adorned in sparkly 2006 headbands, noisemakers ready.

“It was very exhilarating and refreshing to wish in 2006 with an enthusiastic hometown Bangor crowd,” the governor said as he and his wife, Karen Baldacci, headed back to the Blaine House in Augusta.

Last year, Bangor lawyer Stephen Smith instituted the city’s first low-budget New Year’s Eve affair on a whim. He threw a big, purple beach ball covered with white Christmas lights from the roof of 26 Main St., while 200 to 300 people gawked from the square below.

Smith, whose home and office are located in the building best known as the home of Sweet’s Market, was so pleased with the turnout that he decided to put more planning into the event to make it bigger and better.

Radio station WKIT promoted the event and set up a remote broadcast on a downtown sidewalk. Bangor police closed off Main and Broad streets shortly after 11 p.m. and the homegrown, tongue-in-cheek event took on the feel of a tradition as a crowd slowly filled West Market Square.

Although Father Time did not make an appearance with the governor, he did attend the New Year’s party earlier in the evening at Bangor Public Library.

Christian Doiron, 12, of Bangor, dressed as Father Time, was escorted to the library’s masquerade party by his parents, Pam and Ken Doiron, disguised as Secret Service agents. With him was a round-faced Baby New Year, played by his 10-year-old sister, Cara Doiron, who carried the face of “Granny Old Year” on her chest.

The event was held to mark the 100th year the library has offered children services, Barbara McDade, library director, said Saturday. The library held a similar event in 2001 to welcome in the millennium.

“The library is a community center, so when’s a better time for us to be a community center than now?” she asked.

The event drew more than 300 people of all ages and featured face painting and crafts for children, and music on all three floors. The lecture hall was transformed into the Stardust Ballroom with round tables and a tiny dance floor. A portable planetarium, set up in the Reading Room, displayed the stars that can be viewed in the first months of the new year.

The Slaven family attended both events.

“We really, really appreciate it,” Tobin Slaven said a few minutes after midnight, as he herded his sleepy children toward home. “The city did a lot.”

Jason Drost and his entourage of friends, however, missed the big moment by seconds. Drost, a native of Lincoln, was in town visiting friends and family from North Augusta, S.C. They left a party a few minutes too late to see the big ball fall.

Drost vowed he would be back next year, as long as he could find “cheap airfare.”

Smith, too, promised he would be on the roof to welcome in 2007.

“Next year, a bigger ball and more lights,” he said, emerging from the building to survey the crowd as people rushed through the cold toward warm beds at home.

“That’s always the key – a bigger ball and more lights.”