Throngs expected in Times Square for annual New Year's Eve bash amid tight security

Cynthia Falu, from Dover, Del., celebrates New Year's Eve at noon with her children in Times Square in New York, Thursday, Dec. 31, 2015. Around 1 million people are expected to converge on Times Square for the annual New Year's Eve celebration. This year's festivities will also be attended by nearly 6,000 New York City police officers, including members of a specialized counterterrorism unit. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig) (The Associated Press)

Police officers gather at the southern end of Times Square to receive their assignments for New Year's Eve in New York, Thursday, Dec. 31, 2015. Around 1 million people are expected to converge on Times Square for the annual New Year's Eve celebration. This year's festivities will also be attended by nearly 6,000 New York City police officers, including members of a specialized counterterrorism unit. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig) (The Associated Press)

NEW YORK – Revelers are starting to fill New York City's Times Square in the hours before the famed ball drop.

An estimated 1 million people are expected to be there before midnight, despite a year of headlines about extremist attacks.

Nearly 6,000 police officers will patrol Times Square, some in civilian clothes and many heavily armed.

Those who showed up early in Times Square shrugged off the safety concerns and expressed relief at the temperatures, which are expected to stay well above freezing.

The party begins with musical acts, including Charlie Puth, Demi Lovato and Carrie Underwood, and ends with fireworks and the descent of a glittering crystal ball from a rooftop flagpole.

The first partygoers arrived in the famed intersection around sunrise, prepared to camp in place until midnight.