Tiny Town, Big Win: Lottery Player From Swan, Iowa, Heads To New York City
She'll Be Part of A New Year's Eve Drawing For $1 Million
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Digital audio: Interview with Chris and Randy Manuel.
CLIVE, Iowa - A lottery winner from a tiny central Iowa community will spend New Year's Eve in New York and be part of a special Powerball® drawing for a $1 million prize.
Chris Manuel of Swan is among 29 nationwide finalists for the Powerball First Millionaire of the Year® drawing. The drawing's $1 million winner will be announced live on air just after midnight EST during ABC's broadcast of "Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve with Ryan Seacrest 2023" from New York's Times Square.
"I am excited. I still think I'm being punked," Manuel said Tuesday as she prepared for her trip.
Manuel, 60, a locksmith, has had a trying yet successful year, undergoing cancer surgery and radiation treatments.
"Hopefully in February, I will find out I'm cancer free," she said. "If I would win the $1 million, I could retire early and enjoy time with my husband."
This is the fourth consecutive year for the Powerball First Millionaire of the Year promotion, and the first time since the inaugural edition in 2019 that finalists get to travel to New York City for the event.
Manuel said she's heard from nearly everyone in her Marion County community of 76 about her sure-to-be memorable New Year's plans.
"My next-door neighbor has told everybody and anybody about it," she said. "There are going to be a lot of people watching."
In 2020 and 2021, finalists in the Powerball promotion participated remotely in the New Year's broadcast and received at-home prizes of cash and entertainment packages. Iowa had two of the five finalists in the 2021 drawing.
Each of this year's finalists won an exclusive trip for two to New York valued at more than $28,000. That includes round-trip airfare; a three-night hotel stay in Times Square; two tickets to a theater performance and other iconic NYC excursions; all meals while in New York, $1,000 spending cash; and New Year's Eve festivities including a Times Square party and viewing of the iconic ball-drop.
Just after the ball drops to usher in the New Year, Powerball's First Millionaire of the Year will be announced live on the national broadcast.
Manuel said that while she and her husband, Randy, are both the "camouflage and blue jeans" type, she's gotten a manicure with dark, sparkly polish for their trip and they both went clothes shopping.
They plan to take in a lot of New York: dinner at Carmine's Italian Restaurant in Times Square, a performance of the Radio City Rockettes, a double-decker bus tour of the city, and a ferry ride out to Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty. They also plan to fulfill their grandson's request for M&Ms® in every color from the M&Ms World Times Square store.
Chris Manuel said she's the planner in their family.
"I printed up a calendar for each day, an hour calendar, and put down the times that I have things I have to do," she said. "And then I put down our free time so that we know what slots we have open to go do something else. That's the type of person I am – Plan A, Plan B and Plan C. Something's going to go wrong, but I'll figure out a way around it."
Randy Manuel, who's 61 and retired, described himself as "a totally country boy," but said he's looking forward to New York, albeit a bit nervously.
"The town of Swan's got 50 people and they said about 350,000 go through Times Square every day," he said. "I'll probably be glued to her side."
Randy Manuel said he initially thought something was wrong when his wife told him she had news to share in October. But then she said that they were going to New York.
"She told me that her name was drawn," he said. "She's pretty lucky, so hopefully her luck keeps going," he said.
Iowa and 28 other lotteries in the Powerball game participated in this year's edition of the promotion, which allowed players to enter their Powerball tickets for a chance at more winnings.
Iowa Lottery players entered tickets into the promotion from mid-September through mid-October. On Oct. 13, the Iowa Lottery selected 20 winners of $2,500 prizes along with Chris Manuel as the New York trip winner.
Manuel said that while winning the $1 million prize would be incredible, she tries to remember life's bigger picture.
"Any time you wake up in the morning, that's a good morning," she said.
During the Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve broadcast, country artist Jessie James Decker will return as Powerball correspondent for her fourth year, providing live updates throughout the evening and checking in with the finalists celebrating at a Times Square gala before revealing the Powerball First Millionaire of the Year just after midnight EST.
For more information about the Powerball First Millionaire of the Year promotion, visit www.powerballrockineve.com.
Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve and New Year's Rockin' Eve are registered trademarks of DCP Rights, LLC. All rights reserved.
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