(Radio Iowa) – An Iowa woman and her husband from the small town of Swan south of Des Moines will be in New York for a special one million dollar Powerball drawing. Chris Manuel of Swan is among 29 nationwide finalists for the Powerball First Millionaire of the Year drawing on New Year’s Eve. The winner will be announced just after during A-B-C’s broadcast of “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve” from Times Square. The 60-year-old Manuel is a locksmith who has undergone cancer surgery and radiation treatments — and says says the money would be a big boost.

“I see retiring early you know, I still got another year and a half but if I would win the money and I could retire a year early and enjoy this time with my husband,” she says. 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 win, and she expect them to be watching. “My next door neighbor who I know she has told everybody and anybody about it so yeah there’s gonna be a lot of people watching,” she says. Manuel’s husband Randy says he thought it was going to be something bad when she told him she had something to tell him.

Chris & Randy Manuel

“She told me that her name was drawn. You sure? That’s what they said. She wasn’t sure either….I mean she’s pretty lucky so hopefully her luck keeps going,” he says. Each of this year’s finalists receives an exclusive trip for two to New York valued at more than 28-thousand dollars that includes round-trip airfare; a three-night hotel stay in Times Square; two tickets to a theater performance and other iconic excursions; all meals while in New York, one-thousand dollars spending cash. 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 at 11 p-m Iowa time.