How did you ring in 2025? Did you watch a live telecast of the infamously redundant, painfully over-played ball drop at Times Square? Or maybe you traveled far and wide to be one of those attendees in person? For your sake, I hope you didn’t because our Mid-Atlantic region is home to so many one-of-a-kind New Year’s traditions that New York’s cliché ball drop can’t even hold a candle to.
Some traditions date back many years, while others are newer concepts that have quickly been adopted as community mainstays with residents. Furthermore, the vast majority of featured objects that have been traditionally dropped are far more creative and versatile than a mere ball. Because there are so many to mention, state-by-state and region-to-region, for this Flashback Friday Feature, I’m looking back at some of the most unique object drops that took place this week throughout Maryland, specifically.
Baltimore’s Disco Ball Drop
While still technically a “ball,” this homemade creation speaks to the community’s “hon” past in more ways than one. The Baltimore-based practice of dropping the large disco ball in the Hampden vicinity at midnight on New Year’s Eve began in 2011 and has since been incorporated into the preexisting Miracle on 34th Street in Hampden tradition. The event draws in thousands of spectators. Also, as an added sight to see and annual occurrence, following the ball drop, Bob Hosier (one of the event’s founders) is in the habit of running through the streets dressed as “Baby New Year.”
Easton’s Crab Drop
The community of Easton has been ringing in the New Year with an annual Crab Drop for two decades now. The event started in 2005 and is now part of the First Night Talbot free-for-the-whole-family celebration. Rich Hood drew inspiration for the idea of dropping a giant crab—symbolic of Maryland’s crabbing industry—from Bermuda’s notable Onion Drop. Suzanne Hood designed the crab, which measures eight feet across and comprises steel armature, chicken wire, and papier-mâché.
The crab is dropped twice every New Year’s Eve. There is an earlier 9 p.m. event for early birds, and a reprisal at midnight—the grand event. USA Today named the Crab Drop among the Top 10 best New Year’s Eve countdown drops in the United States in 2023.
Frederick’s Giant Key Drop
If it isn’t a giant crab, it might as well be a huge key. That’s been the New Year’s Eve scene at Carroll Creek in Frederick for over a decade. Considering how Frederick County is the birthplace of Francis Scott Key, writer of The Star-Spangled Banner, it seems only fitting. So, lo and behold, the Civitan Club of Frederick has been carrying out the tradition of dropping a handcrafted five-foot wooden “key” (a play on Key’s surname) from the William O. Lee Memorial Bridge over Carroll Creek by the C. Burr Artz Library for many a New Year’s Eve now. The wooden key they drop each year was constructed by students at the Maryland School for the Deaf.
Hagerstown’s Donut Drop
Here’s a celebratory event that has a bit more history to its credit. The annual New Year’s Eve Donut Drop in Hagerstown—a tradition dating back 80 years and still going strong. The giant doughnut is dropped in honor of the community’s famed Krumpe’s Do-Nuts. The family-owned bakery has served the area since the 1930s and remains a beloved staple.
This year’s event took place in Meritus Park in Historic Hagerstown. Festivities got underway at 5 p.m. with lots of family fun zone events and follies. The main drop and fireworks commenced at 6:59 p.m.
Havre de Grace’s Duck Drop
Did you know Havre de Grace is the Duck Decoy Capital of the World? That’s why their decision to drop a massive duck decoy every year at midnight is most befitting and creative, to say the least. This year’s event marked the 25th time the annual tradition has been carried out. Free for all to come out and attend, as always, all of the onsite activities and entertainment at Concord Point Park got underway at 10:30 p.m. While the usual accompanying fireworks display was canceled due to potential weather concerns, the duck drop continued as planned, and as always crowds “flocked” to it.
Princess Anne’s Muskrat Drop
Here’s one of the state’s admittedly weirdest New Year’s Eve traditions of all. Having started back in 2011, the famed Midnight Muskrat Drop in Downtown Princess Anne continues to draw in curious and eager spectators annually. The star object is none other than Marshall P. Muskrat—an actual taxidermied muskrat in a top hat and cape and an accompanying cane. Every December 31, Marshall makes a 30-foot dive into the New Year, and countless folks continue to gather around to watch the most unusual spectacle and join in other town-wide festivities and follies.
Marshall the Muskrat was donated by the Maryland Department of Natural Resources as a way to honor Princess Anne’s long-rooted muskrat heritage. Muskrat has even been enjoyed as an area delicacy for centuries. In addition to his New Year’s Eve incorporation, Marshall sometimes makes appearances at other area events.
Maryland certainly has its fair share of unique New Year’s object drops to consider, but other Mid-Atlantic states boast their own original ways of ringing in the New Year. Pennsylvania, for example, may be king of oddball traditions, with so many object drops to speak of, it’s nearly impossible to tally them all up to supply a viable reference.
While many of the drops currently ongoing in Maryland aren’t antiquated traditions, as of yet, they all symbolize newer traditions in the making. That alone marks them as being future classics.