Where To Celebrate New Year’s Eve 2024 In Havre De Grace, Across Harford County

HAVRE DE GRACE, MD — Ring in the New Year at one of several events being held across Harford County.

The highly anticipated New Year's Eve Duck Drop, complete with fireworks, will start at 10:30 p.m. at Concord Point Park. A DJ will be on hand for the event's 25th anniversary.

Here is a look at some additional events happening in and around Havre de Grace:

• A New Year’s Dance hosted by the Sons of the American Legion Squadron 47 in Havre de Grace will start at 8 p.m. with a light meal until 8:30 p.m. and a cash bar all night. Music lasts until 1 a.m. with a champagne toast at midnight.
• New Year's Eve Fun Run and Walk starting at 10 a.m. hosted by Charm City Run in Bel Air. The run will start at the store, located at 126 South Main Street.
• Noon Year's Eve celebration at the Bel Air Library in meeting rooms 1, 2 and 3, and at the Abingdon, Whitehall and Whiteford library branches starting at 11:30 a.m.

In the United States, one of the most popular New Year’s Eve traditions is the dropping of the giant ball in New York City’s Times Square. Other U.S. cities have their own versions of this celebration, such as the Peeps Chick Drop in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, and the giant Potato Drop in Boise, Idaho.

The transition from one year to the next is often marked by the singing of “Auld Lang Syne,” a Scottish folk song whose title roughly translates to “days gone by,” according to Encyclopedia Britannica and History.com.

The tradition of New Year’s resolutions dates back 8,000 years to ancient Babylonians, who made promises to return borrowed items and repay debts at the beginning of the new year, which was in mid-March when they planted their crops.

• Related: What New Year’s Resolution Did You Keep? How Did You Do It? [Patch Survey]

According to legend, if people kept their word, the pagan gods would grant them favor in the coming year. However, if they broke their promises, they would lose favor with the gods.

Many secular New Year’s resolutions focus on imagining new, improved versions of ourselves.

The failure rate of New Year’s resolutions is about 80 percent, according to U.S. News & World Report. There are many reasons, but a big one is they’re made out of remorse — for gaining weight, for example — and aren’t accompanied by a shift in attitude or a plan for coping with the stress and discomfort that comes with changing a habit or condition.