It isn't New Year's in Havre de Grace until a giant duck drops from a 103-foot fire tower, announcing the coming year with a colorful bang.
"This is my New Year's since 1999, other than two years that we didn't have it," Ed Grainger, of the Susquehanna Hose Co., said about the city's annual Duck Drop, which is coming up Wednesday night to welcome 2015.
The local tradition, which attracts people from far beyond the city's borders, is scheduled to start at 9 p.m. at 451 Lewis Lane, the grounds of the Havre de Grace Activity Center and Middle School.
The duck has often marked meaningful local or national events, with a red-white-and-blue color scheme to honor the Sept. 11 terror attacks or pink colors in keeping with the city's focus on breast cancer awareness.
This year, "the color is going to be new and we are not going to reveal it until that evening," Grainger said.
Susquehanna Hose Co. helps organize the drop along with support from the City of Havre de Grace. The fireworks are also set up by another local committee.
Besides the falling duck, the event will feature music by DJ Jeff Thompson. Susquehanna Hose Company's Ladies Support Committee will serve hot chocolate.
Those camping out will also be glad to hear that, for the second year, portable toilets will be provided at the senior center.
"Last year we did that for the first time and it seemed to work out fine, just because we are on the middle school property," Grainger noted about the lack of nearby bathrooms on New Year's Eve.
Although the fireworks have had a pink theme for breast cancer awareness or a green theme for children's cancer awareness in previous years, he said this year's fireworks will probably be fairly standard.
Grainger said the Duck Drop can be counted on to draw a large crowd, with people coming from as far as Pennsylvania and Virginia.
"We really don't get a good count because when we set up at the middle school, people can park anywhere," he said, noting there are usually cars visible from far away.
"Now that we have the music, I think we get a lot more people to come in, because Jeff does such a good job getting the crowd going," he said.
While the event originally used a wooden mallard, that duck fell apart, and the organizers now use the replacement duck every year, only switching out the colors, Grainger said.
About nine or 10 regulars from the Susquehanna Hose Co. help make the drop happen, he said.
The Duck Drop seems likely to stay a unique Havre de Grace tradition for years to come, and it goes on rain or shine.
"We have done it in pretty much everything," Grainger said. "Last year was beautiful; one year the wind really hurt us because it broke one of the numbers."
Barring strong winds, the show will go on again this year.
"Rain, snow, sleet or hail, we basically put it on," Grainger said. "We always look forward to it."