While New York City famously marks the start of a new year with the slow descent of a 12,000-pound Waterford crystal ball, other cities have taken a zanier approach: Boise, Idaho, drops a giant potato; Lebanon, Pennsylvania, lowers a slab of bologna; and Port Clinton, Ohio, releases a walleye.

Maryland communities have also adopted their own wonderfully wacky twists on the tradition. Steeped in local customs, the events draw large crowds, gin up civic pride and make a glittering ball drop in the heart of Times Square seem almost boring.

Here are the stories behind some of Maryland’s quirkiest New Year’s Eve celebrations:

Princess Anne: Muskrat dive

The small Eastern Shore town of Princess Anne rings in the new year with Marshall Muskrat, a taxidermied rodent outfitted in a dark green top hat and celadon cape.

Marshall used to glide down Somerset Avenue on a zip line, but when the mechanism froze, a NASA engineer devised the current setup for his descent: a 30-foot telescopic pole equipped with confetti cannons and a digital countdown clock.

“It’s hokey and strange, but that is what’s so wonderful about it,” said Carrie Samis, the manager of Main Street Princess Anne, who describes herself as Marshall’s handler. “If people are looking for a memorable New Year’s Eve, this is it.”

Muskrats have been central to the Eastern Shore’s hunting, trapping and culinary traditions for centuries. With the Manokin River flowing through Princess Anne, the marsh-dwelling, buck-toothed rodents practically live in the heart of town. Marshall serves throughout the year as a town mascot, appearing at schools, on postcards and alongside Samis during her legislative trips to Annapolis.

The annual celebration, which Samis called the town’s signature event, highlights a number of other local customs. Revelers feast on nearly 400 slices of Smith Island cake. A local waterman shucks oysters harvested from the Tangier Sound. Downtown restaurants offer special menus, featuring oyster sandwiches and crab balls.

The festivities draw as many as 800 people to the town of about 3,500, according to Samis.

“It’s very weird and spectacular,” she said, “and it gives us an opportunity to to bring folks to our town who might not have otherwise stopped through.”

Havre de Grace: Duck drop

Hundreds of onlookers line Concord Point Park at the head of the Chesapeake Bay for Havre de Grace’s midnight duck drop, which honors the Harford County city’s waterfowl hunting tradition. The duck is an 8-foot-long, 5-foot-high foam replica of a redhead, backed with a wooden frame and decorated with lights. It descends 100 feet as revelers fill the air with duck calls and fireworks erupt from a barge.

The event began in 1999, when council member Richard Tome suggested the city host a special celebration for the new millennium. What was supposed to be a one-time occasion will mark its 25th anniversary Tuesday night. When Tome died in early 2021, the council observed that he “was instrumental in championing the annual Duck Drop.”

Ed Grainger, a firefighter with the Susquehanna Hose Company, has been involved since the beginning. Each year, his department lends a ladder truck to suspend the duck. Grainger also crafted the current duck after previous models were damaged by wind and fireworks.

“That’s my New Year’s,” Grainger said. “When people say, ‘What do you do for New Year’s?’ I say, ‘Well, I drop a duck.’”

Waterfowl have long been synonymous with Havre de Grace. The waterfront city of about 15,000 anointed itself “The Duck Decoy Capital of the World” after serving as a home for generations of duck decoy makers. Once used by hunters to lure waterfowl, today’s decoys are more often art pieces and collectors’ items.

For the all-volunteer Susquehanna Hose Company, organizing the duck drop is another way of community-building, Grainger said. “As soon as the countdown gets going and you hear all the duck calls, it’s a very warm feeling to look out and see everybody.”

Hagerstown: Doughnut dunk

In Hagerstown, the year ends with a celebration of local businesses, as a 6-foot fiberglass Krumpe’s doughnut dunks into an oversized AC&T coffee cup.

The tradition began over a decade ago with a social media post from a Hagerstown marketing firm, which was seeking ideas for a New Year’s Eve celebration. Many of the replies suggested honoring a Hagerstown institution: Krumpe’s Do-Nuts, a family-owned confectioner that opened in 1934.

Krumpe’s operates a wholesale business that supplies doughnuts to convenience stores and gas stations around Western Maryland, as well as a late-night retail shop that is open in the city from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m.

“When people come into the doughnut shop, the expression on their face and how that donut makes them feel is really empowering to me,” said Max Krumpe, the business’ fourth-generation manager.

Beginning at 9 a.m. on New Year’s Eve, a crew of four or five family members prepares 5,000 glazed doughnuts to distribute at that evening’s event. Free hot chocolate and coffee are also served, while a DJ plays live music.

This year, the celebration is moving from the downtown clock tower to the city’s new baseball stadium, where a digging company will help lower the doughnut with a crane. To keep the event family-friendly and accessible to children, the doughnut drops at 6:59 p.m.

“We didn’t necessarily want to have a party scene,” Krumpe said. “We just wanted it to be a family-friendly, community-friendly atmosphere.”

Other ‘drops’

Elsewhere in Maryland: Easton will host a crab drop, Frederick will lower a key and Rock Hall will drop a fish.

Putting its own spin on New York City’s event, Berlin, Maryland, will host a ball drop at 6 p.m., coinciding with when the clock strikes midnight in Berlin, Germany.