New Year’s Eve 2023 In Ellicott City: Fireworks, Masquerade Ball, Dueling Pianos

HOWARD COUNTY, MD — Kick off New Year's Eve with a magical stroll through the annual Symphony of Lights at Merriweather Post Pavilion. Fireworks will be at 7 p.m.

The Collective's New Year's Eve Party features a live performance by the Bachelor Boys Band, a champagne toast to the New Year and a countdown to midnight. It will take place at The Collective - Encore in Columbia.

Turf Valley Resort will be hosting Through the Looking Glass New Year's Eve celebration at its Ellicott City location. Dress up in themed or cocktail attire. There will be live music, interactive hosts and drinks.

Celebrate New Year's Eve at The Barn & Lodge in Columbia with a sing-along by NYNY Dueling Pianos and a four-course family-style dinner. Doors open at 8 p.m.

Wear a glamorous outfit and attend the New Year's Eve Cocktail Queens Masquerade Ball at Oversea Distillery in Columbia.

Manor Hill Tavern will be hosting a New Year's Eve event at its location in Ellicott City. The day's events start off with a 10 a.m. brunch, chef's specials from 5 to 11 p.m., live music from 8:30 to 11:30 p.m. and a champagne toast at midnight.

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 adopted iterations of the ball drop — the Chick Drop in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania and the giant Potato Drop in Boise, Idaho, for example.

The end of one year and beginning of another is often celebrated with 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 history of New Year’s resolutions dates back 8,000 years to ancient Babylonians, who would make promises to return borrowed objects and pay outstanding debts at the beginning of the new year, in mid-March when they planted their crops.

According to legend, if they kept their word, pagan gods would grant them favor in the coming year. If they broke the promise, they would fall out of God’s favor, according to a history of New Year’s resolutions compiled by North Hampton Community College New Center in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.

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 myriad 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 and a plan to meet the stress and discomfort of changing a habit or condition.