Duck Drop Changes Venue For 2019

HAVRE DE GRACE, MD — When the Susquehanna Hose Company drops a duck to ring in 2019, the festivities will be in a new location. In what has become a cherished tradition, Havre de Grace firefighters will suspend a foam duck from a ladder truck on New Year's Eve and as the clock strikes midnight, the duck will drop, followed by a fireworks show.

Traditionally, the Duck Drop has been held in the parking lot near Havre de Grace Middle School and the Havre de Grace Activity Center.

Due to the construction of the new combined Havre de Grace Middle/High School, the hose company is moving the location for the event.

This year's Duck Drop will be on the property near the Concord Point Lighthouse, according to Duck Drop Chairman Ed Grainger.

"The fireworks will be set off from a barge just off shore," Grainger said, at midnight.

Dropping a duck has been a New Year's tradition in Havre de Grace since 1999, and in recent years the duck has become symbolic. In 2011, it went red, white and blue in recognition of the bicentennial of the War of 1812. It was pink in 2012 to promote breast cancer awareness. Last year's duck drop was a tribute to law enforcement, including Havre de Grace's finest.

"...we will honor our fallen firefighter Nathan Flynn this year," Grainger said. "We will take donations at the event for his family."

Lt. Nathan Flynn, 34, who was a member of the Susquehanna Hose Company and Harford County Technical Rescue Team, died July 23 in a seven-alarm fire in Howard County, where he was also a career firefighter.

Flynn is survived by his wife and five children in Havre de Grace. There is a donation page set up for the family through GoFundMe.

SEE ALSO:

• Fallen Firefighter Identified After 7-Alarm Blaze In Clarksville
• City Shines Red In Tribute To Firefighter Nathan Flynn
• Firefighter 'Lived And Died A Hero'
• New Year's Duck Goes Pink for Breast Cancer

Image courtesy of the Susquehanna Hose Company/Ed Grainger.