Just about the only thing that's dropping on New Year's Eve is more bologna

It's been a stinker of a year.

Even as the time approaches to ring in 2021, there won't be much ringing being done.

Because of the pandemic, no fireworks at Penn’s Landing in Philadelphia, and no Mummers Parade on Broad Street. Harrisburg and Pittsburgh are holding virtual celebrations.

Even in the smallest of Pennsylvania's communities, most traditions are canceled — no Hershey kiss drop, no Papier-Mache pickle will fall to the ground in Dillsburg.

As luck would have it, though, bologna is still on the agenda for New Year's Eve, as it was for most of 2020. Lebanon's giant bologna will make its appearance, but don't get the kids in the car just yet. Access is limited.

The drops don't seem like enough. It feels like 2020 should end with a bang, a visual exclamation point that declares: It's over, folks!

Reloadable mortar might be the answer. 

That's what Joe VanOudenhove recommends as a way to set the year on fire in a backyard New Year's Eve. He's the managing partner of Sky King Fireworks, which has several locations in Pennsylvania.

The mortar, finale and repeaters all use one fuse to put on quite a show, he said. 

VanOudenhove won't be setting off any finales in his own backyard, though, because it's been a good year for the fireworks business, despite slowdowns in production and shipping. He's a busy guy.

"We’ve seen people drive from New Jersey to Erie just to buy fireworks," he said. "They just wanted to get out of the house."

To keep people safely at home, grand fireworks won't light up Philadelphia's Dec. 31 sky, nor will they shine above Harrisburg. 

But Sin City has a plan to blow up 2020 in style.

It's called Kiss Off 2020, to be aired live online with a 2020 sign lighting up on the Las Vegas strip, then blowing up.

“Although many visitors from around the country and the world will not be able to join us in person to turn the calendar, this virtual event will allow us to share our enthusiasm and excitement with Vegas fans near and far as we look toward a brighter 2021,” said Steve Hill, president/CEO of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, in a news release. Watch it at 11:45 p.m. Dec. 31: visitlasvegas.com.

"Let's live 2021 with twice the energy, twice the fun," a Tweet from the Vegas visitors' center said.

John Oliver already blew up the year during his final show of 2020. With a few expletives thrown in, he pushed a button and exploded the year. (It actually feels good to watch it.)

“Let tomorrow be about solutions. Today is about vengeance,” Oliver said, after calling 2020 "an absolute parade of misery."

Oliver appeared to be on a construction site for his stunt, and in Pennsylvania, consumer-level fireworks are legal on private property. All good things come with a warning, though. As Twitter lit up about the Vegas event, one Tweet reminded the universe of the great whale explosion in Oregon 50 years ago that didn't go so well.

Here it is...

(Happy New Year!)

Kim Strong can be reached at kstrong@gannett.com.