Coplay Saengerbund is hosting an early New Year’s Eve celebration - 3:30-7 p.m. - at the club, 205 S. Fifth St.

The ballroom is expected to be packed with couples enjoying a late-afternoon gathering and listening to polka music by the Emil Schanta Band.

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Elsewhere in the borough, restaurants will be crowded with diners enjoying chefs’ holiday specials. Others will celebrate at home.

New Year’s Day is observed in many homes with a pork and sauerkraut dinner, a custom that invokes good luck for the year.

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Although there is no snow yet, children are surely looking forward to sleigh riding, these days with plastic tubes. The hill at the borough parkway, on the west side of North Second Street, provides the youngsters a great hill for fun.

Years before the parkway was there, children then glided down with sleds on Stone Alley, between Cherry and Maple streets, and Lehigh Street, between South Second and South Front streets.

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With the month coming to a close, garbage collection is scheduled for today, Dec. 27. Recycling pickup is Dec. 28.