A new New Year's Eve celebration is on tap in Union Square to say goodbye to 2016.
Phillipsburg is kicking off a new tradition on New Year's Eve 2016, with a nod to its industrial past and symbol of its future.
A celebration is planned 11 p.m. Saturday to 12:30 a.m. Sunday in Union Square, and it features the dropping of an historic steam whistle from the Phillipsburg Fire Department's hook-and-ladder truck, according to information updated Wednesday on the town's website.
The whistle sounds at midnight just prior to the drop.
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It had been used for decades to signal shift changes at Ingersoll-Rand, now a brownfield slated for redevelopment along town's border with Lopatcong Township.
"When I first had the idea about New Year's Eve in Union Square my fire chief and I thought about dropping everything possible: a steel train wheel, a section of ductile pipe and even lowering Suzy Stateliner down from the hook-and-ladder truck," Mayor Stephen "Rogie" Ellis said in a text message Wednesday.
The whistle came to mind as a symbol representative of the entire town, Ellis said.
Planning is underway to build a 4-million-square-foot, eight-warehouse complex on Phillipsburg's share of the former I-R tract, known as Commerce Park.
In addition to Ingersoll-Rand, the five railroads that used P'burg as a transportation hub blew whistles like this one some 50 times a day, according to Ellis.
"Then they all fell silent," Ellis wrote. "This New Year's signifies that the whistle will blow again in the form of the renaissance of our beloved Phillipsburg, NJ."
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The party is planned on the grassy area and sidewalk at Union Square, in front of Jimmy's Hot Dogs and Free Bridge Wine & Spirits.
Entertainment is planned from Don Cunningham and his band doing a Bruce Springsteen tribute, with a disc jockey spinning tunes between sets.
Kurt Bresswein may be reached at kbresswein@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @KurtBresswein. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.