For the first time in several years, Island residents looking to welcome the New Year with dancing, champagne and yes, fireworks, need look no further than Edgartown. Hoping to usher in a new tradition along with 2012, the Harbor View Hotel will sponsor a fireworks show over the Edgartown harbor, with attendees at the hotel’s New Year’s Eve party having a prime view of the display.

New Year’s traditions have waned on the Island, said Elizabeth Rothwell, director of marketing and events at the Harbor View. The hotel once hosted a New Year’s Eve dinner, but that tradition stopped several years ago, she said.

The Tisbury Volunteer Ambulance Association ended its long-running Last Night/First Day event in 2009.

“We’ve never done anything like this before,” Ms. Rothwell said, with the hotel staff scrambling to prepare for the event after the idea emerged in a brainstorming session just a few weeks ago. The hotel would like to make the fireworks an annual event, she said.

Alongside the fireworks, the hotel will host a party from 9 p.m to 2 a.m. on Dec. 31, with hors d’oeuvres and a complimentary champagne toast at the strike of the new year. The Sultans of Swing with Joanne Cassidy and Justin Beech will provide music for the dance floors, and the Edgartown Room will feature tunes spun by deejays Di and Ricky Prime.

Tickets are $75 per person. The event is for people 21 years old and older; semi-formal attire is required.

The hotel also will offer special rates for the night: $245 at the Kelley House and $295 at the Harbor View. The cost includes two tickets for the event and an overnight stay, with a 2 p.m. checkout the following day.

Henry’s restaurant will offer a $48 three-course prix fixe dinner menu. On New Year’s day, Water Street restaurant will offer a $38-per-person brunch, with music provided by Jeremy Berlin.

At first, fireworks seemed like a “crazy idea,” Ms. Rothwell said. But the fireworks company, Atlas, which also stages the Fourth of July show in the harbor, already had familiarity with the terrain. Earlier this month, the Edgartown selectmen approved the proposal, as well as the idea that some of the $1,500 application fee for the fireworks show could go toward paying for any extra fire patrols.

“Having this party will hopefully help other businesses in town, as well as provide a little something for the community,” Ms. Rothwell said.