Friday, April 16, 1999
World Peace Bell starts world tour
Voyage begins from France to Newport
BY TERRY FLYNN
The Cincinnati Enquirer
NEWPORT — The journey begins today for the World Peace Bell. It leaves Nantes, France, where it was cast, to slowly make its way across the Atlantic Ocean and up the Mississippi and Ohio rivers to its Newport home.
The bronze bell, at 66,000 pounds the largest swinging bell in the world, will be placed in a shipping container to make the trip by freighter from France to the United States. With some stops along the way, the ship will arrive in New Orleans in about two weeks.
Joe Bride, spokesman for the World Peace Bell/Millennium Monument project, said the huge bell will be taken to a warehouse in New Orleans, where some final touch-up work will be completed.
It will remain there until the July 4 weekend, when Kentucky
Gov. Paul Patton; businessman Wayne Carlisle, who is responsible for the bell's construction; and numerous dignitaries will take part in an official U.S. dedication.
“The plan is to unveil the bell on July 2 (Friday), and have it on display during the weekend in a boat on the Mississippi River near the city's Riverwalk,” Mr. Bride said. “On Sunday afternoon (July 4), there will be an official dedication ceremony and a big fireworks display.”
The barge carrying the bell will begin the final leg of the trip to Newport on Monday, July 5. Mr. Bride said the bell could make as many as 12 stops along the Mississippi and Ohio rivers so people in other cities can view it.
The first stop will be at Baton Rouge, La., where the bell will receive a salute from a retired U.S. Navy vessel anchored there. Other possible stops as the barge heads north are Natchez and Vicksburg, Miss.; Memphis, Tenn.; Cairo, Ill. (where the Ohio joins the Mississippi); Paducah, Ky.; and Louisville.
The bell is expected to arrive in Newport in early September, well ahead of the Tall Stacks riverboat celebration on the Ohio River in early October.
It will be placed in a specially constructed steel and glass pavilion for permanent display at Fifth and Monmouth streets. The bell is intended as one part of the planned Millennium Monument tower development, and will be rung to herald the new millennium on New Year's Eve.
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