Tuesday, June 01, 1999
Tristate must wait until 2001 to party like it's 2000
New Year's Eve will still rock this year, planners say
BY PHILLIP PINA
The Cincinnati Enquirer
While Cincinnati's big New Year's aspirations have fizzled, organizers are determined to ring in year 2000 with a blast.
Years ago planners talked about a 1,000-foot monument in Newport and downtown Cincinnati streets filled with revelers and entertainers. The Tristate was in for a party it would remember.
NEW YEAR'S EVE EVENTS
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• Cincinnati Museum Center
AAA's New Year's Eve bash includes two bands, dinner, dancing and admission to museums for 1,200 guests. Cost: $150 a person. Contact: AAA Cincinnati, 762-3250.
• Dr. Albert B. Sabin Cincinnati Convention Center
Radio station WIZF's (100.9-FM) Millennium 2000 celebration. Up to 6,000 can attend a massive party and concert in the ballroom and exhibit halls of the downtown convention center. De tails, price and entertainment are being finalized.
• Music Hall
Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra concert. Details are still being worked out for a special celebration.
• American Queen
Week-long riverboat cruise departing from New Orleans with a captain's ball and fireworks to welcome in the New Year. Costs range from $1,809 to $4,815 a person. Contact: AAA Cincinnati, 762-3250.
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The monument has not been built. And the Cincinnati party, modeled after First Night celebrations held in 218 other cities, has been put off. Despite the setbacks, party organizers are saying this New Year's Eve will be a memorable one.
A local radio station is planning a massive party at the downtown Cincinnati convention center. Fireworks may go off along the Ohio River. And a towerless Newport plans to ring in year 2000 with a big bell.
“Sure, the media hype is all for Year 2000,” said Jay Downie, a Cincinnati event organizer with a hand in several projects, including a possible First Night celebration for future New Years. “But we want to do this right.”
And after all, the new millennium actually doesn't start until 2001, he said. The extra 12 months should give organizers of a First Night, or First Night-like event, the amount of time needed to pull off such a large undertaking.
The parties take months — sometimes years — to organize, said Zeren Earls, president of First Night International. Boston's celebration, for example, uses 45 buildings, from churches to bank lobbies, as performance spaces and galleries. Then the talent must be lined up and have the time to prepare their shows, she said.
While the most glaring shortcoming of the former big hopes of party throwers is the lack of a Millennium Monument, Northern Kentucky officials are still dreaming big. The World Peace Bell, at 33 tons and billed as the largest swinging bell in the world, is being shipped to the Tristate this summer — it arrives July 30 from New Orleans — and will be rung to welcome in the New Year.
The festivities might include a day-long celebration, said Joe Bride, vice president of marketing and public relations for Millennium Monument Co. in Newport.
Organizers want a peace ceremony to start off the day, perhaps followed by a street fair and fireworks display, Mr. Bride said.
Meanwhile, there Elsewhere in the Tristate, a number of celebrations are being planned, from a gala gathering for more than 1,000 at the Museum Center to a party for 6,000 at the Dr. Albert B. Sabin Cincinnati Convention Center downtown.
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