Wednesday, December 29, 1999
Newport prepares to let New Year ring
BY TERRY FLYNN
The Cincinnati Enquirer
The World Peace Bell in Newport will ring in 2000.
(Craig Ruttle photo)
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NEWPORT — While all around it, workers labor to complete the final touches before Friday's Ring In 2000 Grand Finale here, the World Peace Bell hangs quietly and waits to officially ring in the New Year.
All eyes in downtown Newport near the Campbell County Courthouse will be on the 33-ton bell, hanging in a glass-and-steel pavilion, when Gov. Paul Patton pushes the button to activate the bell's electric motors just before midnight.
“It takes 22 seconds for the bell to gain enough momentum to ring with its clapper,” Southbank Partners Executive Director Wally Pagan said Tuesday.
Officials of Southbank and the Millennium Monument Co. expect as many as 15,000 peo ple in the block bordered by York, Monmouth, Fourth and Fifth streets when the bell rings publicly and officially for the first time with its 7,000-pound steel clapper.
Actually, the bell was tested several weeks ago with no fanfare. It worked perfectly, and no glass was shattered in nearby buildings, as some had feared might happen.
The celebration, expected to attract 50,000 people, begins at 6 a.m., when the bell will be rung — with a striker located on one side — to herald the new year in Tonga. Every hour thereafter, it will ring for another time zone, culminating with midnight here.
During the day Friday, a number of events are scheduled. An International Children's Festival will run from noon to 5 p.m. in a heated tent.
At 5 p.m., admission to the area will require a $5 entry pin, available at The Party Source, Kentucky Haus Crafts and Thriftway locations.
Celebrants can enjoy food, drinks and entertainment.
At 11 p.m., the Grand Finale will begin, with fireworks surrounding the 54-foot-high pavilion. Miss America, Heather French, will lead the crowd in “Let There Be Peace On Earth” and will sing “Auld Lang Syne” after the bell rings.
The Rozzi family will then set off fireworks from four locations: York Street near the bell; rooftops on Fifth Street and Monmouth; and the aquarium construction site at Third and Monmouth.
There will be limited on-street parking near the bell; officials are urging visitors to either ride TANK and Southgate Shuttle buses or park at Newport Central Catholic High School and ride shuttles.
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