Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, December 9, 1994 TAG: 9412100043
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ALMENA HUGHES STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
"You can get a necklace, too," Wright informed attendees at a news conference Thursday. "All entrants in the Midnight Run At 10 will get one."
Wright, head of the race committee, was touting Roanoke's first New Year's Eve one-mile and 5K foot races, which will be among several new events Dec. 31 during the fourth annual First Night Roanoke celebration.
The Rev. Kirk Brown confined his neckwear to a basic clerical collar as he spoke about another First Night first: an all-you-can-eat spaghetti supper to be held at St. John's Episcopal Church, where he is associate rector. Brown said that half of the meal's $5 fee will be given to First Night Roanoke and its umbrella organization, Festival In the Park; the other half will go to Habitat for Humanity.
"You can begin your evening with spaghetti and end it with confetti," Brown quipped.
The annual alcohol-free event has grown in popularity each year, said Festival in the Park Executive Director Wendi Schultz, who's also in charge of First Night. The event, held between Church and Norfolk avenues from Second to Fifth streets in downtown Roanoke, was attended by more than 10,000 revelers last year.
Schultz said another new activity this year will be a "psychological obstacle course," which will determine whether its traverser is "a genius or a maxey-zoom-dweebie." Many activities that were especially popular during past years - including creative picture framing, photos with cardboard movie-star cutouts, face painting, glamour photos and New Year's Eve button making - have been expanded.
Ongoing entertainment will include diversions such as carriage rides and hay rides, dancing, iceless ice skating, mini-movies at the YMCA swimming pool and music, including Top 40, alternative rock, country, jazz, and rhythm and blues. A special Discovery Toys play area, featuring several storytellers, will be set up. In all, First Night Roanoke, between 6 p.m. and midnight, will feature 35 hands-on activities and 75 stage performances at 11 sites.
The only component missing at this point is the approximately 300 volunteers needed to help make First Night happen, volunteer coordinator Sandy Tibbs-Robinson said. Most shifts are either from 6-9 p.m. or 9 p.m.-midnight, she said, but alternative shifts are available.
"That's one way to get in free and be treated like a VIP," Tibbs-Robinson said.
For revelers who will be paying their way, admission buttons purchased in advance at numerous outlets will cost $5 for adults and $3 for children 3 to 12. Buttons purchased on the night of the event will cost $7 for adults and $5 for children. The buttons entitle wearers to all events except the spaghetti dinner, which will be held from 5 to 8 p.m., and competing in the runs, which will occur at 9:30 and 10 p.m.
For information on the runs, call Wright at 345-4277. For information on all First Night Roanoke activities as well as to volunteer, call 342-2640.
by CNB