ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, January 1, 1997 TAG: 9701020059
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: HOLIDAY
SOURCE: JON CAWLEY STAFF WRITER
THE HEAD-BANGER'S BALL might not have thrilled everyone, but First Night was geared toward the kids.
There was a four-wheeled Dalmatian, a Chinese dragon, a walking blue M&M and a huge inflatable penguin.
All were among several hundred New Year's Eve revelers at the alcohol-free First Night celebration in downtown Roanoke Tuesday night.
Festivities began about 6 p.m., and the crowd quickly swelled as the aroma of grilled food beckoned to passersby. There was a slew of activities - including chess and checkers on huge playing boards - along Second Street and Church Avenue, both closed to cars for the party.
Sydney Elsass, visiting from Boston, asserted that the First Night celebration started there. Elsass said an artist, Claira Wainwright, got together with some friends 20 years ago and came up with the idea of a celebration of the arts and family. Many cities across the country now carry on a similar tradition each year, she said.
"It's one of the ideas that shows you can start an idea small and do something good," Elsass said.
Roanoke's celebration wasn't just for residents of the Roanoke Valley. Many traveled from as far away as Moneta, Buena Vista and Lynchburg just for the night's festivities.
Marie and Bill Murphy drove from Lynchburg to stay the night and do some shopping on New Year's Day. They liked the horse-drawn carriage rides best, although the lines were a long wait.
"I think it's interesting that there are so many activities for children," Marie said.
Children were everywhere - making crafts at the YMCA; jumping on a huge air mattress shaped like a castle; ice fishing for cardboard fish to be swapped for prizes; drawing on a white Yugo car painted to look like a Dalmatian; and lurching in circles around an "iceless" skating rink with a strange lubricated plastic surface while instrumental TV theme songs blared from a loud speaker.
"It's been great. You just have to keep the kids moving. The kids find something and want to stay for the rest of the night," Virginia Riggins of Roanoke said.
Riggins' daughter Frances, 9, liked entertainer Doug Berky the best. "He's a mask guy and he makes a lot of accents," she said.
Steve Azar, at the festival with his wife, Pam, and son, Taylor, didn't have a favorite First Night activity, although "it's definitely not the head-banging music." He was referring to the off-key electric wail of a teen-age band playing cover songs on a corner near the Municipal Building.
Taylor was in strong disagreement with his father. The band was his favorite, the small boy said, throwing his head around demonstrating the proper "head-banging" technique.
Dayton Steele, 5, liked the firefighters rappelling from the top of a parking garage at the corner of Second and Church the best, but he said it didn't make him want to be a fireman when he grows up. "I want to be a policeman because I might get hurt if I do that stuff."
Surprisingly few of the partygoers approached said they had made New Year's resolutions - one of the more well-known traditions of the New Year.
Perhaps Jack Slingerland of Moneta summed up the lack of resolutions best when asked if he had made any. "Not yet, but there's still time. Maybe tomorrow I'll make one not to procrastinate in making one next year."
LENGTH: Medium: 69 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: NHAT MEYER Staff. 1. Michael Rotell, 5, of Roanoke grabsby CNBthe tongue of the Chinese dragon at First Night. The dragon, which
led the midnight New Year's parade through downtown, was 50 feet
long and guided by about 20 people inside its paper and fabric body.
2. The dragon's eye has a First Night button as a pupil. color.