THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, December 29, 1995 TAG: 9512280609
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 05 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY SCOTT McCASKEY, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 91 lines
After months of preparation, Norfolk is ready for its first First Night New Year's Eve celebration.
The alcohol-free, family oriented festival of the visual and performing arts will begin at 3 p.m. Sunday and feature more than 100 shows and exhibits at 25 sites throughout the downtown business district and historic Ghent.
Norfolk expects between 50,000 and 75,000 people to attend First Night and hopes to make it an annual event.
Successful First Night celebrations are held in more than 150 cities nationwide, including Williamsburg. Virginia Beach hosted such an event in 1989-90, but it suffered from low attendance and funding couldn't be found to keep it going.
Karen Scherberger, director of Festevents, which is producing First Night Norfolk, said that through fund-raisers and corporate donations the $75,000 needed for production costs has been raised. She is optimistic about the event's outcome.
``I'm confident our First Night will be a success,'' Scherberger said. ``Successful First Nights are held in downtown areas with unique sites. Downtown Norfolk offers a large variety in terms of interesting and unusual staging areas.''
Performance sites include traditional art venues such as the Chrysler Museum and Wells Theater, along with the steps of the U.S. Customs House, the Friendship Park Pagoda and street corners along Main Street and Colley Avenue.
Entertainment will be diverse. Symphony and ballet performances will share the roster with puppet shows, fire juggling, big bands and psychic readings. Food vendors will be set up throughout the festival. Two hours before the event begins, there will be workshops where the public can make costumes, banners and other First Night decorations.
Many of the celebration's events are free; others - primarily at indoor locations - require a First Night button. Buttons cost $5 for adults and $3 for children age 10 and under. Buttons can be purchased in advance at Festevents, Military Circle, Nauticus, Waterside, Chrysler Museum and other locations. Buttons will be available the day and evening of the festival at Festevents and sites where buttons are required.
Free bus service will be offered from Military Circle to Harbor Park and back to Military Circle from noon until 1:30 a.m. Free trolleys will run from Harbor Park, throughout downtown, to Blair Middle School and back to Harbor Park from 12:30 p.m. until 1:30 a.m.
``We'll have designated trolley stops, but just wave your hand and they'll pick you up,'' Scherberger said.
Also, city parking garages will feature a special-event rate of $4 for all day.
The celebration will begin at 3 p.m. with a banner-flying, music-playing procession from Blair Middle School to Stone Park at the Hague, where at 4 p.m. the opening ceremony will take place.
There will be many highlights throughout the evening. There will be resolution/regret sculptures at many performance sites. Citizens are encouraged to tack New Year's resolutions and last year's regrets to the figures. Regrets will be collected and burned in a giant bonfire at d'Art Center at 10 p.m.
A Chinese New Year Experience at 11 p.m. at the Friendship Pagoda Park will feature a Chinese dragon and lion, music, dancing and firecrackers.
The dragon and lion then will board a barge and land at Town Point's Mercury Dock at 11:45 p.m. The festival will reach its crescendo with a New Year's Eve countdown and fireworks at midnight.
Scherberger said that about 50,000 people usually come out for the fireworks. She hopes that those spectators and others will arrive early to take part in First Night.
``Success will certainly be measured in attendance, but the reactions of people and the artists will be indicators, too,'' Scherberger explained. ``Another indication will be how many families attend, since this is a family oriented event. I feel this is the first of many First Nights to come.'' MEMO: For scheduling information, call Festevents at 441-2345.
BEACH EVENT
You don't have to drive to Norfolk to welcome in the new year. Beach
Events and the city of Virginia Beach are co-sponsoring an evening of
fun on the oceanfront from 9 p.m. Sunday to 1 a.m. Gates open at 8 p.m.
The R&B Allstars will provide the entertainment, which is free and open
to the public. Food and beverages will be available. At the stroke of
midnight, an illuminated beach ball will fall and welcome in the New
Year. Call 491-SUNN for more information. ILLUSTRATION: Photo by KEITH LANPHER
Many of the celebration's events are free; others - primarily at
indoor locations - require a First Night button, like these.
by CNB