DATE: Friday, May 16, 1997                  TAG: 9705160693

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B5   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY JOHN-HENRY DOUCETTE, CORRESPONDENT 

DATELINE: CHESAPEAKE                        LENGTH:   57 lines

CHESAPEAKE'S JUBILEE HAS INTERNATIONAL FLAVOR

Fifteen years ago this city celebrated its first Jubilee, a country-fair-style carnival commemorating the merger of Norfolk County and South Norfolk in 1963.

Since the first city-run Jubilee, the event has grown into a private venture. This year's festivities opened Thursday night with a celebration of international businesses. Many of them have set up shop on what was once farmland.

After the national anthem and opening remarks by Chesapeake Mayor William E. Ward, local students presented flags from 14 countries with financial stakes in Chesapeake. The Great Bridge High School band played each nation's anthem. Hickory High School's chorus wrapped things up with a trilogy of American tunes.

``We're part of an international family,'' said Ward, assuring Jubilee-goers that Chesapeake is continuing to attract national and international businesses. ``We're aware of some 53 companies representing 14 countries here. We're part of a global community.''

Bob Crocker's 9-year-old son, Ryan, carried the Swedish flag. Crocker, wearing a Volvo Penta golf shirt, has been with the company for eight years. Five of those have been here, since the company moved to offices along a road called Volvo Parkway.

Many of the children bearing nations' flags, there at their parents' behest, were not as enthusiastic about their city's ties to the international business scene - ties that have imported thousands of jobs and nearly half a billion dollars.

Matt Jewell, 10, sported a button-up shirt and a tie and held the red, white and blue flag of the Netherlands. ``I wish we didn't have to do this,'' he said from backstage as the mayor made his remarks, ``so we could be on the rides and stuff.''

Band members, clad in white and green uniforms with gold sashes across their chests, said they had spent a month preparing for the show. This included a night-before reworking for Taiwan, though many band members considered Brazil's complicated rhythms the most challenging.

``I guess it's kind of important they recognized these countries,'' said band member Sarah A. Simon, 18. ``Many other countries supply a lot of the jobs here.''

Butch Lowery, 51, has lived in Chesapeake ``since it was nothing but roads and woods.'' He watched the ceremonial opening with his sister and said he has been to every Jubilee the city has had.

``It's progress,'' he said of the internationally flavored event. ``You got to go with it.''

Chesapeake, as far as Lowery is concerned, is still a great place to live. No matter what country you come from.

Along with a mixture of City Council members, international business representatives and proud chorus moms and band dads, Lowery and his sister watched the parade of flags on the Jubilee grounds in Chesapeake City Park, and the sun began to set on the park's horizon.

Just past a construction site where a Japanese company working in synthetic papers is building a new plant.

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