MISS LIBERTY BASH ON TAP IN NEWPORT

While New York unwraps the renovated Statue of Liberty Thursday, the Newport Harbor Art Museum will stage its own red, white and blue ceremony to honor the historic event.

The museum’s “Liberty Celebration,” which takes place from 6 p.m. to midnight at the Newporter Resort in Newport Beach will, no doubt, exhibit some of the showmanship of the New York festivities honoring the statue’s centennial--but on a much smaller scale.

The evening will include a musical program featuring pure Americana from John Philip Sousa to Aaron Copland; a 16-foot-tall Statue of Liberty reproduction and a fireworks display by the company that shot skyrockets above the nation’s Capitol during the last presidential inauguration. There also will be a buffet dinner and a few speakers, including county Supervisor Thomas F. Riley and Irvine Mayor David Baker.

“If it generates a fraction of the excitement (expected in New York), we’ll be fortunate,” said Susan Porter, the event chairwoman.

The New York Harbor party was planned by David Wolper, the film and television producer responsible for the opening ceremonies at the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles. The statue’s unveiling will initiate more than 17 hours of television coverage through the weekend on ABC alone. ABC won exclusive rights to many of “Liberty Weekend’s” events during a bidding war with CBS and NBC, which will broadcast only selected moments of the festival.

Star-spangled enthusiasm is not the only thing the two events share--they both feature hefty ticket prices. The 3,000 available New York tickets (by invitation only) are $10,000 each, with proceeds paying for the production. Prices for the museum show are $75, $1,986 and $5,000 (there are only 10 tickets available in each of the more expensive categories, and they allow the buyer to sit at two honorary tables). Proceeds will go to art programs at public and private schools throughout Orange County, said Porter.

“This essentially is our annual fund-raiser, and we think as many as 1,800 people may attend,” she said. “We’ll be happy if we get $200,000, which would match the event we staged in 1984 to honor the Olympics.”

Many Orange County politicians and civic leaders have been invited, but Gov. George Deukmejian, the honorary chairman, is expected to attend the New York celebration with the rest of the nation’s governors.

Porter isn’t anticipating a surprise arrival, either. “It’s a little difficult to compete with what’s going on out there,” she said.

But guests may glimpse Deukmejian anyway. Museum monitors will televise the coverage of the event, with the museum celebration beginning as President Reagan unveils the Statue of Liberty and lights the torch.

The local highlight will be the 15-minute, $5,000 fireworks display by San Diego Fireworks Inc. It won’t challenge the $2-million show planned for New York, and “it’s nothing like what we did for the (January, 1985) Reagan inauguration,” said Keven Brueckner, the company’s sales and administrative manager. Most of the skyrockets (some weighing as much as 12 pounds) will be shot 600 feet high and should be visible a few miles away, he noted. The finale will be a 16-foot-tall wood lattice outline of the Statue of Liberty rimmed with multicolored flares and a torch “that shoots beautiful gold sparks for 45 seconds,” said Brueckner.

In keeping with the event’s patriotic flavor, the 56-member Irvine Symphony will present an hourlong program featuring Sousa marches, snatches of Copland’s “Rodeo” and the “Star Wars” theme. The fireworks are planned for the concert’s last 15 minutes.

There also will be an auction to raise additional money for the art fund. That fund, Porter explained, provides both cash and supplies to schools with struggling art programs.