NEWPORT BEACH : Celebration to Mark Columbus Voyage
About 80 civic and community leaders gathered at the Harbor Club on Wednesday to begin planning for the 500th anniversary celebration of Christopher Columbus’ discovery of America.
The seminar, organized and hosted by the Orange County Christopher Columbus Quincentenary Commission, focused on recruiting businesses to participate in the events planned for Orange County during the yearlong commemoration.
Among the proposed celebrations are a boat parade in Newport Harbor, a special opera night presenting at least one of the operas written about Columbus’ voyage, and a Mexican rodeo featuring trick riders from all over Central America.
Lee Collins, a member of the U.S. Quincentenary Commission, noted that California has been especially enthusiastic about organizing for the upcoming celebration. So far, he said, commissions have been established in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Orange County, and, tentatively, in Santa Barbara.
The Orange County commission was formed about a year ago to help organize events for 1992.
One goal, according to commission co-chairman Frank De Santis, is that Newport Beach be chosen as one of the ports visited by replicas of the Nina, the Pinta and the Santa Maria, which will be duplicating Columbus’ voyage across the Atlantic.
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