The Year 2000: Countdown Is Underway

To welcome the new millennium in style, Orange County cities already are making their plans. After all, the year 2000 is less than 1,000 days away.

Some are going all out. La Habra, for example, is preparing for a grand affair with yearlong street fairs, a New Year’s Eve gala, concerts, carnivals, exhibitions, races and other activities.

“Our community wants to be active and participate in the turning of the century,” said Shirley Walley, secretary of La Habra 2000, the 50-member panel already a year into its preparations. “We want to do something memorable that people will tell their grandchildren about for generations to come.”

Huntington Beach, too, already is into the millennium spirit. Big parties with major entertainment are in the works at different locations once a month, including a giant New Year’s Eve bash with an hour’s worth of fireworks off barges along the coast.

“This is huge,” said City Councilman Dave Garofalo, chairman of the 30-member Celebration 2000 planning committee. “This is like a rebirth of the city, and what’s important is how we’re going to celebrate.”

That sentiment is global. In New York, most big hotels are sold out for New Year’s Eve 1999.

Broadcast companies are planning live 24-hour coverage that will track the celebrations from one time zone to the next, and at the Vatican, the Pope will address millions of people in Rome as the millennium dawns there.

Other cities large and small are making party preparations. In Sacramento, there will be a 33-month program of festivities, starting in January 1998.

Fullerton, which holds an annual New Year’s Eve celebration, is considering how best to ring in the 21st century, and Placentia is discussing millennial themes for its Fourth of July party three years from now.

La Habra and Huntington Beach are further ahead than most Orange County cities, though, because they both have more than one occasion to celebrate.

For La Habra, the year 2000 is the city’s 75th anniversary.

“This is an opportunity to look at our past and educate the children in our town about the heritage of La Habra and how it came into being,” said Ted Hebert, chairman of La Habra 2000. “And we’re participating in history in the making.”

The city was incorporated on Jan. 20, 1925. The date will be commemorated 75 years later with a fireworks extravaganza, Hebert said. As part of the celebration, he said, officials are encouraging residents and businesses to plant 2000 trees by 2000.

In Huntington Beach, Garofalo said, the year will mark the beginning of a new Surf City. “By Dec. 31, 1999, this community will be able to celebrate not only the turn of the century but a turn in the road for Huntington Beach’s economic development program,” he said.

The improvements, dubbed the Pier Project, will include new lifeguard stations, restrooms and concession stands at the beach, construction of an amphitheater and a number of retail and entertainment outlets.

Across town, two manufacturing plants and a research and development center are planned.

Projects being started this year will be completed by 2000, Garofalo said, ensuring employment for the city’s residents into the new century.

The mounting excitement about the new millennium goes far beyond enthusiasm for face lifts and festivals, said Diane Baker, a Celebration 2000 member, because so few people are lucky enough to be part of such a transition.

“The changing of the century is just a big thing,” she said. “Everybody anticipates change.”

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Fin de Siecle Fun

Here’s a look at some of the millennium parties already being planned across Orange County:

Fullerton

Activities: “First Night Fullerton” New Year’s Eve party with fireworks and entertainment on downtown streets

Information: (714) 738-6300

Huntington Beach

Activities: Parade 2000 on the Fourth of July, hour-long fireworks from barges along the coast, giant New Year’s Eve bash either at the beach or a nearby hotel, monthly parties with major entertainment at different locations across the city

Information: To join the planning committee, call (714) 969-3492

La Habra

Activities: Treasure hunts and concerts at local parks, baby fair, movie showings at La Habra High School’s pool, family genealogy-tracing activity, 1920s-theme exhibit at Children’s Museum, crafts fair, fiesta, avocado festival, gala and New Year’s Eve party at the community center, “Taste of La Habra” food-tasting fair, 5K and 10K walks, runs and stroll-a-thons

Information: To suggest more ideas or help plan, call (562) 905-9708

Placentia

Activities: Fourth of July celebration at Bradford Stadium

Information: (714) 993-8232

Source: Individual cities; Researched by MIMI KO CRUZ / For The Times