STORY:
$4-Million Party Planned for Melbourne

Fireworks, music and dance with free 24-hour transportation in Australian city.

Organizers of Melbourne Australia's millennium celebration are pulling out all the stops with a $4-million dollar ($2.6 million US) New Year's Eve party that will feature a half-a-kilometer long fireworks show above the city.

Melbourne has also come up with a unique twist that by all accounts, is not being duplicated by any other city in the world. Partygoers will be given two pieces of paper: A red piece for the things they wish to leave behind in the old millennium and a white piece for what they hope for in the new. The red pieces will then be ignited in a fire sculpture as the fireworks display begins at 11.30pm. The white pieces will be attached to white helium balloons to be released at midnight.

Organizers hope 500,000 people will gather on the banks of the Yarra River and city streets for a New Year's Eve of free music, dance and performance served by 24-hour public transport.

Eight giant video screens will be set up along the river - the music bowl, arts centre and Treasury Gardens linking the celebrations in Melbourne via a millennium television broadcast with other parts of Victoria, Australia and the world.

According to Australian press reports, the program begins at 11am with family oriented events at the Treasury Gardens. It continues throughout the night and on New Year's Day at the Victorian Arts Centre, Sidney Myer Music Bowl, the MCG, Southgate, Docklands and the Queen Victoria site, as well as towns and cities across regional and rural Victoria.

Two stages along the Yarra will feature performances on the themes of Songs of the Century and World Music and Dance, alongside Greek, Lebanese and Russian choirs in national dress. The Sidney Myer Music Bowl will host a ticketed concert featuring as yet unnamed artists.

Organizers are keeping secret the event's finale, which will take place on the river. The celebration will continue throughout the night, culminating with a flotilla of hot air balloons floating over Melbourne at the first dawn of the new millennium. And for those who may have partied too hard, a Millennium Recovery Party will begin at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl at 7am.

Source: Australian News Network

DATE: 8/13/99

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