STORY:
Boston Planning Two Countdowns

City announces plans for New Year's Eve countdown at 7pm and midnight

In a move that's surprising to some but not to others, Boston will ring in the New Year five hours before the clock says it should. In a unique move, city officials have decided to start ringing in the New Year when it arrives in Greenwich, England, the home of world time.

"We'll be marking the millennium when it's midnight in Greenwich, according to Greenwich Mean Time, which is the universally accepted standard of time for the world," Mayor Thomas M. Menino said in press reports.

By moving its countdown celebration to 7pm instead of midnight, Boston becomes the first city in the US to celebrate the Year 2000. The city's events planners reportedly scoff at the idea that the city plans to shut down early, rather they say the move was done to let more children participate in the countdown event. The city plans to hold a traditional countdown at midnight as well.

There were computer Y2K bug factors that also went into the decision. People afraid that the computer glitch will cause problems will be able to "return to the comfort and safety of their own homes before midnight" say event planners.

A report in the Boston Globe says plans call for First Night's 5:30 p.m. Grand Parade down Boylston and Charles streets to culminate at Boston Common. Just before 6:59 p.m., the mayor and some children from Boston's neighborhoods will light a sterling silver replica of Paul Revere's lantern, "symbolizing Boston's leadership role as a beacon of freedom in the new millennium," Menino said according to the Boston Globe.

A 60-second countdown will commence at 6:59 and at 7 p.m., midnight in England, a huge Jumbotron television screen on the Common will broadcast the scene live from Greenwich, England, and other countries in the first time zone, as they welcome the next century. There will also be 15 minutes of fireworks from the Common.

For the traditionalists, an additional fireworks display will occur as usual over Boston Harbor at midnight Boston time, preceded by a two-hour Boston Pops concert.

Source: Boston Globe

DATE: 9/23/99

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