Newport thinks about centennial

June Casagrande

The city’s 100th birthday isn’t until 2006, but the time to start

planning the party is now, Councilman Don Webb said.

Sometime in the next few months, the council will consider

creating a citizens committee to plan a centennial celebration.

“I’m just trying to get the ball rolling so that when 2006 comes

around, we’re prepared,” Webb said.

Most important is getting to work on an anniversary book, assuming

the community agrees that this tradition, observed every 25 years,

should be continued. For the city’s 75th anniversary, the city

published a history book of the city told from the perspective of

longtime locals. Former Newport Beach City Councilwoman Jean Watt was

among the residents who shared stories for the book.

Webb, who was a Newport Beach city staff member at the time, said

that such a publication is at least a year in the making; if that’s

something the city wants, it’s time to start planning now.

But the citizens committee, if it is created, will also consider

any and every way to celebrate the city’s 100th birthday. Suggestions

could range from the innovative, such as a 75th anniversary dance on

the Coast Highway bridge, which will have just been built, to the

creative, such as creating a float for the Rose Parade.

“One person suggested an entry in the Rose Parade. Some cities do

that,” Webb said. “That’s probably more expensive than something we

would want to do, but we want to get ideas.”

A collaborative promotional effort for the city could involve the

Corona del Mar and Newport Beach chambers of commerce and the Newport

Beach Conference and Visitors Bureau, Webb said. He also hopes to see

Newport Beach receive countywide recognition as one of the first

incorporated cities in the county.

“If we get people to start tossing ideas out, maybe we can come up

with something unique and different that Newport Beach can use to

showcase itself,” Webb said.