Getting set for the centennial

Alicia Robinson

Sometimes age is a closely guarded secret, but the city of Newport

Beach is proud to be turning 100 next year.

Planning is underway for an elaborate, yearlong centennial

celebration that will kick off with a beach party in October. The

city is looking for volunteers to help raise money and find sponsors,

organize centennial events and spread the word in the community about

the city’s 100th birthday.

“We have a number of subcommittees that will be needing to have

people help out,” said City Councilman Don Webb, who chairs the

centennial committee. “I think the most important thing that we would

like to do is bring the community together and get a spirit of

recognition that we’re the fifth oldest city on the county.”

The city’s official 100th birthday is Sept. 1, 2006. So far, the

committee hopes to have the beach party this October, a family

carnival in the spring and a culminating event at the Newport and

Balboa piers with a fireworks show in October 2006. A budget for

centennial events has not yet been set.

With several former Rose Queens living in Newport, it’s only

appropriate that the city enter a float in the 2006 Rose Parade.

Other than a float in the 1940 parade, this may be the only time the

city has had a Rose Parade entry, Webb said.

Floats can cost up to $250,000, depending on how elaborate they

are, and assembling the city’s float will likely take two 50-person

shifts a day in the five days before the parade, Webb said.

Volunteers also will be needed to help plan, make phone calls and

set up events. The committee is seeking volunteers through

homeowners’ associations, schools and the centennial web site, and so

far, interest has been high, volunteer coordinator Cecilia Tobin

said.

“We can use everybody who has the slightest interest,” she said.

“A lot of people are still unaware of it, but as soon as they find

out what we’re doing, there’s a lot of enthusiasm.”

The city is looking for historical photos of Newport Beach to use

in a 250-page commemorative book that will be sold for the

centennial. The book won’t just be a chronology of the city from its

birth to the present day, Webb said.

“We hope it will be a little more than that,” he said. “We want to

recognize some of the good things that have been done over the last

100 years in Newport.”