New Year’s idea is worth celebrating

As the O.C. continues to get cooler and more hip -- with Newport

Beach and Costa Mesa seemingly at the epicenter -- we can count on

more ideas and events appearing, such as the one that is springing

from the mind of Rich Goodwin.

Goodwin’s brainstorm is worthy of popping open a bottle of

champagne: He wants to start a New Year’s Eve party at the Orange

County Fairgrounds, one complete with three stages, party venues

a-plenty, and, of course, the dropping of a huge orange come the

stroke of 2006.

“It’s apple versus orange, literally, at this point,” Goodwin told

the Pilot. “West Coast versus East Coast. But obviously, we have a

long way to go before we make that claim. They do a good job in New

York.”

In typical, careful Orange County fashion, no one is putting the

cart before the horse, however. While the fair is already promoting

the event, no contract has been signed, so that fair officials can be

sure that it’s an event that will become a yearly mainstay and that

neighbors of the fairgrounds are aboard this party train. This just

might end up being a big shindig, but it won’t be a surprise party

that the police have to shut down when the neighbors flood the

station with angry calls.

On a larger scale, this idea suggests the maturing of the county

and of Newport Beach and Costa Mesa. With the Orange County

Performing Arts Center bringing in world-class performances -- the

Bolshoi Ballet is performing Aug. 9 to 14, for instance -- South

Coast Repertory continuing to find award-winning plays, and five-star

restaurants dotting our landscape (and five-star resorts too), we are

truly becoming our own cultural center. No more do we have to drive

to Los Angeles to seek out art and fine entertainment. We are in a

wasteland no more.

And now we can add to these advancements a party that mirrors the

one in the very center of culture -- New York City. It’s a

development indeed worth celebrating.