Committee to Plan Big Bash for Millennium

To make sure the city is ready for the party of the century, Councilman Dave Garofalo is proposing to set up a committee for New Year’s Eve 1999.

“It’s a pretty big moment in our lives. . . . We want to plan a big party. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime event,” Garofalo said.

“The goal is to develop a plan so everyone who lives here can celebrate the turn of the century.”

Garofalo said the Huntington Beach Conference and Visitors Bureau would take the leadership role in establishing the Millennium Committee, which would include the city’s mayor, City Council members and business and community leaders.

“I envision several hundred people on the committee,” he said.

Garofalo, who is vice chairman of the Conference and Visitors Bureau, said he and Diane Baker, president of the bureau, would help to organize the celebration.

Should Garofalo run for reelection in 1998 and keep his seat on the council, he would be mayor for 2000, according to the council’s rotation system.

Since New Year’s Eve 1999 falls on a Friday, Garofalo said he envisions three days of festivities as well as celebrations each month that year.

It’s not too early to start planning, he said.

“Every restaurant and hotel should be sold out for this event, and every neighborhood should plan a theme and resolution,” he said.

Baker also supports early planning for the millennium bash.

The Waterfront Hilton, for example, already has had inquiries for hotel reservations, she said.

“We just want to do it right,” Baker said. “It’s a huge task.”

Information: (714) 969-3492.