Post in Mpls without Fireworks = Dull Dark Omaha?

2008 Jan 02 15:31 UTC

From the Associated Press via WCCO: A New Year's Eve tradition has come to an
end in downtown Minneapolis. The annual fireworks over the Mississippi River
have been canceled. The Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board decided to cancel
the Dec. 31 fireworks because of declining attendance in recent years, said
Dawn Sommers, a spokeswoman for the board. However, fireworks were scheduled
for midnight at Buck Hill, a ski hill in the Burnsville suburb.
http://wcco.com/local/minneapolis.fireworks.canceled.2.620662.html
Video report at http://www.kare11.com/video/player.aspx?aid=60068&bw=

From Action 3 News in Omaha: The Holiday Lights Festival and First National
Bank lit up downtown Omaha tonight for the annual New Year's fireworks display.
In a twist from years past, some of this year's fireworks were fired from the
tower of the First National Bank building.  Showers of green, red and purple
sparks shot high into the air from the top floors of the tower just after seven
o'clock.
Full story and video at http://www.action3news.com/Global/story.asp?S=7561154
Video of Omaha fireworks from hotel or apt window:

Video of Omaha fireworks from crowd (police estimate 20,000):
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3162584778650765524&q=omaha&pr=goog-sl

From the National Weather Service, Dec. 31, 7 p.m.:
Minneapolis: 17 degrees F, wind 7 mph (7 degree windchill)
Omaha: 24 degrees F, wind 18 mph (10 degree windchill)

From the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board:
Monday, November 19, 2007
New Year's Eve fireworks cancelled due to lack of attendance
The Minneapolis Park & Recreation Board (MPRB) and Minneapolis Riverfront Arts
and Events Committee Inc (MRAEC) have cancelled the 2007 New Year’s Eve
Fireworks show due to the lack of attendance over past few years [sic]. The
fireworks display was scheduled to take place along the Mississippi Riverfront
in downtown Minneapolis on Dec. 31. MPRB and MRAEC plan to put more focus on
the annual Fourth of July celebration and popular fireworks display which also
takes place along the riverfront.
http://www.minneapolisparks.org/default.asp?PageID=52&prid=543

From MinnPost (for lack of local examples?): Fireworks explode over the Sydney
Harbour Bridge and Opera House during a pyrotechnic show as Australia
celebrates the arrival of 2008.
http://www.minnpost.com/

Comment: I'm curious about how the park board measures "attendance" at a
fireworks show that people watch from all around the central riverfront as well
as more distant neighborhoods with vantage points on downtown. How do you count
whether any of the 30,000-plus residents of downtown are watching from their
windows?

Businesses in the Minneapolis Riverfront Arts and Events Committee finance the
New Year's Eve fireworks. Did they have trouble raising money this year or was
there some kind of falling out with the park board?

Dec. 30, Dec. 31 and Jan. 1 are three of the seven days in the year that the
Minneapolis park board has contractually reserved the Nicollet Island Park
Pavilion for the public. The rest of the year a private catering firm controls
the formerly public facility under a long term contract. There was no sign of
activity at the Nicollet Island Park Pavilion on New Year's Eve at 7-8 p.m.

If attendance at official park events is truly declining, did the park board
consider taking steps to reverse that decline and keep the fireworks, or at
least keep the appointment with the public over the New Year's holiday at the
pavilion?

Here are things that attracted people in recent years to the Minneapolis
riverfront on New Year's Eve:
- Fireworks (bigeyeinthesky.com/ Default.asp?CID=Minneapolis)
- Ice skating
(http://www.byways.org/explore/byways/2243/places/29853/index.html)
- "hay rides, pony rides, ice skating, snowshoeing, the Holidazzle floats, the
Radio Disney Dancers, music and indoor games" (Dec. 23, 2003 Star Tribune)
- "Music, hay rides, trolley rides, a display of Holidazzle floats, ice
skating, cross-country skiing, snowshoeing, family activities" (Dec. 27, 2002
Star Tribune)
- "music, skating, hayrides, crafts, entertainment, and fireworks at the
Nicollet Island Pavilion. Corporate sponsors Radio Disney, V105 Radio, and
McLeod USA added to the fun with entertainment and prizes." (Minneapolis Park
and Recreation Board 2001 Annual Report)
- "two days of indoor and outdoor activities on Historic Main Street near St.
Anthony Main and on Nicollet Island ... Historical tours, costumed characters,
bonfires and fireworks ... a dance from 9 p.m. to midnight next Friday inside
the Nicollet Island Pavilion" (2001 Star Tribune)

The small skating area outside the pavilion was particularly nice, and I salute
park staff for their efforts to re-create it some years when it was just too
darn warm for ice at New Year's.

Did people come? The 2001 Superintendent's Report recorded 4,000 attendees.
Photos in the Jan. 1 2004 Star Tribune documented at least 14 who came,
including 12 from one family: "Taking musical steps into the new year, Whitney
Keys, 9, and Stacy Williams, at right, danced at the Minneapolis Parks and
Recreation Board's New Year's Eve party at the Nicollet Island Pavilion. She
was one of 11 grandchildren that her grandmother, Sharon Keys, brought to the
family-oriented event that included ice skating, hay rides, games,
entertainment and fireworks ... Alanna Bass-Keenan rode into the new year in
style - on a pony led by Etta Langer at the Nicollet Island Pavilion on the
Mississippi River. They were at an annual New Year's Eve party sponsored by the
Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board."