First Night Annapolis

The artists' credits for the illustration accompanying our preview of First Night Annapolis were omitted from Friday's paper. The illustration was by Rob Snyder and John Schoene.

Annapolis' scaled-back New Year's Eve celebration tomorrow night will still have live music, hours of children's activities and the fireworks display over Spa Creek. But it won't have its well-known name, excessive lines to attend indoor events or those ubiquitous admission buttons that cost up to $22. The local nonprofit that ran First Night Annapolis since 1990 disbanded this fall after years of failing to break even financially and of being unable to raise enough money to put on the giant celebration of the arts, which included up to 50 sites across downtown and cost upward of $300,000.

Volunteers are needed for First Night Annapolis, Maryland's New Year's Eve celebration of the arts.The family-focused, nonalcoholic celebration has been held for the past eight years in the historic district of downtown Annapolis.Volunteers are especially needed to be site managers -- individuals who assist at the entrance to their assigned performance site.Participants can choose to work on publicity, be a stagehand, assist performers, sell admission buttons or help manage a performance venue.

My 14-year-old granddaughter Marie, her friend and I are about to discover whether First Night Annapolis can in fact delight all ages and tastes. At Sunday's 16th annual New Year's Eve event, a family-oriented, alcohol-free celebration of the arts staged downtown, we plan to sample each other's cultures while savoring our own. The event starts with First Act from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. at Maryland Hall for the Creative Arts. Here the youngest celebrants and their parents will be entertained in several rooms with balloon games, face painting, arts and crafts, clowns and puppets.

Street corners, store windows, churches and even courtrooms in Annapolis' historic district will become stages for magicians, mimes, comedians and musicians on New Year's Eve when First Night Annapolis takes over the city.Sponsors and coordinators of the performing arts extravaganza kicked off button sales for the annual event during a news conference yesterday at Baltimore-Washington International Airport.Between bagpipe performances, organizers pitched the value of First Night's family atmosphere.

The countdown to First Night Annapolis, the capital city's fourth annual alcohol-free New Year's Eve celebration, begins tomorrow when lapel buttons go on sale at 100 Giant food stores through Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia.The 2-inch diameter buttons, which depict the passage of time through the arts, are used to gain admission into more than 200 performances that take place around the city during the 10 hours leading up to the new year.Last year, organizers sold about 16,000 buttons, but the balmy, 61-degree night drew about 30,000 pedestrians to Annapolis' historic district, forcing city police to close off Main Street and leading to complaints about long lines to view some events.

IF YOU'RE planning to be away from Annapolis at New Year's, but you're of a participatory nature, give First Night Annapolis a call at 268-8553.The multimedia, multivenue extravaganza needs housing for some of its performers on New Year's Eve. Many hotels and bed and breakfasts have donated rooms for First Night performers, but more are needed.Making your home available, or even a room or two if you have them to spare, is a wonderful way to be part of the First Night story, and to help it succeed.

Rock opera, Amelia Earhart and human sculpture will meet on New Year's Eve during the annual First Night Annapolis event.Admission pins will go on sale tomorrow.More than 300 performers will take over the churches, courtrooms, storefronts and streets of the state capital for the daylong celebration of the arts that ends with a midnight fireworks display.Admission pins go on sale tomorrow at First National Bank of Maryland branches and participating Giant Food stores.Tickets will cost $10 through Dec. 23 and $14 afterward.

A local swing-funk band, salsa dancers, a parade of bagpipers, a slam poet and the Kenya Safari Acrobats are among the attractions at First Night Annapolis, the city's family-oriented New Year's Eve celebration that marks its 15th anniversary tomorrow night. The alcohol-free event is a mix of old-fashioned and newfangled fun, said Robert Keil, executive director of First Night Annapolis Inc., a nonprofit arts organization that stages what adds up to a city street party of 20,000 people.

The recent dispute between First Night Annapolis organizers and the city over who should pay for the thousands of dollars in police overtime this New Year's Eve seemed resolved when a local software company stepped in last week with an offer of $18,000.Mayor Dean L. Johnson expressed delight with the offer. The city council approved agreements with First Night and USinternet-working Inc. on Monday. And a spokeswoman for the Annapolis software provider said the company was happy to help.But the contentious story surrounding the planning of this year's family-oriented New Year's Eve event in downtown Annapolis is not over, according to Janice Gary, First Night executive director.

The state capital began the year with family in mind with First Night Annapolis. The arts festival featured perform ances in music, dance, theater and com edy. The interactive New Year's Eve event has served as a way to bring the community together for the past 14 years. First Night Annapolis has at tracted as many as 20,000 people and is "Maryland's largest single-day performing arts event," according to the event Web site.

If it's New Year's Eve, it must be First Night Annapolis in the state capital. Designed to draw families with children to join in arts-based revelry, the 16th annual First Night Annapolis will be a citywide celebration showcasing more than 200 performers and culminating in fireworks and live music at City Dock at midnight. Last year, temperatures reached the 60s on New Year's Eve. This year, organizers are ready for any kind of weather. "The show is going to go on, whether it's 62 degrees or it's snowing," said Lisa Miles, a publicist for First Night Annapolis Inc., the nonprofit group that runs the event.

A local swing-funk band, salsa dancers, a parade of bagpipers, a slam poet and the Kenya Safari Acrobats are among the attractions at First Night Annapolis, the city's family-oriented New Year's Eve celebration that marks its 15th anniversary tomorrow night. The alcohol-free event is a mix of old-fashioned and newfangled fun, said Robert Keil, executive director of First Night Annapolis Inc., a nonprofit arts organization that stages what adds up to a city street party of 20,000 people.

The start of the new year is a time for looking ahead and for making resolutions. It's also a time to begin thinking about the wide array of performing arts available in Anne Arundel County in the wintry month of January. The old year can end on a high note with the Annapolis Chorale's performance this evening of Gian Carlo Menotti's Amahl and the Night Visitors at 7:30 p.m. at St. Anne's Episcopal Church in Annapolis. Written for a 1951 television production, the short opera tells the story of a crippled boy and his mother housing the Three Wise Men on their way to Bethlehem.

A local swing-funk band, salsa dancers, a parade of bagpipers, a slam poet and the Kenya Safari Acrobats will be among the attractions at First Night Annapolis, the city's family-oriented New Year's Eve celebration that marks its 15th anniversary tomorrow night. The alcohol-free event is a mix of old-fashioned and newfangled fun, said Robert Keil, executive director of First Night Annapolis Inc., a nonprofit arts organization that stages what adds up to a city street party of 20,000 people every year.

A local swing-funk band, salsa dancers, a parade of bagpipers, a slam poet and the Kenya Safari Acrobats are among the varied attractions at First Night Annapolis, the city's family-oriented New Year's Eve celebration that marks its 15th anniversary tomorrow night. The alcohol-free event is a mix of old-fashioned and newfangled fun, said Robert Keil, executive director of First Night Annapolis Inc., a nonprofit arts organization that stages what adds up to a city street party of 20,000 people every year.

Rotary club project gives dictionaries to third-graders Members of the Parole Rotary Club delivered 700 dictionaries to third-graders in local elementary schools. The group's Dictionary Project provides each pupil with a dictionary to take home and use through the 12th grade. Elementary schools receiving the dictionaries include Annapolis, Cape St. Claire, Eastport, Germantown, Hillsmere, Mills-Parole, Rolling Knolls, Tyler Heights, West Annapolis, Windsor Farm and Georgetown East. Members of the Parole Rotary visited the schools and presented the books to the pupils and teachers in their classrooms.

You want to ring in the new year with the family, but not necessarily cooped up at home all night with Dick Clark, again. No problem. You've got options. Listed below are a few family-friendly celebrations in Baltimore, Annapolis and Ocean City, all taking place Wednesday. Downtown The annual "New Year's Eve Spectacular" kicks off at 9 p.m. and runs until 12:30 a.m. throughout Charm City. Visitors can attend an ice skating party all evening at the Baltimore Ice Rink at Harbor Point, South Caroline, Thames and Block streets, and enjoy games, contests, a skating exhibition, unlimited skating, music and party favors.