Fewer visitors expected for New Year’s Eve

Hundreds of people “from away” converged on tiny Lubec and other eastern Maine communities nearly a year ago to watch the dawn break over the nation for the first time as the calendar flipped to 2000.

Although purists maintain that the “real millennium” is still to come, few communities are bracing for a repeat performance for 2001.

The roster of special events in Lubec and Eastport is far slimmer than last year, when towns vied for “first light” honors and motels throughout the region were filled to capacity.

The drumbeat of publicity surrounding Y2K – fears of computers crashing, the world ending, planes falling from the sky – heightened the anticipation that fueled last year’s influx, said Eve Preston, director of the Lubec Economic and Community Development Office.

“People were deciding where they wanted to be. Many wanted to be in Times Square or London, someplace flashy. We got some people coming here because, you know, they had to come to the mountain to meditate,” Preston said.

Visitors joined local residents in an array of special events that included a polar dip in the icy ocean, a candlelight procession across the international bridge from Campobello Island, New Brunswick, and a flag-raising ceremony at dawn at West Quoddy Head Light, the candy-striped lighthouse that marks the nation’s easternmost point.

The only observance this year will be a walk across the bridge, from midnight New Brunswick time to midnight local time – without the meticulously hand-crafted ice sculptures that highlighted last year’s parade.

The case for 2001 being the true millennium has captured the fancy of Clark Irwin Jr. of Winthrop, to whom the issue is a no-brainer.

Millennium purists like Irwin point out there was no zero when Dionysius created a calendar that started with 1 A.D. Therefore, the third millennium doesn’t begin until 2001, not 2000. If you don’t believe him, just ask the Royal Greenwich Observatory and the United States Naval Observatory.

Irwin’s interest is purely academic. He didn’t stay up to celebrate last year and has no intention to do so this time.

His concerns, he said, are rooted in what he sees as the erosion of proper English usage that is exemplified by the misuse of the word “millennium.”

“I despise sloppy language,” Irwin said.

If fireworks displays are any measure, most folks seem to regard the last New Year’s Eve as one that merited the biggest celebration.

At Blue Hill Pyrotechnics in Hampden, demand for shows marking the calendar change has dropped from last year but is still stronger than it was prior to the millennium hype, said Rick Briggs, company president.

“We’re not seeing any millennium fever or any real focus on this year being the millennium. We’re not seeing that at all,” Briggs said.

Unlike other municipalities farther east, at least one community, Bar Harbor, is seeking to build on last year’s hoopla by making an annual event out of the first light celebration linked to Cadillac Mountain.

“This is still the first place where we see the dawn of a new year,” said Clare Wood, the chamber’s executive director.

Last year, hundreds of revelers climbed to Cadillac’s 1,530-foot summit, where temperatures were in the 20s. Some came equipped with lawn chairs and there were even a few tuxedos that were worn the night before.

This year, the New Year’s Eve schedule will include fireworks, a bonfire on the beach and other events mirroring last year’s celebration. There is no attempt to market the event toward those who see 2001 as the true millennium.

People who want to take in the sunrise from Cadillac’s summit this time will have to complete a 9-mile round trip on foot, unlike last year when rangers opened the Park Loop Road for revelers.