March 29, 2024
BANGOR DAILY NEWS (BANGOR, MAINE

Governor to see millennium dawn Down East> Eastport, Lubec poised to greet 1st U.S. light of 2000

MACHIAS — Millennium visitors, including Gov. Angus King and his family, arrive this morning in Washington County for two days of celebration in Eastport and Lubec.

The governor will be the master of ceremonies at Eastport’s Midnight 2000 celebration, which begins at 11 p.m. with the Festival of Lights and the millennium boat parade.

King is expected to join his wife, Mary Herman, and the couple’s five children at 3:30 p.m. at West Quoddy Head Lighthouse in Lubec for the lowering of the last flag of the old millennium.

After the presentation of a color guard and the playing of “Taps,” Herman will conduct the Lubec School Youth Choir in their millennium song, “Children of Peace.”

The famed red and white striped lighthouse is located on the easternmost point of land in the United States. Also participating in the flag ceremonies will be U.S. Rep. John Baldacci, State Sen. Vinton Cassidy, R-Calais, and State Reps. Eddie Dugay, D-Cherryfield, and Al Goodwin, R-Pembroke.

Participants will be transported to the lighthouse by shuttle bus.

A bonfire and ice-skating party is planned for young people at Frog Pond, and both the American Legion and Turtle’s Pub will have music and dancing beginning at 9 p.m.

At 11 p.m., volunteers, from both sides of the border, will begin setting up illuminated ice sculptures on the international bridge connecting Lubec to Campobello Island, New Brunswick.

New Brunswick is one hour ahead of the eastern United States, and the middle of the international bridge is the time line.

The volunteer group, which will begin work on the Campobello side of the bridge, will be stepping into the new millennium in the United States as they cross from Campobello to Lubec, according to Eve Preston, Lubec’s director of economic and community development.

The ceremony is expected to end at midnight, with the entire bridge illuminated.

Eastport will mark midnight with a large fireworks display followed by music and dancing at the warehouse on the city’s breakwater.

Lubec will greet the new day with an ecumenical service from 5 to 6 a.m. at the Congregational Church, followed by fireworks before dawn at the Lubec School athletic field in the village.

At dawn, the first flag of the new millennium will be raised at West Quoddy Head to the accompaniment of bagpipe music and the Lubec School Youth Choir singing “Children of Peace,” under the direction of music teacher Bonnie Atkinson. L.L. Bean has donated caps, scarves and mittens for the student singers.

A free public breakfast will follow at the American Legion on Route 189, and an International Run for Peace from Welshpool on Campobello to Lubec School will begin at 10 a.m.

A Polar Bear dip in Fundy Bay at 2 p.m. and a public baked bean supper at 5 p.m. will finish out the day.

Dawn in Eastport will be marked by a procession through downtown streets and a performance on the breakwater by Liz Lerman Dance Exchange and community participants.

A 9 a.m. First Golf Tournament of the Millennium begins a day of family activities.

Lubec and Eastport originally hoped to have ferry service running between the two celebrations, but those plans were canceled. Driving time between the two sites is about an hour.


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