Organizers of Naperville’s Celebration 2000 festival said they met 20 percent of their fundraising goal in one night Wednesday at the first public event in their drive for cash support.
Celebration 2000 will be the city’s answer to Times Square at the close of 1999. The three-day event will include fireworks, parades and live music.
Planners said it will take $300,000 to throw the party, but they are confident that individuals, companies and organizations in Naperville will be willing to help pick up the tab.
The Celebration 2000 Fund-raising Committee organized Wednesday’s sponsorship drive kickoff party, which more than 300 people attended.
“Based on the enthusiasm we saw last night, we will meet our goal,” said Tom Miers, the committee’s co-chairman and senior vice president of MidAmerica Bank.
Miers said the committee saw donations of more than $60,000 pledged Wednesday. Naperville philanthropist Jim Moser, of Moser Enterprises, donated $20,000 for the fireworks display; the Naperville law firm Dommermuth, Brestal, Cobine & West Ltd. donated $10,000 for a planned electric parade; and MidAmerica Bank donated $10,000 for youth and family activities.
The committee also saw more than 40 people volunteer to serve on the 12 committees that will steer festival planning, Miers said.
Celebration 2000 will begin on New Year’s Eve 1999, which falls on a Friday, and will carry through the holiday weekend.
Events scheduled to take place over the three days include dinners and dances, a street fair, a prayer breakfast, holiday brunches at locations across the city and a variety of historical and theatrical events.
Miers said the next public event on his organization’s calendar will be the unveiling of a millennium clock for downtown Naperville.
