On March 19, 2000, artist Carl Smool ignites 17 giant scuptures at Seattle Center as 10,000 watch. The "Hope and Dreams Fire Celebration" was originally planned for New Year's Eve festivities on December 31, 1999, but Mayor Paul Schell (1937-2014) and Seattle Center authorities postponed the event amid fears of Millennium terrorist attacks and anxieties over the December 1999 WTO protests.
The festival involved incineration of large papier-mache figures stuffed with thousands of slips of paper bearing New Year's wishes submitted by local citizens. The event was supposed to be the highlight of Seattle Center's celebration of the arrival of year 2000 and a "new" millennium on December 31, 1999, but it was postponed out of concern for public safety. The new date marked the end of winter on the eve of the vernal equinox.
Sources:
The Seattle Times, December 23, 1999; Ibid., December 28, 1999; Ibid., January 1, 2000; Ibid., March 20, 2000.
Licensing: This essay is licensed under a Creative Commons license that
encourages reproduction with attribution. Credit should be given to both
HistoryLink.org and to the author, and sources must be included with any
reproduction. Click the icon for more info. Please note that this
Creative Commons license applies to text only, and not to images. For
more information regarding individual photos or images, please contact
the source noted in the image credit.
Major Support for HistoryLink.org Provided
By:
The State of Washington | Patsy Bullitt Collins
| Paul G. Allen Family Foundation | Museum Of History & Industry
| 4Culture (King County Lodging Tax Revenue) | City of Seattle
| City of Bellevue | City of Tacoma | King County | The Peach
Foundation | Microsoft Corporation, Other Public and Private
Sponsors and Visitors Like You