For Thousands, New Year’s Eve Is a Family Affair

FULLERTON — It was New Year’s Eve, and 3-year-old Adam Case was having a great time.

Usually his father and mother would be in the Jacuzzi at home in Santa Ana having a couple of drinks to honor the new year--and he’d be in bed. Instead, they were all in downtown Fullerton, and he was running at will across the big intersection of Harbor Boulevard and Wilshire Street. Mom and Dad and a cop were watching, and he still wasn’t getting in trouble.

It was the fifth annual First Night Fullerton, the family-values alternative to the more traditional drink-and-drink-some-more New Year’s Eve celebration.

Under City Hall’s sponsorship, streets leading into downtown Fullerton were closed at 6 p.m. and the blocks turned over to partyers.

But no alcohol. None at all. The whole point, said Sylvia Palmer, City Hall spokeswoman, is to have a fun, noisy New Year’s Eve and still make it home all right.

The original First Night was in Boston during the national bicentennial in 1976. The idea has spread to more than 100 U.S. and Canadian cities, but Fullerton’s is the only one in Orange County.

First Night Fullerton nearly didn’t come off this year. For the first time the Fullerton City Council declined to subsidize the event, but it later allocated $34,900 from city redevelopment funds.

As many as 10,000 people have attended the First Nights here since 1991, and organizers expected about that many people to have shown up Sunday night. According to Palmer, the one-night festivals have attracted mostly families with children who are usually excluded from traditional New Year’s Eve celebrations.

“This is the first time for us,” said Adam’s mother, Cheryl Case. “It’s a safe environment. It’s chilly, but not too bad. I like it.”

So did her daughter, Brittany, 9, who had been practicing to stay up past midnight. “Yesterday I stayed up to 1:56,” she said proudly.

The reward for making it to midnight would be fireworks.

Meantime, there was a small, county fair-style fun zone and large awnings sheltering bands of many sorts--jazz, rock, alternative rock, country, mariachi, even chamber music.

The Fullerton Museum Center was open with a kid-friendly display of “touchable” sculpture. A petting zoo was set up, and clowns, unicyclists and a juggler strolled about.

But with all the entertainment, the sheer novelty of having the streets free of cars seemed to give children the biggest thrill.

Teenage in-line skaters enjoyed the rush of being the fastest moving objects on Harbor Boulevard. The only competition was a rubber-tired train that slowly putt-putted along with a load of children.

The hottest commodity was chalk, dispensed free to anyone who wanted the pleasure of squatting in the middle of Harbor Boulevard and drawing pictures on its pavement.

“This has always been the most popular thing here,” said Palmer. “Last year we ran out of chalk.” Volunteers dispensing cases of chalk expected to run out again this year.

The most popular chalk objet d’art--leaving your own body outline, a la murder scene. But 10-year-old Matthew Durkin of Placentia was more into political statements, like “Toy Story Rules.”

“Last year we left the kids with our parents and went out,” said Matthew’s father, Mike Durkin. “This year we heard about this just through word of mouth. It’s great.”

“Yeah,” said his wife, Denise Durkin. “He got off cheap this year.”