NCC scales back millennium eve celebrations Tourism officials say New Year s Eve revelers won t notice changes to presentation BY KATE CHAPPELL ottawa business journal The National Capital Commission s millennium extravaganza has been scaled back considerably after its budget was slashed by nearly 30 per cent.

NCC spokesperson Laurie Peters said the budget for its In Motion-A Story of Time presentation is now $830,000, not the targeted $1.2 million.

That means that instead of the cast of 2,000 intended to participate on 10 stages on Parliament Hill, there will be 150 performers on six stages. Giant screens airing the celebrations will also be missing and the celebration will not be aired across the country due to the high cost.

The costs (of the production) seemed to be escalating, said Peters. One of the biggest surprises was to have it broadcast live nationally. It was exorbitant, and we decided to be fiscally responsible. We said we don t want this to escalate to $2 million.

Peters said Global quoted a price of $400,000 to air the celebrations. This fee would go to pay salaries, production costs, and for the set and materials.

It will be unfortunate that someone in St. John s or Kamloops can t see what the Nation s Capital (is doing on New Year s), said Peters. She noted, however, that there has been some interest from CNN and other international broadcasters to show snippets of Ottawa s celebrations.

Peters said the NCC is still hoping to score about $75,000 in sponsorship money for New Year s Eve celebrations, and admitted that the organization hasn t been aggressive in its sponsorship campaign.

Peters said revellers, however, likely won t notice the effects of the leaner budget.

The smaller celebrations will include $50,000 worth of fireworks, a light show, images projected onto the Parliament buildings and a corresponding soundtrack.

She added that attendance won t suffer, rather it will be boosted by people hoping to peek in on the Nation s Capital celebrating the new year.

The NCC is expecting anywhere between 30,000 to 70,000 visitors to Parliament Hill that night.

Leslie Miller, chair of the Ottawa Tourism and Convention Authority, says the NCC has substantially more funding than it normally has for New Year s celebrations. There s going to be a bigger bang compared to what they normally spend, said Miller. He said the tourist from Vancouver won t be aware of the smaller budget.

Miller added that he is optimistic about the city s millennium celebrations. The NCC is a partner in Destination 2000, a marketing effort for Ottawa in the 2000, along with the OTCA, the Outaouais Tourism Association, the City of Ottawa and the Region, as well as other local agencies.

New Year s Eve is merely the kick-off to a great year. All the major partners are at the table, it s really being done in harmony and synergy, he said.