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SCHENECTADY
Fireworks to cap bicentennial year
Display planned for New Year’s Eve
BY JUSTIN MASON Gazette Reporter

    Downtown Schenectady will celebrate the end of the county’s bicentennial with a bang.
    Schenectady County is funding downtown’s first New Year’s Eve fireworks extravaganza in recent memory as part of a finale for the ongoing commemoration of the county’s founding two centuries ago. Area business leaders are hoping the display will draw some of the Capital Region’s holiday revelers to the city’s revitalizing downtown.
    “It’s very exciting,” said Chamber of Schenectady President Chuck Steiner Thursday. “This is another piece of what downtown has become.”
    The mid-evening start time for the display could make it an attractive draw for families looking to celebrate the New Year before midnight. Organizers have scheduled the show to begin at 9:30 p.m., meaning it should fall ahead of the midnight fireworks show slated for the First Night 2010 celebration in Saratoga Springs.
    First Night celebrations in both the city of Albany and in Fulton County were canceled several years ago, leaving Saratoga Springs as the only destination with an organized celebration in the Capital Region. Albany’s New Year’s celebration was later replaced by WinterFest, which will have a fireworks display Saturday evening near City Hall. .....................>>>>.........................>>>>......................http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....r01101&AppName=1