The buzz surrounding tonight’s planned New Year’s Eve celebration in downtown Long Beach is practically charting on the Richter Scale, as numerous media outlets are reporting on extreme athlete Travis Pastrana and his plan to jump his Subaru rally car off the Pine Avenue pier and over 250 feet of Pacific Ocean to land on a floating barge.
(Pictured at right, Pastrana practices for his New Year’s Eve record-breaking jump. Photo courtesy of Red Bull.)
The event will be broadcast live on ESPN and will break a Guinness World Record if Pastrana completes the jump. A press release from the Downtown Long Beach Associates estimates that a crowd nearing 50,000 will be in attendance.
The jump is scheduled for 9:00pm (although broadcasting delays could potentially push it back), while event sponsor Red Bull will have their air racing pilots and sky-diving teams on display beforehand.
But away from the primetime cameras, there’s even more going on.
Around 6:00pm, Pine Street will be closed to traffic and organized into a Times Square-style party with live bands and pure entertainment. Tribute band Knyght Ryder will play at 7:00pm, leading up to Pastrana’s jump. Beatles tribute band American English will play at 9:30pm and the Disco Kings will play 70’s hits from 11:00pm and on.
There will also be live indie music and a Rock Bottom Beer Garden in the Arts District at 1st and Elm, with music rocking well into 2010 as fireworks light the night sky.
Worried about parking? Lucky for you, there is no charge for using Long Beach Transit between 6:00pm and 2:00am. You can also reserve a parking space online by visiting DowntownLongBeach.org.
See you there!