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Entertainment

A full weekend of music and fun

Main Street Holidays packs the weekend with everything you need to have a ball.

By BARBARA L. FREDRICKSEN
Published December 9, 2005

NEW PORT RICHEY - The Main Street Holidays celebration continues today and lasts through Sunday in Sims Park, with live entertainment in three venues, free movies in the park, river lights boat tours, an arts and crafts shopping village, Hickory Hammock old Florida crafts demonstrations, festival foods, a kids zone, early morning pancake breakfasts and a big, lighted night parade through downtown at 7 p.m. Saturday.

The annual event started last week with the River Lights Boat Parade on the Pithlachascotee River and a Downtown Shop 'N' Stroll.

"We're expecting more than 6,000 people at the festival over the weekend and up to 70,000 at the night parade," said Judy DeBella Thomas, executive director of Greater New Port Richey Main Street, the event's sponsor and organizer.

The carnival will open the festivities at 5 p.m. today and close them at 11 p.m. In between, Genesis School will perform at 7 p.m. on the main stage, followed at 8:30 p.m. with a free movie. From 6 to 10:30 p.m., there will be lighted boat tours leaving from the dock ($5).

On Saturday and Sunday, the Cotee River Lions Club will start the day with a breakfast ($2 for children, $3 for adults) of pancakes, eggs and sausage from 8 to 11 a.m.

Saturday's special events are the Marine Institute's man-powered fire truck pull from 10 a.m. to noon, the lighted street parade at 7 p.m. and a free movie in the park at 9 p.m.

The parade starts at the intersection of Gulf and Grand boulevards, goes north on Grand through town, around Orange Lake, south on Bank Street, then west on Main Street to U.S. 19.

Sunday's special treats are the Cotee River Lions Club's "Breakfast with Santa and Mrs. Claus" from 8 to 11 a.m., followed by ice skating (bring your own skates or skates will be provided) on a portable ice rink from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. and hay rides hosted by Starkey's Flatwoods Adventures from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

On Saturday, a different entertainment group performs at the Main Stage every hour from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.; from noon to 6 p.m. at the Gazebo Stage; and from noon to 7 p.m. at the Peace Hall Coffee House - Art Scene.

Richey Suncoast Theatre starts things at 11 a.m. on the Main Stage, followed by the Mike McKinley jazz and bebop trio, Gypsy Star eclectic jazz, Impromptu Django style Gypsy jazz, Hazard Factor improvisations, the Dapper Dan Band rockin' bluegrass and folk (free dance lessons by Swing Time instructors, no partner needed, on the portable dance floor), and the Midnight Bowlers League Rockabilly Concert.

In the Gazebo, the Friends of Florida Folk will present the Knot Whole Trio 60s style sing-along group at noon, followed by Scotty Clark and Jack Sloss country folk music, singer-songwriter Mike Jurgensen (multiwinner at the Will McLean Music Festival), instrumentalist Susan Boyer Haley, Juniper Celtic music and Parson Brown folk-rock.

In the Peace Hall, singer Yvonne Morales is the first performer at noon, followed by Tara Heywood's "acoustic chick rock," Richey Suncoast Players, Matt Slawson's electric guitar loops, discussions by the West Pasco Writer's Workshop and Larry Reidt.

The movie in the amphitheater starts at the conclusion of the street parade.

On Sunday, the entertainment starts in the Peace Hall Coffee House at noon, when television reporter Michelle Kay does a 15-minute comedy routine. At 12:15, Dave Eichenberger plays holiday chamber music; at 1:30 p.m., it's the Marine Institute's interpretation of Shakespeare's Macbeth, renamed McBeth; at 2:30 p.m., the Noteworthy Quartet will sing barbershop style; and closing the show at 3:15 p.m. are John Bell and Glen Cantwell doing flamenco and jazz.

In the Gazebo, the dueling banjos of Dale Webber and Vgo start the music at 1 p.m., followed by Tammy Murray and Friends fiddle faddle, Keith Hope and Jerry Mincey Florida Folk, and Wendy Welch and Jack Beck storytelling and Celtic music.

Entertainment starts at 2 p.m. on the Main Stage with the Wayne Pearson Quintet, a traditional New Orleans jazz group, followed by the Swingers big band jazz and Patchwork all-female bluegrass trio.

The Kids Zone has crazy train rides, a petting zoo, pony rides and more.

Admission is free, but a $2 donation will be accepted.

WHAT: Main Street Holidays

WHERE: Sims Park, New Port Richey

WHEN: 5 to 11 p.m. today; 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. Saturday; 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday.

TICKETS: Admission is free, but a $2 donation will be requested.

[Last modified December 9, 2005, 01:19:17]