Thanks to generous community support, our spirited city will welcome 2010 with live local entertainment, a new fleur de lis drop, and the midnight fireworks display over the Mighty Mississippi River.

Produced by the Crescent City Countdown Club in cooperation with the City of New Orleans, entertainment begins at 9:00 p.m. at the Decatur Street City Stage in front of Jackson Square. The exciting entertainment lineup will include DJ Charles Belonge, Mia Borders, Cupid, Shamarr Allen and the Underdawgs. (Performance times will be announced next week.)

Join Mayor C. Ray Nagin as we count down to the New Year, and watch as the black and gold 9 foot high by 6 foot wide fleur de lis descends a 25-foot pole atop Jax Brewery Condominiums to launch the exquisite Symphony in the Sky. “Created by Barry Barth of Barth Brothers Artists, the fleur de lis has become the most well-known symbol of our city,” says Erskine Terry, property engineer at Jax since 1984. “The fleur de lis reflects the united passions of a changing New Orleans,” Terry concludes.

Simulcast live on Magic 101.9 FM and WWL AM, FM, and .com, the NOLA New Year’s Eve celebration will be enjoyed in more than 38 states across the U.S. and on the worldwide web. At the stroke of midnight, the fireworks display will illuminate the sky and be choreographed to soulful music beginning with a New Orleans Brass Bands rendition of “Auld Lang Syne.” The spirited fight songs of our visiting Allstate Sugar Bowl teams will play as the sky lights up in the teams’ colors. Of course, a beloved New Orleans Saints anthem will play as a barrage of gold fills the dark sky. Rays of purple, green, and gold will then dance in the sky to the “Mardi Gras Mambo,” inviting all the world to come to New Orleans for Mardi Gras 2010. Dancing feet will move to the Dixie Cups’ “Iko Iko” and The Kingsmen’s “Down the Mississippi” and especially to the finale of U2 and Green Day’s “The Saints Are Coming” originally performed at the post-Katrina opening of the Superdome.

The Crescent City Countdown Club is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization formed exclusively to preserve and produce New Orleans’ traditional New Year’s Eve festivities in the French Quarter. “A NOLA New Year’s Eve is truly a community effort and a tribute to the big hearts and resilient souls of the people of New Orleans,” says CCCC Treasurer Adrienne Thomas. “Without sponsorship by French Quarter Festivals, Inc., Allstate Sugar Bowl, Harrah’s New Orleans, and twenty-two downtown businesses, there could be no New Year’s Eve fireworks celebration here.”