“COOL: SAN FRANCISCO & SHAKESPEARE”

Ring in the New Year with fireworks on the waterfront. San Francisco’s lovely Embarcadero will be aglow, with ruby reds, brilliant blues, and dazzling whites punctuating the midnight sky.

At 12 a.m. January 1, 2009, the annual 15-minute fireworks show will begin. While the forecast does call for partly cloudy skies, with luck, S.F.’s New Year’s display won’t be affected.

For visitors, this is a wonderful way to “see” the city. Muni will be providing complimentary service to help ease traffic, as well as transport revelers to and from the area (8 p.m. Dec. 31 until 6 a.m. Jan. 1).

Happy New Year to one and all. And here’s to the promise of 2009!

^{* Beautiful shot of the Ferry Building with fireworks; photo (c) John Curley. Some rights reserved under Creative Commons.}

This year, Icer Air will move “outside,” taking its Big Air (as well as pro skate, BMX, and motocross) event to McCovey Cove. It’ll also return to its one-day format, packing in all highlights into just nine hours. Once the gates open, the first competition will be only 30 minutes away.

Attendees will have access to all events, with the pro-skate and BMX park competition kicking things off (12:30 p.m.). Riders will be put into heats of 10, with each rider given two 60-second runs. The top two riders will advance to the Finals, where they’ll be given another two 60-second runs to show off their best tricks.

As for the freestyle motocross (1 p.m. start), this exhibition of backflips, supermans, and lazyboys will be performed throughout the day by top X-Gamers and Dew Tour athletes. Read the rest of this entry »