JUNE 27, 2001

People's Sponsors Skyblast Fireworks,
Highlighting Barnum Festival Weekend

BRIDGEPORT, CONN.
Get ready for some snaps, crackles, pops and booms as "Skyblast 2001" lights up the sky Friday, June 29, at approximately 9:15 p.m. at Bridgeport's Seaside Park.

That's the message sent at a noon press conference today to announce the annual fireworks spectacular, billed as the largest show in southern Connecticut. The event was held at the Bridgeport Center headquarters of People's Bank at 850 Main Street.

For the ninth straight year, Skyblast 2001 is being sponsored by People's and STAR 99.9 FM. People's President and CEO John A. Klein is the marshal of the show, which kicks off an exciting weekend of Barnum Festival activities.

"This is a wonderful tradition in Bridgeport," Klein said. "This annual event brings a lot of enjoyment to children of all ages in Bridgeport and throughout Connecticut. We're proud to play a role in making it all possible, and our long partnership with STAR 99.9 has been very rewarding."

The show will be set to songs including “There You’ll Be,” Faith Hill’s hit from the movie “Pearl Harbor,” LeAnn Rimes’ rendition of “God Bless America” and Frank Sinatra’s timeless version of “Fly Me to The Moon.” The extravaganza’s finale – thousands of shells igniting dazzling bursts of colors decorating the sky – will be set to Whitney Houston’s stirring recording of “The Star Spangled Banner.” The entire show will be simulcast on STAR 99.9.

Each year the spectacular is viewed by about 100,000 people gathered in Seaside Park and watching from other nearby beaches and parks and on boats on Long Island Sound.

Bay Fireworks, headquartered in Oyster Bay, N.Y., has promised the biggest fireworks show in New England.

The Barnum Festival celebrates the memory of consummate showman Phineas T. Barnum each year beginning with the last weekend in April. This year's Barnum Festival theme is "Inaugurating the New Century." It was a half-century ago, in 1951, that Alfred V. Bodine was Ringmaster and this year his grandson, Richard P. “Flip” Bodine Jr., is the Ringmaster.

Rain date for the fireworks show is Saturday, June 30. Announcements will be made on STAR 99.9 should the event be postponed. STAR 99.9 will broadcast live from Seaside Park, beginning at 2 p.m. Morning radio personality John Harper, emcee of today’s press conference, will return to the airwaves at 6 p.m. to lead the countdown to showtime.

STAR 99.9 FM is southern Connecticut's most listened to radio station. Reaching all of Fairfield and New Haven counties, STAR 99.9 features an adult contemporary format, playing hits from the 80s and 90s.

People’s (peoples.com) is a diversified financial services company providing commercial, consumer, insurance and investment services. Founded in 1842, it is the largest state-chartered bank in Connecticut with managed assets of $14 billion, 143 branches and 220 ATMs. People’s is a leader in consumer and commercial banking, residential lending, insurance sales and supermarket banking and is the nation’s 16th-leading issuer of MasterCard and Visa credit cards. People’s subsidiaries offer brokerage services, asset management, equipment financing and leasing, and insurance services.