Celebrations

Jimmy Stewart's hometown, Indiana, Pa., will celebrate the centenary of his birth Saturday. The actor who played George Bailey, Elwood P. Dowd, Glenn Miller and Wyatt Earp would have turned 100 this week. Stewart died in 1997. Centennial Festival Day on Saturday will center around the Indiana County courthouse and Jimmy Stewart Museum. The museum, which opened in 1995, attracts about 10,000 visitors annually and is the county's main tourist attraction.

It was so singular a marvel, so ambitious a feat, that its opening drew the president and a crowd of thousands. A leading national magazine said it stood poised to become "our most durable monument." Some 125 years later, the Brooklyn Bridge remains a symbol of engineering might and imagination, and an iconic landmark in the nation's largest city.

The Chinese have worked overtime to get all their checklists ticked, buildings built and security secured in the lead-up to the 2008 Olympics. But something seems to have happened on the way to the arena: They forgot the fun. Fearful of political protests or terrorist attacks, Beijing feels increasingly battened down as the Aug. 8 opening ceremony approaches, leading some wags to predict a "fun-free" or "killjoy" Games.

Gloria Alvarez never got to shout "Viva Mexico!" The 32-year-old homemaker, cradling her infant son, jostled with the rest of her family and thousands of other people who packed the center of this colonial-era city Monday night to celebrate Mexican Independence Day. Then came the blasts. Alvarez's husband and 7-year-old daughter were seriously injured. The 3-month-old baby, Uriel, somehow escaped unharmed, but Alvarez, gravely wounded, died later in a public hospital.

When we were all gathered around the TV Tuesday night, watching Barack Obama on stage in Chicago's Grant Park, basking in the glow of his historic victory, with the returns in and the election safely in the bag, the only question that remained unanswered was: What was that music playing that served as the underscore to Obama's big moment? It was obviously a movie score, but what movie? The first guess, from someone who figured the campaign was going for uplift, was "Chariots of Fire." Wrong.

For decades, Claremont kindergartners have celebrated Thanksgiving by dressing up as pilgrims and Native Americans and sharing a feast. But on Tuesday, when the youngsters meet for their turkey and songs, they won't be wearing their hand-made bonnets, headdresses and fringed vests.

Seven hundred years ago, Aztec runners held fiery torches aloft as they delivered messages to far-flung corners of their Mesoamerican empire. On Sunday, Carlos Morales, a 17-year-old with braces from Salesian High School, wielded a modern-day version of the flame as he marked one of the final legs of a 2,700-mile torch relay that spanned two countries and ended on the football field of East Los Angeles College.

If you're coming to Washington for the inauguration, pack some sturdy shoes, a heavy coat, a powerful pair of binoculars, a cartload of patience -- and your platinum credit card. President-elect Barack Obama will not take the oath of office until next month, but already he's boosting the economy in the capital region. With record crowds expected to pack the National Mall on Jan.

On New Year's Eve, the Las Vegas Strip will once again be transformed into a giant block party. About 300,000 people are expected. Revelers, however, will need to be strategically positioned to see the aerial display. Instead of being shot from the rooftops of various resorts the fireworks will be launched from atop parking garages. "These fireworks are going to be 300 feet closer to people on the Strip," says Pat Christenson, president of Las Vegas Events.

As Washington gears up for a big night of inaugural balls, a delicate dance is taking place. Planners want to stage a splashy celebration worthy of the historic moment but are doing it in tough economic times, perhaps even as President-elect Barack Obama calls for sacrifice in his inaugural address. "Anything too flashy or expensive and the new presidency starts off on the wrong foot," said Steve Ellis of Taxpayers for Common Sense, a Washington watchdog.