The Real Millennium

By Harriet Barovick, Amanda Bower, Val Castronovo, Matthew Cooper, Daniel Levy, Ellin Martens, Benjamin Nugent, Michele Orecklin, Josh Tyrangiel

The purists' time has finally come: on Dec. 31 we really will ring in the beginning of the new millennium. (After all, it's not like they called the first year "0.") But the pedants haven't exactly risen to the occasion:

--The Real Millennium Group will celebrate the new year at Slocum's Bowl-O-Drome, in Ewing, N.J., where founder Jim Bergevin Jr. is manager. The group's 49 members live around the world, though, so mostly nonmillennialist locals will enjoy laser bowling, disco lights and a buffet.

--Denver didn't officially celebrate on Dec. 31, 1999, because of Y2K fears, but will throw caution to the wind this year and stage a massive mall party. Mayor Wellington Webb has belatedly discovered the city was a stickler all along: it celebrated the start of the 20th century on Jan. 1, 1901.

--Jonathan Wetstein and his friends at Parsippany High School, N.J., made 01-01-01 TRUE MILLENNIUM T shirts, and plan to watch the ball drop in a pal's basement.

--Dick Marston, a retired California lawyer whose family is a "bit embarrassed" by the passion on his Millennium Mania Mischief! Web posting, plans to stay home and take down the site a few weeks into 2001.