Valley moments: Decade in review

Doesn’t it seem like yesterday that everyone was talking about Y2K?

Ten years have passed, and we’re about to embark on another decade. We can’t move into the 2010s without a look back at the entertainment and cultural events that touched the people of the central San Joaquin Valley the past 10 years.

From the opening of the Save Mart Center, to reality stars aplenty and a certain Clovis backup dancer marrying a certain pop princess — it’s been an eventful decade.

2000

May 7: Raymond Harvey conducts his last performance as music director of the Fresno Philharmonic, leaving hard feelings among his supporters over his ouster.

Aug. 12: Dr. Dre, Eminem and Snoop Dogg perform at Selland Arena.

Aug. 22: Actress Anne Heche is found confused and disoriented on a remote road in rural western Fresno County.

Sept. 29: Reedley High School graduate Josh Souza finishes second on the CBS television game show “Big Brother.”

Oct. 27: Pearl Jam rocks Selland Arena.

Nov. 7: Actor Alan Autry is elected mayor of Fresno.

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2001

March 1: The first Rogue Festival is held in downtown Fresno.

July 31: People camp out for the grand opening of Fresno’s first Krispy Kreme doughnut shop. (It eventually closed in 2007.)

Oct. 12: Evangelist Billy Graham starts a four-night crusade at Bulldog Stadium, drawing more than 200,000 people.

Dec. 7: Elton John plays a sold-out concert at Selland Arena.

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2002

Feb. 28: The William Saroyan Festival opens with a program that includes performances, exhibitions, readings and group discussions dedicated to Fresno’s famous man of letters.

May 1: The first baseball game was played at Grizzlies Stadium (now Chukchansi Park) in downtown Fresno. (Fresno won 4-1.)

Sept. 21: Theodore Kuchar conducts his first concert as the new music director of the Fresno Philharmonic, beginning a new era for the orchestra.

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2003

Jan. 3: Fresno’s Audra McDonald is in the cast of the new NBC political drama “Mister Sterling.”

Feb. 2: Malachi Harland, executive chef of XYZ restaurant in San Francisco, is named a Rising Star by the San Francisco Chronicle. (Harland, the son of longtime Fresno chef Roy Harland, returns to the Valley the following year.)

May 19: Clovis real-estate investor Will Dyck is the last masked-man standing when 26-year-old Hayley Arp makes her selection on the Fox reality show “Mr. Personality.”

June 25: Chukchansi Gold Resort & Casino opens its doors in Coarsegold.

Nov. 7: Save Mart Center holds its inaugural concert with opera superstar Andrea Bocelli. (Elton John follows with another sold-out show the next night.)

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2004

Feb. 23: Hundreds of moviegoers see Mel Gibson’s “The Passion of the Christ” at private showings in Fresno, two days before the film’s release.

March 5: Britney Spears draws almost 13,000 people to Save Mart Center.

March 11: Esquire magazine names Fresno one of its six “Cities That Rock,” a nod to our local music scene.

April 11: More than 8,000 people join Lee Greenwood singing “God Bless the USA” at an Easter service at the Save Mart Center.

June 6: Fresno native Audra McDonald wins her fourth Tony in 10 years, this time for her role as the hardworking wife in the revival of “A Raisin in the Sun.”

Sept. 4: Prince comes to Fresno and sets an attendance record at Save Mart Center with close to 15,000 people.

Sept. 9: Fresno’s Christopher Gorham stars in NBC drama “Medical Investigation.”

Sept. 18: Local boy Kevin Federline, a backup dancer, marries Britney Spears. (The couple had two kids and a reality show before divorcing in 2006.)

The Fresno Bee