"Simba," a lion cub adopted as the mascot of Nassau County got the 100th Nassau County Birthday Celebration off to a "roaring" start as Nassau County Legislator Richard Nicolello of New Hyde Park joined with County Executive Thomas Gulotta and the other county officials to kick off the first of many year long 100th year birthday celebrations to commemorate the centennial Nassau County.

The ceremony was held in the rotunda of the Old County Courthouse, since it was raining so hard, and included a brass band, an 80 square foot birthday cake, baked by culinary students at Nassau Community College and a brief speech by Governor Theodore Roosevelt look-alike Jim Foote of Sea Cliff.

The ceremony also included a re-enactment of the first meeting of the Nassau County Board of Supervisors when they adopted a Coat of Arms, a County Seal and a County Flag. At the same time the governing body also established a number of offices including the office of county clerk and district attorney. That first meeting was held at the Mineola Hook & Ladder located at 1 Main Street, Mineola, not far from where the Old Courthouse now stands. That building was not built until July 1900 when New York State Governor Teddy Roosevelt laid the cornerstone.

At the ceremony County Executive Gulotta commented that when Nassau decided not to join New York City it had 55,000 residents and today the county has a population of 1.3 million residents which is larger than the population of 15 states and instead of a largely agrarian economy Nassau is now a diverse mix of suburban residential communities, downtown businesses and thriving commercial and business sectors.

Nicolello commented on the historic nature of what the first Nassau County Board of Supervisors set in motion 100 years ago, "As a member of the first Nassau County Legislature, I have great respect for what the new lawmakers accomplished when they created the government of Nassau. I am proud to represent the residents of the 9th Legislative District and especially during this centennial year of the county."

The centennial events will end with a huge gala on Dec. 31 to usher in the year 2000.