Fireworks ablaze at Kirkside Park this Sunday!
With the unofficial close to summer on our doorstep, The Town of Roxbury in partnership with the MARK Project, Roxbury Arts Group, WIOX, GRBA, GRLC, RFD, The Roxbury Motel, MTC and area businesses proudly present Roxbury Revelry—a full day of family fun and excitement culminating in a grand fireworks display at dusk.
Whatever your fancies, Roxbury Revelry will offer all the agreeable pursuits of summer fun in the Catskills. With the long awaited return of the Roxbury Nine, the event opens with an afternoon of memorialization of the roots of America’s resilient pastime. At 1pm the Roxbury Nine will be armed with their familiar ferocity as they take the field against the Brooklyn Atlantics in a double header. Game one brings the rules and nuances of 1898 to the forefront as this barehanded overhand pitched contest allows for a heated and competitive match. Game two will roll back the clocks to 1864 for the more “gentleman’s” game of the early days of baseball.
In 2007, the first group of Roxbury Nine retirees—Mark Cammer, Jim Johnson, John Shepard, Vinny Snyder, Dave Cowan, and Tim Hynes were inducted into the Roxbury Nine Hall of Fame, and in between games, the remaining founders—Rich Ellsworth, Mike Hynes, Matt Walker, Andrew Walker, Chris Hynes, and John Fairbairn will join the ranks with a notable recognition of the beginning days of Vintage Baseball in Kirkside Park. Their Hall of Fame Shirts will be appropriately presented by Andrea Cammer, wife of the late Mark Cammer—one of the Nine’s most stoic and talented players ever to take the field in Kirkside Park.
Children’s games reminiscent of an old time country fair will keep the kid’s in full swing. Sack races, bean-bag tosses and yes—a corn eating contest. And for those history buffs, park director Carolyn Faraci will be leading walking tours of the hamlet at 2 and 4 pm. With the entire hamlet listed on the State and National Registers of Historic Places, these gentle strolls thought the village offer a plethora of material on architectural detail as well as the local lore surrounding some of Roxbury’s most prominent structures.
Meanwhile, great food will be available all day by the Roxbury Fire Department, Roxbury Seniors and Ate O Ate food truck providing a culinary adventure to accompany a cold beverage–especially the fine craft beer of Catskill Brewery. Plen air painters will dapple the lawns of Kirkside Park with the works available for sale at the day’s end. And a “selfie” station will be set up in the barns for whose who want to capture the day in bodacious fashion. You can also tap into Kirkside Park’s colorful collection of costumes and stroll the grounds of this magnificent historic site in 1890’s grace and style.
At 6pm, the Woodshed Profits take the stage on the Island in Kirkside Park and will launch into what they call “power twang,” a mix of rock n’ roll, Americana boogie, and country. They come in peace, and a nicer bunch of Catskill country boys you’ll not meet, but make no mistake: Woodshed Prophets will rock you. Immediately following their music, appropriately enough, the skies will bloom with fireworks. Pyro-Engineering will be responsible for the grand finale of this spectacular event, and MTC’s own Glen Faulkner is the technician choreographing the climatic end to the day’s event. Roxbury Revelry was funded in part by the A. Lindsay and Olive B. O’Connor Foundation. For more information on the day’s events visit the Facebook Page or this site!
Those wishing to wear costumes, should contact Carolyn Faraci at 607 326 3722 or roxburyoffice@gmail.com