Will They Do the Volskya Event Again
WINDSOR — When people sing about the town of Windsor, every bit they volition July iii, there's a hint of Irish complaining, of things gone by.
"Windsor At present and Then," by the late Ed Kohn, looks back, wistfully, from discussion 1. "2 hundred years and more we've been / A town gone through hard times," it begins.
"When the logging days had come and gone / And the tanning mills had all moved on / And the Ball Bridge Works closed down / We turned to what we had," reads the song's 2nd stanza.
That "and more than" is now a lot more than since Kohn penned the lyrics. The town is 250 years onetime — and in Windsor, that'south crusade for commemoration.
Despite the challenge of a pandemic year, Windsor will use the 4th of July weekend to open several months of events and commemorations. Rather that heap everything into one gala weekend, programs are planned through the fall subsequently a first July 3.
"When we were planning, we didn't know if by July we would exist fully open," said Kim Tobin of the Select Board, referring to the pandemic's uncertainty. In neighboring Peru, which is as well mark its 250th anniversary, officials opted to hold off on a celebration until 2022.
When it comes time to sing Kohn's song, the customs will have more than than words to read. "The son of the man who wrote the song is putting it to music," Tobin said.
In early October, a "fall festival" will offer a barn dance and competitions that honor the town's agricultural by, including a tractor parade and, for some, a beard-growing contest.
Windsor Town Clerk Madeline Scully says that witnessing the town's 200th anniversary parade, in 1971, helped her make an initial connection with the community.
"There wasn't enough of the erstwhile-timey stuff, so we decided we needed more," said Madeline Scully, a member of the planning commission and the town clerk.
Opening events
The celebration starts at 12:30 p.m. July iii, a Saturday, at the Windsor Town Park on Republic of peru Road. Throughout the afternoon, the anniversary committee plans customs games, music, activities for children, including a Fire Department muster. Trio Candela will perform at 3 and the Misty Dejection Band will perform at 7. A food truck will serve from 5:30 to 8.
Fireworks begin at nine, with a pelting date of July 9.
On Sunday, music and performance remains the focus, with an open mic running from 11 a.m. to 1:thirty p.g. hosted by Jack Swindlehurst. People can share stories, read poems, tell jokes or sing songs. That volition be followed, until iv p.m. by a jazz and blues workshop, with people invited to bring instruments.
On July 3, historian Bernard Drew, who grew upwards in Windsor, volition bring copies of 2 books he wrote on the town's history, "The Colonel on Skis: And Other Stories of Notchview Reservation," about the former Ely estate where he grew up, and "Charles H. Brawl: Berkshire's Biggest Smalltown Industrialist," about the entrepreneur who founded a bridge-building company in the 1880s and later a sawmill and wood-products mill in the Eastward Windsor village.
An example of one of the small highway bridges created by a company in East Windsor sits behind the Windsor Historical Museum.
"The town looks sleepy when you drive through, but a lot of interesting people lived at that place or came from in that location," said Drew, a founding member of Windsor'southward Historical Commission. "I have collected information for years."
"People who created Windsor as we know it," said Tobin.
After Ball'southward bridge firm airtight, his company got into making things like paintbrush handles and wooden skewers one time used by meatpacking companies around the U.Due south., co-ordinate to Drew.
"He made them by the millions," he said of the Ball'due south skewers line, in all employing more 30 people. One of the bridge company's old structures, recovered later it was retired from apply in the Berkshires, sits out backside the Windsor Historical Museum.
Historian Bernard Drew'due south newest book tells the story of a former Windsor industrialist, creator of a once-popular highway bridge.
Further out
Looking ahead, anniversary events will have identify through Oct, including:
– Aug. seven at one p.m., a "Nature at our Doorstep" program with Aimee Gelinas at the Windsor Historical Museum, including a nature walk.
– Aug. 28, a "Night CruZers Machine Testify," with food provided past the Windsor Fire Section.
– Sept. 12 at 11 a.m., a focus on history, with a "This Land'southward Native American Roots" program with Jennifer Lee at the museum and a 1 p.thousand. history walk at Notchview with Drew, the historian.
– October. 3 will feature the fall festival with Windsor artisans, food purveyors, and a chili cook-off. Other events planned: apple tree pie, pickle and cider competitions, axe throwing, a pet show, lumberjack race, picnic basket auction and hayride, bingo at Town Hall, a children'southward fishing derby, broil auction and evening befouled dance.
Kip Bouymaster, a boondocks police force officer known for his honey of pickles, has been tapped to judge the pickle competition.
"I'm happy to take that on," he said.
At ane p.m. that day, Jack Sobon volition pb a tour of Windsor'south timber-framed barns, beginning at the museum.
– October. 17 at 1 p.thousand., a bout of Windsor's former-growth forest remnants, also with Jack Sobon, starting at the museum.
Time sheathing
When Windsor marked its 200th ceremony with a parade, the event drew an astounding oversupply, estimated at five,500 spectators along Route 9, according to The Eagle's coverage at the fourth dimension.
When U.S. Rep. Silvio O. Conte reached the reviewing stand up with marchers, the contingent came to a dead stop. Mae Hitchcock, so considered Windsor'southward "mayor," ran out to hug and kiss Conte, as six drum and bugle corps marked time. The parade marshal was Henry Estes, who owned the store that is now Sangar'due south.
President Richard Nixon receives a commemorative silver coin marking the 200th anniversary of Windsor in August 1971. Members of the bi-centennial committee and Rep. Silvio Conte likewise presented the president with other gifts to honor the anniversary.
The Hawkeye story said the parade turnout probable brought more people to Windsor all at in one case than e'er earlier. The town's population then was 468; it had risen to 842 by 2018, according to the U.S. Demography.
Scully, the town clerk, recalls witnessing the 1971 parade during her beginning year in Windsor. "It was kind of what sold us on the boondocks," she said.
Every bit in 1971, a time capsule is existence prepared for the 250th commemoration.
The capsule from the 200th, congenital past Joseph Mattis, remains unburied, Tobin said. Long ago, people decided not to bury the sheathing considering the ground at the site was too wet. The little vault is not supposed to be opened until 2071. According to coverage from 1971, the box contains a plate designed by Olive Volsky, a commemorative medal and other "historical and bicentennial memorabilia."
Town lore galore, in other words, which brings usa back to Ed Kohn's song.
"From Windsor Jambs to Estes (Sangar'southward) Shop / This little town is steeped in lore; / If you don't know what a customs's for / Then Windsor's non your style."
Source: https://www.berkshireeagle.com/news/local/windsor-plans-to-party-like-its-250-years-young-live-music-fireworks-beard-growing-contest/article_c2c7c540-d1b5-11eb-a65c-0b8e8d988594.html
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