From the Chairwoman of the Village of Wellsville. Semiquin Centennial Celebration
By Kathryn Ross,
At the last village board meeting, Mayor Ed Fahs put me in charge of organizing a 250 celebration for the Village of Wellsville.
It was not a complete surprise for several reasons. One, I’ve been asking the board for over a year what its plans were for the country’s Semiquin Centennial. Usually when someone comes to the board inquiring about such things, like sprucing up the flower beds bordering the old Municipal building or rejuvenating the movie theater, the board puts them in charge.
Secondly, when I met with the mayor and trustee Tim Colligan a few weeks ago, I talked about what would be nice for such a celebration and they liked my ideas.
Thirdly, at the recent Republican Chili and Chowder fundraiser, I took the bull by the horns and finally asked the mayor if he would make me chairman of such a committee, because times a wasting.
I have had a little experience in this kind of stuff. I was on the Wellsville 150th year celebration a few years ago. As many may recall, I founded and ran Music on the Lawn for 17 years. Of course, for MOTL I had a dedicated committee that included Lynn McCutcheon and the late Nancy Lotter and my late sister for help. I was also chairman of the Great Wellsville Balloon Rally for a few years. There again, I captained a very experienced committee who kept things going even though for one event I was nearly blind due to an adjustment in medication and for another I was coping with a knee injury. Lagoon Field can be massive when you are trying to hurry from one side of the other for a pilot’s briefing.
Anyway, I’m head of the Village of Wellsville. Semiquin Centennial celebration and since I will obviously need some help, I need to put a committee of volunteers together. I’m planning on holding a meeting in March to recruit volunteers. Right now, I’m wrestling with a date and location. The Ides of March might be a good time, if not apocryphal. That would be the 15th for those not familiar with Roman history.
My tentative plans are pretty simple. I want to use Island Park since it’s easily accessible, so I have to approach the town board for its permission. Free events that benefit the public are usually free of charge. Board meetings are the second Wednesday of the month at the airport. Hope it doesn’t snow.
My ideas are simple although, the mayor would like to see some Revolutionary War reenactors and a cannon. Short of Old Fort Niagara, I have never heard of any Revolutionary War reenactors in the area.
First, I would like to see a food court with food trucks offering specific types of food like Italian, German, Irish, Polish, Mexican and Asian to celebrate the nation’s immigrant heritage. Each business would fly the flag of their of country.
I’m thinking it would be fun to highlight the park itself with tree identification tags, the oldest tree etc. I was recently told that the park received an award a few years ago for having one of the oldest trees in the state and that the tree was registered with the state. So, I thought it would be nice to find that tree. I think it would also be fun to designate different trees and explain what was happening in the nation when that tree was a sapling.
I’ve also thought it would be fun to run a series of patriotic movies, free. I’m thinking “1776, “The Patriot,” “Rally Round the Flag Boys,” “Washington,” movies like that. I’m hoping I can get the Babcock Movie Theater Preservation Society to provide popcorn as a fundraiser for them.
Of course, I want to have a flag ceremony using a 1776 flag and a reading of the Constitution, etc. and a cannon for the mayor. Maybe a bell could be rung and the names of the 56 signers of the document read. The Thelma Rogers Genealogical and Historical Society could put together a historical display of Wellsville through the ages.
I’m open to all sorts of ideas, right now these are just my rambling thoughts. That’s why volunteers are needed to provide additional ideas and to help decide a date for the event.
I’ll be advertising the meeting date, time and place as soon as it’s settled.
Please consider volunteering for this once in 250 years opportunity.
Kathryn Ross is a Wellsville native and longtime community activist. If you are interested in sponsoring or volunteering, shoot her an email- kathr_2002@yahoo.com
