Hastings-on-Hudson, NY, August 29, 2010
Summer vacation winds down and we have before us a series of absolutely great events in the month of September that speaks to the best about Hastings. They’re big fun for everyone: set aside time in your calendars to join your friends and neighbors for these events. (Time to invite friends from out of town to showcase your home town!)
September 3: Friday Night Live
Friday, 5:30-9:30
The latest installment in this new Hastings tradition, this Friday night, come downtown for Friday Night Live "Hastings Harvest". Local restaurants and Farmer’s Market vendors will set up downtown and you can sample and dine with your fellow residents from a multitude of choices. Music on the street will be provided by Hasting’s own Blues Mamas, and at the Community Center at 8:30, we enjoy a concert by one of the coolest national blues artist around, Guy Davis. More information at http://rivertownsguide.com/fnl
September 11: The Fourth Annual Take Me To The River Music and Arts Festival
Saturday, 11:30AM – 9:30PM
This is one of my favorite annual events – an all-day party at Draper Park that’s great for music lovers, families, and any resident wanting to enjoy music, art, food and being outside with fellow residents. Bring blankets and chairs and settle down for ten hours (!) of music on two stages. There’s a ton of creative activities for kids and adults, there’s food and drink – it’s just the best possible way to spend an afternoon. This gets better each year and is better attended as more and more people realize this is the best music festival around. It’s $15 in advance or $20 at the door, and it’s just the nicest day of the year. Spend it with friends: learn more at http://12milesnorth.org/.
September 25: The Firemen’s Gala Parade
Saturday, 3PM
Hastings hosts for the first time in a decade the Annual Parade of the Westchester County Volunteer Fireman's Association, commemorating of the 100th Anniversary of our own River View Manor Hose Company #3. This parade will involve more than a hundred engines (!), hundreds of firemen (!), and a number of marching bands. It will wend through the Village, head downtown and will blow your socks off. This is the real deal, a major pageant of fire engines, and the great and good volunteers who man them. Set aside the later afternoon to take this in. Those who were there for prior parades (that includes me) can tell you it’s profoundly memorable and remarkably moving. See it. It’s for real and speaks to the best angels among us, our volunteer fire companies who keep us safe.
In short, we have quite a September ahead of us, with three weekends of unique and remarkable events. I don’t want to sound chauvinistic here, but these events really set this community apart. They bring the best we have to offer before us, showcasing our considerable and unique community strengths. You live here because it’s the neatest community in Westchester (I think the country, but I'm trying to be reasonable). These events are a celebration of this truth. Come out and party with us. We’re at our best this September.
Peter Swiderski is mayor of the Village of Hastings-on-Hudson.
