top of page
ejreporter

Washingtonville Lights Up the Sky at Vern Allen Park for Independence

Updated: Jul 21


Video of Washingtonville Community Fireworks Festival


Being named after George Washington, and having one of the highest numbers of retired and active police and fire officers in New York, it's obvious that the Village of Washingtonville places a very high priority on recognition of its heritage, and its contributions to the creation of this nation's democracy and constitution. The Independence Day activities, performers and fireworks on Friday night just missed the string of microbursts and scattered severe thunderstorms of late but then the sky blackened and everyone was tense, wondering if here might be a rainout afterall. The skies held, and the pyrotechnics show was spectacular. Its beginning had an eerie resemblance to what the US battlefields must have looked like during the Revolution, with clouds making a mix of what looked like smoke, gunpowder and color. The technical team extended the intervals between blasts a little, to hold down the smoke mix, and then the colors gleamed. Thee spiral climbing otherworldly worms making their squirrly acclaims are always a favorite and brought cheers.


In the end, the camaraderie of community friends and neighbors is what the gathering was all about, with a lot of hand-shaking and hugging by both adults and children who had not seen each other for awhile. Beachballs, Volleyballs and whiffle balls flew while kids' light sabres clashed and the band played on.


  • Sponsors & Advertisers


This year one of the themes was a huge variety of food in the vendor lineup, and the barbecue smoke wafted throughout the crowds making the revelers want to take yet another walk for more festival treats. Flames were twirled, and the band's music prompted some dancing along with the "Hey Nows" and swaying with Alex Prizgintas and his cello music.


Washingtonville's Community Events Committee once again spent countless hours, dozens of meetings and many months of prearation for this to be a success. Their hard work and success over the past 2 years is bringing them acclaim including top 3 placements in Hudson Valley Events in contests held by both the Hudson Valley Magazine and Chronogram.


The Village of Washingtonville's DPW also did a stellar job and should get extra credit, not just for helping to set up the strict safety zones and monitoring all of the through traffic so that attendees could have their worry-free fun. But they also cleaned up the spacious Park practically in the blink of an eye, and this is after hoisted Flags for Heroes throughout the 'Ville'. It was like elves that flew in and turned everything spic and span. This, combined with recent roadwork, had kept them super busy, along with flowers galore in giant pots across the Village that have required DAILY care and have amazingly remained as beautful as when they were planted a month ago

163 views0 comments

Comments


bottom of page