Write a commentAfter Rad Converse "didn't say no” to the $50,000 Grucci Fireworks display proposal, we got to work in earnest and started to plan and craft the event. He was recently quoted in the Syracuse PS as saying " I believe in enthusiastic people, and with Charlotte’s enthusiasm, how could she fail?” His confidence in her, as it turned out, was well placed.
The previous year, Theresa Mitchell, then the Executive Director of Seaway Trail, based in Sackets Harbor, had brought three Tall Ships to Oswego for tours. They docked at the Port Authority on the east side and there were several vendors who set up shop at the same location. Theresa recruited Rosemary Nesbitt to do an historic re-enactment of Alvin Bronson, first Mayor of the Village of Oswego, being loaded into a tall ship while still seated in his rocking chair, and being taken captive and brought to Kingston, Ontario. It was a great story and theatrically re-enacted by Rosemary, who I named as City Historian. So we reached out to Theresa Mitchell, and Sally Sappey of the Heritage a Foundation, and Rosemary and agreed to expand OswegoFest, and give it a new name. We came upon that name after a brainstorming session using the idea of making the Fireworks over the Harbor and Lighthouse the focal point of the event, set to music, and so Harborfest was what we came up with. There were a few problems with the name though, since Rochester already had a Harborfest, as did Newport News, Virginia, so we settled on changing OswegoFest into "Oswego Harborfest". And the rest, as they say, is history.
The goal of Harborfest was to celebrate Oswego’s waterfront heritage, history and character, and in so doing, to restore to its people the “aura of confidence and optimism” I had alluded to in my Inaugural address as being present in 1848 when the village became a city. A people who believe in themselves and their community are capable of great things, and so we set out to put Oswego on everyone’s map. Almost thirty years later, I am proud to say that we succeeded beyond our wildest dreams in achieving that goal.
We decided to make it a three day event, starting with a children's block dance at City Hall during the Farmer's Market on Thursday, and recruited Joe Trionfero of JTS music to emcee that part of the event, and it was decided to get the children involved on Friday with a Children's parade downtown. We also brought tethered hot air balloon rides to the Fort, and Friday night we focused on the river and Oswego's history. We created a juried arts and craft show on West Linear park, with food vendors as well. We brought the Empire Cruise boat in from Alexandria Bay to take people out on the water during the “Mayor’s Cruise”, and invited Mayors from across the state and from Canada to join us. Many of them came, including the Mayor of Kingston, Ontario. We wanted Oswegonians to view the community from a different perspective. The crowds along Water Street swelled. We came up with an idea to have the Fire Department spray their hoses from both sides of the river, with laser lights and music to add to an historical narrative, which I recorded, and we broadcast over loudspeakers along Linear Park.
I remember standing in the middle of the Bridge St. Bridge that first Friday night of Harborfest, and watching the firetrucks spray their hoses which didn't quite have the dramatic effect we had hoped for. NYC Fire Department tugboats they were not. And it looked like they needed a Roto rooter operation for the aging prostates of both hoses. I called Charlotte from my fancy new cell phone with the shoulder bag box and said. " When does this get going? ", and she laughed and said, "That's it!" Oh my!
Next year, we got fancier with a full laser show and smoke and mirrors, and it was better, but it rained and doused the east side laser lights, so we wound up with a half laser show. No matter. The Saturday night fireworks were pure magic. The first year we had about 30,000 spectators. The second year the crowd doubled, and by year three we were over 100,000 festival goers. Harborfest was launched!
For the first three years, we had to compete with Onondaga County's "Waterfront Extravaganza” along the shores of Onondaga Lake in Liverpool. I tried , unsuccessfully to get Bob Gerace, the Onondaga County Parks Director to cooperate with us and to move the date of their event to the week before. He wouldn't budge, saying we were no competition for them. After three years, people voted with their feet, and in 1990 they had a torrential rainstorm on Onondaga Lake during their event, and a fest goer was even struck by lightning. The storm miraculously bypassed Oswego. That was the end of the Waterfront Extravaganza... we had won! And for almost thirty consecutive years now, the fireworks have gone off on Saturday night as scheduled. It has poured before, and after, but never during the event. Charlotte always used to say it was because of the Holy Cards she put In the window every year, just before the fest. Those holy cards became part of the legend and lore of Harborfest.
There are several amusing stories about those early years of Harborfest that I have woven into my upcoming autobiography, and those stories will be told in the next episode of this column. To be continued...
