Oz Legacies

In a recent speech in Buffalo, Governor Andrew Cuomo, in advancing his "Fairness agenda", spoke in glowing terms about making it a national agenda. “We want to get this done in New York for New York, but then we are going to take this justice agenda, this fairness agenda, and we are going to say to this nation, ‘We did it in New York. You can do it anywhere in this country,’ ’’ Cuomo said.

Those words and that cadence of speech sounded hauntingly familiar to me. It reminded me of Andrew Cuomo's 1999 ribbon cutting speech on the newly constructed deck of Coleman's on the River restaurant in Oswego, when he spoke glowingly of "Charlotte Sullivan's vision for Harborfest". At the time, he was Secretary of HUD, and was advocating for the revitalization of the NYS Barge Canal Through his Canal Corridor Initiative.

I remember the speech well, because not only was I there to hear it, but my wife was not. She was too ill at the time to attend, and she died about a month later. Andrew's words still ring loudly in the corridors of my memory, because he singled Charlotte out and praised her vision for Oswego and for Harborfest, and said " You could see it in her eyes. That sparkle. That glow. And I thought ", said Cuomo, "if you could take her vision and spread it all across this state, throughout the entire canal system, we can do statewide what you have done here in Oswego". Those were welcome words of praise back then. Charlotte had not always been given the credit she deserved for being the spark plug that ignited the festival. Given my political involvement, it appeared too gauche at the time and too self serving, and just too political for her to stand up front and take a bow, so she hid behind others instead, and let them accept the Kudos. Rosemary Nesbitt who had been involved with Theresa Mitchell of Seaway Trail's tall ship festival in 1986, dubbed OswegoFest, was given much of the credit, and people like Executive Director Steve Fulton were the ones who got to be interviewed on national TV by Willard Scott, while Charlotte stood stoically by. That Today Show episode was particularly hurtful to her. She had worked for three years to entice Willard Scott to come to Harborfest. She was passionate about it and determined to succeed. She sent him goody bags, and T-Shirts and wine baskets galore, for several years running, until he finally responded, and with the help of NBC Affiliate Channel 3, ultimately agreed to broadcast the weather live from Breitbeck Park during Harborfest in 1992, a year after I had left office.

I remember that sunny July morning well as the Oswego High School Jazz band under the direction of Tony Joseph played in the background, and the Tall ships sailed by behind Willard Scott at the Northeast corner of the park , with the lighthouse as a backdrop. That day, Willard Scott proclaimed Oswego as "the most beautiful city in the United States". Our buttons were bursting, but Charlotte had to stand by and silently watch, as Executive Director Fulton was interviewed. That stuck in my craw for a long, long time. It still does. Even when they agreed to honor Charlotte posthumously as one of the Founders at the 25th anniversary of Harborfest, she was simply billed as an also ran in the official program. That hurt as well.

So when there are moments of truth like Andrew Cuomo's praise for her or Hillary Clinton's video tribute to her as the Zonta Woman of Achievement in October of 1999, those are moments to be savored . I still hope that some day there will be a fitting monument erected in her memory in that park. God knows she deserves it. Why?

Let's start at the beginning to see how Harborfest came about. In my last column, I detailed how water and the development of our water resources were paramount goals of my Mayoral campaign, and tenure.

After 700 people showed up at the Black Tie Inaugural Ball , we talked at length about how to keep the momentum going, and we had an idea that maybe we could build on the successful Fourth of July parade, and build a summer festival around it. We had seen the Grucci Fireworks display, set to music, at the 10th Anniversary of the Fitzpatrick Nuclear Plant celebration, and they were mind boggling. What if we could bring those fireworks to the Harbor, and light up the sky over the lighthouse?Wouldn't that be a spectacular sight! That was the dream. It was soon to become a reality.

Charlotte, by happenstance, told her dental Hygienist about it, and she volunteered that she went to high school on Long Island with Butch Grucci, and gave Charlotte his number to call, and call she did.

He told her they were already overbooked for July 4th, but had some other dates open in July. The cost? $50,000! Up until that point, the Jaycees who sponsored the July 4th celebration had only raised in the hundreds of dollars with bake sales and raffles. To get that much money, Charlotte realized we'd have to take fund raising to a whole new level. And so, she did. She made a luncheon date with Rad Converse, then plant manager at Fitzpatrick, who we had met at the Inaugural Ball. She pitched the idea to him, and I'll never forget her phone call to me after that luncheon. She said her knees were knocking, but " He didn't say no! "

And so the planning began. "Harborfest" was to become a reality. To be continued....