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| April 26, 2024 |
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General News: Village Creates Explore 400 Committee
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| The arrival of the Half Moon ship replica in Newburgh last weekend marked the beginning of local celebrations for the 2009 anniversaries. |
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November 18, 2008
The village of Cornwall-on-Hudson will have its own special event to mark the 400th anniversary of Henry Hudson’s voyage up the river that bears his name and that of Samuel de Champlain’s voyage further north. The celebration also marks 200 years since Robert Fulton’s successful launching of the steamboat, The Clermont.
Village trustee Barbara Gosda has been pushing for an event in the village that would highlight its ties to the riverfront, which form a significant part of local history. She applied for a grant in September to get funds to stage a day of music, storytelling and puppetry and, on Monday, the board officially created a village committee, Explore 400 Cornwall-on-Hudson, which she will head. Gosda expects to find out if the village will get the $15,000 grant later this month but said that even if it doesn't, the planning will continue.
The village committee will work on the one-day event, as well as on a series of sculptures that local artist Barbara Smith Gioia is planning to install in Donahue Memorial Park during 2009, the official year of the Hudson-Fulton-Champlain Quadricentennial. Trustee Gosda said the committee is open to anybody who would like to join the effort.
The formation of the village committee occurred several days after it received a letter from an ad-hoc 2009 Quadricentennial Committee composed of residents of both the village and the town. Village resident Deke Hazirjian, who was appointed to it by former mayor Ed Moulton, and village historian Collette Fulton serve on the committee, along with Wynn Gold of Riverfest and Cornwall town board member Mary Beth Greene-Krafft.
The ad-hoc group plans to work with existing celebrations like the 4th of July to integrate Hudson-Fulton-Champlain events. It has received a $1,000 grant that it plans to use to print a guide highlighting these events and the area’s history.
Discussion of the two committees grew a bit acrimonious at Monday’s meeting when ad-hoc committee member Hazirjian said the village’s creation of a separate entity was divisive. He noted that the mayor had not acknowledged the letter from the ad-hoc committee, a factor the mayor later said was an oversight.
Village resident Kris Seiz appealed for understanding between the two camps, noting “we’re all part of a community.” Trustee Rick Gioia agreed that the community faces enough pressure and we need to have more respect for one another.
A member of the public, Judy Wilson, noted that Hazirjian’s original proposal to light the top of Mount Beacon and Storm King Mountain for the celebration had actually come to fruition. She told the public that five mountaintops will be lit up next Tuesday, November 25th. “You should watch it,” Wilson said. “It’s going to be a lot of fun.” (See related story.)
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