It’s a good thing Memorial Day weekend is three days long, because it will take area families several days to celebrate the first weekend of summer with all the festivities to be held in Saratoga County.
Sing a song
Feel the urge to tap your feet to music? From Friday to Sunday, the GottaGetGon Folk Festival will be held at the Saratoga County Fairgrounds in Ballston Spa. The festival has been the traditional main event of the Pickin’ and Singin’ Gatherin’, PSG, since 1970.
This is a chance for fellow PSGers to get together to make music, or for local families to just listen to some good, perhaps unfamiliar, music of the folk, said Howie Eskin, GottaGetGon coordinator.
A performer selection committee worked all winter to choose the lineup, which includes Jeff Warner, Maria Gillard, The Raisin Pickers and Beaucoup Blue. African drumming for all ages will be performed by John Dickson; Paul Strausman will lead a kids folk workshop; and Dave Crump will hold a swing workshop at which people of all ages are invited to bring an instrument and play along.
The PSG is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the playing, singing and sharing of folk and traditional music as a group and family activity. They are the sole sponsor of the weekend event. There is optional camping at the fairgrounds, daytime concerts and jamming into the night. Gates open Friday, May 25, at 3 p.m., and the event closes with an open stage after dark from 4:15 to 6 p.m. Sunday, May 27.
For information, log on to www.pickingandsinging.org.
Charlton honors vets
The Charlton Historical Society holds an annual Memorial Day ceremony to honor veterans. The ceremony will be held at 2 p.m. Monday at the veterans memorial located near the gazebo in Gideon Hawley Park.
The historical society will pay special tribute to Howard Baxter, who grew up on Western Avenue in Charlton. Baxter was a dedicated member of the Sacandaga American Legion Post 1461. He committed the time to mark graves in Charlton representing his post, which became another Memorial Day tradition for the town.
Baxter held an extremely dangerous job during World War II. He was a fireman at plane crashes when pilots landed their P51D fighter planes. Plane fires were frequent, usually at the airport, and it was Baxter’s job to rescue the pilot out and extinguish the fire.
When his health made impossible to carry on the tradition of placing the flags, Baxter passed on Charlton cemetery maps indicating the location of veterans graves in each graveyard.
`Howard would visit with us and share the meaning of Memorial Day,` said Charlton historian Catherine Caine. `He would make sure we were handling the flag correctly, with dignity and respect each time we put one next to a grave, and he would show us how to salute the veterans whose graves we visited.`
Baxter died in February at the age of 94, and is buried at Pine Grove Cemetery.
Charlton residents and fire departments will also participate in the town of Galway’s annual Memorial Day Parade. The parade, which steps off at 10 a.m. on Memorial Day, is sponsored by the Sacandaga American Legion Post 1461 and concludes with a ceremony at the Galway Veterans Memorial at Galway High School.
Bicentennial flavor to Ballston Spa parade
The annual Memorial Day parade in the village of Ballston Spa starts at 9 a.m. and runs along Milton Avenue to Low Street. The parade begins at the northern end of the village and makes it way down Milton Avenue to Low Street and the war memorial. There will be speeches and a wreath-laying ceremony following the parade. The parade features fire trucks, vintage cars and marching members of service clubs and veterans organizations.
The village’s Memorial Day celebrations take on a particular significance this year as Ballston Spa marks its 200th anniversary.
`We look to honor service men and women who fought for the country in the past, and those in the military today,` said Mayor John Romano. `We have much to be proud of in the village.`
At the Post in Clifton Park
The American Legion Mohawk Post 1450 will hold a dedication ceremony of the Veterans Memorial Park on Memorial Day, Monday, May 28 at 11 a.m. An open house will be held and refreshments will be served afterwards.
The recently dedicated park consists of a U.S. Army tank, six flagpoles, and an engraved brick of Walkway of Memories. The American Legion is located at 275 Grooms Road. For information, call 371-4463.
A county calendar
Here’s a rundown of more Saratoga County events:
Ballston Spa: Parade at 9 a.m. Saturday, May 26, on Milton Avenue.
Corinth: Parade on traditional Memorial Day, Wednesday, May 30, starting at 6 p.m. at the intersection of Fifth and Palmer Avenue, then down Palmer to Main Street to Maple Avenue to Saratoga Avenue and the village’s cemeteries.
South Glens Falls: Parade at 6 p.m. Friday, May 25, starting at Main and Williams streets and proceeding down Main Street to Fifth Street and a park.
Stillwater: Parade at 6:30 p.m. Friday, May 25, starting at the Arvin Hart Fire Department on Campbell Road. There will be a ceremony at the American Legion Post, 1 Legion Road, Stillwater.
Schuylerville: Parade at 9:30 a.m. Monday, May 28, starting at the Legion Post and proceeding down Burgoyne Avenue to the park.
Gerald B. H. Solomon Saratoga National Cemetery: 2 p.m. Monday, May 28, ceremony featuring Patrick Schmerhorn as Abraham Lincoln reciting the Gettysburg Address.
Members of the Schenectady composite of the Civil Air Patrol will stand ceremonial guard over the graves of four service members killed in action in Iraq, including Pfc. Nathan Brown of South Glens Falls and Marine Capt. John J. McKenna IV of Clifton Park. They will also stand guard over the graves of three Medal of Honor recipients and the grave of U.S. Rep. Solomon.
“
