Archive: Around Town

Lansing Harbor FestivalIn only one week Lansing will celebrate its first Harbor Festival .  Scheduled August 25th from 10am to 8pm, the festival will take over Myers Park for the entire Saturday.  With free admission, plenty of parking, and a first-rate lineup of entertainers, organizers are confident that the festival will be a success.  "In the last few days we've been cooperating with the Lansing Community Council, trying to prepare for the first Harbor Festival," Park Superintendent Steve Colt told the Town Board on Wednesday.  "A lot of folks have put a lot of work into the logistics of this thing.  I've looked over their plan and it looks good."

"They've looked into everything, and it's not an easy thing, considering the school is presenting their cabaret under the direction of Cindy Howell, and then four other bands will play throughout the day," Colt continued.  "Dave Vieser will be MCing the whole day.  They'll have recorded music playing in between the bands."

The Cabaret will kick off the event at 10am, followed by the Ithaca Concert Band at noon, Tom Knight and the Blue Moon at 2pm, Backtalk Band at 4pm, and the Burns Sisters at 6pm.  But the festival is more than a music event.  A celebration of the Lansing community, it will feature local vendors, businesses, and not-for profits, with food, games, and the first annual 'Baker Cup' chicken barbecue sauce competition.

The Baker Cup honors Lansing resident Bob Baker, who created more than 50 innovations in preparing chicken over a long, world-renowned career.  Baker passed away, leaving a legacy that includes the popular Cornell Sauce used in almost all the chicken barbecues in town.  The prize will include a trophy with a chicken on top, $100, plus another $100 donated to one of the organizations the Lansing Community Council supports.  Originally there was an entry fee for the Baker Cup, but that has been waived to try to get more people into the competition.  "They've only got two in the competition right now," says Town Councilman Marty Christopher, who will join WHCU's Dave Vieser and Geoff Dunn, Village of Lansing Mayor Don Hartill, Lansing Town Supervisor Steve Farkas, and School Superintendent Mark Lewis as judges in the contest.  I'm a taster, so I want more chicken!"

Festival officials have only accepted one food vendor for each kind of food to insure that there will be a variety of foods available.  Other vendors will include local businesses, including Wearable Art selling museum shop T-shirts.  Local political candidates plan to meet the public at the festival, and not for profits and other businesses will be there.  "Karen Veaner informed me that they've already got over 30 vendors that have already paid," said Colt.  "I thought that was very good.  I think they were hoping for more than that, but I think that is very impressive for the first year out."


Veaner says that there are now over 50 confirmed vendors so far.  Sponsors have also signed on, and she says that in its first year the festival will at least break even.  Sales of T-shirts featuring the festival logo have been brisk, and organizers have already had to order a third batch to keep up with demand.  Shirts have been sold at the Triphammer Tops Pharmacy, Cat's Pajamas in the Dewitt Mall in Ithaca, The Lansing Town Hall, and at the Parks Department's Concerts in the Park.

The Lansing Community Council has been in existance for more than 50 years, but was recently reconstituted with new volunteers from around the town.  It's purpose is to provide funding for Lansing programs including the Recreation Department, Lansing Older Adult Program (LOAP), Lansing Drop-In Program, Lansing Youth Services, and emergency aid.  The council previously sponsored Lansing Day, a much smaller scale celebration, for about a decade.  Harbor Festival is a more ambitious celebration, but at its core it has the same goals as the earlier version: to celebrate the community, to help local service organizations raise funds, and to provide a day of fun for residents and visitors.

The real unknown in its first year is attendance.  To insure that won't be a problem organizers have arranged for overflow parking at the Lansing schools with shuttle busses running regularly all day between the schools and the park.  The other unknown, of course, is the weather, and everyone is hoping for a sunny day.  Information about the festival is being updated on the festival Web site at www.lansingharborfest.org .  It includes an active countdown to the start of the festival, plus information and directions on how to get there.

"All of this is so new," Colt says.  "It's hard to say how it's going to go, but they've put an awful lot of work into it."

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