Archive: Around Town

	Lansing Harbor Festival 2008!

With Ithaca Festival and the Trumansburg Grassroots Festival did Tompkins County really need another festival?  When the Lansing Community Council reconstituted a few years ago members thought the town should revive Lansing Day, a much smaller scale community event that the council had hosted for a decade in the '80s and '90s.  What they came up with, Lansing Harbor Festival, was much grander, and two years ago people wondered whether they would be able to pull it off.

The 2007 festival almost didn't happen at all when a freak storm assaulted the town, forcing organizers to scramble to reschedule a week later.  It was a testament to them and to countless community members who wanted the festival to happen and weren't going to let even an Act of God deter them.  This year's success cemented the festival's reputation and future.

In some ways it's the best kept secret of the summer.  The festival doesn't try to be another Ithaca Festival, and the feel of it is tangibly different.  The purpose is to celebrate the town and community, to bring people together in a town that doesn't have a physical main street.  The star of the festival is its location.  Myers Park is arguably the crown jewel of Lansing, and the Town goes all out to make sure it is perfectly groomed for the festival.

The Town Supervisor and the Mayor of the Village of Lansing rings the bell to begin the day as doves fly over the park.  That starts the day.  Top notch bands play live music throughout the day, local businesses and restaurants and not-for-profits have booths in a 'vendor village' type setting, a kids pavilion provides activities and contests all day.  The Baker Cup Chicken Barbecue Sauce competition honors the memory of Lansing's own Bob Baker, a world renowned poultry expert who was a booster of his community throughout his life.

WHCU's Dave Vieser is the festival MC, and continues to be a great booster of the event.  This year New York State Senator Michael Nozzolio came to be a part of it.  He had to: there simply wasn't a better place to spend that day.

Nobody is asking whether the county needs another festival any more.  The fastest growing community in Tompkins County now has a festival it can be proud of.  It shows off the best of a community that has a lot to show.

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