Upper Delaware Byway celebration coming down the road

	TRR photo by David Hulse Sullivan County Planning Commissioner Alan Sorensen displays one of the byway logo proposals for evaluation at Monday’s committee session.(Click for larger image)

By DAVID HULSE

NARROWSBURG — With two years of planning work completed and a designation as a state scenic byway in hand, local planners on June 3 turned to detail work.

That included selecting a logo for signage, amid a variety of shapes and color schemes, and planning a September 21 ribbon cutting tour.

They still had questions about colors and designs at the end of session on Monday evening, but Port Jervis representative Peter Osborne reported that planning for the day-long inaugural tour of the Upper Delaware Scenic Byway was well underway. The tour will kick off in Port Jervis with a 7:30 a.m. gathering for coffee, to be followed by 8:00 a.m. dedication ceremonies and ribbon cutting.

State and local public officials will be invited and they may be making speeches at any of a dozen 20-minute stops along the way, but “it’s likely they will appear at longer stops in Port Jervis, the Cochecton Depot Museum (lunch) or at the Village of Hancock, where the tour will conclude at 4:00 p.m.

In addition to local proclamations at most stops, the tour promises a variety of entertainment, including music and vintage automobiles. Osborne is also hoping for participation from veterans of the 1939 dedication of Route 97, when then-Governor Franklin Roosevelt opened the new highway with a similar tour.

Participation by the Town of Hancock, which chose not to be in the byway, was still in question Monday, but Fremont Supervisor James Greier was on hand and promised to provide a welcoming proclamation. “We’ve got concerns, but we’re participating. If we get those concerns addressed, we’d like to join the byway in future,” he said.

The planners are also considering a management structure for the byway, which will likely resemble the Upper Delaware Council. They discarded suggestions that sponsoring memberships be offered to private donors. “This is a quasi-government body. It won’t fly if it’s not responsible to the area,” said Cochecton’s Larry Richardson.

The full committee is scheduled to meet again at the Delaware Valley Arts Alliance at 7:00 p.m. on July 29.