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Narrowsburg celebrates the river
with record crowd
By
TOM KANE
NARROWSBURG — At the corner of
Main Street stood Dan Brinkerhoff from Damascus, PA
with his stone inscriptions. A little further down,
Hank Schneider from Narrowsburg posed with his delicate
vases, Art Peck from Narrowsburg displayed his home-made
20-foot fishing boat, Kevin Ryerson from Barryville
buzzed his sculpting chain-saw. The Carl Dietz Ensemble
wove their blend of mellow jazz over the humid air.
There were also jewelers, soap and candle makers,
clothiers, painters, sculptors and, of course, food
vendors.
All of this, and lots more, drew a
record crowd to Main Street at Narrowsburg’s
annual Riverfest celebration last Sunday, July 28.
Adding to the carnival
air were actors working the crowd on stilts, in dramatic
costume, from the North American Cultural Laboratories
(NaCl) in Highland Lake.
“I wouldn’t miss this,” said Supreme
Court Justice Anthony Kane, whose wife Nancy, a Delaware
Valley Arts Alliance (DVAA) board member, was hawking
ice tea at the DVAA booth.
Every parking space in the hamlet and
across the bridge into Pennsylvania was filled.
The big event of the festival was the
annual, much-anticipated auction of art posters that
were produced by local artists along the river valley
and beyond, conducted as a DVAA gallery program benefit.
Over 70 area artists submitted posters.
“We made $14,285 on the poster auction,”
said DVAA executive director Elaine Giguere. Callicoon
artist Georgia Chambers’ three dimensional poster
with original etchings, depicting a lighthouse, sold
for $1,400.
Seated high upon her chair, veteran
auctioneer Pamela Moore Epstein ruled the transactions,
directing the attention of spenders with her wit and
wisdom. Every year, Epstein volunteers her time to
the festival.
Despite an occasional sprinkle of rain,
the crowds continued to spill into the street after
the auction, in mid-afternoon, as the music and festivities
continued.
“We ran out of hotdogs twice,” said
The River Reporter advertising sales representative
Eileen Hennessey, who worked the newspaper’s booth,
situated next to the RiverFest debut of Jill’s Kitchen,
featuring sesame noodles, tabouli and fresh gazpacho
soup. Other delicious food treats included fried dough,
coffee frappes from the Three Chocolatiers and lemonade
and ice cream from the DVAA booth.
The annual festival is sponsored by
DVAA and the Narrowsburg Chamber of Commerce.
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