Parade celebrates piscatory pride

By CHARLIE BUTERBAUGH

Novel elements of country living spectacle will dress up downtown Livingston Manor’s already animated setting this weekend when the First Annual Trout Parade presents a moving theater of fish, music, art and food.

The Saturday parade in the heart of Catskill fly fishing country will feature floats, handmade costumes, marching bands, antique automobiles and a full arts and live music festival with fishing demonstrations and food in Renaissance Park.

Area students will march with processional puppets they created with professional puppet mistress Mellissa Aehrenreich from the Brooklyn Children’s Museum. Other parade participants will include the Mountain Tones Community Band, based in Livingston Manor, and the Hungry March Band, who will return from a tour in the Netherlands just in time for the parade.

The Hungry March Band is a 20-piece brass marching band based in New York City that has been playing together since 1997. The band is an ever-evolving community project inspired by multicultural music.

North American Cultural Laboratory (NaCl Theater) stilt walkers and Forestburgh Playhouse summer stock performers will also join the procession. Singing happy songs from Forestburgh’s current production of “Hello Dolly!”, the performers will saunter down Main Street dressed in full musical theater costume.

Peez Leweez at Pearl and Main Streets will be transformed into a summer beer garden, and DJ Paris from The Sound Factory in New York City will be spinning records all afternoon and into the evening. A donated supply of Brooklyn Lager from the Brooklyn Brewery will be served in the garden beside Peez Leweez.

Winning posters celebrating the parade, submitted by students and local artists, will be displayed at Peez Leweez and throughout Livingston Manor until June 15.

A panel of celebrity judges will bestow thousands of dollars in prizes for best float, best costume and best children’s costume following the parade in Renaissance Park.

The net proceeds from parade events will be donated to the Livingston Manor Central School’s art programs.

The story of putting it together

Parade organizer Gerard Ilaria said 18 members got together last January to begin the process of organizing the First Annual Trout Parade.

The purpose of the parade, he said, is to celebrate the natural environment of the Catskills, but also to have fun with the tradition of fishing for trout, an activity that often appears inaccessible or reserved for an elite group of experts.

The coupling of fish and art seemed natural to Ilaria, and the struggling arts programs at Livingston Manor Central School became the perfect benefactor of the event.

The group of organizers began meeting weekly in April, and an organic process of individuals contributing to the enhancement of the parade’s components took off, Ilaria said.

Ilaria and his partner, Steve Wilkinson also initiated the CinePark outdoor movie series in Renaissance Park, though Ilaria is ever mindful of the enthusiastic community that comes together to make things happen in Livingston Manor.

A collection of what Ilaria calls streetscaping projects, organized by the Livingston Manor Chamber of Commerce and the Livingston Manor Renaissance Project, will come to fruition this summer. They include 18 new cherry trees to be planted along Main and Pearl Streets, 12 to 14 new street lamps and new sidewalks.

For more information on the parade call Steve Wilkinson, president of the Livingston Manor Chamber of Commerce, at 914/799-0229.

Parade and festival schedule

Fish in water at 10:00 a.m.

Livingston Manor Central School elementary students will release trout into the Willowemoc Creek. The students nurtured the fish from roe.

Knotweed know-how at 10:30

Jamie Myers, a field biologist with the Upper Delaware Scenic and Recreational River National Park Service, will lead a program in Renaissance Park on Japanese knotweed for citizens, homeowners and students who want to know more about the invasive plant that poses a serious threat to the river ecosystem.

Myers’ program will take place at a test site in Livingston Manor where a few patches of knotweed, located on a stream bank at the confluence of three streams in the Upper Delaware River watershed, are being studied by a citizen group. One member, Lisa Lyons, said the group is trying two non-chemical methods of eradicating knotweed.

The small pilot project is aimed at teaching local citizens to recognize knotweed and testing two methods of practical, environmentally friendly eradication. Livingston Manor High School science teacher Mike Hill will provide input also.

Food and arts begin at 10:30

Food vendors and artisans will assemble in Renaissance Park.

Parade line-up at 12:00 noon

• Parade participants will line up at the Livingston Manor Central School back parking lot on School Street.

• Also at 12:00, DJ Paris will begin spinning records in the Beer Garden at Peez Leweez on Pearl Street. Paris spins an eclectic style of classic nouveau sounds for some of the most coveted spots in New York City, including Sound Factory, Sweet 16, Centro Fly, Lot 61 and Chelasea Hotel’s Serena and Flo. She will play a range of music from funk to rock n’ roll to new wave.

Parade begins at 1:00

Line the streets. Here comes the parade.

Fly tying, casting and live music at 2:00

Demonstration leaders will include Dennis Skarka from Catskill Flies, Rich Bradley of Fir Brook Flies and Sue Post of Fir Fin and Feather. Albi Beluli will play live musicin the Renaissance Park Pavilion.

Special appearance by Joan Wulff at 3:00 p.m.

Opening at Twin Brooks Gallery from 2:00 to 6:00 p.m.

Twin Brooks Gallery at 42 Main Street will open an exhibit of works by woodblock print master Shufu Miyamoto.

Specializing in contemporary Japanese art, this exhibit highlights one of the foremost woodblock artists of today. The gallery is open Saturdays from 12:00 noon to 6:00 p.m. and Sundays from 12:00 noon to 4:00 p.m. For more information visit twinbrooksdesigns@earthlink.net.

More live acoustic music at 3:00 p.m.

Guitarist Jim Stickler will play in the Renaissance Park Pavilion. Mountain Tones will follow at 3:45.

Awards Ceremony at 4:00

Sturgeon General Gerard Ilaria and Cine Carp Steve Wilkinson will present awards from the parade.

Fish for antiques at 4:00

The Auction House will sell the contents of two large estates.

More live music at 4:30

Albi Beluli will take the Renaissance Park pavilion stage again.

Dusk CinePark screening

The first film of the 2004 CinePark series, “A Fish Called Wanda” will be shown for free in Renaissance Park.