Bethpage-Tribune_1994-08-19

              Bethpage
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Bethpage
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YOUR OFFICIAL HOMETOWN NEWSPAPER
Serving Bethpage, island Trees, Plainedge, Seaford, Old Bethpage & Plainview
VOL 27 NO. 33 AUGUST 19-25, 1994 25 CENTS RAIN, RAIN,GO AWAY
BUT IT GAME BACK ON THE THIRD DAY!
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Mother Nature must not have
been in the mood for a festival last
weekend...the Bethpage Chamber
of Commerce Festival , that is ,
which was held on August 12 and
13. Rain, and buckets of it, dam­pened
the spirits and the festivities
of this annual event which usually
attracts well over 25,000 people.
A total wash out, however, it was
not, as Friday night the weather
held out and over 7,000 people
ventured out and took part in the
Worlds Largest Karaoke sing
along performed by Nick and
Laura Candito. The event was
quite impressive as over 3,000
people spanning the entire park­ing
lot sang 'God Bless America'
in unison...and not because we
were hams, but because we are
patriotic and we are
simply...Bethpage! This record
will be sent to the folks over at
Ripley's Believe It or Not where
they will turn it into a cartoon press
clip and distribute it to over 43
countries around the world! So yes
Bethpage will make the record
books even in inclement weather.
On Friday night the crowd was
thoroughly entertained by the
music of 2 Plus Two who had
everyone's foot tapping and hands
clapping.
Saturday the event opened as
scheduled at 4:00 pm and a crowd
started to gather. The rides which
I might add were much more
impressive than last year, were
going strong when at about
6:00pm the weather center was
calling for a 55mph wind which
was headed in our direction along
with damaging lightning and
downpours. We hoped...we
prayed and we sadly were disap­pointed,
as seconds later, the skies
grew black and the rain began to
fall. People scrambled everywhere
to take cover from the wetness and
the once growing crowd found
themselves huddled under tents,
in cars and in vendor booths. Just
when we all thought that it could
not get much worse, it did. What
weather forecasters deemed as a
tornado suddenly swept through
the lot taking with it everything in
its path. Music Unlimited's (the DJ
for the day) light bars which weigh
well over 100 pounds flew 15 feet.
The television cabinet, holding a
TV, VCR and recorder fell crashing
into chairs under the Century 21
big top, and even the ticket booth
itself rocked as the huge force of
"wind matte its way through the lot.
As the wind struck it uplifted one
of the tents in the parking lot. A
tent which was being used as
shelter by many people trying to
escape the weather conditions.
The tent flew into the air and
suddenly calls were being made
for an ambulance as a 9 year old
girl was taken up in the wind and
hurled to the ground. This acci­dent
necessitated the girl being
rushed to Nassau Country Medical
Center where she underwent tests
and treatment. It is our under­standing
that she did suffer injur­ies
but is recovering well and was
sent home from the hospital a few
days later.
I think at that point that we all
realized how helpless we and this
festival were to Mother Nature and
the elements. Many scrambled as
the rain stopped to get their
booths back together and
regroup. By that time the people
were so frightened of the ominous
weather that the crowd was quite
small all evening long and it began
once again to rain. Grucci Fire­works
were cancelled, and New­ton
and Sons, our midway supp­liers,
all decided to extend the fair
to Sunday and give it one more
shot.
Well, you have all heard the
expression "three strikes and
you're out!" Although we all awoke
to gorgeous sunny skies filled with
big white puffy clouds, by 4:00pm
weather forecasters were calling
for tornado warnings, hail, dan­gerous
lightning, damaging winds
and downpours. Guess what?
They sadly were correct, and by
5:00pm a steady stream of rain was
falling. By 8:00 pm, after sticking
it out as best we all could, after
lighting grills, dressing as
Rangers, displaying our merchan­dise
and setting up our booths we
all decided that it was time to give
up and call it quits. The rain was
not going to stop.
Such sadness! I can not even
begin to tell you about all the work
and effort that went into this
festival. The preparation, the
organizing as well as all the
planned events were a tremend­ous
amount of work. But that really
wasn't the reason for the sadness.
We were all sad because we felt
that somehow Bethpage was
cheated out of an event that brings
the entire community, surround­ing
communities and our mer­chants
together. This event...an
event that makes Bethpage shine
and shine brightly suddenly was
dimmed by an unfortunate acci­dent
and insurmountable weather
conditions.
But surrender we certainly will
not as the Chamber of Commerce
has much more to do and accomp­lish
in the months ahead. In
October we will host our second
Annual Bethpage Safe Halloween
Party for children and then before
you know it it will be holiday time
and that means decorating the
town and planning our lighting
ceremony which promises to be
spectacular.
Special thanks should be given
to all those who participated in this
year's festival. From our mer­chants,
volunteers, security per­sons,
McBeck Associates, T.O.B.,
police, fire department, Chamber
members to our Rangers, Music
Unlimited, 2 Plus Two, the Can-dito's
and so many more we all say
thank you and we commend your
efforts for this town and its res­idents.
Next year we are sure that
the sun will once again shine on
our festival...but bring an umbrella
just Incase.