Last weekend [06/05/99] saw a landmark event hit the hamlet. The gala birthday party
hosted by town folk for town folk in celebration of 212 years of
Woodstock life was a smashing success. Everybody involved in producing
the event went way out on a limb, and remarkably, it didn't break. Not
only that, rave reviews keep pouring in from cheers for the bands, praise
for the food and kudos for the promoters to sincere appreciation for the
courage showed by the town board and the venerable constabulary. In fact
the word is, both the board and the cop shop complemented the affair and
concur that doing another one before the season ends is a mighty fine
idea. Will wonders never cease!
"It was a perfect evening, everything fell into place perfectly, it is
almost like it was meant to be," the illustrious musical director Dr.
Pepe mused, adding, "Seems like everybody had a good time and they're
screaming for more."
The guesstimate is that something like 1500 people traversed the affair
over its eight-hour duration. All thousand ears of corn were eaten plus
bundles of tacos and such. The nettles beer was a big hit and almost like
an act of divine intervention, the Woodstock Brewing truck never made it
to the scene and wasn't even missed. No offense, Nat, we love your beer,
but maybe for a fledgling run at a free town party the clarity of
sobriety was a blessing in disguise. There were absolutely no mishaps, no
problems and no objections or complaints from any quarters. This is truly
a first for Woodstock.
Pepe reviewed, "It was perfectly how I envisioned. I envisioned it like a
very sweet evening for everybody in Woodstock.... One person came up to
me the day after and said, `I'm so glad this happened because I was
worried that all the heart had gone out of Woodstock and to have
something like this, it reminds me it's still here again, you know;
people happy to see each other.'"
Production Manager Peter Walther chimed in almost mimicking the gushing,
"And he said it was so great, even Lazlo danced with his wife!" An in
joke, perhaps, but everyone collapsed in laughter.
The musicians were in top form and the sound was quite good; somehow Ted
Orr got a good mix and the back lot of Houst served as a perfect
amphitheater. Pep reported, "There were kids swaying when Sham's band
SPIV was playing, there were like 30 teenage girls swaying in front of
the stage in a wave, it was just beautiful." Younger kids opened up a
bail of hay in the back and were jumping into it while others romped in
the adjoining field. A lot of folks spoke of running into old friends
they hadn't seen in ages. They all sat and chatted on the hay bails while
others danced and twirled to the music. The porch at the Landau was a
great spot to watch and listen to the concert and stayed packed
throughout the evening. Clearly any of the businesses that stayed open
benefited, and the entire event proved that people can work together to
make for a delightful time.
Since Saturday there has been a lot of talk about a follow-up. The
production team is reviewing the options and continuing to proceed slowly
and thoughtfully, absolutely determined to maintain the spirit that made
this first block party work. Peter noted one key townsfolk can do if they
want to see a round two: "I think the main thing that will make the next
one happen is go thank your town board member, just let them know you
appreciate it that they let us live a little bit here." Another key
factor, of course, is that everything was free, many many people donated
a lot of time, energy, stuff, money and caring to pull this off and they
all deserve a hearty thanks. There has been some talk of enlisting some
sort of sponsorship to support future events like this and that could
work as long as strings and conditions don't go with the package. It's
not an easy task but Pep and Pete and Donna and countless others do seem
up to the task. Equally, they all deserve a very hearty thank you for
bringing it all home.
We're going to sign off with a closing message from Dr. Pepe, it's kind
of a personal reflection and maybe a little long but it's as straight
ahead as you're going to get: "I wanted to say this up on stage but...
for me, the essence was like giving a party for someone you really care
about, really really care about. The people who come, you don't ask them
to pay $2 for a piece of cake, you don't ask anybody for money, you just
go and do it because you like it. And the thing is there had been some
other people talking to us about putting together another event, we did
this out of love and out of our heart. Once it starts to get into any
kind of notion of self-interest or greed, it ruins the whole thing. I'm
really finding that in order to make your life happen 100 percent you
have to just give it away, everything you've learned and acquired,
everything you consider to be you, you have to give it back or else it's
no good, it doesn't do any good for anybody. And the more you give out,
the more you give back, it just grows a million times. That's really the
lesson here, everybody just said yes.... Just say yes! That's the miracle
of Maple Lane."
