Despite poor weather during Port Washington’s 26th Annual HarborFest celebration, residents were still able to sing, dance and showcase their talents.
The festival, scheduled to run from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on June 5 at the Town Dock, Baxter Pond and Lower Main Street in Port Washington, closed after a few hours, but not before residents got the chance to perform.
“We were thrilled that we got through 100 percent of the talent portion,” Talent Fun Show emcee Stephanie Hall said.
For more than 10 years Fredda Meltzer’s kindergarten class at Manorhaven Elementary School has opened the Family Fun Stage at HarborFest by reciting the Pledge of Allegiance, followed by singing “My Country ‘Tis of Thee” and “America the Beautiful” a cappella, and this year was no different.
“Despite the weather being so unpredictable on Harborfest morning most of my students arrived early and excited about singing on the stage,” Meltzer said.
“They did a great job,” Hall said. “They were so cute with their little flags.”
Port Washington students Hannah Ericsson and Sophia Schleibeler opened the talent show portion of the event at 10 a.m. by singing “The Star-Spangled Banner.”
Other students who performed during the talent show included Ella Rowe, Isabelle Kitay, Juliana Urcan-Delgado, Kylie Urcan, Violet Lichtenstein, Tyga Weber, Payton Stevens, Emory Franco, Riley Duffy, Ella Osher, Rachel Oxenhorn, Abby Spring, Olivia Tesman, Alexandra Verkowitz, Rachel Braunschweiger, Ashley Gargani, Sarah Mannix, Julia O’Sullivan, Max Finkelstein, Chloe DuCharme, Kiera Stephenson and Maya Stephenson.
“The kids had an awesome time,” Hall said. “You should have seen them high-fiving and jumping around after they got off the stage.”
Hall said that although the weather wasn’t great there remained a steady audience of 30 people throughout the performances.
“If it started to rain people ran away and went under the tents,” she said.
Hall said there was an issue with the electricity, but it still didn’t stop the kids from performing.
“Because of the rain and water coming down we had to shut off the music,” she said. “The kids went out there and sang a cappella and sang their hearts out holding umbrellas.”
HarborFest, which is presented by the Port Washington Chamber of Commerce, had to close around 11:30 a.m. due to the rain and wind.
“Everyone was disappointed that we had to close early. So many people worked very hard,” said Bobbie Polay, executive director of the Port Washington Chamber of Commerce.
“In 26 year’s we’ve been very lucky, this year not so much,” she added.
Polay said they were still able to hold this year’s model boat regatta, which she said, had more children attending than in previous years.
After finding out the event was cut short, Long Island resident Kenny Matos said on the HarborFest Facebook page, “That’s unfortunate, this is one of the best festivals in Long Island. Reschedule to August! That’ll give the vendors plenty of time.”
Port Washington Chamber of Commerce officials responded: “I understand, we’re all disappointed. But there are so many vendors who schedule other fairs and events so most of them wouldn’t be able to be at a rain date event. We also spend a lot of money for tents and other rentals, on-site electricity, sound company, etc. that we don’t get back when it rains so we can’t pay those costs twice. Same issue for the entertainment in the children’s fun park. It really is lousy, but thankfully it only happens rarely. First time in 13 years, which isn’t bad.”
Officials said the mission of HarborFest is to celebrate Port Washington’s nautical heritage and to increase public awareness of the need to preserve and protect its waterfront and environment.
Next year’s HarborFest is scheduled for June 4, 2017.
