Peekskill Makes Me Merry - Again! Can it actually be the THIRD annual Peekskill Makes Me Merry celebration, presented by the Peekskill BID? Now, with three distinctive buttons - one from each year - I think I can officially call it a collection.
The festivities started last Saturday with the Holiday Carnival and Market, topped off by the annual tree lighting at the Gazebo. Several blocks downtown were closed to traffic, and an old fashioned carousel was set up. (Another year it was a Ferris wheel.)
I was out doing magic shows, so I didn't hit the street until about 4pm. As with all Peekskill events, I immediately saw lots of familiar faces. This year's best addition was a large, heated tent for the vendors. What a brilliant sales strategy. While not exactly toasty in the tent, it was much warmer than outside. Inside, local artists and organizations displayed their offerings. There was such fabulous stuff.
I saw, with a mixture of delight and trepidation, that Jeorjia Shea was there. Jeorjia is an amazing and prolific creator of wearable textile art. Her current favored medium is recycled cashmere, and since October I have bought three of her pieces (four if you count each handwarmer). One is a beautiful hooded sweater. The other is a piece I commissioned - a spectacular hooded sweater coat - which she made from some of my late mother's floppy old cashmere sweaters. I love it so and wear it constantly. On Saturday Jeorjia had a whole wall of gorgeous new cashmere creations. I was in the danger zone immediately. I don't know how I resisted, but somehow I did.
It was fun to see other friends there, too, with booths representing EMBARK Peekskill, Energy Movement Center and Antonia Arts. They're all such tireless organizers, working so hard to bring both performing and healing arts to our city.
There were other wonderful artists and vendors there. You can see the vendor list and their offerings on the BID website. From one of them I bought the most perfect Christmas present for my special someone - a gift of original art - but I can't tell you what it is because my special someone reads my blog.
At 4:30 the festivities began at the Gazebo, with lots of caroling by some very cold-looking young people. I'm embarrassed that I missed the name of the intrepid choir. (Please, someone, ID them in Comments.) Mayor Foster thanked the many people and organizations that made the event possible. Then Santa arrived! On Stella the Trolley! Santa threw the switch and Peekskill's Christmas tree was suddenly ablaze with lights. Kids lined up to see Santa, while everyone else lined up across the street for free hot chocolate and cookies, courtesy of Kathleen's Tea Room. Then they lined up for free trolley rides on Stella.
It was all so lovely - an old-fashioned, home-town celebration, which really put me in the holiday spirit. It was just like the Good Old Days, but happening now
And it's not over yet! Today was supposed to be the Kids' Santa Crawl (with a magic show by moi at EMBARK Peekskill!), but because of the snow it's postponed until next Saturday, December 21st. The Santacon Pub Crawl is also next weekend. All the info is on the BID website.
