Sunday, June 28th 2009, 12:30-5pm
The Arkell Museum and Canajoharie Library are planning a celebration to thank the community for its help in rebuilding following the Mohawk River flood of 2006. “Flood Fest” will be held on Sunday, June 28, three years to the day the Mohawk flooded the Village of Canajoharie.
“More than anything, this is our way of thanking the community formally,” said Andy Albertson, Curator of Education & Public Programs, “although the day will be anything but formal. This is the Museum and Library’s way of ‘letting its hair down’ and celebrating with its neighbors to mark three long years of rebuilding.”
Flood Fest will kick off at 12:30pm, when the Arkell Museum will open its doors with free admission to its permanent exhibits and the special summer exhibition Then & Now: Contemporary Artists Revisit the Past. The Canajoharie Library will offer families the opportunity to register children and teens for its award-winning free Summer Reading Program.
At 1pm, the High Peaks Juggling Show will perform with a family juggling workshop to follow. Artist Eric Geoffrey trained more than two decades ago with the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Clown College and has performed for hundreds of organizations nationwide.
Beginning at 1pm, Latham caricature artist Jeanne Benas will complete three-minute caricatures of attendees for a small fee. Benas is a Capital-area illustrator, cartoonist and portraitist with her own line of greeting cards sold nationwide in Walgreen’s and Target.
At 3pm, Mr. Magicman will bring his blend of humor, magic and balloon sculpture to the Museum’s Great Hall stage. Chris “Magicman” LaBarge has been entertaining Capital region family audiences for more than a decade.
Also at 3pm, The Boys of Wexford will perform outside on the Museum’s town court. Duo Rob Flaherty and Frank O’Gara off an eclectic mix of popular and obscure traditional Celtic and folk rock music.
From 1 – 4pm, attendees interested in sharing their stories of the flood of 2006 will have the opportunity to record their memories with the guidance of trained volunteers. A generous grant from the NY Folklore Society is affording special training in conducting flood oral histories with a Finger Lakes folklorist leading up to Flood Fest.
All afternoon a chicken barbecue lunch – both chicken halves for $6 and full meals for $9 – will be sold by Frankie Slater and the Museum & Library will sell hotdogs, hamburgers and beverages for a nominal charge. Snow cones, cotton candy and popcorn will also be available for purchase.
A giant bouncy castle from Kyle’s Bounce Rentals of Amsterdam will provide the perfect outlet for burning calories acquired from an Ayres Memorial Animal Shelter bake sale. Both the bake sale and the bouncy castle will run all afternoon.
Throughout the day families can create their own sidewalk chalk art and have their faces painted by teen volunteers. They can also play lawn games, check out books for summer reading at the Canajoharie Library, and explore the Arkell Museum’s fantastic collection of American art and local history.
All music, performances, games (including the bounce castle) and Arkell Museum admission are free though donations to assist in the Museum and Library’s future family programming will be appreciated.
For more information on Flood Fest please visit www.arkellmuseum.org, www.clag.org or call 518-673-2314.
