Jul. 26—PLATTSBURGH — The 25th anniversary of the Battle of Plattsburgh Commemoration is on the horizon.
To celebrate, there will be a fun-filled schedule of events taking place around the City of Plattsburgh just over a month away from now.
FOUR-DAY EVENT
The 1814 Commemoration Inc., the non-profit organization behind the Battle of Plattsburgh, held a press conference at City Hall Wednesday to announce the full four-day event schedule, which will kick off Thursday, Sept. 7 and conclude on Monday, Sept. 11.
"The big news this year is on Thursday night, we're going to have a concert at the Strand — the United States Navy Band," President Tom Donahue said.
"They haven't been here in over 10 years. It should be a great, great start to the commemoration."
The rest of the commemoration's activities, which include reenactments, demonstrations, history talks, parades, fireworks, tours, 19th-century children's games, the Children's Old Time Village Fair, face painting, food and drinks at Trinity Park and live music and entertainment, will be ongoing from that Friday onward, with the welcoming ceremonies being held on the steps of City Hall that evening.
"The ceremonies pay tribute to the (North Country) Honor Flight and all veterans and our working everyday heroes," Donahue said.
"Our featured concert this year is the Glengarry Bhoys — two hours of great music filling the night air from City Hall steps, all courtesy of the City of Plattsburgh. Followed up that evening with the 'Rockets' Red Glare' fireworks."
RE-ENACTMENTS PLANNED
Museums around the city will also be open from Thursday to Sunday.
And unlike last year, this year's popular reenactments and weapon demonstrations will go according to plan as well.
"Saturday and Sunday are again jam packed with things to do. Activities start in the morning with a Cannonball Run that's presented by the Plattsburgh YMCA," Donahue said.
"We have reenactors coming back this year. It's been three or four years now since they've been able to come across the border. We had the big gun debacle last year, but that's all straightened out. So we have a lot of reenactors coming."
Stan and Chris Ransom are again organizing and running the 19th-century children's games throughout the celebration.
The "most popular event last year" — the Macdonough Monument challenge — will also be returning.
"We had crowds of people waiting to go up the monument — 156 steps up, 156 steps back down — and they got a button to say 'I survived the climb' and we put them into a contest for a gift certificate and we listed all of them on our website saying 'I survived the climb,'" Donahue said.