PLEASANT VALLEY CELEBRATES ITS SESQUICENTENNIAL by Elizabethann Albertson
Pleasant Valley's Sesquicentennial Celebration enveloped three evenings and two days with a unique mixture of history and hoop-la that could have only come to Dutchess County at Pleasant Valley. While 150th Birthday Parties were relatively common this year, the townspeople of Pleasant Valley set out early in the year to make theirs something special. Some forty Town organizations as well as independent citizens banded together through a Chamber of Commerce coordinating committee. What they put together ran from 4 p.m. Friday, September 17, to 10 p.m. Sunday, September 19. Better than thirty booths and displays opened Friday along with a children's carnival of mechanical rides. The main event of that evening was a free Teen Dance held in a huge tent on North Avenue in the center of Town. A group called the Stockade provided the music from 8 to 11 p.m. Saturday's events opened at 10 a.m. with a Fair at St. Paul's Episcopal Church joining the festivities. One p.m. saw the highlight of the day, a Rededication Ceremony on Main Street honoring the Town. Speakers included Town Supervisor John Stewart, Congressman Hamilton Fish, State Senator Jay Rolison, State Assemblyman Emil Betros, County Executive David Schoentag, County Representative Calvin Smith and County Sheriff Lawrence Quinlan. Other guests included the Pleasant Valley Town Board and the supervisors of the Towns of Clinton and LaGrange. General Chairman of the Celebration, Herb Redl, unveiled a monument to the Town, five feet of marble with the seal of Pleasant Valley engraved on it. John Reed, Jr., president of the Chamber of Commerce, hosted the event. The remainder of the days festivities included the annual Pleasant Valley-Salt Point Day of field events for children and adults at the Pleasant Valley Recreation Park, a saw mill demonstration by Don Robison at his local mill, a Masons' dinner and a chicken barbecue at St. Paul's Church. Little Miss (ages 5 to 8) Pleasant Valley was also selected. Local baton twirlers, the Valleyettes, entertained in the evening, followed later by the teenage New Frontier singing group. The evening ended with a free adult Tent Dance on North Avenue with music provided by the Russ Gilmore Band. Sunday was marked by an All Faiths Service conducted under the tent on North Avenue. Pastors of all the churches in Pleasant Valley participated. The Reverend Marlin Stewart of the Pleasant Valley Presbyterian Church, the oldest congregation in the Town, gave the sermon. An interfaith choir inspired all who attended. At 1:30 p.m., the longest Parade in Pleasant Valley's history moved down Main Street from the Traver Road School to the Recreation Park,
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