North Syracuse Family Festival return a success

By AndREw wEllIvER

Ahead of Memorial Day, the North Syracuse Community Center held the 16th annual Family Festival from May 26 through May 28 at 700 South Bay Road in North Syracuse.

This is the second year the festival has been held since being postponed, like so many other events, due the COVID-19 pandemic.

The festivities kicked off with an opening ceremony at 11 a.m. on May 26 and it was followed-up with various local musical artists including Tunetastic Entertainment, Matt Chase and Lori Ann Wilber.

The music was just one facet of the whole event however, as there were classic cars on display, along with numerous bounce houses and raffles providing fun and entertainment for people of all ages.

The festival has always had an emphasis on activities for children, and this year was no different.

All activities were designed to be affordable, and kids were able to have access to everything for $5.

Families of four or more were able to all come to the festival together for $15.

Parents and local sponsors have come to understand how important the festival is to the morale of the community.

“They know the event is a great thing for the children,” said Vera Besimone, an original committee member of the Syracuse Family Festival.

“You wouldn’t believe how many children arrive to the event.”

The committee responsible for putting on the festival always looks to hold it the Saturday before Memorial Day.

Tony Burkinshaw, the head of the committee, wanted to create a memorable event by changing up a few things after the break caused by COVID19.

“The village is handson, and we still look to appeal to the kids,” he said.

“This was the year to make changes after the oneyear layoff, and we made little changes where we put vendors in different spots to change it up a hair.”

There were over 40 different vendors at the festival this year.

In addition to vendors being shifted around, the festival was turned into a street festival located outside of the North Syracuse Community Center.

This was the first time in the festival’s history that the location has been changed.

Everything was lined up so there was more room for all the food trucks and local businesses looking to sell their goods.

Planning for the festival starts with the “Bunny Breakfast,” which is a fundraising event put on by the local VFW and the

Canteen.

The “Bunny Breakfast” is an important part of what fuels the activities and music at the festival, and it has continued to be a success for everyone involved.

Everything is put together with a focus on entraining the community.

“The people are looking for entertainment, and we are all about improving the experience,” Burkinshaw said.

Local support is also vital to the success of the festival including sponsors like The Friends of North Syracuse.

This organization, and many other supporters, plays a large part in helping the festival take place and continue to grow.

In 2001, Republican Marlene Ward defeated incumbent Democratic Mayor Jon Zappola to become the first woman mayor in village history.

Christina Fadden

Fadden, 59, is a lifelong Liverpudlian. After attending college at Eastman School of Music and Indiana University, she moved back home.

“I wanted to raise my beautiful daughter, Shannon, in our community,” she said. “And I’ve lived here ever since, a total of 50 years.”

For more than seven years Fadden has served on the village board. As a trustee, she founded the Village Tree Committee. Prior to becoming a trustee, Fadden was a member of Liverpool Cemetery Restoration Committee and the village zoning board of appeals.

From 2004 to 2008, Fadden worked as assistant executive director of the NY State Right to Life Committee, Inc.

She presently works as personnel director for the Onondaga County Department of Social Services overseeing more than 420 employees. She’s also a lifetime member of the American Legion Post 188 Auxiliary.

Stacy Finney

Raised in Syracuse’s Strathmore neighborhood, Stacy Finney has lived in Liverpool since March 2011.

“My husband, Ray, and I felt it was time for a move to an area that had the ability to walk to shops and restaurants,” she said. “Ray teaches at Liverpool Middle School, and I would often sub there in addition to working alongside him on the musicals. We both agreed the village of Liverpool would be the perfect place to raise our family.”

Before relocating to Liverpool, Finney celebrated her Strathmore roots by joining the Strathmore Neighborhood Association.

“I started a children’s Halloween Parade which they still put on to this day -- a tradition I hope to bring to the village of Liverpool, too,” she said. “I was also very involved in the Strathmore Tour of Historic Homes.”

The 48-year-old candidate and mother of two is employed as an eighth grade art teacher at Strough Middle School in Rome. Finney was educated at State University of New York schools in Geneseo and Oswego.

“After college I worked in a variety of different building and design positions,” she said.

More recently, she pursued interior design work as a sideline, operating a business called CNY Interior Arrangements.

Finney is currently serving a four-year term on the village zoning board of appeals.

She is a member of the Rome Teachers Association, an affiliate of NY State United Teachers union.

Issues listed

While Fadden and Finney are two very different women, they agree on the toughest issue facing the village: traffic.

“We must maintain our way of life and identity while development takes place around us,” Fadden said. “Traffic is an ongoing decades-long concern. The noise and congestion created from pass-through traffic, especially truck traffic, must be reduced, mitigated and resisted. The character of our village environment should remain quaint and inviting, not commercialized and depersonalized.”

Liverpool has gone through this spring, from a rough 1-4 start to some late-season struggles that included a 20-5 defeat to this same CBA squad during a split doubleheader on May 6.

To a man, though, players and coaches pointed out that the comeback it made in the sectional quarterfinal May 23 at Auburn when, down 2-0 with two out in the top of the seventh, it rallied to win in extra innings made what happened in the title game easier to handle.

Even with Liverpool ace Jack Hoppe on the mound, CBA took full advantage of four Warriors errors and had its first six batters reach base, five of them scoring to put Liverpool in a quick 5-0 hole.

Still, said Hoppe, “we knew it was a long game and we had a lot of time (to come back). We just had to win each inning, and we did.”

Head coach Fred Terzini said he could sense in his players a lack of fear.

“They weren’t stunned or on their heels,” said Terzini. “They just weren’t spooked, especially after (what happened in) the Auburn game.”

More than anyone, Hoppe would allow the comeback to happen, settling down and, in his remaining 5 1/3 innings, shutting out the Brothers’ potent lineup and allowing just seven hits overall.

Meanwhile, the Warriors’ bats came to life in the top of the fourth against CBA ace Luke Boule, who didn’t allow a hit in the first three innings.

Nate Benjamin led off with a single, reached second on a passed ball and, after a walk to Tyler Vivacqua, scored on Hoppe’s single, after which Chris Baker doubled to the wall to make it 5-3.

Even bigger was what happened in the fifth when, with two outs, Benjamin singled and Alex Evans walked on four pitches. When a wild pitch moved them into scoring position, Vivacqua was intentionally walked to load the bases for Hoppe, who promptly singled home the tying runs.

It didn’t stay 5-5 for long. In the sixth against CBA reliever Tom Leskoske, Austin Burch led off with a walk and stole second. Chaz Anthony’s triple to the gap scored the go-ahead run and a throwing error allowed Anthony to score, too.

Even when Casey Vaughn relieved Leskoske, Benjamin greeted him with a triple, his third hit of the night, and scored his third run on a wild pitch, extending Liverpool’s lead to 8-5.

And the bottom of the order clinched things in the top of the seventh. Anthony, the no. 8 hitter, got another RBI single, and no. 9 hitter Gianni Toscano drove home two more with the Warriors’ ninth and final hit of the night

Looking to match the state title it won in 2017, Liverpool returned to OCC. to meet Section II champion Shenendehowa in the Class AA regional final, and were in great position to advance to the state final four – until it all got away late in a 6-5 defeat to the Plainsmen.

Liverpool grabbed a 1-0 edge in the bottom of the first when Evans singled, Vivacqua reached on an error and Hoppe laced a single to right, scoring Evans.

Shen pulled even, 1-1, in the top of the fourth, then replaced starting pitcher Nino Salati with Brad Curtis to start the bottom of the fifth, but he hit Nate Benjamin before Evans beat out an infield hit.

Hoppe’s single to right brought home Benjamin. Baker then grounded to short, but Evans just beat the tag on the throw home, making it 3-1.

It continued with Burch hitting a sacrifice fly that brought home Hoppe and, when Jameson Stevens singled to plate another run, Liverpool found itself in front 5-1, a lead it gave to Hoppe as the top of the sixth got underway.

Shen’s comeback began when Hoppe hit Ethan Farina. Austin Caldwell singled, then an error on Brendan Gonzalez’s grounder scored a run and Curtis doubled to cut the Warriors’ lead to 5-3.

Vivacqua relieved Hoppe and got a ground ball - but another error brought home two Plainsmen runs and tied it 5-5. With two out, Evan Kochansky singled home Shen’s go-ahead run.

Making another pitching change, the Plainsmen put in R.J. Ensel, and Liverpool couldn’t solve him, Ensel retiring all six batters he faced and giving Shen the regional title.