More than 1,500 youngsters, from infants to teen-agers, paraded from West Park all the way to Breitbeck Park. Many of them in costumes or riding in tropically decorated wagons highlighting the cultural component of the festival – the Caribbean.
Joe Trionfero held dance and music trivia contests prior to the parade to get the youngsters in a festive mood.
Students from the Oswego City/County Youth Bureau and Youth Advisory Council were part of a group that blew up balloons for the parade participants and helped fill out lost kid tags among other pre-parade duties.
Cralynne Abbott of Fulton filled the balloons with helium and handed them to over volunteers to tie.
She estimated she had inflated several hundreds of balloons.
“I’ve done a lot; an awful lot,” she said. “It’s definitely in the hundreds.”
The parade route was lined with people; many taking pictures of the marchers as they went past. Several costumed characters mingled with the crowd along the parade route.
There were big smiles at the Children’s Stage as the youngsters were treated to a variety of entertainment. Many of them won free passes to theme parks in Central New York, DVDs and other prizes from Radio Disney.
They were treated to performances by the pop/R&B vocals of Keke Palmer as well as Ashlee Keating and Tiffany Giardina among others.
Harborfest entertainment doesn’t slow down today (Saturday) with Dance Studios taking the stage in Breitbeck at 9:30 a.m. followed by the Northeast Navy Showband at 3:30 p.m. and Lonesome Crow at 5:30 p.m.
The children’s musical, In Quest of Columbus will be performed on the Children’s Stage at 11:30 a.m. and 6 p.m. Sandwiched in between will be Tom MacGregor, the Scottish Pirate at 12:30 p.m. and Bart and Kevin’s Sensational Summer Jam at 2 p.m. and then High Peaks Juggler at 3:30 p.m.
Among the performers on the Budweiser Rock Stage will be the Battle of the Bands, Dead Rose, and Whiskey Mae.
Hard Logic will take the NRG Family Stage at 12:30 p.m. followed by B.D. Lenz Group, Daysahead, the Laurence Elder Project and others.
MacGregor (Tom Scheidt), a poor Scottish musician was forced to be a pirate. With the help of his cohort, the English pirate Mary Read (Kimberley G. Baerman), MacGregor shares his yarns of the pirate life and history.
Mary spells her last name Read because she promotes reading among youngsters.
The duo helped Trionfero get the youngsters ready for the Children’s Parade by combining music, history, education and fun. They shared a musical history of piracy on the High Seas – with an emphasis on the Caribbean.
The children learned authentic pirate phrases like: Arrrrrrr. And they found out a pirate’s favorite socks are arrrrrgyles and they eat lunch at Arrrrrrby’s.
MacGregor asked the kids where pirates like to vacation and they yelled back: “Arrrrgentina!”
“And sometimes in Arrrrkansas,” MacGregor shouted.
Their homeport is Dayton, Ohio. For more information about their educational programs, visit www.timemachinepro.com
The annual Entergy Nuclear Fireworks Spectacular will light up the sky over the Oswego Harbor at 9:15 p.m. Saturday.
Fireworks by Grucci has provided world-class fireworks displays at Harborfest for the past 20 years. A typical show for Harborfest takes five days to set up.
Harborfesters are reminded – the Route 104 bridge is closed for repairs.
The Utica Street Bridge, as well as the pedestrian walking bridge located just north of Utica Street, will be open for pedestrians.
The Utica Street bridge will also be closed to vehicular traffic from 9:30 p.m. until midnight following Saturday’s fireworks.
For more information, visit www.oswegoharborfest.com
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