PRESS RELEASE
COMMUNITY BOAT BUILDING PROJECT
AT
HISTORIC NEW BRIDGE LANDING
In conjunction with Pinkster Fest at Historic New Bridge Landing, the Bergen County Historical Society, Hackensack Riverkeeper, Meadowlands Environmental Commission and the River Edge Public Schools are sponsoring the first of its kind, Community Boat Building Project. The boat-building event will be held Saturday and Sunday, May 2 and 3 at Historic New Bridge Landing, in River Edge. The aforementioned groups will each be building a canoe, which will be launched on Sunday. Palmer Brothers Ace Hardware Store in River Edge has generously donated tools and materials. The public is invited to watch the building process. In addition, the Hackensack Riverkeeper will make available their fleet of canoes for use by the general public on Sunday, during Pinkster Fest. On Sunday also, the Meadowlands Environmental Commission will conduct water-sampling tests and provide other information on the River’s ecology.
Join us around the Maypole to welcome summer! Come to Historic New Bridge Landing, 1201-1209 Main Street, River Edge on Sunday, May 3rd, from 1 to 4 PM, and step back in time to a moment of relaxation and community celebration after spring planting was done. Beside Maypole dancing, the Bergen County Historical Society is hosting a Community Boat Building Project with teams of boat builders from the Historical Society, Hackensack Meadowlands Commission, the Hackensack Riverkeeper and the River Edge Public Schools assembling and launching their own Chesapeake Light Craft Peace Canoes. Staff from the Hackensack Riverkeeper, the Hackensack Meadowland Commission’s Educational out reach program and Trout Unlimited will be on hand to demonstrate water quality testing, information regarding the Hackensack River Watershed and fly fishing and fly tying techniques. The Hackensack Riverkeeper will have canoes available for visitors’ use on May2nd and 3rd. Tour the historic Campbell-Christie, Demarest and Steuben Houses at the Bridge That Saved A Nation. Refreshments will be served in the Black Horse Inn and our Jersey Dutch Out Kitchen and gift shop will be open. Suggested donation: $7 adults; $5 children; BCHS members free.
The Jersey Dutch joyously observed Pentecost as Pinkster, a holiday marking the budding of trees, the flowering of shrubs and feasting upon the first harvest of spring grains. In farming communities, a May tree or pole was set in the ground and decorated with nosegays woven from wildflowers. A sporting contest, usually involving foot or horse races, determined who would be crowned as a figurative bride and groom, the May Queen and King. This flower-crowned couple led merry-makers in a procession, going door-to-door and gathering dyed eggs, butter, bread, cream, coffee, sugar, and tallow candles in their baskets. White doves and gold bows figured prominently. Food collected in these spring baskets furnished the table of the communal Pinkster supper, actually a mock wedding feast, complete with ring dances. Toasts with buttermilk, known as “white wine”, singing, and recital of the Pinkster Ode completed the celebration.
