The Fredericksburg Pear
hanging over the 800 block of Caroline Street. |
If you missed the First
Night Fredericksburg 2001 festival then you certainly missed a good time.
Behind the scenes, the planning for this years festival started out very
rough. The festival was not officially mentioned to the public until early
December. The reason behind that was that there was no official planning
going on until late October. It seems that the First Night Fredericksburg
2001 event was not going to happen. Local Barbara Esposito was hired by
the City to plan the event with some help from other
locals. With all the behind the scenes planning going on, the event
planners did a bang up job getting the show on the road. |
| We personally think that
this years event was much better than last years event. Even though the
temperature was 5 degrees colder this year than last years 31 degrees,
the turn out for the 2001 First Night Fredericksburg was good. This years
event started off with a small parade down Caroline Street. As the Mardi
Gra style parade moved down Caroline Street, it picked up little boys and
girls (and many adult "children", along the way. By then end of the parade
route, several hundred locals had "become" part of the event. After the
parade, there were plenty of events to attend. The highlight of this years
shows would probably have to be the magic show. |
The Drop Zone for the
Pear!
|
Trey Cromwell & Michael
Taggert making it snow. This was the
ending of a great magic
show.
Buckets and Tin cans, made
excellent drums for the youth and the
young at heart.
|
Two seeming unknown magicians
(Trey Cromwell & Michael
Taggert) were performing their magic act at the gymnasium of the Fredericksburg
Baptist Church. We tried to see the show on three different times, with
the first two shows being "sold out", we were finally able to get a place
to stand for our third attempt. Once inside, the show was truly amazing.
They offered a good mix of theatrical comedy, pure old fashioned magic
with slight of hand and then some truly unbelievable stunts and illusions.
The most amazing act was when Trey took a long balloon (like the one that
the clowns use to make balloon animals) and he swallowed the entire balloon
(approx. 2.5 feet in length), drank a bottle of water and continued on
with the show. The crowd was stunned by what they just saw. Michael did
a funny attempt at escaping from being tied up in a chair, followed by
Trey escaping from a straight jacket and chains. The show ended with the
duo making snow out of a napkin. Also available at the Fredericksburg Baptist
Church were crafts for the children.
At the Visitors Center was
a large heated tent. Inside the tent were at least 100 people and the
Terrance
Simmien & The Mallet Playboys. Playing at the other end of Caroline
Street in the Library was Bob
Gramann playing folk music. Across the street from the library was
a large fire with a large metal pan (the pan from the Fredericksburg French
Festival) cooking chestnuts ("Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire"). |
| Down the road at the Unitarian
Fellowship Hall was the GoodTime Cloggers. If you haven't seen the GoodTime
Cloggers, they are a group of locals who are very good at a type of dance
known as clogging. Clogging is a high energy type of tap dance (they have
a much more detailed explanation, but you get the picture). You probably
have seen them around town at the French Festival, the Duck Race and last
years First Night, just to name a few events that they have been at. They
really put on a good, high energy show. For those that have seen them,
you'll know what we mean when we say "poor Rodney". After performing,
the GoodTime Cloggers closed by getting the audience involved in the Chicken
dance and a conga line. |
The GoodTime Cloggers
|
| Following the cloggers were
members of the Fredericksburg School of Performing Arts. They performed
a series of instrumental songs for the crowd. The tempo picked up again
with Black Hats & Diamonds, a Country & Western Dance Team. Providing
free tours around town were the Fredericksburg Trolley, Fredericksburg
Carriage Tours, and Loklinter Clydesdales. Other entertainment acts included
Vertical
Land, Laurie
Rose Griffith and Peter Mealy, Clay
Mottley, Jim & Holly
Lawrence and Estellas
Muse. Through out the area, there were heated tents, vendors selling
hot chocolate and just plain old fun. |
Chalk writings on the
street
|
 |
At the 800 block of Caroline
Street is the 20-25 pound lighted Fredericksburg Pear. The pear is the
creation of Ken Crampton of Eyeclopes
Studios. Ken made the Pear seven years ago out of Chicken wire and
yellow packaging tape. The Pear quickly became an icon for the New Years
Celebration. Ken operates the Pear from the Studio located on the second
floor of 810 Caroline St. (The Shops at 810, the old Wards building). As
the clock in the St. George's Episcopal Church turns to midnight, and the
bell chimes the first ring of 12, Ken lowers the Pear to the crowd below.
Like a beach ball at a music concert, the crowd passes the Pear around
the crowd for a few minutes until Ken pulls the Pear up. Once the clock
has struck midnight, the pear has dropped and the new year has begun, the
party really starts and the fireworks go off. This year, the fireworks
were not very spectacular, but for those that were at this years July 4th
celebration in Fredericksburg, what could you expect. After the crowd clears,
all that is left on Caroline Street is the confetti scraps and the 100's
of chalk messages written on the street by all that attended. |
The Free Lance-Star newspaper
has video of the First Night Fredericksburg celebration at http://content.fredericksburg.com/movies/012001movies/firstnight.html |
