Oswego,
NY is a small seaport on the south east side of Lake Ontario. It was first settled in 1722 by British and Dutch
fur traders. In the mid 1800s it played a large role in
the Underground Railroad leading escaped slaves to Canada. During WW II it housed nearly 1000 Jewish
refugees in an old fort’s barracks. For
the past 29 years it has hosted Harborfest on the last weekend in July. The city’s population is only 19,000, but Harborfest
attracts 250,000 visitors from the US and Canada.
A
total of 41 different bands perform at 4 different venues over the course of 4
days. The venues are scattered between 2
river front locations and 2 town parks and are connected by a shuttle service. Vendor tents are located at each of the
venues. And it is all FREE. In addition there is a special park for
children activities and a carnival. It
is perhaps best known for its fireworks display on Saturday night. Fireworks are provided by the Grucci Family,
probably the best known fireworks provider in the country if not the
world. They have done every presidential
inauguration for the past 40 years as well as international events including in
Dubai.
Fortunately
our marina was located close to East Park which hosted the Jazz and Blues
bands. We were in time Friday to catch a
5:30 performance of Steve Grills and the Roadmasters. We then went to GS Bar and Grill on the river
for a drink, and who did we meet at the bar but the owners of Grucci Fireworks. In the “small world” department the wife's name is
Debby and her mother’s name is Rose (as is Debby’s mom), so there was instant rapport. Grucci Fireworks, based in Long Island, is
very much a close knit, family run business.
This event marks the end of their summer season and they use it to
invite all their family and employees to participate and party. It is clear however that Debby Grucci and her
husband Frank run the show.
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| Debby, Debbie Grucci, her cousin Michael, Jim |
On
Saturday we used the shuttle and visited the other venues. At Breitbeck Park there were a number of New
York State wineries offering tastings.
Needless to say we tried them all, but unless you like sweet wines there
was not much to appreciate. While in
this park we caught a good country band, Dirtroad Ruckus.
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| Wine Tasting Tents |
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| Dirtroad Ruckus |
We
returned to East Park to hear the blues band, Rev Raven and the Alterboys,
which were very good. We then watched
the fireworks display from the bridge of our boat at 9:30. They lasted one half hour and were the best
we have ever seen. Afterwards we
returned to GS as the Grucci’s had
invited us to join their party. As it
did not get started until after 11 we did not stay long.
