Justin Medve
For the Beaver
Families and friends gathered for a full selection of winter activities at this year’s Newburgh Canal Bash on Saturday.
The event’s 25th annual run was again made possible by its host, the Newburgh Volunteer Firefighters Association, along with several dedicated community members and a number of local sponsors.
Eighteen-year-old NDSS student Matt Thompson told the Beaver he’s been going to the Canal Bash for as long as he can remember, tagging along with his grandpa and father, who both play a big part in organizing the daylong event
.Thompson eventually decided to take on a role of his own: putting together and promoting a youth pond hockey tournament that left the rinkside crowded all afternoon.
“I’ve always had the pond right here to play on, but something like this would have been pretty cool,” Thompson said.
Ten teams played at least two games each, with each bracket facing off in afternoon finals. NDSS students had the chance to referee games for community hours as well.
Canal Bash is more about companionship than competition, however: On another ice pad, local mom Lucie Cross took her daughters skating for the first time.”It’s a relaxed but fun day,” Cross said. “There’s so many kids here, I can’t believe it.”
With a pancake breakfast and other warm, affordable food served up throughout the day, Cross said it was easy to stick around and see everything her children were interested in.
“The horses are a total highlight, that was what they were waiting for,” she said.
Acting chief fire official Jeff Thompson told the Beaver that a daylong schedule helps keep Canal Bash accessible and growing in popularity.
“You see a lot of different faces coming and going throughout the day,” Thompson said, adding that primetime usually starts a couple hours before a fireworks show tops off the evening.
One example of how the event has grown is the demand for its signature treat, Canal Tails. Thompson said he estimates up to 40 batches are now made at each Canal Bash, up from a modest five batches when they first began.
Self-appointed caretaker of the canal, Rick Doyle, said he was happy to see the impact of the lighting, rink floods and Zamboni passes that he and firefighters worked on.“We’ve got really good ice, we’ve got good weather and we’ve got a good crowd. I don’t think you could ask for much more to be honest,” Doyle said.