April 1989

Naples' Bicentennial Summer

by

Bill Treichler

Naples has planned a summer of events to celebrate its 200 years.

Starting the festivities will be a Bicentennial Ball to be held on Friday, April 14, at 8:00 pm in the Naples' Memorial Town Hall.

Ontario County is also commemorating two centuries of existence this year, and there will be a large Bicentennial Parade on July Fourth in Canandaigua. The Naples School band will be in the parade with more than thirty bands from all over Ontario County.

Seven days of featured activities in Naples will begin on Commemorative Sunday, July 16. After bell ringing and cannon firing at noon there will be services at 2:00 pm in Memorial Town Park.

The next day, Monday, there will be guided van tours of the landmark houses and buildings of Naples from ten in the morning until four in the afternoon.

On Tuesday, July 18, from eleven until four, local collectors will exhibit their collections in the Memorial Hall. That evening at 7:00 Bill Vierhile will present a historical slide show and movie in the same hall.

Wednesday will feature a children's parade down Main Street.

A fashion show of modelled period costumes will follow a noon luncheon at the Town Hall on Thursday.

On Friday there will be entertainments, contests, and sidewalk sales all day on Main Street, climaxed with a street dance beginning at nine that evening.

Saturday is scheduled for a street parade at eleven in the morning, an ox roast at noon, and fireworks in the evening.

Then on August 12 comes the Canandaigua Lake Steamboat Pageant with more than 500 boats travelling from Canandaigua to Woodsville and passing 22 of the old steamboat stops.

From ten until two on September third more than 100 classic and antique automobiles will take part in a show and rally on Lake Niagara Lane.

Later that month on the weekend of September 23 and 24 comes the Naples Great Grape & Wine Festival with two days of free entertainments and many exhibitors of art work and antiques. There will be the World Grape Pie Championship and Grape Stomping Championships.

The Great Naples Flea Market will be held in the Memorial Park on Saturday and Sunday, October 14 and 15. This will be the finale of the scheduled celebrations of Naples' Bicentennial.

Families from all over the Finger Lakes region can plan now to attend the many events programed for this summer in beautiful and historic Naples.

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