The play and the fair

The Children's Summer Theater put on its 43rd production this past week. The play, Newsies, had a huge cast, moveable sets, and a lot of choreography.

 Even the ceiling was decorated. The setting of the play was New York City at the end of the 19th or beginning of the 20th when laundry was hung outside in porches or between buildings.

 I attended on the last performance and was surprised to see many empty seats. In the past productions have usually sold out.

Rensselaer's next play production will be the Carnegie Players production of Annie Get Your Gun. It will have four showings, on July 27, August 2, 3 and 4, 2018 at 7:00 p.m. each evening in the RCHS auditorium.

The County Fair had a large crowd on Sunday night.

There seem to be even more food booths this year. Many are old favorites but quite a few seem to be new.

There is always something going on. On Sunday there were musical performances both on the free stage and in the Community Building.

There were no events going on at the horse arena but these two little guys were fascinated watching riders and horses practice.

 The air was definitely warmer on the other side of the curtain.

While the musicians played and sang in the Community Building, people could watch a lady make little animals from rods of glass.

I do not attend many Tourism Board meetings, which may be a mistake because it seems a lot happens at them. I did attend the July meeting. Touch of Dutch requested and was granted some additional money to increase advertising. Their festival was cited as one that has been growing and developing. There was a follow up report on a car show and the Vietnam Wall memorial. About 4000 people signed the guest books at the Wall and probably at least that many did not sign.

The Board discussed their proposed donation to the Parks for People campaign. At the June County Council meeting only a $10,000 donation was approved and the item will be on the agenda again this month at the meeting on the 24th. The Board members reaffirmed their belief that good parks are an important determinant of quality of life that both attracts people to an area and helps retain them.

They mentioned a change in state law that allows out-of-county residents to serve on tourism boards if they own or are senior management in a county business related to tourism. South Shore is rebuilding the County's tourism website. A new Tourism Director will begin work on August 1.