Savin Rock Fest a success
The most recent edition of the Savin Rock Festival was, by all accounts, a successful event, celebrating much of what the city has to offer its residents. Thousands showed up for the annual event, a summer standard since 1982 with only a few missing years due to financial hardship.
There was no hardship this year as bands, food stands and trucks and a jubilant atmosphere brought out residents and visitors to the historic site of Old Grove Park, a visitors’ mecca since the 1800s. Thankfully, this year’s schedule was not affected by summer storms, thought the first night survived an early threat.
What the festival proved once again is that true to the slogan on many city banners, West Haven has “miles of shore and so much more!” The “so much” was in full display with dancing, revelry and fun. And that was the whole point.
Since it was first discussed more than 40 years ago, the Savin Rock Festival wanted to celebrate the city’s history as a resort community, but also its present and future as a community of diverse interests. The music shows, a staple for many decades, serves as the catalyst for bringing out those various segments of the community, and allows them to celebrate together.
Congratulations are in order for the many hundreds of people who helped make this year’s event memorable, whether city officials, performers, vendors or just patrons and attendees. It was a great two-day event!
West Haven is more than its shore, and it does have much, much more. With our financial constraints now looking somewhat better than they have in many decades, those things that make our city unique can be celebrated once again.
And, why not!
End of summer in sight
The Savin Rock Festival weekend does point toward another milestone, the beginning of the end of summer. Already, back to school ads are in the press and various media, and the transition from what Nat King Cole’s famous song heralding the “lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer” to a more structured time of year begin.
We are now in August, and in three short weeks, the city’s school students will be back in the classroom for the new term. Notices of meeting schedules and “fall events” are found in this newspaper’s email lists and on social media. Time does fly when one is having fun, and the short hiatus of summer comes all too quickly to an end.
As we have said in these columns many times, our institutions and social structures are entwined irreversibly with the academic year. That is not a coincidence, but a construction of weather and labor when we were more an agrarian society.
Whatever the reason, the Savin Rock Festival as well as other events in the region serve as a marker that leads to the coming of fall and the beginning of new business years for social and fraternal organizations as well as educational and institutional communities.
Still, the Dog Days of Summer are upon us, and there is still more time to vacation, relax and enjoy. More laborious days are ahead, but get in some fun while there is still time!