ANSONIA - As part of the city's
year-long 125th anniversary celebration Ansonia125 SummerFest will be an ambitious and exciting signature
event July 19 at Nolan Field Athletic Complex on Wakelee Avenue. Rain
date is July 20.
The event
will run from 2-10 p.m. and promises to deliver an entertaining and cultural
family attraction for residents of the city and surrounding towns.
Admission is
$5 for adults; children 12 and under free. A public accommodating re-enter
policy will be in effect throughout enabling easy exit/re-entry access as
needed.
Ansonia-based manufacturer Farrel Pomini, whose impactful city-molding
downtown presence dates to the mid-1860s, is the Presenting Title Sponsor.
In total, 15 city and area-based businesses
contributed event subsidizing financial sponsorship.
“This will
be a do not miss summer event celebration for everyone,” said Ansonia Mayor
David S.Cassetti who initiated the festival anniversary idea earlier this year.
“The
featured entertainment is wonderful, diverse, and creative and should be enjoyed
by all.”
Festivities
commence with an unscripted baseball living history game billed as The Great Base Ball Re-Match.
Set in 1889, the game “reunites” the
mythical Ansonia Coppermen and Derby Osbornedales in an old-fashioned 19th
century “Town Ball” showdown.
The game represents a time when resident tradesmen
would commonly gather after work to play baseball against neighboring town ball clubs.
Team rosters, assembled through tryouts, will be comprised of the best baseball
talent from Ansonia, Derby, Shelton, and Seymour.
Players will wear 19th
century style flannel wool baseball uniforms, use replica period hand-size gloves,
heavy wood bats and “lemon peel” stitched baseballs while playing by era rules,
strategies and etiquette.
Following the
game, a concert featuring two regionally popular bands will take stage – located
just beyond the centerfield fence.
Opening the show will be Rob Zappulla Orchestra, an18-piece big band from Hartford whose
song list includes Sinatra classics and Top 40 60’s & 70’s hits.
The
featured group will be Connecticut-based Eight
to the Bar, voted “Best Live Band in 2013” by Hartford Magazine, performing
their unique swing/jazz/R&B sounds.
Ansonia125
SummerFest will culminate with an inspiring post-concert fireworks display presented by Stop&Shop.
Atlas PyroVision of
New Hampshire will produce the display.
Onsite will
be an Ansonia Photo History Exhibit
displaying rarely seen historic photographs (1870-1960) of city landmarks,
streetscapes and others culled from private collections and the vaults of Ansonia
Public Library and Farrel Pomini.
Randy Carroll, Chairman of the Ansonia
Historical Commission, is the exhibit curator. Throughout, Restaurant Row food vendors will showcase select area restaurants
grilling their SummerFest Menu Specials.
Concert and
fireworks seating will be accommodated with existing hillside football field
length grandstand bleachers, and expansive athletic field lawn seating
permitted. Those desiring lawn seating are encouraged to bring blankets and
folding chairs.
Ansonia 125
SummerFest is being developed and managed by city residents (Ansonia High School Class of ’76) Greg
Martin and Garry Giannone of Copper City
Marketing Group, and the city of
Ansonia.
Martin’s company, Vintage
Base Ball Factory will provide uniforms, gloves and baseballs for the
vintage baseball game. Bulldog Bat Co. of Newtown will provide era
bats.
This year marks the
125th anniversary of Ansonia’s 1889 annex from its original
Birmingham namesake - previously shared common ground within the borders of
today’s Ansonia and Derby.
For more information, visit www.facebook.com/ansoniasummerfest.
This post is taken from a press release from Ansonia resident Greg Martin of Copper City Marketing Group.
