A perfect Millbrook Community Day

MILLBROOK — The Saturday after Labor Day has always been Community Day in Millbrook. This year it fell on Sept. 11, and the morning began with taps performed by Isabelle Hurley and Ryan Donovan, trumpet players at Millbrook High School, accompanied by the VFW Honor Guard at 9 a.m. on the Village Green.

The celebration stretched from face painting at the Thorne Building to the display of an antique water-pumping engine powered by coal in the Reardon Briggs parking lot at the bottom of Franklin Avenue. Stores put tables on the sidewalks. Music floated in the air and the Pack 31 Cub Scouts tried to sell microwave popcorn to everyone.

The VFW served 120 sausage sandwiches and 72 hamburgers. Merritt Book Store organized readings on the library lawn and the Millbrook Teachers Association handed out free books to encourage literacy.

It was a day to learn more about village institutions like Mutt-Lab Rescue, Dutchess Day School and the Cary Institute, where future scientists examined mosquito larvae through microscopes.

The Republicans and the Democrats had informational tables with materials on the new voting machines and absentee ballots. The village handed out information on the sewer project. Millbrook Matters sponsored a Plan It Right tent about the town of Washington comprehensive plan and urged citizen involvement. Cadets participating in the Millbrook Police youth police academy took fingerprints and told people about the Wednesday night program at the Village Hall.

It was a day of tradition and history. The parade of the Millbrook Hunt Fox Hounds with 14 very well-behaved, long-legged dogs accompanied by young equestrians in riding boots and hats sauntered up Franklin Avenue at 1:30 p.m., and after a brief rest underneath the Thorne Building trees, walked back down Franklin Avenue.

David Greenwood, village historian, led a historic walk through the village. Children rode in an authentic 19th-century governess donkey cart driven by Eve Propp of Dublin Dare Farm.

At 4 p.m. three winners of the free raffle were drawn out of a village of Millbrook paper bag under the supervision of Community Day organizers Paula Redmond and Ruthie Bontecou of the Millbrook Business Association. Each winner received an assortment of prizes donated by community organizations, from spa treatments to a ride with the Millbrook Hunt.

The three winners from the hundreds who handed in their completed passports were Art Crowley of Shady Dell Road in Millbrook, Susie Steinhaus, the wife of Dutchess County Executive William Steinhaus, and Sarah Rizzo, a teacher at Alden Elementary School in Millbrook.

All afternoon the members of the Millbrook Fire Department prepared for the traditional chicken barbecue fundraiser, which started at 4:30 p.m. James Brownell oversaw the cooking of 200 quartered chickens over an open charcoal pit. Nolan Meyer and the other shucking volunteers busily husked corn on the cob from the Kessman’s Farm in Amenia. And the ladies of Lyall Church put the finishing touches on their famous coleslaw and macaroni salad.

Hundreds of people spent the day strolling on Franklin Avenue or working behind tables, grilling sausages, singing or handing out information. Everyone recognized the exceptional quality of life and feeling of neighborhood in Millbrook. It was another grand Community Day on a perfect Saturday in September.