labor daze

Joni Mitchell's line in the song "Big Yellow Taxi" was spot on: "You don't know what you've got 'til it's gone."

So it was last summer, when the 26th annual Labor Daze celebration had to be cancelled. The reason given was too few volunteers to put together the holiday festival.

The locals did host a small event last year at the Elroy D. Parkins Town Park (Little League Park) with hopes of improving next time around.

Now the Oakfield Betterment Committee has revived itself -- and fully aware that it's going to take a village -- and a town -- to get Labor Daze back on track -- the group is doing just that.

It has enlisted some new volunteers with fresh ideas.

So marks those calenders -- Labor Daze will be at the town park again on Sept. 4 and 5. The celebration has gotten a bit bigger, according to Town Clerk Melissa Haacke, co-chair of the new Oakfield Betterment Committee.

"Well, of course, we're going to still have food vendors and crafters like usual, but we have really expanded our kids activities for this year," Haacke said. "We have two bounce houses coming and a local family that will be bringing in animals for a petting zoo and we contacted Genesee and Orleans County 4-H groups to see if they want to bring in some animals, too."

Since horse and pony rides were popular last year, they'll be offered again. Kids can also play on the playground at the park so parents can worry less about children wandering into traffic.

"We liked the idea that we don't have to close any roads for this," Haacke said.

She gave credit to her Co-chair Kate Manges for taking initiative dring the planning phases, saying, "She really took the bull by the horns."

She explained that in an effort to "get back to their roots," members of the Betterment Committee tried to keep everything as local as possible to showcase the village and town.

To highlight the 60th anniversary of the Oakfield Lions Club, the group will be the Grand Marshal of the parade. Also, the new Oakfield Historical Museum on Maple Avenue will be open to encourage everyone to walk around and visit local businesses.

People can also expect a fireworks display, a car show, Chinese auction and some great raffle items. Prizes include $1,000 cash, a four-pack of season tickets to Darien Lake, a laptop computer from Millennium Computers, a Nook and many more items.

To donate to the Chinese auction or raffle prizes or for vendor information, call Town Clerk Melissa Haacke (948-5835, ext. 20) or e-mail celebration14125@yahoo.com.

It should be no surprise to anyone -- putting together Oakfield's annual Labor Daze celebration is a lot of work.

Too much work for only five people to handle, according Donna Dwyer, last year's co-chair for the event.

That's why there will be no Labor Daze in 2010.

"We considered lots of options and people suggested ideas, but we've been at this long enough to know it was going to be just too tough for a small group of people," Dwyer said.

The event has been a 25-year tradition in Oakfield and is an important part of the fundraising calendar for many local charities, but Dwyer said with some key people stepping away for either health reasons or other personal commitments and the lack of new volunteers stepping forward, putting on the event for 2010 just wasn't realistic.

The Oakfield Betterment Committee will continue to try and recruit volunteers for 2011, but even if several people stepped forward now, it's just too late for 2010, Dwyer said. There is just too much work that has not been completed yet that should be done by this point.

"We would already be behind the eight ball," Dwyer said. "For example, we have to have all of the entertainment booked by the beginning of February."

Mark Colopy, another organizer who oversees the food booths said he was out of town Monday when the committee met and made its decision, but that it makes sense. The group just needs more help.

"We're looking forward with optimism," Colopy said. "This is an important event for the community. It's an important fundraiser for a lot of non-profit groups in the community and it's a great time to get out and see your friends and neighbors. We just didn't have the necessary support to carry it through for 2010."

Watching the Oakfield Labor Daze parade today, I realized that I can identify the stages of my life up to this point by my memories of the annual festivities. I remember being the little girl afraid of the firemen who walked by in masks - being told not to run to the middle of the road for the "far away" pieces of candy.

I used to be the girl who was checking out which boys got cuter over the summer, trying to work up the nerve to go talk to them before school started.

I marched in the Oakfield Marching Band lead by Mr. John Mikulski, my favorite teacher of all time. He used to crack jokes to keep our spirits up as we marched down Main Street. Our town will forever miss the joy he brought us.

I also worked the stands selling salt potatoes for the our senior class, hanging out with the soon-to-be graduates while we chatted about where our lives were going to take us.

Now, I'm watching it all from a distance, taking it all in as the memories come back to me.

It was an eventful parade this morning. The usual tractors, clowns, candy and firetrucks were there. Bands played their jazzy tunes and marched down the street. Strange bikes and vehicles were driven.

Animals were part of the fun, too. There were dogs and two horses in the parade. I'm sure that no one who saw it will forget the graphic display of urination by the mini horse right in front of the post office - let's just say it was another memory for those of us who were there and leave it at that...

Pie sales were in full swing when I visited the United Methodist Church.  Reverend Larry Eastlack was all smiles this morning, but admitted he wasn't the expert on pies.

"It's about how we share together. The fellowship of baking the pies and how we share them with the community is the best part..." said a woman from the church who declined to give her name.

"For a lot of people, the pies bring memories. How their grandmothers used to bake pies, which flavor they bought last year or making elderberry pies when they were younger..." she went on to say.

I'd have to agree. Every event at Labor Daze brings memories for me, whether it be ostrich burgers, deep fried Oreos, or even taking a turn in the bounce house. I'm certain that everyone who attends Labor Daze goes through the same memory lane experience each year. It's things like this event that make a small town a great place to live.

The 25th annual Oakfield Labor Daze gets under way at noon and will feature music, food, games and local arts and crafts.

The weather is expected to be as temparate and clear as a Southern Californian afternoon today and tomorrow (chance of rain on Monday).

Highlights of the weekend:

Today

2 to 3:00 p.m.: Bed Races-Bennett Avenue

6 to 10 p.m.: Battle of the Bands-Triangle Park

Tomorrow

Noon to 3 p.m.: Chicken BBQ-Methodist Church

1:45 to 3:45 p.m.: Charlotte Ritchie

6 to p.m. Joey T & The Formula

Monday

10:30 a.m.: Labor Daze Parade on Main Street

12:15 to 1 p.m.: O-A Jazz Band at Triangle Park

1 p.m.: Pie & Ice Cream at Oakfield United Methodist Church

2:45 to 4:45 p.m.: Craig Wilkins performs Johnny Cash Music

5:30 to to 9:30 p.m.: The Trolls

The weekend closes with a fireworks show at the school after the last performance.

For a complete schedule of events, click here.

Oakfield will not be holding a Community Worship Service this Sunday, normally a feature of its "Labor Daze" celebration, because the issue of gay marriage has caused a rift between churches there.

The Community Betterment Committee's Labor Daze officials, after discussions with Mayor Rick Pastecki and others, opted to cancel the 10:30 a.m. service at Triangle Park on Sunday to avoid any possibility of a "brouhaha," said festival co-chair Donna Dwyer.

The service has been part of the holiday weekend line-up for 24 years -- until now.

The situation devolved from a letter to the editor published in the Daily News on May 22 written by Rev. Larry Eastlack of Oakfield United Methodist Church. It stated that while most evangelical leaders are encouraging their congregations to oppose the "Marriage Equality Act," he differed. The legislation has been passed in several states and New York is considering it, too.

Eastlack's letter said that although most Christians believe homosexuality is incompatible with Biblical teachings, "I believe it is possible to stay true to your religious convictions, whatever they are, and still support legislation that would allow homosexual persons to enjoy all the rights and responsibilities that come with matrimony."

The reverend was unavailable for comment, but his letter created a veritable firestorm in the community and it's still smoldering.

The brigade against his views is led by fundamentalist pastors at Oakfield Community Bible Church, led by Bill Smith, and Mark Perkins, who leads the Oakfield Alabama Baptist Church. They've been coordinating the Community Worship Service for the past several years and wanted to exclude Eastlack from the Community Worship Service this year specifically because of his now publically known views on gay marriage.

(Leaders' "participation" amounts to sitting among other local church representatives and listening to a guest speaker's sermon. Cal Kern, president and general manager of a Christian sports team called Niagara Power Baseball, was scheduled this year.)

They asked to sit down with the reverend and Perkins said they, including Eastlack's associate Dave Phelps, discussed their views cordially and the meeting ended with Eastlack's decision not to participate if that meant creating more strife.

A letter prepared Aug. 10 by Perkins and Smith -- which amounts to an ultimatum to disavow gay marriage or else be shunned -- was given to Eastlack afterward "almost as an afterthought," said Perkins to emphasize the amiable tone at the meeting's conclusion.

The letter rejects the notion of gay marriage as a civil rights issue and the idea that homosexuality is determined genetically. It cites Scripture on the issue and urges Eastlack to change his stance, with this caveat:

"...our Elders have stated that having you take part (in the Sept. 6 service) would send a message to our community and respective congregations that 1. We are in agreement with your stance or 2. We are willing to pretend that unity exists."

The Labor Daze Community Worship Service was heretofore ecumenical in nature, according to residents. But Perkins said the public Sunday service is not supposed to be "a social feel-good message."

"It's meant to send a clear, Biblical Gospel message to people there who might not attend church or otherwise hear it," Perkins said.

The mayor finds the whole thing ugly.

"My personal feeling is that it just saddens me down to my soul," Pastecki said.