Can Facebook replace community festivals?

By KAREN PARKER

County Line Publisher Emeritus

At long last, after a year of cowering under the covers, avoiding the coronavirus, community celebrations are back. It appears once again we are willing to breathe the same air and lick the same ice cream cone.

The Monroe County Dairy Breakfast returns next month, and Ontario’s July 4 celebration will explode with most of the same events as in the past (absent the Ontario Community Hall, which is due for demolition).

Alas, as we reported recently, Wilton’s Wood Turtle Days Committee rolled on its back and concluded that an absence of volunteers suggested that it was time to take a year off and regroup. After all, Wilton did not have one during the pandemic year, and the town did survive.

To no one’s surprise, a gaggle of folks banded together and announced plans to, no, not volunteer for the event, but to launch their own version of the August festival.

But wait, noted Turtle I, we trademarked that name, and you are not to use it. Ah-ha, said Turtle II, then we will call it “Wilton Turtle Fest” The initials WTF, it was noted, cleverly spelled out to “What the F**k?” And wouldn’t that make an ever so tasteful and elegant T-shirt? It’s sure to be enormously popular with the teen crowd.

Eek, groaned Turtle I, now we are certain we don’t want our names connected with this new event.

Furthermore, it was noted that Turtle II would start from ground zero, as any funds in Turtle I remaining after its collapse were destined to go to the school district, according to the bylaws. Good news for the school district, no doubt.

Are you dizzy yet?

But wait, there’s more.

Anyone reading this and who has been involved in a community celebration knows that all of the work usually falls on the backs of a few brave and determined souls. But even the most intrepid volunteer falls victim to fatigue and old age. Or festivals sometimes simply fade away from lack of interest.

Anyone recall the Black Squirrel Festival in Norwalk? How about Holidazzle? As members of the Royal Neighbors Organization in Ontario answered the call up yonder, the once-so-popular Holiday Fair disappeared from view.

Even long-established events such as the celebration for Labor Day in Kendall grow more problematic with each passing year. Ontario once had a fair; and Wilton, a circus. Memorial Day was once a major event in all the villages. Veterans marched up the hill in Kendall to the cemetery. Now, after a few words of memory and a dozen notes on the bugle, it’s time for beer and brats.

All of those events had a far greater purpose than acknowledging a national holiday or saluting a creature (turtles, squirrel, etc.), or in the case of Sparta, it is hats off to butter. Really. Butter.

No matter the name of the festival, it served the purpose of bringing people together. It was a meet and greet, a time to get caught up on family events, an opportunity to hash over civic affairs or simply compare notes on the changes families had undergone in recent years.

You can hear the conversations if you pause and listen for a moment to the whispering from the past:

Emma had a new baby last week.

Fred and Sarah moved to California.

My arthritis is bad in this cold weather.

Do you think it will ever (warm up) (stop raining) (start raining)?

What does that cop actually do with his time?

But we don’t need that anymore. You know about Emma’s new baby because her picture was up on Facebook 10 minutes after her birth. Or maybe (lucky you) someone posted the actual birth, shrieks, and blood and all.

You knowall about the folks who moved to California because you are friends on Facebook, and they keep you informed of their every move (boring as it may be).

No one needs to tell you how bad their arthritis is because they talk about it on Facebook; that is, when they are not posting what they ate for dinner and how their walk with the dog went.

As for the town cop, there are plenty of opinion of his usefulness on Facebook, much of it alleged with absolutely no evidence and in crude terms that had you used them as a kid, you might have had a bar of Lava soap twisted about inside your mouth (ah, the stuff mothers got by with back in the day).

So, it could be that Facebook, which I love to rant against, also has played a role in the decline of community events.

Are we better off? It’s different, for sure. Facebook users can carry on endlessly about their lives, while the person you are chatting with at, for example, the tractor pull, may just make excuses and walk away, signaling how tedious he or she finds you.

Many of the things said on Facebook, if said in person, would warranta counter insult at best or even a black eye.

You can lie all day long on Facebook and think only those you are friends with will see it. Ha! Screenshots last forever, and friends do tell on friends.

And when you chat with someone at a community celebration, they are not gathering your private information and selling it. We now know that is where Facebook makes its real money.

The day may come when we regret the loss of our community festivals.

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