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September 03. 2012 8:35PM
In honor of the late astronaut Neil Armstrong, who died Aug. 25, a pair of Francestown families created a space-themed float for the town's Labor Day parade. (Nancy Bean Foster/Union Leader Correspondent)
Students from the Pine Hill Waldorf School juggle for the crowd at Francestown's 95th Labor Day celebration. (Nancy Bean Foster/Union Leader Correspondent)
With a T-Rex looking on, members of the Pritchard family's team dig for fossils on their float at the Francestown Labor Day parade on Monday. (Nancy Bean Foster/Union Leader Correspondent)
Members of the Martin and Drobat families pose with a replica of one of the first motorcycles invented by a Francestown man named Sylvester Roper. (Nancy Bean Foster/Union Leader Correspondent)
Francestown thinks big for parade
In honor of the late astronaut Neil Armstrong, who died Aug. 25, a pair of Francestown families created a space-themed float for the town's Labor Day parade. (Nancy Bean Foster/Union Leader Correspondent)
Students from the Pine Hill Waldorf School juggle for the crowd at Francestown's 95th Labor Day celebration. (Nancy Bean Foster/Union Leader Correspondent)
With a T-Rex looking on, members of the Pritchard family's team dig for fossils on their float at the Francestown Labor Day parade on Monday. (Nancy Bean Foster/Union Leader Correspondent)
Members of the Martin and Drobat families pose with a replica of one of the first motorcycles invented by a Francestown man named Sylvester Roper. (Nancy Bean Foster/Union Leader Correspondent)
FRANCESTOWN — Perfect weather greeted the revelers who turned out for the 95th annual Labor Day celebration Monday, and people began lining the sidewalks of the main streets in the historic village to watch the creative twists and turns taken by float makers to celebrate this year's theme, “Inventions and Discoveries.”
In honor of the late Neil Armstrong, the first man to step foot on the moon, the Stanley and Gombas families created a space-themed float with dangling planets, a replica of Armstrong's rocket, and just for a little extra fun, an alien who was rumored to have escaped from Area 51.
Just up ahead, kids in hardhats played the role of amateur geologists on a float by the Pritchard family as a towering tyrannosaurus rex looked on. A sign at the back of the float reminded everyone watching the parade what the Earth looked like before man showed up.
“It's just fun to build the floats and to come up with the ideas,” said Andy Pritchard. “We do this every year as a family and this year we have some friends joining us.”
When Priscilla Putnam Martin got wind that the theme of the parade would be inventions and discoveries, she said she knew exactly what she needed to do.
The genealogist and past president of the Francistown Improvement and Historical Society, which organizes the Labor Day festivities each year, called upon the memory of one of Francestown's most notable inventors, Sylvester Roper.
Though Roper had patents on everything from sewing machines to shot guns, it was his Velocipede — the first steam-powered motorcycle — that put him on the map in 1867, Martin said.
“He never sold one. In fact, he didn't even patent it,” said Martin, “but a man who was born right here in Francestown built one of the first motorcycles.”
Martin got her son-in-law, Andrew Drobat, to build a replica of the Velocipede, which graced the family's float on Monday.
“It doesn't run,” said Drobat, “but it looks a lot like the original.”
Along with the parade, Monday's festivities included a juried art show, a circus performance featuring kids from Pine Hill Waldorf School, and demonstrations by various artists, artisans, even a blacksmith were all part of the annual event.
nfoster@newstote.com
In honor of the late Neil Armstrong, the first man to step foot on the moon, the Stanley and Gombas families created a space-themed float with dangling planets, a replica of Armstrong's rocket, and just for a little extra fun, an alien who was rumored to have escaped from Area 51.
Just up ahead, kids in hardhats played the role of amateur geologists on a float by the Pritchard family as a towering tyrannosaurus rex looked on. A sign at the back of the float reminded everyone watching the parade what the Earth looked like before man showed up.
“It's just fun to build the floats and to come up with the ideas,” said Andy Pritchard. “We do this every year as a family and this year we have some friends joining us.”
When Priscilla Putnam Martin got wind that the theme of the parade would be inventions and discoveries, she said she knew exactly what she needed to do.
The genealogist and past president of the Francistown Improvement and Historical Society, which organizes the Labor Day festivities each year, called upon the memory of one of Francestown's most notable inventors, Sylvester Roper.
Though Roper had patents on everything from sewing machines to shot guns, it was his Velocipede — the first steam-powered motorcycle — that put him on the map in 1867, Martin said.
“He never sold one. In fact, he didn't even patent it,” said Martin, “but a man who was born right here in Francestown built one of the first motorcycles.”
Martin got her son-in-law, Andrew Drobat, to build a replica of the Velocipede, which graced the family's float on Monday.
“It doesn't run,” said Drobat, “but it looks a lot like the original.”
Along with the parade, Monday's festivities included a juried art show, a circus performance featuring kids from Pine Hill Waldorf School, and demonstrations by various artists, artisans, even a blacksmith were all part of the annual event.
nfoster@newstote.com
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