Westchester County Convention Ardsley Parade Route

[Bugler83 7]

Does anyone know what the Parade route is for this years WCC in Ardsley?

[x635 4,066]

From the Village Of Ardsley Email list:

Westchester County Volunteer Fire Fighters Parade, in Ardsley, stepping off at 2:00 pm, on Saturday, September 17, 2011.

The parade will step off from the Concord Elementary School, proceed down Heatherdell Road to Route 9A, up Ashford Avenue and down to Ashford Park (soon to be Louis Pascone Memorial Park). The parade kicks off at 2:00 pm, and is expected to last 2 hours. Arrangements are in the works with the County to re-route buses, and with NYS DOT for re-routing traffic away from Route 9A which will be closed for the duration of the parade from Heatherdell Road to Ashford Avenue.

Residents should be cautioned that if they have any special plans that day unrelated to the parade to take the parade limitations into account, and get an early start because the Village will be grid-locked for a significant amount of time.

George F. Calvi, Village Manager

[peterose313 345]

What depts are going? I know Ossining is sending Engine 96 and I think Ladder 41/Tower Ladder 42.

[ENG47INE 17]

Dobbs Ferry is sending Engine 47,48,49 Tower Ladder 23 and Utility 24

[CG206 29]

Mohegan is attending and marching 2nd in Escort Division since we are hosting the WCVFA Convention next year in conjunction with our 90th Anniversary

[MoFire390 118]

cortlandt engine company/montrose fd will be there. sending 1984 penfab engine 123, car 2271, 72, 73.

Edited September 15, 2011 by MoFire390

[FFEMT150 214]

cortlandt engine company/montrose fd will be there. sending 1984 penfab engine 123, car 2271, 72, 73.

1987... pemfab... Sorry ken, couldn't contain myself.

[peterose313 345]

I shot this today, turnout wasn't quite as good as I would have expected in both spectators and departments but overall it was a good showing on behalf of some of the local depts. I got to see a bunch of different depts. that I'd not seen in the parades I attended this yr (i.e. Buchanan [with their rescue], Dobbs Ferry, Valhalla, Hastings, etc.)Congrats to all depts who won awards today. I'll have photos from this eventually. Thanks to Ardsley for hosting and good luck to Mohegan Lake next yr!

[MoFire390 118]

special thanks to ardsley! i had a great time today. nice to see old friends who i only get to see when they are at parades. congrats to all the winners. there was lots of competion out there.

[x635 4,066]

I shot this today, turnout wasn't quite as good as I would have expected in both spectators.....

Ardsley's a real hard place to be a spectator. When traffic gets closed off and you have no where to park, people aren't going to come. It also cuts off a very busy bus route through 9A. The route is also long and tough for marchers. Ardsley is not the same Ardsley I grew up in. The same people every year would come out for the memorial day parade....but now they are all dying off and parent's aren't teaching their children about the impact veterans had on our daily way of life. Most residents are all too lazy and selfish to at least walk down the block to cheer on firefighters. Also, based on some vintage photos I have in my collection of Ardsley's Parade's, the entire village would seem to come out.

As far as the convention parade last Saturday, same thing in 1997 when we hosted the 100th Anniversary Parade/Convention.(when I was a member there). I guess in a lot of parts of the county, Parades are becoming obsolete with residents as well. They'd much rather complain then support. The only Parade I've really been to back in 2006 that had decent attendance was Mamaroneck.

I'm sure Ardsley worked long and hard to make this a great parade though despite all the obstacles.

Also, wasn't the parade supposed to be last week, but rescheduled due to Irene?

[peterose313 345]

Yea, I can agree with that. It was a pain in the neck trying to navigate around to find a place to park. I ended up having to go over Jackson Ave via Sprain Road and such. I eventually found a random side street that happened to be close to the parade route. I've been to a few parades in northern westchester this season and I have to say the spectatorship was mixed. Some had a great turnout, some not so much. I guess it really depends on the community and whether or not your department takes these things seriously. I've come to learn that there are only a select few who take things real serious and a lot who don't care. I still quite enjoyed this parade though, as I stated earlier I got to see a lot of departments and photograph a lot of departments I'd not seen yet this year or ever. It was cool to see the Delhi Fire Dept make the trip down and participate as well. They had some nice apparatus. It would have been nice to see some more of the county fire apparatus. The only one that went was the tactical rescue truck but as it's been stated previously in other threads, it's difficult on departments to send a lot of apparatus as it leaves them thin on the homefront.

As far as the date goes, I have no idea when it was originally scheduled. I just found out about it the day before this thread happened to be posted by a friend in OFD. I thought the parade season was over with the exception of West Harrison coming up this weekend.

[NOZ45ZLE 42]

Any One Have Any Pictures Of the Parade?

[peterose313 345]

Any One Have Any Pictures Of the Parade?

I do but haven't even pulled em off the camera yet. Will have em uploaded to the comp tomorrow and begin editing. Give me a couple days and I'll have em up.

[x635 4,066]

It was cool to see the Delhi Fire Dept make the trip down and participate as well.

TImmy Murray went to SUNY Dehli and is a member of Dehli FD, the son of Packy Murray (Fairview FD/Ardsley FD), his twin PJ, and older brother Chris (FDNY/ex-Ardsley).

[peterose313 345]

A few images from this parade are now in the "All Other Photos" section. For the rest please refer to my photo page for the album entitled "Westchester County Fireman's Convention - Ardsley Parade" The Westchester Scene Photography

[x635 4,066]

For the rest please refer to my photo page for the album entitled "Westchester County Fireman's Convention - Ardsley Parade" The Westchester Scene Photography

Great shots! Got to love it being led by the aweomse looking Ardsley PD Car 97 Dodge Durango (which used to be my father's Caprice in the 1970's when he was a Patrolman in Ardsley)

[peterose313 345]

Great shots! Got to love it being led by the aweomse looking Ardsley PD Car 97 Dodge Durango (which used to be my father's Caprice in the 1970's when he was a Patrolman in Ardsley)

Thanks, much appreciated! It was actually kind of difficult to keep up considering there was a delay in the step off and it felt like everyone was rushing the actual procession and were on top of each other. I actually really liked car 97. I like the color scheme on Ardsley's cruisers.

Edited September 23, 2011 by peterose313