Walkway on Air
by Cynthia Owen Philip

Hurry, hurry, hurry! Step right up! The most stupendous mid-Hudson River Valley celebration since the first grand opening of the Poughkeepsie-Highland Rail Road Bridge in 1888 is about to happen. Its transformation from a carrier of boxcars loaded with commodities to a mile-long aerial park for pedestrians and bicyclists is almost complete. Volunteers in the cities, towns, and villages of Dutchess and Ulster counties are busy making flags, banners, emblems, wind machines, boat models and fish they will carry in a great procession. The glorious three-day event is aptly called Walking on Air. Its dates are October 2, 3 and 4. Mark them on your calendar and go!

This climax celebration of the Hudson-Fulton-Champlain Quadricentennial has been masterminded by Red Hook’s own Jeanne Fleming—famous locally for last year’s spellbinding production of Rhinebeck’s Sinterklaas and internationally for having created and recreated New York City’s Halloween Parade for 30 years. Her happenings are so successful because her guiding principle is always to attract the widest possible grass roots, hands-on participation. By providing opportunities for individuals of every generation and cultural group to work cooperatively in a way that draws out each person’s creativity, she knits together otherwise separated communities, towns and regions. The gala opening of the park builds on this same core vision.

Jeanne has named the first segment of the celebration Out of the Shadows. It begins at nightfall on Friday, October 2, when a thousand lanterns will rise high up into the sky to illuminate the bridge that has stretched across the river in darkness since 1974 when an out-of-control fire closed it to rail traffic. Each lantern will last about 15 minutes, when the biodegradable remains will fall gently to earth. But the bridge span will continue to be illuminated by 2000 additional lanterns held by volunteers. At the same time the Mid-Hudson Bridge will erupt in a blaze of brilliant light generated by a restored LED system. Below, the fireboat J J Harvey, festooned with lights, will ply the waters. A gorgeous explosion of fireworks closes the evening at 10 o’clock.

Early risers on Saturday morning, October 3, can enjoy the re-creation of the famed Poughkeepsie Regatta that begins at 8:30 a.m. At one p.m. the pinnacle event of the extravaganza starts. In all, some 3,500 volunteers are taking part. Called Tying the Knot, it comes in four parts. First, Dutchess and Ulster County Executives will throw open the gates at the east and west ends of the bridge. Second, manila ropes will be drawn from both ends to the mid-point of the bridge where they will be tied in a beautiful knot by dancers to symbolize the melding of east and west bank communities. A master of ministries will performs an adapted wedding ceremony. Pete Seeger will sing with Beacon children. Tenor John Virgilli will sing “America the Beautiful” and “Over the Rainbow.” Four bands from New York City and the Bard College Gamelan will play throughout. Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome’s planes will perform a flyover.

Third is a procession embodying the profound historical significance of the bridge. This event has been designed and executed by Professional Arts Workshop, the team of Sophia Michahelles and Alex Kahn, both long time residents of Red Hook, who not only prepare a special puppet sequence for the New York City Halloween Parade every year, but give workshops around the world in processions and puppetry. Divided into three sections, their procession symbolizes the essential aspects of the new park: Water, the Train Bridge, and Air. Water is depicted by bobbing 20-inch, mile-long strips of blue silk drawn from each end of the walkway. Volunteers carrying them will wear headpieces fashioned as carp, sturgeon, shad and other river fish as well as Lenape canoes, Henry Hudson’s Half Moon and Robert Fulton’s steamboats. The first continegent of volunteers in the Train Bridge segment will carry scale replicas of sections of the bridge, still a world-recognized marvel of engineering. Those following them wear brightly colored models of passenger, cargo and even circus cars and bear aloft signals and semaphores, as well as models of such produce as milk, apples, and poultry. Finally, Air draws inspiration from the past and looks forward to tomorrow when ways of harnessing wind power will have been perfected. It will feature a jubilant array of wind-dependent devices from soaring kites, spinning pinwheels and streaming wind sockets to whirling wind-driven engines. As Michahelles and Kahn, put it: “Here the procession comes full circle, as the very air that filled the sails of the Half Moon now propels a change towards local economies and clean air.”

The final act of this ceremony highlights the communities on both sides of the river. Professional artists from each municipality were chosen to design emblems and banners that represent their sense of place and to recruit residents to craft flags of their own inspiration in local workshops. Marching in cadres headed by their emblems, these volunteers will mark the grand finale of the ceremonial processions.

Walking on Air!
At 3 o’clock the spectacular aerial park opens to the general public! Two hundred and twelve feet above the river, this thrilling new walking-on-air experience will be out of this world. The remainder of Saturday is devoted to entertainment, both self-generated and programmed. Elaborate, zany costumes decorated with LED and glow stick are encouraged, as are musical performances, dancing and “silly walking. A Night Sky Circus with acts from illuminated hula hoops to poi-spinner tightrope walkers will perform across the span. Local and New York City bands will play until closing at 10 pm. On terra firma, Arms of the Sea will perform their Quadricentennial puppet production, Mutual Strangers. The Sloop Clearwater and Scenic Hudson will present a music festival and cruises on the river.

The park will be open to the public all day on Sunday. Fred Schaeffer, the original indefatigable proponent of the park for over 15 years, will give bridge tours. Roadrunners will show their prowess in a race opening the five-kilometer Walkway Loop Trail that uses both bridges to cross the river and offers easy access to the newly-opened Frannie Reese State Park on the west side.

To sum up: you name it, you’ve got it at these three-day opening events. Best of all, thanks to New York State, organizers, foundations and volunteers, this unique aerial park will be up there for the world to enjoy for decades upon decades to come.