NEW BERLIN – Despite the constant rain showers plaguing this weekend’s event, hundreds still lined the streets of downtown New Berlin for the 48th annual Saturday Youth Days Parade and carnival in what was one of the wettest celebrations in memory.
“Saturday the community definitely stayed behind us in the rain at the parade. This is some of the worst weather I can remember in the history of the event. It was pretty much a complete wash out,” said New Berlin Youth Days Committee President Larissa Hanslmaier.
Faced with rain showers and a low turnout on Friday’s opening night, organizers decided to move Friday’s free midway carnival rides to include Saturday’s scheduled events from 3 to 5 p.m. in a bid to battle the weather.
Scattered rain showers continued to hamper Saturday’s events and volunteers moved several activities into the sanctuary of the nearby New Berlin Fire Station.
To make matters worse, a torrential downpour engulfed the downtown area in the half hour before the parade was scheduled to begin at 6 p.m., drenching the crowd of several hundred that had gathered for the march.
Parade planners announced they had decided to postpone it until nearly 6:30 p.m., telling spectators that they believed the surge in rain would “pass in 10 minutes or so.”
Hundreds retreated underneath umbrellas, trees and building alcoves to patiently wait for the parade while others simple gave up and went home. Even a few of the floats scheduled to participate in the event could be seen leaving.
One mother, Lori Devine of New Berlin, sought cover along with her children in an store vestibule along Main Street. Having just come from the midway, her 6-year-old daughter Ayssa, played in the rain.
“It was like this a few years ago. It’s just too bad because the parade’s really their favorite part,” she said, motioning to her son and daughter.
“I hope everyone can just hang in there and bear the bad weather out. It’s a nice parade,” she added.
Another family who waited the weather out found brief respite in an apartment building entryway
Mat and Samantha Calkins and their 2 1/2 year-old son Landon debated if the wait would pay off.
“We took him down to the midway and it was nice. Most of the rides were actually for his age group, four or five years old, and because of yesterday’s weather, the free rides were postponed until today, which worked out pretty good for us,” said Mat.
The rain eventually trickled to a temporary halt at just about the time the speaker had announced it would. The parade began with a part in the clouds which allowed more than 20 minutes of sunshine to be cast over the wet street before the overcast again returned with a light sprinkling of rain.
Sunday, Hanslmaier said organizers again attempted to adapt to the weather by offering raffle tickets for food donation after Saturday’s events were changed to accommodate the free rides.
“We have a whole pile of food, people really responded,” she said.
Hanslmaier said Sunday’s activities were “blessed with sun” until the event came to a close at 4 p.m.
“The main thing is just a huge ‘thank you’ to the community for supporting us even in the not so good weather,” she added.
All proceeds for Youth Days go directly to benefiting the participating youth groups within Chenango County. Groups wanting to receive some of the proceeds need to volunteer their time to make Youth Days possible. Last year about $3,000 was handed out to local charities following the event.
Organizers will meet later in September to calculate the earnings and hand them out to the participating non-profit organizations.