After the World Trade Center tragedy last Sept. 11, Weehawken township officials had to make a difficult decision to cancel the annual Weehawken Day festivities at Lincoln Harbor Park, which were slated to be held Sept. 29.
“We were all very sad about having to cancel,” said Donna Daly, a coordinator for Weehawken Recreation. “But we understood as well. There were a lot of people still upset about it. How could we have something right there on the waterfront, with people looking across the river, with our firefighters still over there trying to find people? We couldn’t have it. It was the right thing to do.”
But at the time, the town wanted to do something for the children of the community who were being shortchanged by not having the Weehawken Day Festival.
“We decided that we were going to do something for the kids in the spring,” Daly said. “They look forward to having the games and rides at Weehawken Day, so we decided to do something of a smaller scale for the kids in the spring.”
Last Saturday, some 700 Weehawken youngsters were finally treated to their special day, called Kids’ Day, at Weehawken Stadium.
Weehawken Recreation Director Chuck Barone, Daly, and the recreation staff had a host of activities, games and rides for the children to participate in for four hours.
“We didn’t want to do anything too big that would take away from Weehawken Day,” Daly said. “So I met with Chuck, Mayor [Richard] Turner and the Town Council and we set up a plan. We had several inflatable rides set up for kids of all ages. We had three-legged races, tug-of-war, and basketball shooting contests. We also had a bowling event and a bean bag toss going on all day. Plus, the weather was perfect.”
Daly said that it was important to have the Kids’ Day event in May, to capitalize on the good weather. “We were hoping that we wouldn’t need a rain date,” Daly said.
The event was free to all residents, which included refreshments of hot dogs and soda.
“We bought 150 pounds of hot dogs, and they were all gone by the end of the day,” Daly said.
The event was co-sponsored by the Weehawken Municipal Alliance Against Drugs and Alcohol and the township. Members of the Weehawken Municipal Alliance were on hand to distribute literature and help with any issues anyone had.
Daly also serves as the chairperson of the Weehawken Municipal Alliance Against Drugs and Alcohol. “We like to plan some fun events throughout the year to help the kids realize that there are other ways to have fun besides drinking and doing drugs,” Daly said.
The Municipal Alliance also held its annual Drug Poster Contest at this event. It is usually held at the Weehawken Day Festival.
“We displayed all of the posters and the residents got a chance to vote for their favorites,” Daly said. The totals have yet to be tabulated, but the eventual winners will receive United States savings bonds.
“Every kid present received a prize,” Daly said. “There were a lot of beach balls given as prizes that were eventually getting tossed around the place. It was really a fun day for everyone and I know the kids were happy. They got a kick out of all the rides and games.”