s my friend Brian Williams said, "Eldridge Park and its carousel are the beating heart of this great community." Almost 50,000 riders and over 125,000 Park visitors this past summer gives us just cause to focus intently on keeping up the momentum as we plan our second season.

I will lay out the plans by thanking some of the key entities that have come forward so far to help make our second season one to get excited about:

This community will be forever grateful to Monterey Shock Program administrators, CO's and inmates for carefully dismantling parts of the beloved Centenary United Methodist Church, which will be used to renovate the "Whip" into the Dance Hall pavilion; completing the carousel entertainment complex. We thank the parishioners of this great Church for offering these building materials as they mirror our efforts to preserve and proceed to the past. We thank Walgreen's, who plan to raze Centenary Church with great care so as to preserve as much Georgia blue stone as possible. This stone will be used for future projects at Eldridge.

We thank Brian's Custom Flooring for offering to oversee installation of the flooring and Duane Swartout who plans to sand and finish it. I am forever grateful to John Tonello, John Burin, all City Council members, Terry McLaughlin, Andy Petros and all City employees as they have been there to help in every way throughout the course of this historic endeavor. Much gratitude goes to our dedicated Board members and volunteers who tirelessly make every effort to make quality improvements to this community.

I tip my hat to Simmons-Rockwell for sponsoring Season 2 Friday Carousel Cruise Night. Live or DJ music and the areas nicest, special interest vehicles assemble for a great family evening…this usually includes the historic Popcorn truck that provide the delicious, buttery popcorn and peanuts.

Elm Chevy and Chemung Canal Trust Company team up on Saturday evenings after the Carousel Market and bring us live bands all summer. Saturdays, at dusk, we plan to introduce Movie Night! Like the old days, bring your chair, ride the carousel one last time after the cartoons, get your goodies from the Merry-Go-Eatery and sit in front of the carousel facing the screen on the lake shore and enjoy the FAMILY feature film.

As the Eldridge Park Carousel Preservation Society and the Eldridge Park Conservancy work behind the scenes to recreate this place where we can reminisce the past, embrace the present and plan for the future, I personally look forward to seeing all of you this summer at Eldridge. Please continue to support this endeavor. The more support we can realize, the more we can accomplish.

Visit our website www.EldridgePark.us, click on the naming rights and sponsorship page, and commit to this project! There are MANY ways to support this project. Community cohesiveness at it's best will ensure an Elmira that we can all be proud of! Thank you for your past and future support.

God Bless!