The Bed Races Return

Some maintain that the bed races in Hudson go back farther than the 1980s, when, for a few years, they were organized by Dick Tracy, then youth director. 

Photo: Paul Abitabile

Research undertaken to find evidence of earlier bed races in Hudson has so far found none, but it has uncovered some interesting information about bed races. In 1961, the first ever floating bed races took place on the James River in Richmond, Virginia. It was predicted at the time that floating bed races "could replace phone booth stuffing and long distance bed pushing in the hearts of college men everywhere." That apparently didn't happen. What did happen, in the 1960s, '70s, and '80s, was that bed races moved beyond college fraternity high jinks and became, along with such things as pancake-eating contests, tractor-pulling contests, and square dances in Jeeps, a zany feature of fairs and community events, meant both to entertain locals and attract tourists. In 1978, Bolton Landing, on Lake George, was reportedly "fast becoming known for its Bed Races and Regatta."

The Hudson Bed Races were revived briefly in the early years of the 21st century. This picture is from the 2002 bed races. The bed is the foreground was designed by Lisa Durfee.

Last year, the Hudson Bed Races were revived once again, and this year, the event returns for its second annual run.

 

In 2017, the Hudson Bed Races will take place on Saturday, September 23, at 3 p.m. Because of complaints from merchants about one more event that shut down Warren Street on a fair weather Saturday, the course of the race is moving from Warren Street to Front Street. The beds will assemble at the entrance to Promenade Hill, and the race will go south down Front Street, ending, conveniently for those participants who will need to quench their thirst, at the Half Moon.

To find out more about this year's bed races, to register a bed (and a team), learn the rules and regulations, to or to become a sponsor of the event, go to www.hudsonraceraces.com.
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Reviving a Hudson Tradition

Bed races are the stuff of legend in Hudson. When the tradition began or how long it lasted is not known--at least not by Gossips--but bed races are fondly remembered by many. Recently, Paul Abitabile posted more than a dozen pictures on Facebook of the 1984 bed races. These three were among them.

Photo: Paul Abitabile

Photo: Paul Abitabile

Photo: Paul Abitabile

At the beginning of the new millennium, the bed races were revived a few times. The following pictures of the bed races from that era were provided by Lisa Durfee. The first picture shows an entry, designed and created by Nancy Wiley, that competed in the 2001 bed races. The bed in the foreground of the second picture, from the 2003 race, was the creation of Lisa Durfee.

There are plans afoot to bring back the bed races again this year. Rich Volo, a.k.a. Trixie Starr, has organized an initial planning meeting to take place on Wednesday, January 13, at 6 p.m., at the Chamber of Commerce, 1 North Front Street. Anyone interested in bringing back the bed races is invited to attend, with their ideas and a willingness to get things done. There will be cookies from Trixie's Oven.
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Highlights from the Hudson Bed Races

The day was perfect, the crowd was sizable, and after months and months of planning, the bed races were over in less than thirty minutes. Aside from a few tense moments--when a bed lost a wheel, when two beds careened into each other, when a bed veered toward the spectators lining the sidewalk--a good time was had by all. Going into the race, the word on the street was that the Hudson Sloop Club Viking Bed was the bed to beat. The Sloop Club team performed admirably, but in the end, a late entry called "What Big Eyes You Have," a bed and team inspired by the story of Little Red Riding Hood, won the day. 

Here are some photos of the Hudson Bed Races for 2016.

Beds in Readiness

Former mayor and organizer of the 1980s bed races, Dick Tracy

Beds in Action

The Winning Bed: "What Big Eyes You Have"

Photo: Andy Milford|Facebook

And They're Off!

Last night's initial planning meeting to revive bed races in Hudson attracted a variety of folks--some who remembered the bed races in the 1980s, some who remembered the bed races in 2001 and 2003, and some who remembered neither.

Photo: Paul Abitabile

Although it was suggested that--with Flag Day and Pride Weekend in the summer, Arts Walk in the fall, and Winter Walk in the winter--Hudson needs a spring event, it was felt that scheduling the bed races in the spring didn't allow enough time for planning. A tentative date for the bed races was selected: Saturday, September 24, with Sunday, September 25, as the rain date.

There was talk of a pre-race event in Seventh Street Park (a.k.a. the Public Square), where all the participating beds would be on display to be viewed by race goers and judged in various categories. The race itself, which is expected to take a couple of hours, will run from Seventh Street to Fifth Street, with two beds racing down the course at a time. The event is expected to wind up at Seventh Street Park, where trophies will be awarded to the winning racers and to beds and teams that are distinguished in some way.

Three committees were established at the first planning meeting: one to draft rules and come up with prizes, one to pursue fundraising and promotion, and another to work out logistics. A Facebook group has been created, open to anyone wanting to be involved in the planning for this event, and a second planning meeting has been scheduled for Wednesday, January 27, at 6 p.m., at 1 North Front Street.
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Time to Get Ready for Bed (Races)

The fondly remembered Hudson Bed Races are scheduled to return on Saturday, September 24. In the meantime, to get folks ready for the bed races and to raise some money for the event, the organizers are throwing a Pajama Party at The Half Moon on September 4, the Sunday of Labor Day weekend.

Girlgantua and Trixie Starr will co-host the event, which begins at 10 p.m. There will be drag performances at midnight and prizes for the best pajamas. So get out your finest Dr. Dentons, or whatever, and make plans to attend. 

For more information about the pajama party and the bed races, visit www.hudsonbedraces.com.
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Hudson Bed Races Return Tomorrow

When last we reported on the Hudson Bed Races, there were seven beds registered for the race. Now there are ten!

This morning, event organizer Rich Volo reported that an eighth bed, Rip Van Dinkle, had entered the race, and this afternoon, there were two more entries: Gen Now 1 and Gen Now 2. 

And there's more last-minute news. Former mayor Dick Tracy (2006-2007), who organized the original Hudson Bed Races in the 1980s when he was director of the Youth Department, will be announcing the beds.

To ensure that you stake out your spot for viewing the races in the right stretch of Warren Street, here's the word on the course. The race begins at Sixth Street and ends in front of City Hall, 520 Warren Street. The races begin at 2 p.m.
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Big Bed Head or Big Head Bed?

Remember the giant papier-mâché heads depicting Wizard of Oz characters that appeared in the Pride Parade back in 2012 and 2013? One or several of them will be making a comeback on September 24 in the Hudson Bed Races.

Photo: Hudson Pride Foundation

Rich Volo, a.k.a. Trixie Starr, announced today the latest entry in the competition: the Big Head Bed. 

The bed races are just two weeks away, so now is the time to enter and get ready for the competition. All you need to do is:

• Recruit four friends.
• Put wheels on a bed.
• Decorate it.
• Race it down Warren Street.

The bed races will take place at 2 p.m. on Saturday, September 24. Go to www.hudsonbedraces.com for more information and to register your bed in the race.
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Don't Miss Out This Time

It's not often that life offers you a second chance, but if you couldn't get it together to organize a team and rig up a bed for the 2017 Hudson Bed Races, you are getting a rare second chance, so don't squander it. 

Originally scheduled for Saturday, September 23, the bed races, a grand Hudson tradition which made a comeback in 2016 after some thirty years, had to be rescheduled because, remarkably, unthinkably, only one bed had been registered for the race. The new date is Saturday, October 21, a date that promises crisp and bracing weather for running down Front Street and gives you three long weeks to coerce your friends, outfit your bed, and get ready to be part of this bizarre competition. Think of it as your duty to keep a wacky Hudson tradition alive. If at least six beds don't sign up, the Hudson Bed Races may just go away for another thirty years. 

Click here for more information and to register your team.
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Almost Ready to Roll

With the Hudson Bed Races only days away, event organizers have announced that there are now seven beds entered in the race. The seven contenders are:

Fair & Equal

The B-52s

The Red Dot

The Big Head Bed

Hudson Sloop Club Viking Bed

Hudson River Tattoo

Fire Up Your Engineers

Although the bed races are just three days away, there is still time to enter. Go to HudsonBedRaces.com for information. 

Here's the schedule for the day of the race, Saturday, September 24:

Noon--Sign In and Registration at Seventh Street Park

1 p.m.--Captains Meeting

2 p.m.--Bed Races Begin

The course of the race is from Seventh Street downstreet to Fifth.

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The Race Is On!

Gossips has learned that enough beds have been registered to make the second running of the revived Hudson Bed Races a go! But enough is never enough, and more is always better, and there is still a whole week to organize a team, register a bed, and join the bizarre competition.

This year, for the first time, the bed races will take place on South Front Street, with the finish line being in front of the Half Moon. The bed races are at 3 p.m., on Saturday, October 21. Click here to register a bed and be part of the fun.
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Bed Race Memories

The reports about the plans to revive the bed races in Hudson inspired former mayor and current Fifth Ward supervisor Rick Scalera to share this picture of the winners of the bed races sometime in the 1980s.

Photo courtesy Rick Scalera

The winning team was sponsored by Arthur's Court, a Hudson nightspot that existed, according to Gossips' sources, from 1978 to 1985 in the building at the corner of Seventh and Columbia streets that was once the Community Theatre and is now the future Marina Abramovic Institute. Scalera, who was a member of the victorious Arthur's Court team, explained that, in the 1980s, the bed races were very competitive--more about speed than about artfully designed beds.

Scalera appears in the picture, the second from the right. Gossips invites readers to help identify the other members of the Arthur's Court team.
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Bed Races Postponed

The Hudson Bed Races, which were scheduled to happen this Saturday at 3 p.m., have been postponed. The simple reason for the postponement: not enough people registered for this year's event.

The plan is to reschedule for sometime in October, but the exact date has not been announced. Gossips will let you know as soon as it has. 

Show your community spirit and sense of silly and help ensure the bed races happen. Get yourself a team (four pushers and one rider), get yourself a bed (outfitted with wheels), and sign up today to be part of this recently revived wacky Hudson tradition. To register, click here.
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You Can't Please All of the People . . .

At last night's Common Council Arts, Entertainment & Tourism Committee meeting, the principal topic of discussion was a petition dated September 23, 2016, directed to Mayor Tiffany Martin Hamilton, and bearing the signatures of thirty owners of retail establishments on the 500 block of Warren Street. The text of the petition, protesting the Hudson Bed Races which were to take place the next day, reads as follows:

We, the business owners and owners of retail establishments in the 500 block of Warren Street, urge you to consult us in future decisions to hold parades on what is traditionally the busiest shopping day of the week.

There are many other suitable locations in the City of Hudson for a 7 bed race. Why not Front Street, with the race starting at Promenade Hill in front of the Chamber of Commerce? Additionally, this type of function could have been held at 5PM on a Saturday, or another day of the week.

As the signs in the 500 block indicate, there is no parking on either side from Noon to 4PM tomorrow. This is the only block that is so marked.

We are not against Parades, but the date/time/location for this were not the wisest choice.

Needless to say, the petition sparked discussion at the committee meeting about the mass gathering permit process and reignited talk of relocating such events to streets other than Hudson's main street. Two instances, in 2012 and 2013, of merchants in the 300 block of Warren Street being blindsided when their block was closed to traffic on an early summer Saturday for car shows sponsored by American Glory motivated the Common Council to rewrite the requirements for obtaining a mass gathering permit.

The new statute, adopted in June 2014, requires that applications for mass gathering permits be submitted 120 days before the event is to take place and, if the event requires a street or any part of a street to be closed, "the applicant must cause to be posted in the newspaper of record notice of such application within seven days of submitting an application for a special event or parade to the City Clerk. . . . Written public comments regarding the special event or parade application may be submitted to the Clerk within 10 days of the first publication of said notice." The mass gathering permit application for the Hudson Bed Races was submitted on January 27, 2016--eight months before the event was to take place--and presumably it was noticed in the Register-Star, the newspaper of record, in a timely fashion back in early February, but there seems to have been no public comment on the event until the day before it happened, when the "No Parking" signs went up. Clearly, the permitting process isn't working as it was intended to.

It may also be time to reconsider using Warren Street for every event the happens in Hudson. While it's understandable that people want their events to take place on Warren Street--it is the center of our community after all--it may be time to give more consideration to the the impact such events have on our merchants. A point made by Alderman John Friedman (Third Ward), who sits on the Arts, Entertainment & Tourism Committee, should be given serious consideration: "By putting events on secondary streets, we expand the city center." Perhaps next year the bed races can be on South Front Street, as the petition suggests, and help to forge the link between Warren Street and the waterfront we've been talking about for the past twenty years.
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Inaugural Meetings & Time-Honored Races

The Meetings

Today, Thursday, October 19, at 6 p.m., the Local Planning Committee for the Downtown Revitalization Initiative meets for the first time in the cafeteria/auditorium of John L. Edwards Primary School. The meeting will be led by LPC co-chairs Matthew Nelson and Mayor Tiffany Martin Hamilton and is meant to be a working meeting for the twenty-three members of the LPC. It will include an overview of the DRI program, process, roles and responsibilities, and schedule and a review of Hudson's DRI application. There will be opportunity for public comment at the end of the meeting.

Tomorrow, Friday, October 20, at 6 p.m., there will be a meeting of those interested in creating a parks conservancy/friends of the parks group in Hudson. The meeting takes place in the Chamber of Commerce conference room at 1 North Front Street. The purpose of the meeting is to share ideas and define next steps for the nascent group. Click here for more information.

The Races

On Saturday, October 21, the second annual running of the latest revival of the Hudson Bed Races happens at 3 p.m. The event had to be postponed owing to lack of entries, but with the autumnal weather came a resurgence of interest in pushing a wheeled bed down the street for excitement and acclaim, and the organizers promise an impressive roster of entries. This year, the bed races are moving from Warren Street to South Front Street. Sign in and the team captains' meeting takes place at 2 p.m. at Promenade Hill, and the race down Front Street begins at 3 p.m., with the finish line being in front of the Half Moon. There is still time to enter your team and bed in the race. Click here for information.

On Sunday, October 22, is the seventeenth annual Ghostly Gallop to benefit the Hudson Area Library. Participants have the choice of doing a 5K run, a 5K walk, or a one-mile family friendly walk. The 5K (3.1 miles) course begins and ends at Hudson High School, 208 Harry Howard Avenue.

This year, the 5K walk will be led by Kim Bach, the proprietor of Verdigris Tea & Chocolate, who just returned from completing the Camino de Santiago, a 500-mile trek across Spain--a pathway that was forged in the 12th century during the Crusades and continues to draw pilgrims from around the world.  

There is still time to register for the Ghostly Gallop. You can do it online here or on the day of the race. Walk-up registration begins at 9:30 a.m. on Sunday. The race steps off at 11:30 a.m. Those already registered can pick up their race packets on Saturday, October 21, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., at Steiner's Sports, 301 Warren Street, or on race day starting at 9:30 a.m. For more information, click here.
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The City and Events: A Little History

The Arts, Entertainment & Tourism (AET) Committee came into existence as a standing committee of the Common Council in 2000. From its earliest days, the committee saw as major part of its purpose playing a role in events that took place in Hudson--events that would enhance the quality of life for Hudson residents and attract visitors to Hudson.

In the early days, the committee undertook to produce events. At first, they were humble offerings--summer concerts by local musicians in the gazebo on the lawn in front of the courthouse. In 2006, the committee arranged for the City to contract with TSL to produce a series of concerts in the new waterfront park. Later, in 2011 and 2012 and maybe in 2010 as well, Rob Caldwell of Musica, in contract with the City, produced summer concert series in the park called Hudson.Water.Music. When Caldwell indicated he didn't want to continue producing the event, the Arts, Entertainment & Tourism Committee gave up the idea of producing events and adopted its current practice of giving the money budgeted for such events--usually about $20,000--to support events being produced by others. Each spring, the committee solicits grant applications and then parcels out the money, usually to the same events, year after year: the Bangladeshi Festival, the Black Arts Festival, the Flag Day Parade, the Promise Neighborhood Community Block Party, the Hudson Pride/OutHudson Parade.

Back in the early years of the 21st century, events and festivals were seen as the means to polish Hudson's image. The following paragraph appears in the Executive Summary of Hudson's 2002 Comprehensive Plan (page vi).

Promote Image of City Through Festivals 

Many regional residents never visit downtown Hudson, assuming the City is unsafe and unpleasant. For Hudson to continue to renew itself, it must overcome these stereotypes and encourage people to visit and explore the city. Hudson should build on its efforts to attract visitors with well-organized events like the Winter Walk, Firemen’s Parade, Flag Day, the Fourth Down Block Party and the Art Walk. Others the City might consider include a Garden Walk, Community Clean-Up Day, an Antiques Festival, and ethnic festivals that celebrate the diversity of Hudson. 

In the past fifteen years, Hudson has overcome the image of being unsafe and unpleasant, but it's hard to gauge exactly how big a role events and festivals played in that transformation. Today, events and festivals may have jumped the shark when it comes to being recognized as beneficial to the city as a whole.

The controversy over events--especially those that close down all or part of Warren Street--started back in 2014, when business owners complained about car shows organized by American Glory, which shut down the 300 block of Warren Street on a spring Saturday, two years in a row, with little or no warning to the other merchants. That situation inspired the Common Council to amend the mass gathering permit process, requiring permit applications to be filed months before the event and for notice of the event to appear in the Register-Star, but those measures seemed to be not enough. Last year, the revival of the Hudson Bed Races, which shut down the 600 and 500 blocks of Warren Street for a few hours on an early autumn Saturday, raised the ire of merchants on those blocks, who claimed they had been blindsided by the street closure, even though the organizers of the bed races had followed to the letter the requirements for filing a mass gathering permit. (To avoid the problem this year, the Hudson Bed Races, which are scheduled to take place on Saturday, September 23, are being held on South Front Street.)

Now chaired by Alderman John Friedman (Third Ward), the Arts, Entertainment & Tourism Committee was been struggling with the notion that the City may be using taxpayer money to support events and festivals that, rather than promoting the city, may actually be interfering with the commercial activity on Warren Street, a recognized driver of Hudson's current vitality. At its last meeting, on Wednesday, August 2, the committee discussed a resolution, drafted by Friedman, that would end the practice of the City providing support to events produced by other entities and in effect put the City back in the business of producing its own events--in this case, its own event singular: Hudson Community Day. The proposed resolution "urges the Mayor and Treasurer of the City of Hudson, as well as the City Council President, being the 3 members of the City's Board of Estimate [and Apportionment] . . . to allocate the sum of $20,000 in the 2018 City Budget for a 2018 Hudson Community Day event to take place on a date and at the times to be determined by this Committee once such sum is so appropriated, and that such appropriation shall be in lieu of appropriating public funds for distribution by any branch of the City government to specific entities for public or private events within or without the City's corporate limits."

The resolution goes on to suggest that "such event take place at the City's Henry Hudson Waterfront Park and adjacent properties" and then describes what might happen at such an event: "all not-for-profit entities physically headquartered in the City's corporate limits and serving the citizens of the City of Hudson, civic organizations and agencies (such as the Elks, the VFW, the City Council, the City Youth Department, the Hudson City School District, etc.), as well [as] Hudson's first responder community, shall be invited to participate in Community Day in a manner . . . appropriate to the goals of Community Day and that the same be entertaining and attractive to the City's residents and visitors, as reasonably determined by this Committee, such as by setting up booths where representatives of such entities may engage in conversation with visitors to the Community Day so that each may learn from the other." The resolution also indicates that the $20,000 will be spent "to secure appropriate entertainment for Community Day attendees and to properly advertise the event and for other appropriate public purposes directly associated with Community Day as reasonably determined by this Committee."

Although the other aldermen on the AET committee--Rick Rector (First Ward), Michael O'Hara (First Ward), and Alexis Keith (Fourth Ward)--seemed comfortable with the resolution and willing to move it forward to the full Council, Friedman said he wanted the committee to wait for at least a month before acting on it.

The next meeting of the AET Committee takes place on Wednesday, September 6, at 6:45 p.m.
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Hudson Bed Races 2017

Yesterday was the second running of the most recent iteration of the Hudson Bed Races. Gossips, a media sponsor of the event, was there to help officiate, so for coverage of the event I defer to Roger Hannigan Gilson, who captured all the zaniness, thrills, and excitement in his post on The Other Hudson Valley: "Bed Races!"

Photo: Roger Hannigan Gilson

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Who Got the Money in 2017

The Common Council Arts, Entertainment & Tourism Committee met last night, and the main agenda item was divvying up the $20,000 budgeted by the City to support festivals and events that benefit city residents and the economy. All but one of the ten events for which funds were sought were events that have been awarded money in the past. The single newcomer was Hudson Summer Fest, a day-long music festival being planned by Chad Weckler for Saturday, August 19, in Henry Hudson Riverfront Park.

The aldermen, although expressing support for the concept, had problems with the idea of giving taxpayer money to an event that would charge admission. (Weckler indicated that the early bird ticket price would be $12.50; the price of tickets at the gate had not yet been determined.) A question was also raised about whether closing a public park for an event that charged admission was even permitted. (Although a mass gathering permit has been filed with the City, the committee was uncertain if the permit had been approved or not.) Weckler sought $5,000 for Hudson Summer Fest; he was granted nothing.

The following events, however, will be receiving financial support from the City. (The number in parentheses indicates the amount granted to the event in 2016)

• Bangladeshi Festival--$2,000 ($2,000)
• Black Arts Festival--$3,325 ($3,000)
• Promise Neighborhood Community Block Party--$1,325 ($1,000)
• Flag Day Parade--$3,000 ($3,000)
• Halloween Parade--$850 ($500)
• Bindlestiff Summer Cirkus--$500 ($500)
• Winter Walk (Hudson Opera House)--$5,000 ($4,000)
• Hudson Bed Races--$1,500 ($1,000)
• OutHudson LGBTQ Parade--$2,500 ($2,000)

The Hudson Bed Races, an event that revives a not-so-old (1980s), fairly short-lived, but fondly remembered Hudson tradition, drew criticism last year--its first year--for closing down two blocks of Warren Street on a Saturday in September.

This year, the plan is to re-locate the bed races, which will take place on Saturday, September 23, to either Front Street or Partition Street.

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How Much Is Too Much of a Good Thing?

Hudson's fourteen-year-old Comprehensive Plan recommends festivals as a way to polish the city's reputation. The following is quoted from the Executive Summary (page vi).

Promote Image of City Through Festivals

Many regional residents never visit downtown Hudson, assuming the City is unsafe and unpleasant. For Hudson to continue to renew itself, it must overcome these stereotypes and encourage people to visit and explore the city. Hudson should build on this efforts to attract visitors with well-organized events like the Winter Walk, Firemen's Parade, Flag Day, the Fourth Down Block Party, and the Art Walk. Others the City might consider include a Garden Walk, Community Clean-Up Day, an Antiques Festival, and ethnic festivals that celebrate the diversity of Hudson.

Hudson has changed a lot since 2002. Some of the events mentioned--Winter Walk and Flag Day--are still going strong; the Firemen's Parade continues, although Inspection Day, of which the parade is a part, has lost some of its charm since the fire companies consolidated in 2004; for the first time since 1995, Arts Walk didn't happen this year; and the Fourth Down Block Party is no more. But there are new events: the Black Arts & Cultural Festival, the Bangladeshi Festival, the Pride Parade (now the OutHudson Parade), the Halloween Parade, and more. No longer perceived as essential to attracting people to Hudson, the many festivals are now seen as interfering with people's reasons for visiting Hudson.

The revival of the legendary Hudson Bed Races in September seemed to be the straw that broke the camel's back, festival wise--or at least the most recent straw that taxed the tolerance of Warren Street merchants. At last month's Common Council Arts, Entertainment & Tourism Committee meeting, the aldermen on the committee discussed a petition signed by the proprietors of all the businesses in the 500 block of Warren Street protesting the fact that the bed races had shut down two blocks of Warren Street at midday on a Saturday. At this month's AET meeting, Karen Montone, owner of Hudson City Books and initiator of the petition, was there to present the results of a Warren Street Merchant Survey she had conducted. Among the comments were these:

Parades are a "community" building experience, we would hate to see them disappear.

Parades and events on a retail street are bad for business, especially in the summer, which is the retailer's best time for sales.

Even though the parades & events are sometimes an inconvenience, they do help make Hudson a unique place.

Saturday events increase bodies on the street, but decrease the number of people coming into the store.

Among the recommendations were: parades and events that require street closure should be staged on other streets; parades should be scheduled in the morning or in the late afternoon or early evening--before or after shopping hours; communication about upcoming events and parades should be improved.

In  2014, in response to complaints from business owners about car shows organized by American Glory that shut down the 300 block of Warren Street on a spring Saturday, two years in a row, with little or no warning to the other merchants, the Common Council amended the mass gathering permit process, requiring applications to be filed at City Hall 120 days before the event and notice of the event to appear in the Register-Star. It should be noted that the Hudson Bed Races, which inspired the current wave of complaint, followed those requirements to the letter. In addition, there was lots of publicity about the event. Still, the feeling among merchants was that they were blindsided by the Saturday street closure.

Winter Walk, the early holiday festival presented by the Hudson Opera House each year on the first Saturday in December, emerged as the one event about which the merchants had no complaints. Montone called it "the one positive community building event that closes the streets and brings customers into the stores." But before the meeting was over, even Winter Walk was a target of complaint.

Alderman John Friedman (Third Ward), who is a member of the AET Committee, read aloud a letter, signed by Joe Fierro of American Glory and Lyle Lentz of Wunderbar, which had been sent to all the aldermen and all the other restaurant owners in Hudson. The letter, with both dismay and outrage, shared the news that "multiple food trucks," described as "NON HUDSON BUSINESSES," were going to be permitted to sell food along Warren Street during Winter Walk. The letter called this action "an injustice to the businesses in Hudson who work day to day to build the fabric of this wonderful community and continue to 'keep it on the map'" and concluded, "If this Winter Walk transgression is allowed to occur, all of our businesses will be adversely impacted."

Alexandre Petraglia, now development and marketing coordinator for the Hudson Opera House, was present to respond to the allegations. He confirmed that there would be food trucks at Winter Walk--four of them--but they will not be positioned on Warren Street. They will be around Seventh Street Park and on side streets. He defended the action by saying that Winter Walk, which happens from 5 to 8 p.m., is expected to attract 20,000 people this year, all of whom will likely be seeking food during those hours and immediately after, and the restaurants of Hudson cannot accommodate that many people. 

The letter from Fierro and Lentz called on fellow restaurant owners to "demonstrate your solidarity" at the informal Common Council meeting on Monday, November 7, so it's likely there will be another contentious meeting in City Hall on the eve of Election Day.
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There's Still Time to Be Part of It

The second running of the latest iteration of the Hudson Bed Races takes place next Saturday, September 23, at 3 p.m.

Photo: Paul Abitabile

Gossips has learned from event organizers that there is still time to register for the race. All you need is a bed (with wheels), someone with a helmet to ride in the bed, and four able-bodied folks to push the bed down the street. The bed races this year take place on South Front Street, between Warren Street and Partition Street.

So, all you procrastinators, it is time to act. Click here to register your team, and we'll see you at the races!
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A 100-Year-Old Hudson Tradition

Last year, a group led by Trixie Starr, a.k.a. Rich Volo, revived the Hudson bed races--a tradition that some say goes back farther than the 1980s, when they were organized by then youth director Dick Tracy. The bed races this year are scheduled to take place on September 23, on South Front Street rather than Warren Street.

Recently Gossips discovered another long-abandoned Hudson tradition, one that was part of the rituals of graduation week at Hudson High School, and wondered about the likelihood of its being revived. The following report appeared in the Hudson Evening Register on June 28, 1917.

In keeping with the time established custom, the young men of the Hudson High School participated in the annual nightshirt parade last evening. Headed by High Muckedy Muck Arthur Flatley the paraders marched through the streets of the city serenading the "sweet girl graduates," the teachers of the faculty and the Board of Education.

As in years past the paraders were costumed in night shirts with their class numerals painted on their backs and many carried banners and transparencies. At a number of homes which they visited the boys were treated to peanuts and ice cream. "Time out" was also called at various ice cream parlors along the line of march.

At the residence of Mrs. J. W. Gillette, the woman member of the Board of Education, red fire was burned and sky-rockets set off, and the paraders were particularly strenuous in their demonstration for this popular member of the Board.

The popularity of this custom is on the wane, it would appear, if the number of men in line as compared to the showing made other years is an indication.

Prior to the parade a meeting was held in the basement of High school building at which Walter Dolan was elected High Muckedy Muck for next year.

School board member Grace J. Gillette was the wife of John W. Gillette. In 1917, they lived with their son, John W., Jr., and four servants in this house at 601 Union Street. (Their daughter Helen had been married in 1915.)

Photo courtesy Historic Hudson

Two decades later, in 1936, the house became the Elks Lodge.

The building is now known as the Upjohn Mansion/Hudson Lodge—Upjohn Mansion because it was built following a pattern by Richard Upjohn, which A. J. Downing, who included it in his book The Architecture of Country Houses, considered to be "one of the most successful specimens of Italian design in the United States."

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