The Refrigerators perform in Powers Park in Lansingburgh

The 2015 Powers Park Concert Series comes to a close tonight with ""Country Night" featuring Big Sky Country and Patsy Cline Experience with Courtney Shane.

If you haven't had a chance this summer to check out one of the free concerts in the park, located along Second Avenue between 111th and 110th streets in Lansingburgh, today is the day to catch the series' finale for this popular summer series.

The crowd is dancing at The Refrigerators Powers Park concert.

Two weeks ago, my family and I had a ball at the dance party concert featuring The Refrigerators. The popular band had the crowd up on their feet dancing to a variety of hits such as Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean," Pharrell Williams' "Happy," and "Shout" by Otis Day and The Knights.

It got loud near the speakers for Ava and Alyssa

It was the first outdoor concert for my two youngest granddaughters, Ava, 6, and Alyssa, 4, and it was such a kick to see them dancing to the music, singing along to some of the songs and munching on the treats - cotton candy, ice cream and little hot dogs! - offered for sale by local merchants. I hope the fun they had at this event will spark a lifelong love of music in both of them.

Vito Ciccarelli at the concert.

The concerts have drawn big crowds all summer, according to Vito Ciccarelli, who is the musical mastermind behind the series, which this summer has featured such diverse performers as the Jimi Hendrix tribute act Jimi Graham, funk group The Getdown, hometown artist Al Bruno, indie rockers the Chris Dukes Band, rock group Emerald City Band, and Lady Strange.


And it's almost guaranteed that you will find a lot of familiar faces in the crowd at the concerts.The night I went to see The Refrigerators, I had a chance to catch up with Nora Dwyer, John Rustin and Jim Gordon
and meet Jim's  wife Melissa and their adorable son, Liam, who will be celebrating his first birthday on Sept. 11. What a cute little boy!

One of the best parts about living in the Capital Region is the variety of fun things to do here during the summer months. Don't miss today's Powers Park concert series finale. I guarantee you'll have a good time.

The members of The Refrigerators are introduced to the crowd at Powers Park in Lansingburgh

Bowling Friday night in the first Flag Day bowl-a-thon at Uncle Sam Lanes in Troy was a blast!

It's been about 25 to 30 years since I last bowled, and let's just say that my bowl-a-thon scores reflected my lack of  any recent experience on the lanes. Can you say gutter ball? Say it a few times and you'll get really close to my scores.

There are two reasons why Friday night was such a blast: The people and the cause.

Nora Dwyer enters our team, 
"The Munsters,"  into the
 computer for scoring

We were bowling to raise money for this year's Flag Day Parade on June 8. For a lot of reasons, fund-raising for the 47th annual parade is lagging, and the bowl-a-thon was a new event planned by the Flag Day Committee to get the community involved in raising funds for this annual tribute to our nation's flag.

Tom Walsh, owner of Uncle Sam Lanes on Sixth Avenue, was only too happy to host the bowl-a-thon to help this hard-working group of people come up with the funding to put on the best parade they possibly can.

Cindy Bizaro Wilson and 
Jerry Weaver of the 
Flag Day Committee

Speaking of people -- the organizers, the bowling alley staff, the bowlers -- everybody there Friday night was terrific!

I don't think people realize how hard this committee works year after year to put on this parade. Once one parade is done, they're on to planning the next one, no matter what challenges they face -- and those challenges have been many in recent years.

When I walked into the bowling alley Friday, the first people I saw were Cindy Bizaro Wilson, secretary of the parade committee, and Jerry Weaver, committee vice president. I wish I had that woman's energy. She was greeting everyone, getting teams together, working with Tom Walsh and his staff, selling 50/50 and raffle tickets, and just genuinely having a good time. Jerry, her partner in crime, was only too happy to take on the greeting and selling roles when Cindy got ready to bowl. Later, he add the task of acting as MC during the games.

Record reporter Danielle Sanzone

One of the guys set to bowl in the lane next to us came up with the clever idea that each team should be named after classic TV shows. Soon we had the "I Dream of Jeannie" team bowling on one side of us, "The Addams Family" on the other side and "Welcome Back Kotter" was down a lane or two.

Our team was "The Munsters:" Nora Dwyer, who generously volunteers her time to work on a lot of community projects including the Flag Day and Uncle Sam Parades, bowled as the lovely "Lilly Munster, Record newsroom administrative assistant Sue Chasney was "Herman," and Record reporter Danielle Sanzone bowled as the beautiful "Marilyn." I got to be "Grandpa Munster," who was played by the late actor Al Lewis on the TV show during the mid-1960s.


It was nice to see that the fund-raiser drew the support of students from both Russell Sage College and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Even parents of a graduating RPI student in town from St. Louis for the commencement took part in the bowl-a-thon.

"Lily Munster" aka Nora Dwyer

Suffice to say you won't be reading about our bowling efforts in an upcoming edition of John Craig's bowling column for The Record, but we did have a good time. We laughed at the gutter balls and we cheered the spares and strikes -- even "The Munsters" had one or two of those!

Jerry did a great job announcing the raffle winners. Even some of "The Munsters" were lucky enough to walk away with a door prize or two. I particularly like the BellaRyann bracelet that I won with the flag charm; the item was donated by MarEle Boutique Accessories. Kudos to Cindy for all the great door prizes she was able to collect for the event.

Sue "Herman" Chasney, left, cheers on
 "Jeannie" during the Flag Day Bowl-a-thon

Flag Day Parade Committee President Ed Manny was on hand to pick the winning ticket for the 50/50 drawing at the conclusion of the evening.

My thanks to "The Munsters," members of the Flag Day Committee, Tom Walsh and his staff and everyone who participated in the bowl-a-thon for a truly enjoyable evening.

Here's hoping the event raised a lot of money for the 47th annual Flag Day Parade, which steps off at 1 p.m. Sunday, June 8. This year's parade will feature a variety of veterans groups and drum & bugle corps from throughout the Northeast and it has the Marine Corps Band New Orleans as its headliner.

Waving the flag and raising money for this year's Troy Flag Day Parade during "Troy Night Out" are, left to right, Allie Lockrow, Debra Lockrow, Nora Dwyer and Genn Peyser.

Buoyed by the response from local residents, organizations and businesses, the 46th annual Troy Flag Day Committee is tentatively set to step off at 1 p.m. June 9.


A final decision on whether the parade goes off will be made later this month. However, if current fund-raising efforts are successful, residents of the Capital Region will again be treated to a grand, red, white and blue tribute to our flag.

 As I wrote in Sunday's edition, the soft economy, the sequestration, a lack of state funding and the mounting cost of putting on a parade have greatly hampered the committee's efforts to put on a proper salute.
 
I don't think people realize what goes into putting on a successful parade year after year.

This small, patriotic group of people work almost year-round to put on the parade. They spend their own  time reaching out to local businesses for donations, seeking the best drum corps to march in the parade, working with the military to send one of its bands to the Collar City to lead the parade and perform at the annual parade-eve concert at the Troy Savings Bank Music Hall, making sure those band members are properly housed and fed, working out parade-day logistics with the various city of Troy departments, holding weekly meetings to make sure all the almost endless list of details are addressed, putting together the parade line of march — and that's only some of what they do!

It has been my privilege over the course of my almost 37-year career at The Record to work  with these terrific people. I always looked forward to March and my first visit of the year from various members of the parade committee. First it was Joe Killeen, Ed Verrillo and John Kacharian who would stop by to discuss plans for the parade. Jerry Weaver soon became part of those meetings and for the past few years it's been Cindy Wilson and Ed Manny, who is president of the committee. Ed and John have passed away, but they were great people who cared about the flag and this community. Joe, Jerry, Cindy and Ed, too, care greatly about our flag and this parade.


To aid the cause, The Record launched its annual fund-raising campaign in support of the parade and we hope to help the committee raise $10,000. Donations to our fund drive may be mailed to Flag Day Fund Drive, c/o The Record, 501 Broadway, Troy, NY 12180 or dropped off at the newspaper’s downtown office at the corner of Broadway and Fifth Avenue. Contributions may also be mailed to Troy Flag Day Committee at P.O. Box 56, Troy, NY 12180. Please make checks payable to the Troy Flag Day Committee. All donations will be listed in upcoming editions of The Record unless otherwise noted.

In addition to The Record's effort, other campaigns are under way to help finance the parade:

Cindy Wilson, left, and Nora Dwyer

—  “Support Troy’s Flag Day Parade” was launched last month and accepted donations at the recent “Troy Night Out” and the Farmer’s Market in the Troy Atrium and on River Street on Saturday. Donations to this effort are also being accepted at Artcentric Gallery at 266 River St. in downtown Troy. Nora Dwyer and Troy businesswoman Debra Lockrow are behind this effort.

— The Flag Day Committee's  launched its “Step Up With A Dollar” fund-raising campaign in March, which seeks $1 from each of the upwards of 50,000 who turn out each year for the parade. Donations may still be mailed to Troy Flag Day Committee, P.O. Box 56, Troy, NY 12180.


There is no question that times are tough, but we hope the community will support the committee's  efforts so the parade can step off this year — and many in the future.

Wow!

Thanks to all of you, The Record’s first Red Cross blood drive -- held in our first-floor Community Media Lab – was a great success.

Jim Shake, account manager, biomedical services for the American Red Cross, reports that the Red Cross collected 26 units from 30 donors, including seven first-timers. This was approximately 124 percent of the pre-established goals for the drive, Jim reports.

What's even more exciting is that this blood can now provide the gift of life to as many as 78 recipients.

The constant stream of people kept Community Engagement Editor Rebecca Eppelmann busy checking people in and moving them along to the very capable Red Cross staff.

Happy to see my friend Nora Dwyer taking part in the blood drive. No matter what the need is in this community, Nora is always there doing whatever she can to help. She’s one amazing lady!

In this case, the need was great. The Red Cross blood supply had reached emergency levels, with 50,000 fewer donations than expected in June. This shortfall left about half the readily available blood products on hand than was available at this time last year.

Record reporters Andrew Beam and Danielle Sanzone were happy to help out as blood donors as was our IT guru, Pete Blanchette.

It was my first time as a blood donor. I always wanted to do it, but I never got around to following through. Rebecca couldn’t have made it any easier for me by scheduling a blood drive one floor below my office.

The Red Cross staff was terrific: Friendly, professional and capable. I admit that I was a bit nervous and did have a mini panic attack as I was finishing up my donation; the staff quickly calmed me down, got me hydrated and later sent me on my way back to work on the second floor.

One final note: Let me congratulate Rebecca for doing a terrific job organizing this event. Whether it was hanging posters throughout downtown Troy, encouraging all of us to promote the blood drive through social media, writing reminder stories for the print edition, this was her project – and she did a great job helping others. We’re proud of you Rebecca!   

P.S. Stay turned for upcoming events in our Community Media Lab!

Let me offer my belated, but no less sincere, thanks to the Tribute to John R. “Jack” Dwyer Committee for presenting me with its 10th annual tribute award in early June.

The committee – which includes the late undersheriff’s two daughters, Nora and Susan, as well as Jim Tompkins, Lou Desso, Greg Cholakis, Frank Merola and Nick Nicholas – is a great group of people, and I was truly humbled by the award they gave me.


I normally don’t like being the center of attention, but it’s hard to say no to Nora. Anyone who knows Nora knows that once she sets her mind to something, there’s no turning back.

Maureen Baxter, nurse manager at New York Oncology Hematology, left, Nora Dwyer, center, and me, Lisa Robert Lewis.

Also, as a breast cancer survivor, it’s hard to say no to anything that helps those battling cancer. Proceeds from the Dwyer dinner benefit the Capital District Cancer Resource Foundation, which helps provide funds for daily living and support services for local residents undergoing cancer treatment.

And while I stick to my stance that I don’t like being the center of attention, I have to admit I had a ball at the dinner and enjoyed being with a terrific group of people.

There are so many people I need to thank for making this a special night.

First, there’s Nora, who nominated me for this honor. Frankly, I adore the woman. I am grateful for her friendship and I have a lot of respect for all she does for this community. In fact, I told her it’s too bad she can’t receive the award because I am sure her Dad is proud of all she does for the community he loved.

Thanks also to Jim, Susan, Lou, Greg, Frank and Nick for going along with Nora’s nomination.

I am grateful also for the beautiful plaques and certificates I received from our state and local representatives – state Senator Roy McDonald, state Assembly Majority Leader Ron Canestrari, Rensselaer County Executive Kathy Jimino, Rensselaer County Legislator Lou Desso on behalf of Legislature Chairman Martin Reid and the rest of the county legislature, and Troy Mayor Harry Tutunjian – and the John R. “Jack” Dwyer Award itself.

The Dwyer committee actually found three people to speak on my behalf -- Sue Chasney, The Record newsroom’s administrative assistant and my friend; Amy Jupin, my sister, and Jerry Weaver, vice president emeritus of the Flag Day Parade Committee. Kathy Jimino, Lou Desso and Nora also offered kind words on my behalf during the program.


Stepdaughters Christie Harris, left, and Melissa Coons, right.

No one could ask for a better Master of Ceremonies than Neil Kelleher. The man is charming, witty and so naturally funny.

Special thanks, too, to the staff of the American Legion on Main Avenue in Wynantskill for that wonderful Italian dinner!

One of the best parts of attending such an event is sharing it with old and new friends.

I was happy to have my current and past co-workers with me that night including Sue Chasney and her husband Ken Villeneuve, advertising director Heather DeForge, former night editor Jan Shields, former city editor Nick Cantiello and his wife Pat, former photographer Tom Killips, former reporter Rich Crist, and Barbara Lombardo, managing editor of The Saratogian, The Record’s sister newspaper in Saratoga Springs. It was also great to see my former boss, Kathy Condon, who now runs Condon Communications, and her husband, longtime area radio personality Joe Condon. Accompanying them at the event was Bob Wolfgang, former Albany Police Chief and president of the Albany Aqua Ducks. Few people probably know this, but Bob, who was also honored that evening at another event, served an internship at The Record while he was pursuing an advanced degree.

That Pat Cantiello is one classy, generous lady. She won the evening’s 50/50 benefit and promptly donated her winnings back to the Capital District Cancer Resource Foundation.

My thanks also go to the Carras family: Jimmy for taking photos at the event for The Record, and his wife, Jeanne, for her help in producing the evening’s program as part of her responsibilities at Alchar Printing on Pawling Avenue in Troy.

It meant a lot to me that many people I have dealt with over the years were able to attend the event including Kay McCarty and Betty Owens of the St. Mary’s Hospital Auxiliary, Kathy Sheehan of the Rensselaer County Historical Society, Sharon Smith, executive director of the Troy Boys & Girls Club; Joe Killeen and Cindy Bizaro Wilson of the Troy Flag Day Parade Committee, Record "Investors Corner" columnist Ray Osterhout and his lovely wife Carol, and Carmella Mantello, who I’ve known since her days as a city councilwoman in Troy.


What made the night particularly special was being able to share it with my family: My sister Amy, her husband Andy and their children Jared and Meighan; my brother Mike, his wife Lisa and their daughter Elizabeth; my brother Dave, and my stepdaughters Melissa Coons and Christie Harris.

State Senator Roy McDonald, R-Wilton, speaks with my dad, Col. John P. "Jake" Robert.

Most of all, I was proud to share the night with my Dad, Colonel John P. “Jake” Robert, who showed me by example the importance of a strong work ethic and being involved in your community.

Thanks Dad!