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.

It’s going to be big and it’s going to be dangerous when Brass-O-Mania!, “The World’s Most Dangerous Big Band,” performs in concert at the Troy Savings Bank Music Hall on June 8 as part of the Flag Day weekend festivities.

Sponsored by The Record, the Troy Flag Day Committee and Troy Savings Bank Music Hall, the free concert will start at 8 p.m.; the hall will open at 7 p.m. and all ticket holders must be seated by 7:45 p.m.

Brass-O-Mania!

While a military band is normally the headliner for the free parade-eve concert, no military bands were available this year because of the federal sequestration.

Thankfully, Brass-O-Mania!,” a 19-piece big band made up of professional musicians and music educators, stepped in to help us out. The band, which was formed in 1994, also includes two vocalists.

Band business manager Tom MacDonald promises concert-goers an enjoyable evening featuring an eclectic mix of tunes, covering 70 years of great American Swing, Blues and Pop tunes.

Tickets to the free concert are available from The Record. To obtain tickets, mail a stamped, self-addressed envelope to The Record, 501 Broadway, Troy, NY 12180 ATTN: Marine Concert. Please include the number of tickets requested. No more than four tickets may be requested.

Tickets may also be obtained in person at the newspaper’s downtown Troy office at the corner of Broadway and Fifth Avenue.


My thanks to Record audience engagement editor Rebecca Eppelmann, Brass-O-Mania's!" Tom MacDonald,  John Elbaum of the Troy Savings Bank Music Hall and Ed Manny, president of the Troy Flag Day Committee, for putting together this terrific event.

We hope you'll be able to join us for this entertaining evening.


By the way, let the concert help get you in the mood for the 46th annual Troy Flag Day Parade, which will step off at 1 p.m. June 9 in South Troy and march north up Fourth Street into downtown. Thanks to the generosity of local individuals and businesses, the parade is a go for this year – and hopefully many more in the future!

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.

On Sunday, The Record launched its annual Flag Day Fund Drive with this year's goal set at $10,000.

I've had the privilege of working with the Troy Flag Day Committee for more than two decades and they are a great group of hard-working individuals who volunteer their time year-round to bring you this wonderful tribute to our nation's flag.

For many of those years, my parade contacts were Jerry Weaver, Joe Killeen and the late Ed Verrillo -- a terrific trio of guys – for information on the parade and updates for our annual fund drive. In recent years, I've worked with Cindy Bizaro Wilson and Ed Manny, both of whom bring great enthusiasm to the task of making sure the parade is the best it can be year after year.

Funding the parade, which is now in its 44th year, is becoming a difficult proposition. Because of its own fiscal woes, the state was unable to provide its usual stipend. Faced with the increasing costs it takes to attract top-notched bands, the committee is struggling to come up with the funds to put on this year’s parade and is concerned about its future.

Keep in mind the parade annually attracts between 50,000 and 100,000 spectators. One parade supporter told me that if each of those spectators gave a dollar to show their support for this patriotic display, it would go a long way toward paying for this year’s parade and stabilizing it for the future.

We are proud to accept donations on behalf of the parade committee. Please consider sending your donation to Flag Day Fund Drive, c/o The Record, 501 Broadway, Troy, N.Y. 12180, or drop off your contribution at our downtown office at the corner of Broadway and Fifth Avenue. Please make checks payable to the Troy Flag Day Parade Committee.

Already we have received donations from local veterans groups, businesses and individuals and we are hopeful of meeting this year's fund drive goal.

On June 12, come to downtown Troy and enjoy the incredible tribute to Old Glory!