A steamy Saturday did not deter revelers in Jordan last weekend, as one of the hottest days of the year marked the 4th Annual Erie Canal Celebration in the village.
Family-friendly entertainment and an appreciation for Jordan’s history ruled the day.
The morning’s main event was the dedication of artist Dawn Jordan’s mural, installed last month on the Bennett Conservatory for the Arts building on North Main Street.
During the ceremony, Jordan thanked benefactor Jean Carrington for allowing her the opportunity to display her talents in such a way that displayed the history of the village.
Carrington, whose family boasts generations of history on the canal, sponsored the mural and wanted it to be more than pretty public picture. In taking with Jordan, she developed three educational themes for the mural: to depict how the aqueduct functioned, how two boats on the canal passed on another, and to illustrate how families traveling the canal coexisted with mules on the same boat.
Maureen Doyle, chairperson of the Village Center Committee, called Carrington’s idea for an educational mural “brilliant,” and Jordan’s focus on reality and detail “magnificent.”
Jordan explained the significance of the faces in the mural: the faces of people on the left image were as close to historical photographs as possible, those on the right belonged to living people Jordan had used as models.
The relationship between the two groups of people in the mural are meant to represent the variety of people working together, then and now, in a peaceful way, Jordan said.
The mural adds Jordan to the list of communities included in Mural Mania, a 50-mile stretch of municipalities boasting historic murals meant to boost the economy through tourism.
Mural Mania founder Mark DeCracker enthusiastically marked an X the trail, denoting Jordan as an official stop on the mania trail.
Other activities throughout the day included live music by the Jane Zell & da Zelltones and Two Feet Short at Veterans Memorial Park and the Syracuse Symphony String Quartet on Mechanic Street, book signing by Towpath Tales authors Jack and Judith Woods, moonwalks for children, and a slew of garage sales around the community. Reptiles from Maxman Reptile Rescue and alpacas from Breezy Meadows Alpacas were on hand, while the Erie Canal Cloggers demonstrated their own brand of Appalachian-style clogging.
The cloggers will perform in the Grange Building at the New York State Fair, Thursday August, 21 at 8 p.m., Monday, August 25 at 6 and 8 p.m., Tuesday, August 26 at 6 and 8 p.m. and Monday, September 1 at noon, 2, 6 and 8 p.m.
