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Centre Daily Times May 16 2005
Spring fever bubbles over
By Lara Brenckle; lbrenckl@centredaily.com
"In Bellefonte, Sunday was a day for ice cream, picnics and lazy strolls feeding the ducks along Spring Creek.
In short, it was everything organizers of the annual Big Spring Festival hoped it would be.
Hundreds of families gathered on the broad lawns of Talleyrand Park to listen to live music, host picnics or browse past the myriad food booths and nautical-themed activities.
Joy Nicastro, of Bellefonte, and her 3-year-old son, Ethan, split a pile of butterfly fries -- like potato chips, only chewier -- in between activities.
With her husband pre-occupied with the construction of Ethan's swing set and with her infant daughter napping, Nicastro thought it was an opportune time to sneak in some mommy-son time.
"We played on the swings, went down to the (Tussey Mountain Outfitters) kayaks, and he climbed around," Nicastro said. "We come down here pretty frequently."
For 2-week-old Leo Dush, Sunday's afternoon in the park was his introduction into the wide world beyond his crib.
Though the small, blue-hatted boy slept peacefully in his stroller for most of the day, his big brother, Toby, enjoyed potting a marigold at the Bellefonte Garden Club display and then eating an ice cream cone at Jabco's Variety Store.
The children's mother, Claire Dush, said she enjoyed getting out of the house.
"I think we're having a lot of fun," she said. "It's nice they have things like this for families to come to."
For some, coming to the park on a Sunday afternoon was a family tradition.
Woolrich resident Scott Carson, his 4-year-old granddaughter, Lindzy, on his shoulders, bounced to make the old iron bridge that spans the creek sway and squeal.
"I used to bring her dad here," Carson said. "We come up a couple of times a year to feed the fish."
Across the railroad tracks from the park, the American Philatelic Society hosted an open house, capped off with the dedication of a memorial to airmail pilots.
The guest speaker, former astronaut Henry Hartsfield Jr., noted that it was fitting a memorial to the pilots, 34 of whom lost their lives in service to mail delivery, be placed in Bellefonte.
The borough served as a refueling spot for pilots making the most treacherous leg of the route, from Long Island, N.Y., to Cleveland, across the United States.
"We all take risks in our everyday lives," Hartsfield said. "Flying the space shuttle is also a risk, and things don't always go as you expect. But I have always believed that there are things in life where the gain is worth the risk. If it weren't for the risk-takers, then our world would be a much worse place to live. We owe a debt of gratitude to the pilots who climbed in those flimsy planes to deliver the mail."
Lara Brenckle can be reached at 235-3902."
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