Whew! What a year. So many changes, so many celebrations. We tried to capture as many of the Cape Island 2006 highlights as we could throughout the year, as well our annual fests like the Lima Bean and Strawberry festivals, not to mention our parades – the Baby Parade, the Halloween Parade and the beloved West Cape May Christmas Parade. They’re all here and lots more. We hope you enjoy seeing them again as much as we did. Happy New Year!!
January/February/March 2007
Aquamarine Madness was how the Gala event to raise money for the Cape May Center for the Community Arts was billed. If you call a great party at the party center of Cape May (Congress Hall’s ballroom) madness it was aptly named. The Dr. Cheeko Band had the packed room dancing and jumping all night. Lots of seafaring creatures from the deep joined with landlubbers to help raise money to keep the center going strong. Held March 9, 2007.
Capt. Curtis B. Odom (left) shakes hands with Capt. Sandra Stosz Thursday, March 22, 2007 during the change-of-command ceremony in which Stosz relieved Odom as commanding officer of Coast Guard Training Center Cape May. Coast Guard Director of Reserve and Training, Rear Adm. Cynthia Coogan (at center), presided over the ceremony. At the conclusion of the change-of-command ceremony, Odom retired after 30 years of Coast Guard service. U.S. Coast Guard photograph by Chief Petty Officer James Alessi.
Independent filmmaker Tom Sims premiered his new documentary New River Saturday at the VFW in Cape May, Saturday, March 31. The film features the first families of country/blue grass music. Zane and Hugh Campbell, brothers who picked up the country/bluegrass torch and have carried it forward, appeared at the premiere along with Michael Davis and The Bullets, who rocked the Olde Shire Tavern, back in the day. Pictured here, from l. to r.: Tom Sims, pianist Steve LaManna, Lila LaManna.
April/ May 2007
The 28th Annual Great Cape May Footrace was built, just like everything in Cape May, off tradition.
A team of photographers, filmmakers and a reporter were here to cover the 24th Annual World Series of Birding for National Geographic Magazine last week. CapeMay.com was on hand to cover the exciting finish of this 24-hour bird sighting event in which teams from all over the nation compete with each other in sighting the most numbers of species in a 24-hour period. Shown from left: Mel White, NJ Audubon Marketing Director Sheila Lego, Michael Yamashita, Michael O’Brien and Matt Lankes. This year’s winner of the Urner-Stone Cup for the highest number of species spotted (230) goes to The Sapsuckers, sponsored by Swarovski Optiks/ Cornell Lab of Ornithology, captained by Ken Rosenberg for the second year running. The Sapsuckers also won the Ed Stearns Award for highest number of species; non-resident team.
The 7th Annual Feasting on History fundraising event for the benefit of Historic Cold Spring Village Museum was held last night, appropriately enough in another museum – the NAS Aviation Museum. Food, wine and lively music highlighted this elegant event. Pictured at left: The flight crew of the Hurricane Hunter. From front to back: Pilot Cmdrs. Tom Strong, Joe Milcetta, and Gary Szatkowski.
June 2007
If you never made it to your high school prom, never got to don those frilly, fancy duds, you got your chance Monday night, June 25 when Cape May Stage hosted its 2nd annual “Retro Prom” gala at the Congress Hall ballroom on Monday evening, June 25.
Berry Special Day: Finn Mullock got his first taste of strawberry shortcake in the best way possible: hand-fed to him in his stroller by Steve and Mariah Mullock while attending the West Cape May Strawberry Festival. Strawberry pastry puffs, chocolate covered strawberries, strawberry cream canoli, strawberry triffle cups, strawberry nonamee, strawberry champagne soup, strawberry rhubarb pie…they all sound delightful, and were all options provided by Vanthia’s Restaurant, The Seaside Cheese Company, and Rea Farm at the Festival on Saturday, June 2nd. Finn, however, stayed a purist with the ever popular strawberry shortcake, and the delight on his face could not be more telling of the hidden joys of the Strawberry Festival. – Text By Colleen Brogan
July 2007
And what would Independence Day be without a parade. Cape May’s parade took place after the 4th on Saturday, July 7. Pictured here is Queen Maysea, Julia Autumn Grossman.
Forty-eight lucky sailors docked their mini-vans at Utsch’s Marina on Friday, July 27th to climb aboard the A.J. Meerwald for its first public sail around the Cape May Harbor. Built in 1928 as a oyster schooner for the Delaware Bay, the A.J. Meerwald has been beautifully restored as a project of the Bayshore Discovery Project and is now fulfilling its duty as the official tall ship of New Jersey. While traveling from port to port along the New Jersey shoreline and giving school groups and brave sailors a chance to sail the ocean blue, the A.J. Meerwald has decided to take a brief dock in our beautiful Cape May. Captained by Jesse Briggs, A.J. Meerwald will be docked in Cape May for the next three weeks and has an ocean full of events planned for the sea-bound, the adventurer, and the occasional pirate. Text and photos by Colleen Brogan.
Art in the Park
When West Cape May decided to host the annual fundraiser for the local school system’s PTA, the traditional choice was to have a flea market. But Diane Flanegan, co-owner of Flanegan Art and Framing along with her husband, Rich, thought this year it would be great to try something different: how about an art show? “Art in the Park” took place from 12-8 p.m. on Saturday July 28th at Wilbraham Park, hosting local artists and bringing out more of the great qualities of a strong community like West Cape May and sharing it with all the vendors and visitors.
August 2007
And the winner of the Pretty Baby contest is Miss Ella Rose Felder (pictured here). Despite 85°temperatures, the 75th Annual Cape May Baby Parade got underway without a hitch.
Wednesday, August 1st marked the 75th annual Coronation of Queen Maysea at Convention Hall. Congratulations to the new queen, Haley Lynn Riess, her princesses Georgia Rose Jordan, Zoe Bea Lambert, Jacklyn Demera Reinhart, and Kasey Ann Whitten, the flower girls Madelyn Jane Hays, Briar Rhiannon Paige McNeill, and Madison Jade Schiffbauer, and the handsome young page boys Benjamin Arndt and Cole Allen Rothwell. Mayor Jerome E. Inderwies did the honors of crowning Haley, presenting all members of the court with trophies, and inviting all past Queen Maysea’s in the audience up on stage for an honorary bow and a single red rose.
September 2007
The 2007 Cape May Food and Wine Festival, sponsored by the Mid-Atlantic Center for the Arts. got off to a great start Sunday Sept. 16 when the Gourmet Marketplace opened its doors at the Cape May Winery. The long anticipated Chowder Contest drew a huge crowd. Proceeds from the Chowder Contest benefited the Kiwanis Club of Cape May. Kiwanians staffed the section and served up the chowder. Picture here: Diane Hendrix, the “Dietician in the Kitchen,” was the celebrity Chef. She held a book signing as well as a healthy cooking demonstration. First timers to the festival, Bella Mangiata not only took second place in the cook-off, but they also won the People’s Choice Chowder Contest. Runners up in the contest were Fish and Fancy (second place) located in the Villas, and Tisha’s Fine Dining (third place).
Frank Bey with the Swing City Blues Band brought the house down at Convention Hall Saturday night (9/15) in a benefit concert for the Cape May Jazz Festival and Animal Outreach of Cape May.
City Council passed by a unanimous vote Friday, Sept. 7, a resolution to loan the Beach Theatre Foundation a $100,000 to finalize their agreement with Frank Investments to lease the movie theater, slated for demolition by the Franks to make way for second level “Ritz-Carlton” type condominiums, and giving the foundation 12-18 months to find a developer for the $12 million property. Pictured here: Mayor Jerry Inderwies, BTF President Steve Jackson, Council member David Kurkowski.
October 2007
Ghoulish happenings at Congress Hall Friday night at their annual Phantom Ball.
The Annual Cape May Halloween Parade enjoyed unseasonably warm 80° temperatures. Trick-or-Treaters lined up vying for the title of best of.
The Beach Theatre Foundation’s soiree Saturday, October 13 at the home of Jim and Jeannie Testa was A Night To Remember. Pictured above: Jim and Jeannie Testa being presented with a dozen roses. BTF President Steve Jackson is at the top of the stairs.
The annual West Cape May Lima Bean Festival crowned Jana Schnaik-Borg as the new queen Saturday, October 6th. The festival which always occurs on the first Saturday in October features food (with and without lima beans) live entertainment, antiques, and vendors galore at Wilbraham Park.
November 2007
Last night, November 29, 2007, West Cape May welcomed a new addition into their Borough Hall. Local artist Rich Flanegan created a two panel mural depicting the historic aspects of West Cape May from gold beating, farming and founding families it’s there for everyone to see. The mural will remain on display in West Cape May Borough Hall.
Thanksgiving Day in Cape May means taking up the slack when it comes to the traditional turkey dinner for cadets stationed at the USCG Training Station.. Every year citizen volunteers open their doors and their kitchens to visiting cadets who otherwise have no place to celebrate the holiday away from home.
As in years past, a dozen community volunteers created a Thanksgiving dinner at the VFW post for 40 cadets, featuring everything a traditional dinner would include from salad through turkey and mashed potatoes to cheesecake and pies for dessert.
The seventh annual New Jersey State Film Festival celebrated their opening night soiree at Congress Hall’s Ballroom Friday, Nov. 16. One of the highlights of the weekend was the showing and guest appearance pf stage and film actor Robert Prosky. The showing of Mrs. Doubtfire and Miracle on 34th Street coincided with the reopening the Beach Theatre under the auspices of the beach Theatre Foundation. Pictured here: Robert Proksy, Stefan, his son, who is also the NJSFF’s curator, and Bob Anderson, NJSFF president.
Saturday Nov. 17th was the date for the annual Cape May Christmas Tree Lighting ceremony, this year held at the Physick Estate in conjunction with the Mid-Atlantic Center for the Arts, which typically held their own lighting ceremony. In years past, the city lit the tree in the gazebo in Rotary Park. Construction on the Washington Street Mall and the possible disruption of traffic patterns and parking made for blending of the two lightings into one grand celebration.
December 2007
The 42nd Annual West Cape May Christmas Parade Saturday, Dec. 1 featured color guards, flag wavers and flying angels from Green Creek Bethel Methodist Church – real little angels hovering over the earth. Never a dull moment.
The Annual CCA Great Cookie Exchange Monday, Dec. 3 at Cape May City Elementary School, 921 Lafayette Street paid a special birthday honor to one of their longest and most devoted volunteers, Vickie Tryon. (Pictured right).The Center for Community Arts’ annual holiday party featured stations where children of all ages decorate cookies, cookie baskets and holiday hats! Proceeds from a raffle benefited CCA.
