To the Editor:
Many heartfelt thanks to everyone (volunteers and attendees) that helped make my seventh annual holiday party for town of Verona residents Dec. 11 a huge success! Fabulous volunteers worked together to make this event happen and festive attendees shared the Christmas holiday spirit. Some pictures from this event can be found at www.fritzscherz.com.
Thanks to the following people for taking part in the programmatic portion of the event (listed in order of appearance): Mike Jaquays (Bingo the Clown) for face painting; Trooper Mark Buzzard and K9 CT (both from the New York State Police) for interacting
with the attendees and showing some of K9 CT’s abilities; Whitney Semans of Cornell Cooperative Extension; Molly D’Agostino & Shane Reed for singing and performing Christmas songs; the following Christmas story readers: Honorable Ken Blankenbush (New York State Assemblyman) and Honorable Gregory Pflieger (Oneida County Sheriff’s Office); Santa Claus for giving gifts to the children; Honorable Rob Swenzkowski (Oneida County Undersheriff) for singing Christmas songs, Josh and Drew Allen for singing Christmas songs; Elena Bartlett for her dance routine; Mark Bolos Sr. for his Christmas performance; Mike Faraino (drummer for Fritz’s Polka Band) for his drum workshop; and Jim Lutz (of Jim Lutz Magic) for the family – oriented magic show.
Thanks to the following people for helping in a variety of ways: Jay Aiello, Ann Ammann, Kristine Bellino, Sean Brown, Beth & Dave Coombs, Andrew Derminio, Rachel Dunne, Frank Elias, Chuck Fougnier, Martha Group, Jeff Hull, Dan Hunt, Bill Keeler, Mark Kinne, Jeff Monaski, Linda Scherz-Allen, Craig Semans, Margaret Visalli, Tami Whooten, Ron & Elizabeth Winn, Stephanie York, and Mary Margaret Zehr.
Thanks to the following businesses and/or organizations for donating baked goods and/or gifts or simply helping out: Colgate University Football, Dunkin’ Donuts (Verona), New York State Police, Nice N Easy Grocery Shoppes, Oneida County Sheriff’s Office, Oneida Indian Nation SavOn, Price Chopper (Oneida), Recovery Sports Grill, Utica Coffee, Walmart (Oneida) and the media that helped publicize the Holiday Party.
Thanks to the Verona Fire Department for providing the venue for the Holiday Party and for helping make Santa’s arrival special via a parade. Thanks to all the fire departments that took part in the parade, too. Thanks to the Independent Drum & Bugle Corp. for performing during the event and outdoors afterwards during the Christmas Tree Lighting; Special thanks to my wife, Kathy, and our children, Katherine, Marissa, and Freddy for being so supportive, encouraging, and helpful during the weeks leading up to the Holiday Party and during the event itself.
In closing, the bottom line is that so many people worked together to make this event happen. It is people like you that make a community great. I am so honored to call these great people my friends and Verona my hometown! Thank you.
Happy holidays and merry Christmas.
Fritz Scherz, Verona