Dobbs Ferry Puts On Marathon Sesquicentennial Over the Elongated Fourth

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A Ferris Wheel provides one of the celebration's main attractions

July 4, 2023

By Mason Smerling–

It was an eventful weekend in Dobbs Ferry as the rivertown celebrated its 150th birthday with a weekend full of festivities. The celebration started on Friday afternoon with a trivia bar crawl that included several different attractive deals. What the Chamber of Commerce referred to as Dine out Dobbs included beer and cocktail bargains throughout the day and into the night, as well as deals on food from Dobbs Ferry’s favorite restaurants. Among the restaurants participating were The Parlor, Tomatillo, Harper’s Restaurant, Climbing Wolf, and many others.

Restaurants like Sam’s geared up for business indoors and out

The trivia bar crawl offered fun activities for all members of the family. Michelle Adams, a part-owner of Harper’s Restaurant as well as a Rivertowns Chamber of Commerce board member, was “excited for the village business owners and Chamber to both come together in order to plan these sort of events.”

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Saturday brought a whole new batch of activities that started at 11:00 a.m. Throughout Main and Cedar streets were pop-up shops, sidewalk sales, live music, kids activities, and food tours. Diverse food trucks and several live music bands played throughout the streets as people of all ages had no difficulty finding different ways to enjoy themselves. These activities ended around 5:00 p.m. as the rest of the weekend’s festivities started to unfold.

Regional representatives of Pride held a press conference Saturday to denounce the Supreme Court decision

Not everything about the weekend was purely festive. Area leaders of the Pride community, representing local organizations stretching from the rivertowns to Connecticut, gathered Saturday at the intersection of Cedar and Main streets under a rainbow banner to denounce Friday’s Supreme Court ruling and issue a joint statement.

Sunday brought something that many may consider a blast from the past, as parents and children prepared for a Soap Box Derby. Starting at 11:00 a.m., this Derby tested residents’ creativity, engineering skills, and ability to generate speed. Along with a trophy for the fastest entry, prizes were handed out for the best-looking cars. Residents were cheering each other on as Soap Box cars raced down Main Street.

As Monday rolled around, the festivities continued with an ice cream party at The Yard in Memorial Park from 1:00 to 3:00 p.m.. This party included a live petting zoo as well as live music. While parents took in the music, children were able to enjoy all of the different animals in the petting zoo.

Auto traffic gave way to people traffic for four days running

Throughout the weekend, starting Saturday and right through to the 4th of July, was what some may consider the main event — a seemingly perpetual carnival at Dobbs Ferry’s Waterfront Park. The carnival overlooked the beautiful Hudson River and included amusements for toddlers, teens, and adults. There were several different rides, including a large Ferris wheel that seemed to be the town’s favorite. The carnival offered everything from ice cream trucks to carousels. Cotton candy stands and popcorn stands were kept busy all day. The carnival, said Jack, a longtime village resident, “re-introduced me to many of my fellow neighbors that I hadn’t been able to see in some time.” All in all, the celebration was a great way for the community to come together each day of the unusually long weekend.

The carnival continued on the 4th of July, starting at 3:00 p.m. with the Thomas Cullen 4th of July Picnic in the Park, and Sesquicentennial Ceremony at Waterfront Park featuring the Dobbs Ferry Historical Society and the Dobbs Ferry Volunteer Fire Department. Reaffirming the village’s history was sure to evoke pride of place among Dobbs Ferry residents as they celebrated Independence Day.

Last but not least, the Sesquicentennial culminated with a fireworks show scheduled to start at 9:00 p.m. There are several great locations to watch the fireworks throughout the village — but a spot on the lawn of Waterfront Park, practically underneath the pyrotechnics, would have to be among the most coveted.

The many unique, thriving, and supportive businesses of the town deserve recognition for all of their contributions — not only this special weekend, but throughout the year as they have warming ways of bringing the community together. The Rivertowns Chamber of Commerce deserves its own praise as its members work to keep the small businesses together and connected within the community. Few would dispute the excellent job that they did showing off Dobbs Ferry on its 150th Birthday.

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