The Lake

I'm lucky enough to have a few family spots that I've visited since I was born.  I just spent some time at one of them, the jersey shore, before driving up to the another for the 4th of July.  The 4th of July is a big deal in the small upstate NY town where my father and his brothers co-own a house that their father built.  My father and his siblings always came to this spot while they were growing up too.  I've always said that these two areas, the jersey shore and upstate NY, were wildly different.  And it does make sense that they are associated with different sides of the family.  I think about my Mom's side of the family when I imagine the shore and my Dad's side of the family when I imagine the lake.  Even though they are different vibes, I manage to find myself fitting in to each place with ease.

This year, most of the the events associated with the 4th were cancelled due to COVID-19.  There are normally tons of people and it's a big economic boost for the town.  They bring in a carnival, hold a craft fair, put on street and boat parades and have an impressively large fireworks display over the bay.  Creatives from so many different towns around the area come to sell their wares at the craft fair and I have always loved to buy gifts from there.  The street parade has dance troupes, marching bands, renessaince faires and even equestrians showing off their talents proudly as people line the streets.  This parade is really no joke.  Some people get up super early to set up lawn chairs along the parade route road.  Some floats in the parade throw out candy or beads to the smiling children who are gathered with their families to watch as the parade goes by.

This year, ther were only two events that the town officially sponsored: the boat parade and the wall of fire.  Because these were the only events that people could participate in, the number of boats that participated in the parade was wildy over the normal numbers.  How it works is that anyone can partake in the event.  If you have a boat, you decorate it with flags or, red, white and blue somehow and you get in the line of boats and all slowly motor around the perimeter of the bay.  Folks on the shores are all gathered on their docks, cheering you on as boat horns are honked and music is played loudly so that the spectators can hear it.  In a normal year, this event might last about 15 or 20 minutes, but this year it was closer to almost an hour of boats!  

The wall of fire is the other 'event' that still happened.  This is where those with a dock or waterfront area light flares along their land in tandem with everyone else along the bay.  There is a set time that everyone lights the flares at dusk, so that the effect is a (mostly) connected wall of red flare light, which we call the wall of fire.  Once these flares burn out, about 20 minutes later, the fireworks display would normally begin.  Instead of a town sanctioned large display, there were actually an incredible number of personal firework displays being set off by neighbors.  Some of them seemed safer than others, but I have to say that it was really nice to still see some fireworks happening, as everything else that normally goes along with the 4th was taken away this year. 

One thing that never changes about the lake, however, is the fact that I have my own personal traditions.  A visit to Ontario Orchards for a chocolate bottom black & white cookie and a personal sized bottle of their homemade apple cider; A trip to Rudy's on Lake on Ontario for some not so healthy fried foods; Walking nextdoor to see the cookie lady at The Fly by Night Cookie Company; Bringing my own cup from home and having the bartender at Little Sodus Inn (LSI) make my cocktail in that;  Boating to the bluffs and trying to find perch rock;  Swinging in the little town playground;  A bath in the bay....  The past couple of years, I've added on seeing live music at Sterling Cidery and paying a visit to Colloca Winery across the bay.  Even just typing these items out made me smile a bit, I have such fond memories of them all.

I normally come up here for a weekend in August with a large group of my friends for a weekend of sun and fun, but COVID-19 took that from me.  Those trips with friends have become one of the most important times of my year to me and I am grieving that I have to do the smart thing and not risk anyone's health.  The lake becomes a place to escape for a bit when we are all up here.  My friends are spread out all over the map and the lake is one thing that continues to bring us together.  It could have been the whole year since I've seen someone, but it feels like no time has passed when we reunite at the lake.

The Little Sodus Inn has free drink tokens with a saying that I've always loved on them: "He who enters here is a stranger but once".  That's kind of how I feel about the lake.  When I introduce the lake to a new friend, they just get it.  It's hard to explain and often doesn't make sense from the outside.  But it always happens.

And I'm happy that I still got to spend some time here this year.  I'll close this post with another photo.  This is our giant inflatable rainbow unicorn float with that start of the wall of fire in the background.  She's great.

-Vicky