Danby Fun Day: A Brief History
by Pamela Goddard and Gay Huddle
Danby Fun Day began in 1983 as a way to financially support the Danby Volunteer Fire Department and to bring the Danby community together for a day of food and games, music and celebration. A relatively small number of dedicated people have organized this for several years. It is currently hoped that more people will get involved, in order to keep the spirit of Danby Fun Day strong. Since at least the 1970s, Danby neighbors have gathered together in July for a one-day event known through the years as the Danby Carnival, the Danby Fair, and Danby Fun Day. In 1983, Ted Merritt, John VanDeMark and Garry Huddle came up with the idea of putting on a community Fun Day in conjunction with the Danby Volunteer Fire Company. Gay Huddle was asked to be the coordinator; she accepted and continued in this position for the next 15 years. Bicentennial, and for perhaps a decade afterwards, a community-wide parade kicked off the Danby Fair. This tradition slipped away in the 1990s, but was revived in 2002 by the Danby General Store owners, Toni McBride and Judy Van Dermark, and kept alive through 2016, mostly due to Sue Beener's hard work. Danby Fun Day has always been a family event. Andrea Hazard and her family got involved around 2003 by organizing child-friendly games such as a duck race, bean bag and ring toss games. They store them in their garage attic, and bring them out each Fun Day. Most of the Danby Fun Day activities are planned by members of the Danby Fire Department. In 2008, Gay Huddle wrote, "We've always tried to have games, raffles, demonstrations, vendors, food, and, of course, the famous chicken barbecue. For the first few years of the event, we had a raffle wheel. We all worked very hard to get nice gifts donated. The raffle wheel eventually became the /Chinese Auction/. I have always been pleasantly surprised by the amount of treats sent in for the cake wheel by area neighbors." Popular parts of the day, including the chicken barbecue, cake wheel, and Chinese Auction are all fundraisers for the fire and emergency volunteers. The proceeds have always gone to the Fire Department, with the exception of one year when it was unanimously decided to make a donation to Judy Van Dermark and Toni McBride to help cover the costs of Toni's medical bills when she was struggling with cancer. Fun Day income supports equipment, station supplies, and improvements in training and facilities for the Fire Department. Current Fire Chief John Gaden met his wife Sharon while turning hamburgers during the 2002 Danby Fun Day. They remain happily married to this day and Sharon has become active in the department right along with John. Eventually, it was decided to build some sort of a pavilion on the fire station grounds. It was built With the help of numerous community members and still stands today. During Fun Day 2016, the pavilion was named to honor Sue Beeners, who had dedicated her time and energy to Fun Day almost right up to the time of her passing in January 2016. In 2008,Sue said, "When I started to be involved, it was evident that the event was on the shoulders of the Danby Fire Department members and that the number of community volunteers had dwindled. This is the only town-wide event where residents get together to have fun and show support for our fire and emergency medical volunteers who are on call 24/7 for us. It's also a time for our town to get to know each other as neighbors." Music has been a highlight of Fun Day since its early years. In the beginning there was a good old-fashioned sing-along led by Connie and Ted Merritt, where the crowd made themselves comfortable in lawn chairs and bales of hay. More recently, we have been lucky enough to include in the music line-up different kinds of family-appropriate music, often featuring Danby-based musicians. Through the years, events have included a dunking booth, K-9 demonstrations, face-painting, a quilt raffle, many crafters, photo displays, different kinds of food, a 5K race organized by Walt Reimers, a book sale, wrecked car smashing with the junkers donated by John and Carol Benjamin, ice cream, games of chance, and a horse shoe contest organized by the Danby Pirates Club. This year, many of those activities are still featured, as well as the Auction, cake wheel, music, chicken barbecue. And then there's the archery demonstrations and interactive target practice organized by the
Flashing Feathers Bow Hunter's Club!
