Thursday, July 17, 2008

Visit the Historic Idora Park Carousel

In 1984 Jane Walentas purchased the 1922 Idora Park Carousel at an auction. She has spent the past 22 years painstakingly restoring this beautiful ornament to its original beauty. The carousel resides in Brooklyn, New York and Ms. Walentas is looking forward to the day when a Carousel Pavilion will be in the Brooklyn Bridge Park, and the Idora Park Carousel will have a permanent home.




A bus trip is being organized to see (and ride) the Carousel, here are the details:

Depart Thursday October 23rd 6:30 a.m.
Return Friday October 24th 11:30 p.m.

Tour highlights:
Round trip transportation via deluxe motorcoach
One night lodging at the Fairfield Inn in East Rutherford, NJ
Dinner included in Little Italy - Pellegrino's Restaurant
Reserved seats to the evening Broadway musical Chicago at the Ambassador Theatre
Visit to the 1922 Idora Carousel in Historic Dumbo
Free time to browse Chinatown and Little Italy


Cost for the trip:
$340 per person, double
$320 per person, triple
$310 per person, quad
$405 per person, single

A $150 deposit is due by Friday, July 25th with the balance due by September 23rd.


Please contact Joan Yanchick at (330) 542-3444 or Jane Wardle at (330) 793-9878 with questions and to make reservations.

Monday, July 14, 2008

The Boys & Girls of Summer

The game of baseball has been known as America’s national pastime since the 1870s, but its origins are much earlier. While the sport’s exact beginnings are disputed, an early English folk game called stoolball is likely the forerunner to modern baseball. In stoolball, which may have been played as early as the 11th Century, one player defended a target (the stool) while another player threw a ball trying to hit the target. Eventually, the player guarding the target used a bat to deflect the ball. Later, the batter had to run between two stools in order to defend both from the thrower.

The modern game of baseball did not come to be until the mid-19th Century. The New York Knickerbockers club, founded September 23, 1845, is credited with outlining the rules for playing the game as we now know it. In the following decade, more than a dozen teams, including the Knickerbockers, formed the National Association of Baseball Players, the first organization to govern the sport of baseball and its first professional teams. In 1876, that organization was replaced by the National League of Professional Baseball Clubs. The National League, along with the American League which formed in 1901, constitutes modern Major League Baseball.

While baseball became a popular professional sport, it also thrived in amateur and school leagues across America. Beginning July 12, the Arms Family Museum of Local History will show the photographic exhibit The Boys and Girls of Summer. The exhibit will feature images of local baseball teams from throughout the 20th Century. From the Rayen High School team of 1901 to the General Electric Softball team of 1976, the exhibit will show some of the teams and players that have brought our national pastime to life in the Mahoning Valley.




A New Exhibit at The Arms Family Museum of Local History

Open Tuesday-Sunday from 1:oo to 5:00 p.m.

Images: Rayen High School Baseball Team, 1901; General Electric Softball Team, 1976; Youngstown Sheet & Tube Baseball Game, 1920