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First-ever
Cabbage Fest makes auspicious debut
by Larry
Austin
Tribune, Dispatch, Sentinel - November 4-6, 2004
The
Frankfurter Band of Buffalo performs at the Cabbage Festival.
It’s not
exactly the Peach Festival just yet, but the first-ever Cabbage
Festival had an auspicious debut last month, celebrating the
town of Porter’s harvest. Despite drizzly, damp weather on
Sunday, Oct. 24, scores attended the festival, held at the
Ransomville Volunteer Fire Company grounds.
| Whose idea
was this anyway?
Town of Porter Councilman
Bill Choboy said the festival had its genesis with work
on the Porter Master Plan committee.
“It was decided we should
have a committee called the Porter Activity Committee,”
Choboy said. “That’s how it really started. So we put
a committee together, and in a sense, it started out
as a joke. You know, ‘Well, we could have a cabbage
fest.’
“And then all of a sudden,
somebody said, ‘Well, maybe we could do that.’ And then,
just like a lot of things, it progressed, and this is
the result of it.
“The fact is this is a rural,
agricultural area. It’s farmland, and this certainly
fits that theme,” Choboy added. |
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Dan Reed of Ransomville heaves
the cabbage 65 feet, five inches in the cabbage toss
competition at the Cabbage Festival. |
The Greater
Lewiston Business and Professional Association hosted the
event along with the town of Porter, Ransomville Business
Association, and the village of Youngstown.
“We really
feel like we’re all one region,” said Sandra (Hays) Mies of
the GLBPA. “And we have restaurants from Lewiston and Youngstown
and Porter. It’s really a great community event. That’s the
thing I’m most proud of is that the whole region, River Region
as we call it, came together.”
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Local restaurants offered
cabbage specialties and area growers sold produce at
a farmer’s market. A cabbage recipe contest was also
held. The festival crowned Shannon Lacey of Ransomville
Cabbage Princess, and then held another, more distinctive,
pageant.
DiDi Litt, promotions director of Niagara
Frontier Publications, won the apparently coveted Cabbage
Queen title from a group of 11 women representing area
merchants and organizations.
Contestants modeled clothing made from
cabbage leaves, harvested from Baker Farms of Ransomville,
and were judged on God knows what. The event proved
that although cabbage cloth is not ideal rainwear, when
it comes to fashion some people just will not compromise. |
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Shannon Lacey of
Patti's Cut Above in Ransomville was Cabbage Princess
at the first ever Cabbage Festival and modeled cabbage
beachwear at the fashion show on Sunday. |
“It turned out to be a pretty good sized job,
but it all came together well,” Choboy said of the event.
“It just took off. It suits the area, and we’ll have more
events.”
“It’s been fabulous,” Mies said. “It brought
the community together. New friends were made, new partnerships
forged, and that’s what makes a community stronger.”
The Sentinel's own DiDi Litt was
named first-ever Cabbage Queen during the Town of Porter
Cabbage Festival on Oct. 24. |
Michelle Licenser of First Niagara
Bank in Ransomville models cabbage clothing in the Cabbage
Festival's fashion show on the Ransomville Fire Hall
grounds. |
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