Celebrating
by playing with fire
By
Will Collette
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| Here comes the twister (Photo by Will Collette of the New Year's Eve, 2012 Charlestown bonfire that was almost its last) |
Since
Tom Ferrio and I started Progressive Charlestown in 2011, we’ve featured two
important holiday season events: Sweden’s Gävle goat and the
Charlestown New Year’s Eve bonfire.
Despite
all of 2017’s tumultuous and often tragic events, life goes on and so do the Gävle
goat and the Charlestown bonfire.
Of
particular local interest, the Charlestown New Year’s Eve bonfire WILL take
place again this year, on that day and in Ninigret Park. In an e–mail, the
bonfire’s originator and main mover Frank Glista told me he relented from his
decision that last year’s fire was going to be his last.
Yes, I gave in to doing another Bonfire. The main Structure is complete so now it's time to do a little decorating.
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| In 2016, the Gävlebocken was torched only hours after it was dedicated. |
I’m
really glad about that because that bonfire was one of the few times each year
where local friends and foes could stand together in peace and enjoy the warm
glow.
In
my own odd way of thinking, I connect our bonfire to the “traditional” 40-foot
high Yuletide straw goat, the Gävlebocken, in the town of Gävle, Sweden.
The “tradition” is just over 50 years old when town merchants came up with the idea in 1966 as a gimmick to promote winter tourism.
The “tradition” is just over 50 years old when town merchants came up with the idea in 1966 as a gimmick to promote winter tourism.
As
traditions go, that’s not very long. Indeed, that nauseating tune Jingle Bell Rock
predates the Gävlebocken by almost 10 years.
What
made the Gävlebocken different than any other commercial Christmas display is
the fact that, most years, the Gävlebocken gets burned to the ground.
I just check the live feed from Gävle, I can
tell you the goat is still intact.
As
for the bonfire, I hope this year’s is NOT it’s last. The bonfire has had close
calls before. I looked back at my
2013 coverage, a year when the bonfire was especially spectacular due to
very cold temperatures and lots of snow on the ground that spawned several
mini-tornadoes.
That
was the year when some Charlestown Grinch complained to DEM that the bonfire
violated environmental law. Indeed, DEM
issued notice to Charlestown that it deemed the bonfire to be an
unlicensed, illegal municipal trash fire (the structure is built from clean
wooden pallets donated by Arnold Lumber).
DEM
issued Charlestown with a cease-and-desist order. Maybe not coincidentally,
this happened at a time when DEM was telling local residents it didn’t have enough
inspectors to police the notorious Copar Quarry in Bradford.
But
luckily for Charlestown, we had an effect state legislator to help resolve this
mess. Then state
Representative Donna Walsh who talked to DEM about the fact that the fire was
a municipal event carefully monitored by the Charlestown Fire Department, and
not a dump fire.
DEM
rescinded the notice.
If
something like that happened today, we’d have to rely on Donna’s replacement,
Blake “Flip” Filippi. Probably all we’d get is a press conference where Filippi
would announce he was introducing a Constitutional amendment guarding the right
to carry matches.
Please
enjoy the following 20-minute video on the Gävlebocken produced by the Guardian and enjoy the rest of the holiday season,
especially the Charlestown bonfire after sundown on New Year's Eve.
To watch this video on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=3&v=Wom8qQXt7j0
