We all heard the numbers in the days and weeks leading up to this past weekend's Firefighters' Parade — estimates from the police department and government officials alike were coming in at between 15,000 to 25,000 spectators who were going to line the streets of downtown Ellenville and fill our business's coffers, if for only one day.

Well, despite a hugely successful and, by all accounts, an excellent parade, the question on many people's lips is the same: Where were all the people?

Chris Depew, one of the Hudson Valley Volunteer Firemen's Association (HVVFA) Convention's organizers, reported that the parade runners estimated about 8,000 spectators total, and that some of the initial estimates prior to the parade "got inflated by people who didn't know what they were talking about."

"We expected in the neighborhood of 10,000 people," says Depew. "The Mardi Gras parade [in Napanoch on Friday] had nearly 2,000 people, and it was great to see everybody out there together. We hit the numbers we needed to hit, and lots of local businesses did really well."

According to Depew, who is chairman of the Southern Ulster Public Safety Association (SUPSA), an affiliation of the area's four fire companies, many of the vendors in Liberty Square who were present at the parade did quite well, and that many of the churches who held socials during the parade were met with great success.

So where did some of the inflated numbers come from?

Depew believes that the culprit may be too great a reliance on numbers culled from previous parades and conventions at Lake George, a frequent site for the convention in years past. He reasons that Lake George often has much higher numbers simply because there are already plenty of tourists there, so the predicted numbers for Ellenville probably became skewed as a result.

Currently, Depew is taking a break down at the Jersey Shore for a short vacation after the experience of organizing the convention. He says he put in 18-20 hour days during the week of the convention, but that it was worth all the work.

"A lot of people were saying it was the most organized convention they'd ever been to," says Depew, who, along with the rest of SUPSA, has been working to organize the convention for the past six years.

"It was worth all the work," he says. When asked when the convention will be returning to Ellenville, Depew laughs and keeps his answer short.

"Not anytime soon."

A Mixed Bag
Local businesses along Canal and Center Streets are reporting varied results due to the parade's arrival this last weekend. Deny Miftari of Arrianna's Pizza on the corner of Market and Canal reports a good turnout on Saturday, saying that "everything was full from eight in the morning to two-thirty" in the afternoon. He says that they did at least twice as much business as the usual Saturday, and that there were lines "out the door" waiting for pizza, drinks, and dinners.

Pat Bulson, proprietor of Canal Street's recently opened hot dog restaurant, Spanky's, reports similar success, saying that he sold about three hundred hot dogs and ran out of Diet Pepsi and root beer.

"It was great for us, a good shot in the arm," he says. Apparently, the restaurant had so many vying for dogs and drinks, that "people couldn't get in." The business had opened just the day before, and as such, couldn't compare to previous Saturdays.

Roger Buchwalter, manager of the Ellenville Stewart's Shop on the corner of Canal Street and 209, reports big sales and activity before the parade began, but that business slowed significantly during the parade itself.

Terry Clearwater, owner and proprietor of the Lighthouse Deli on Canal Street offers a somewhat different experience, expressing her disappointment in the whole affair.

"What happened to all the people?" asks Clearwater. She says that based on the spectator-estimates she was told about in the weeks leading up to the parade, the far lower turnout resulted in the loss of at least a couple thousand dollars worth of an investment in product, much of which is perishable.

"I had a $600 bakery bill," she says, and to illustrate her point, she gestures to a cardboard box on the counter, filled with pastries and cookies, and marked 'Free.' All told, she only picked up about $700 over the average Saturday, which was a far lower estimate than she had invested in and prepared for.

"The parade itself was nice, but I think they scared everybody away," she says. She says that a lot of her Saturday-regulars later told her that they didn't even try to come down to the deli because they figured it would be far too busy to make it through the procession.

Some businesses on Center Street also reported losses, having over-estimated the amount of sales they would make on the day of the parade. Dominic's Pizzeria on Center Street, however, reports having done well on Saturday, despite losing power for more than three hours during the parade itself. They don't know what the cause of the outage was, but it didn't stop them from being able to keep track of their sales. The money they collected was put into baskets until power to the registers was restored, their brick-ovens operating without the need for electricity.

"If every day was a parade, I'd do alright," says Dominic of the experience, saying that he'd done better business this weekend than on a usual Saturday. "It was just a little inconvenient."

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