Saltaire Summery

Saltaire SummeryBy Hugh O’BrienSOCCER! We can’t proceed without acknowledging and handing down the details of Ralph Perlberger’s 18th Annual Saltaire Soccer Cup.WHEN: Saturday, Aug. 13, and Sun., Aug. 14, 2016.WHERE: The Field on Broadway. Well, it’s actually just off to the east side of Broadway, but you get the drift.REGISTATION: Saturday from 8:30-9:30 a.m. That’s it, no excuses, no more chances. To quote Himself, “Register early as slots fill up quickly.”TEAMS AND SCHEDULE POSTED: Saturday, 10:30 a.m., at Le Field.ENTRY FEE: $15 per. You think Ralph’d let you get kicked around the field for free?QUALIFICATIONS: Men and women, which takes in most of you, ages 13 and over, priority to Saltaire residents and their guests. You know, all those guests in from Kismet, Fair Harbor, Dunewood….Ralph is one of the great Saltairians and the Soccer tourney one of the great Saltaire traditions, lo, or more accurately high, these past 18 years. So skip the Olympics and watch or play Ralph’s soccer. More fun and safer mosquitoes.Upcoming too is the JOGATHON, or, as the SCAA website refers to it, “A Jogathon,” which I kind of like for its understated quaintness: as though lots of jogathons were run every year. The other week I ran across, actually almost into, Sam Mann, good guy albeit a non-Saltairian and for three decades one of the J’thon’s perpetual winners. Sam was, of course, running, but at the same time training for the event’s two races, 1 and 3.5 miles, to be held Sunday, Aug. 21, starting at 9 a.m. at the starting line, corner of Bay and Broadway. Registration will be held the day before, Saturday, Aug. 20, from 9 a.m. to noon at “a” gazebo in Brodkin Park. No word on an entrance fee or T-shirt details but rest assured both will be there.Coming next: The Sandcastle Contest, Saturday, Aug.27, at the Broadway-Pacific beach, judging and sentencing at 2 p.m.Meanwhile the community’s biggest event of the summer unspooled unspoiled all day last Saturday, the freshly titled “Let’s Celebrate Saltaire,” and did people ever. Even the glowering threat of rain evaporated and the revelers proceeded unwetted. From the packed Artisan Fair (held, ironically, beside the Village’s Artesian Well), Art Activities, Literary Readings, Captain Al’s Watermelon Party, and culminating in the evening’s pre-twilight bay picnic and post-twilight fireworks, with a bayfront ambulance call thrown in for that touch of verisimilitude, the day was an enormous success. Put it this way, and this is also true: one indicator of the outsized impact of this festival was measured in chairs. Matt Nelson and the maintenance guys who helped set up the thing said they had never had to collect so many chairs to accommodate so many people – vendors, audiences, whomever – in any previous fiesta. No sooner had the trustees meeting broken up around 11:30 than the boys swarmed in like chair-locusts, sweeping up row after row of those ultra-comfortable, winners of innumerable design awards, clanking folding metal chairs – you know, the ones purposely painted with phony scrape marks and fake “chipped paint” blemishes to impart that fashionable “downmarket” look. Anyway, so many people were in need of seating to enjoy the various attractions that the guys barely got a breather. Congratulations to Allison Williams and Rich Montero who served as the event’s – what else? – co-chairs.And on the subject of credits, amends to Carol Cappelletti, whom I neglected to cite for all her work organizing and shepherding the House & Garden Tour last month, an accomplishment akin to organizing a small invasion, but evidence of Carol’s marshaling skills and taste in picking only the best houses and gardens!A few health and safety reminders as we draw down the second half of the summer…. Skeet shooting: The Village is again offering BTI rings to kill off mosquito larvae; just break ‘em up and flush ‘em down your WC to destroy these pests in one of their favorite breeding grounds and beat Brazil at its own game. Available for free at the Village Office, along with the usual popcorn, which studies show has no effect on mosquitoes.Concerning creatures of higher intelligence and greater loyalty, and you’ll note the absence of any Trump cracks, the Village has attached “doggie bags” to all public refuse containers to encourage and make picking up after you dog easy, efficient and fun – all right, all right, it’s not easy. But it’s right neighborly, contributes to public health, and will eliminate the horror of appearing before Mr. Justice Markus on charges of violating some Village ordinance or other. Seriously, please pick up after your dog.Now, safe bicycling practices have become a hot topic of late, so to recap a few don’ts, plus one do we do want you to do, which is your due: don’t ride a bike with more people than it’s designed to carry (this includes riding a child in a bike basket and similar hazardous acts); don’t use scooters, Segways, roller skates and other non-bicyclectic vehicles in Saltaire; don’t walk your dog while riding a bike; don’t text, phone, play Pokemon-Go or otherwise use a cell phone while biking as the distraction can result in accidents; but do ring your required bell at all intersections. Flashlights at night.Lastly, per Mayor Zaccaro’s plea at Saturday’s BOT meeting, please stop swiping our signs. Street signs, lifeguard signs, No “Thru” Walk signs, No Bikes signs, Danger: Dynamiting signs, Enter Mario’s Office at Your Own Risk signs, lots of them are disappearing into somebody’s garage or dorm room. The most recent taking was the For Sale sign at the oceanside property on Pacific. We purposefully made it too big to steal and it was stolen. This costs taxpayers money but more seriously it creates hazards to people if signs with crucial safety or address information are swiped, thereby causing injuries or delaying emergency responses. So please, knock it off. We’ll be putting signs up around the village to remind you.