Plainsboro’s founding marked in high style

Twenty-seventh Founders Day was like all the prior 26 — held under sunny skies

By: Emily Craighead
   PLAINSBORO — For the 27th year in a row, Founders Day took place beneath sunny skies on Sunday.
   "They made me responsible for the weather 27 years ago," Mayor Peter Cantu joked. "They’re liable to impeach me if it does rain."
   The event, which celebrates Plainsboro’s incorporation as a township in 1919, attracted hundreds of residents who lined Plainsboro Road for a parade kicking off the day’s festivities.
   Children gathered to play games long before the parade came through to signal the start of the celebration. When the sound of marching bands drew near, everyone flocked to the edge of the street to watch the parade approach the fairgrounds at the Municipal Building.
   Amid much fanfare, members of the Township Committee led the way, followed by a colorful array of musicians, dancers and antique cars.
   When the parade arrived at the main stage, the official Town Crier, Cliff Hochberg, proclaimed the opening of the celebration and introduced the mayor.
   "Enjoy each other and enjoy the day," Mayor Cantu said after thanking community volunteers and local businesses that helped put together the day’s events.
   Coinciding with the time of year when people bring shorts and tank tops out of winter storage, go on spring picnics and get their first sunburn of the year, Founders Day is an important tradition for community members.
   "It’s a rite of spring in Plainsboro," said Joanne Lupica, Recreation Department director. "It’s the first big event where they can all get together."
   Township residents and others who came from further afield to enjoy the day mingled as children ran from booth to booth to get their faces painted, play mini golf and soccer, or do arts and crafts.
   Even the teenagers found something to do. Many, like Summaiya Rehman, volunteered to supervise different activities for fun or to earn credit for community service hours for school or for Boy Scouts or Girl Scouts.
   "It’s fun and you get to know the people because the whole community’s here," said Summaiya, an eighth-grader at Community Middle School. With her sister and a few friends, she volunteered at the craft table doing sand art.
   The Give & Take Jugglers wowed audiences, while other participants in another corner of the field played a quiet game of giant chess.
   Some of the shyer participants stayed sheltered beneath the New Jersey Audubon Society tent. "Maize," the corn snake, and "Spot," the spotted turtle from the Plainsboro Preserve, accompanied the preserve’s program director, Jerry Kozlasky, to the festivities. A few people were brave enough to run their fingers over the reptile’s smooth skin, and Maize didn’t seem to mind.
   Another awe-inspiring participant in the Founders Day festivities was Evil Machine 1, a robot from North Brunswick standing in for Sir Lancebot, the robot built during the robotics team’s first year at High School North. Sir Lancebot is on its way back from the team’s most recent competition, said Libby Kamen, a freshman at High School North, who represented the robotics team at Founders Day.
   Performances on the main stage continued all afternoon, with the MacGregor Pipe Band, jazz ensembles from West Windsor-Plainsboro High School North and High School South, the Madore Piano and Dance School, folk dancers from the Plainsboro Chinese School and others.
   In the final performance of the day, Daisy Jug Band got everyone involved, singing along to songs played on less traditional instruments — the kazoo, scrub-board, washtub and garden hose.
   This variety in activities and appeal reflects the community, according to Ms. Lupica.
   "Because of the way (Founders Day) has evolved, it is very inclusive of community participation," she said.
   The involvement of these groups brings diversity to the event as they share their traditions, foods, music and dance with other community members.
   Already, plans are under way for next year’s event as more community members volunteer their ideas for continuing to make Founders Day an event that reflects Plainsboro as it continues to grow and change.