By Bill Wolcott bill.wolcott@niagara-gazette.com
Niagara Gazette
NIAGARA FALLS —
OLCOTT — Something old was new Saturday, which was a perfect day for pirates, their mates and little buccaneers at the Pirate Festival.
After Friday’s rain cleared out the oppressive heat and humidity, the fresh air was welcome along the shore of Lake Ontario. The Pirate Festival, which sponsored by the Olcott Fire Co., continues today at Krull Park.
Steve and Shari Crawford of 18th Century Toys and Games in Bridgeport came for the first time to the annual event and introduced some games that have been traced back hundreds of years.
The kids, and a few adventurous adults, tried their hands and feet at walking on stilts. It wasn’t as easy as falling off a log, another game introduced. There was also “shuttlecock and battledore,” a precursor to badminton and a “bat and trap game,” — which isn’t quite cricket.
Battledore and shuttlecock was played by peasants in medieval England and became an upper class pastime in many European countries. Bat and trap, an ancient English ball game related to cricket, is something like a self-pitch baseball game.
It is played at country pubs with two teams of up to eight people. The player taps a lever and knocks the ball up. The ball is struck with a bat.
Shari Crawford runs an 18th Century Toys workshop.
“I come along and give stilt lessons,” Steve said. “It’s something I love to do. My wife and I go to far flung corners of the state to teach history lessons to kids. We make a lot of toys. This is our first year here. We love it. It’s an absolutely beautiful site.”
Kids wore beads and bandanas and danced their own dances to the Nite Cruise in the pavilion. There were carnival rides and concessions. Families stopped at Carousel Park to go on the 25-cent rides.
“I’m a pirate. We’re all pirates today,” said Joll Steurmer of Clarence who brought Caden, 2, and Michael, 7. “We like the parade and really like the little rides here at the park. Mostly the pirates. We’re big pirate fans.”
Jim and Amy Moore of Newfane brought daughters, Kylie and MacKenzie. They came with friends Kim, Jim and Olivia and tried the games.
“You stand on the logs and have to pull the rope,” said Olivia, 7. “I got off and scraped my knee.”
Children wore beads from the pirate parade and there were a variety of pirate hats.
Mike Warren, 12, of Niagara Falls, was fairly adept at his first attempt to walk on stilts. “It’s all about balance,” he said.
Kevin Horning, 7, of Lockport, was confident he could master the skill and kept at it.
There are rides and slides and a Ferris wheel. Joe Fabiano of Niagara Falls bounced high on the bungy jump and did a flip. Little Joe Jr., 6, copied dad — once he could stretch his feet to get some kick off the ground.
Patrick Karney, 8, climbed up and down the escarpment to the lake with his hand-puppet monkey “Bob” Patrick won the puppet shooting baskets at a fairway game. Bob said, “I like bananas.”
Patrick’s mustache and beard were painted on while his mother, Marie Karney, was decked out in complete pirate dress. “It’s fun, why not?” mom said.
“Short Bob Aluminum,” as opposed to Long John Silver, came along with Penelope Pearl from the sea with the criminally insane. Bob and Penelope Goodman shipped in from Wilson.
The festival began Friday night in the rain and picked up energy Saturday afternoon. “It will be busy tonight with car cruise and big name bands coming in,” said Mike Miller, Olcott fire chief.
