Terry Cowgill

The Big Heart of The White Hart

There was good news and bad news Saturday in Salisbury.

First the good … It’s amazing how many people will come out for a party when there’s free food and drink to be had, to say nothing of entertainment and good company.

But I suspect most everyone who turned out for the White Hart Inn’s 200th anniversary party would have come even for a cash bar and a 90-year-old accordian player. That’s how much having a friendly, independently-owned inn in the center of town means to people.

Even for a journalist who routinely covers such events, I am terrible at estimating crowd numbers, but I’d say there were at least 300 people at the party at various times during the afternoon. The dismal weather forecast, which no doubt had given innkeeper Kendra Tobin fits, was mercifully incorrect.

That meant it was no problem for attendees to not only watch entertainment and eat ice cream under the tent, but to take in a stage coach ride from the Glens Falls-Lake George Stage Company, or to catch magician Carl Seiger dazzle children (and grown-ups) with sleight-of-hand.

My 7-year-old daughter asked me how Seiger did his tricks. It was another one of those questions from a child that baffles adults. We live in an era in which the deepest, darkest secrets of the CIA and the Pentagon are routinely leaked to the news media, but the magicians won’t talk. In fact, if the Bush administration really wants to put a lid on the leaks and stick it to The New York Times, it ought to institute a policy whereby only magicians can get security clearance. I’m sure you could put Seiger in solitary confinement at Gitmo, waterboard him for an hour and he would never tell you what’s behind a simple card trick.

Project Troubador Cancelled

Osborn told me in the event of rain, he was concerned about the combination of rainwater and the electricity needed to power the equipment of the three bands he had booked for the concert. Furthermore, even if it had not rained (and Osborn said he saw no drops fall after 11 a.m. Saturday), conditions caused by previous downpours such as that on Friday would have created a hazard for workers and concertgoers alike. And Project Troubador uses the town ballfields behind the Patco for overflow parking. The fields were very soggy, so scores of cars would have torn it up and turned it into a pigpen. Finally, Osborn was worried about the strain a storm and/or muddy conditions would put on the Grove staff.

“From a public safety standpoint and a respect-for-town-property point of view, there really was no choice,” Osborn said of the decision to cancel. “This was just acting responsibly.”

I agree. It’s a tough call. Good luck next year.