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It’s mid-day on Sunday along the shores of the Pemigewasset River and Padraic Bean is taking in a little sun like the many who flocked to the region for Memorial Day Weekend.
However, unlike many who head to the Lakes Region for some shopping or a cookout, the 22-year-old New Jersey resident looks more like a fur trapper than a tourist and the type of character you wouldn’t want to come upon during a canoe expedition whether it be 1828 or 2008.
Padraic is half naked save for some tasseled buckskin pants, he is drinking beer out of a 1800s-style tin cup and he is grimacing as he gets ready to make his final toss of a bag of hay in a “dead sheep” throwing competition that once saw more primitive people’s chucking disemboweled sheep stomachs for sport.
Sound a little out of the ordinary?
It may be, but for those attending this week’s Northeast Primitive Rendezvous the man known as “Pad” is a dime a dozen except that — unlike most males attending the event — he doesn’t have a long mangy beard littered with remnants of the day’s meals.
During the next week hundreds of amateur historians will gather in Sanbornton for a “Rendezvous” event that brings participants back to the early to mid 1800s when fur traders and Native American craftsmen would gather annually to stock up on goods before they headed into the woods for what could be extended periods of lonely work.
Groups around the country come together for modern-day versions of the gathering and they take the events seriously dressing in period garb, making homes in tents and teepees and foregoing showers for a more primitive experience that has them trading handmade goods ranging from buckskin clothing to jewelry and pottery.
Bean was among the many children and men who entered in the Highland Games event at this year’s Rendezvous, which say competitors throwing doing their best to throw rocks, timbers and bags of hay as far as they could.

citizen.com

8:30 a.m. Nassau County Comptroller Howard Weitzman addresses the Long Island Association; LIA Headquarters, 300 Broadhollow Road, Melville.
9 a.m. NYU releases results of three-year study on NYPD peer support programs; NYU’s Lipton Hall, D’Agostino Hall, 110 West 3rd St., at MacDougal Street.
9:45 a.m. Rally in support of OTB; City Hall Steps.
10 a.m. Parents and union supporters protest day care center closings; City Hall Park.
10:30 a.m. Department of Veterans Affairs and HUD announce new housing units for homeless veterans; Borden Avenue Veterans Residence, 2110 Broden Ave., Long Island City, Queens.
10:30 a.m. Transportation Committee votes on a bill that would improve due process at Taxi & Limousine Commission proceedings; City Hall, Committee Room.
10:30 a.m. Meeting of the New York Power Authority Audit Committee; Clarence D. Rappleyea Building, 123 Main Street, in the Executive Conference Room, 16th Floor, White Plains.
11 a.m. Health Department launches new nicotine patch giveaway program and anti-tobacco ad campaign; 311 Offices, 59 Maiden Lane, 14th Floor.
11:30 a.m. Teamsters Local 237 announces initiative with the National Union of American Families; Teamsters Local 237 Headquarters, 216 West 14th St.
11:45 a.m.The Police Athletic League’s annual Legal Profession Luncheon; The Pierre, Fifth Avenue and 61st Street.
12 p.m. Gun control advocates mark first anniversary of the Virginia Tech shootings by conducting three-minute sidewalk “Lie-In”; Times Square, in front of Marriott Marquis, Broadway at West 45th Street; Morris High School, 1100 Boston Road, Bronx; Bronx County Courthouse, 161 Grand Concourse, Bronx.
12 p.m. Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum joins Council Member Rosie Mendez to announce new bill to fight mold and pests problem to reduce asthma; City Hall Steps.
12:30 p.m. Students wear “chalk shoes” to create public street drawing to mark the future foot traffic paths to the High Line; beginning at the intersection of Ninth Avenue and 14th Street.

observer.com

Then he and his best beloved walked down Fifth Avenue with a grand painting of the street and St. Patrick’s Cathedral in the background. He, his best beloved and lots of people who dressed in their Easter finery.
“On the avenue, Fifth Avenue, the photographers will snap us, And you’ll find that you’re in the rotogravure.”
The what? Maybe the old timers and fellow columnist Dick Cosgrove will be the only people who remember the “roto” section of years long past. Newspapers, especially in the large cities, had their own color sections on Sunday; out here in the ’burbs, we rely on the syndicated inserts, such as USA Weekend. Oddly enough, in New York City it’s still referred to as “the roto section.” Some things never change.
Chiff.com, an Internet site, indicates the parade, which started in the mid-1800s, is still going strong. Didn’t realize that. Of late, New Orleans has been hosting a Gay Easter Parade and the rules indicate that it’s a lot more tasteful (read: covered up) than the Mardi Gras. There’s also a “Haute Dog” Easter Parade in New York, but you don’t want to see the photos. Poor dogs.
“Easter Parade” was originally another song. From archive.org, is this note: “Very neat to come across the recording of ‘Smile and Show Your Dimple.’ It was a WWI song written by Irving Berlin. He never believed in wasting anything and when he needed an old-time-sounding song for a 1930’s review, he recycled it as ‘Easter Parade.’ He modified the melody, but you can hear the newer song in the beginning of the chorus.”
The Easter Bunny is an old Eastern European symbol of the Resurrection, as it comes out of its hutch in the Spring. The Easter Egg is another symbol of new life and eternity.

citizensvoice.com