Glass Days returns

Glass Days is coming back.

The formerly annual Dunkirk festival is making its return in a new format Saturday, with activities running from 8:30 a.m. through late in the evening.

Glass Days has been dormant since the last festival was held in 2019 as the entirety of the former festival committee resigned that November. There would have been no festival regardless in 2020 because of the coronavirus pandemic, but it has continued to be in hibernation since then. That changed last fall when a committee made up of Dru Hall, Pam Robbins, Rose Morgan, Jeff Hatch and Larry Lafoe visited Dunkirk City Council to discuss plans to relaunch Glass Days. They set a target of late September or early October 2023.

The vision will become a reality beginning Saturday morning as the new iteration of Glass Days — it will be on Commerce Street between Main and Indiana streets and the surrounding area — kicks off with a welcome and opening ceremony. That will feature an invocation by Pastor Susan Durovey-Antrim of Calvary United Methodist Church and Karlie Bullard singing the national anthem.

Hall expressed excitement for the upcoming festivities.

“We haven’t had Glass Days for the last four years,” he said. “It was a big part of Dunkirk. We had decided we were going to do it. We had a lot of obstacles … but we just want to get it started.”

With a crew new to the festival scene, the group leaned on local groups to lead events. Those will include Sculpt Fitness running a push up contest from 9:45 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Mt. Tabor Community and Sugar Grove churches teaming on a cake walk from 10 to 11 a.m., kids games by Glad Tidings Church from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., The Orr Selling Team holding a corn hole tournament at 11 a.m., The Waters Nursing Home hosting a golf cart parade at 2 p.m. and Dunkirk City Cruisers hosting a car show from 2 to 5 p.m.

Other activities for the reborn festival include a 5K run at 9 a.m., a push-up contest led by Sculpt Fitness running from 9:45 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and a visit from Mickey and Minnie Mouse from 1 to 3 p.m. There will also be concerts from noon on, with Lost in Reality taking the stage first followed by Greg Rhodes at 5 p.m., Remedy Band at 6:15 p.m. and Cook and Belle at 8 p.m. (Glass artist Lisa F. Pelo will be on hand creating pieces that will be auctioned off prior to the Cook and Belle performance.)

Dunkirk American Legion and Sons of the American Legion will offer all-you-can-eat chicken and fish from 1 to 6 p.m. And Jones Photography of Dunkirk will offer portraits.

One of the features that will be missing this year, but the committee hopes to add again in the future, is a carnival company.

“We could not get an amusement company for rides and stuff,” said Hall.

The Cinderella Queen of Glass Pageant will also be absent from this year’s festival. Instead, 2019 queen Emma Morgan will reign this year with the committee planning to revive the pageant in 2024.

“She’s the longest-reigning Cinderella Queen of Glass in history,” Hall joked.

In addition to the activities along Commerce Street, there will also be several off-site attractions. Those include tours of the Ardagh glass manufacturing facility from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., a farmers’ market at Living in Joy, bounce houses at the Dunkirk American Legion post and a flea market at Westlawn Business Center. Dunkirk Glass Museum will be open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Hall said the planning process has been nerve-wracking but that the committee is excited to get Glass Days going again.

“I never lose sleep about anything, but this I have,” he said. “It’s something none of us have done before. Most committees … somebody’s a holdover from last time. This is all new to us.”