BERNE — On July 7, on Family Day, area residents will celebrate community at the Berne town park.

Formerly Berne Heritage Days, this year’s event is also a fund-raiser for the new Berne Library, planned to be built at the park. Families Together in Albany County will sponsor games, rides, and fun for kids. Berne’s town historian, Ralph Miller, will set up his computer to conduct genealogy research.
A Model T car show is planned for the afternoon. Participants will have the opportunity to vote for their favorite car, and the top vote-getter will receive the "People’s Choice Award."

Burma Shave-style signs with rhyming jingles, once common sights along highways, will line both sides of Route 443 leading into Berne Town Park.

And fireworks will burst above the park that night.

If it doesn’t rain.

Last year, the annual event rained out twice. As rain fell once again last year on the event’s rain date, local author and president of the Warner’s Lake Improvement Association, sat at the park pavilion in Berne with copies of his book.

On Family Day, Osterhout will sell and sign copies of his latest book, The Journey Continues. Like its predecessor, The Journey Continues is a pictorial history of Berne from 1850 to 1950. The book is the largest in the trilogy, Osterhout said, and contains new photographs, stories, and recollections.

Two of the stories are of men who played parts in United States history.

One is of a young man, Seth Flint, who, at age 15, left his home in Berne in the middle of the night and walked barefoot to Albany to join the Union Army, Osterhout said. He then went on to join General Ulysses S. Grant’s army and saw the Civil War’s end at Appomattox, where he played taps.

Another is of John Butterfield, who left for the West at a young age, and formed a stage line. He went up against Wells and Fargo, but, after competing against one another, the three men formed a partnership and created the American Express Company, Osterhout said.

On Family Day, members of the Bassler family will ride in a 1914 Model T car, re-enacting the cover of Osterhout’s second book, Life Along the Way: A Pictorial History of the Hamlets of Berne, at 3 p.m.

Osterhout, who has spent six years collecting photographs and stories from the area, thinks this is the last book in the collection.
"It was a fun thing to do, but I don’t have anything further planned," Osterhout said.

Myriad activities

On Family Day, July 7, Cub Scout Pack 79 will hold a car wash at the Berne-Knox-Westerlo bus garage from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The Hilltown Senior Citizens will hold a tag sale on Route 443 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

At Berne Town Park, Families Together in Albany County will sponsor kid’s rides and games from 2 to 5 p.m. The Friends of the Berne Library will provide food from 3 to 8 p.m. Osterhout will be signing his new book, The Journey Continues, from 3 to 7 p.m. The Berne Historical Society will display exhibits. A Model T Antique Car Show will run from 3 to 6 p.m. Participants will vote for their favorite car.

Traditional Strings and The Hilltown Ramblers will play from 5 to 9 p.m., when fireworks begin. The rain date is Aug. 18.

Also on Family Day, a town-wide lawn sale will be held in Berne from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Maps will be available at the Berne firehouse on Canaday Hill Road. No registration fee is required. For more information, or to have your sale included on the map, contact Lauri Motschmann at 872-0355.

A chicken barbecue and home-made pie sale, sponsored by the Berne Fire Department auxiliary, will also be held on July 7. Take-out chicken dinners include one-half chicken, a baked potato, coleslaw, a roll, cookies, and a choice of lemonade or iced tea. The cost is $9 for dinners and $6 for half a chicken. Pickup will be from 3 to 6 p.m. For reservations, contact Motschmann. The deadline for reservations in July 1.