WINTER CARNIVAL  
AND FIREWORKS SHOW
KICK-OFF OUR CENTENNIAL YEAR!!

Below are Mayor Guarnieri's remarks at the celebration held on January 1, 2008:

"Thank you Tom Hayden.

First and foremost, my wife Sonia and I and our family and our village family would like to wish you and your families a very happy and healthy new year. 

I would also like to welcome all of you to the kick-off of our Centennial Celebration that marks the beginning of a year round of events culminating in October which was the when the village received its seal of incorporation. 

To put all of this together was a tremendous task. And as always behind the inevitable there was a lot of hard work and dedication. So I would like to thank our Centennial Committee and especially the Chair of that Committee, former Mayor Tom Hayden. 

Tom was Mayor during our 75^th anniversary celebration and when he accepted to be our Centennial Chair our village was honored that he could do this yet again while he was still --- a young man. Thank you Tom. 

This Centennial Celebration is a landmark, a milestone of our success and the embodiment our triumph over this rugged course of time. But these celebrations are not merely commemorative for they represent, in their entirety, the confidence, the optimism and the promise of our tomorrows.  

Now poised on the threshold of a new and dynamic century, we stand as torchbearers lighting the way for a new generation. Knowing our actions, both good and bad, will have a profound effect on what we believe let us face the future with the same faith as our fathers before us so that the undying hopes and dreams that have sustained us, will again be harvested, to nourish and safe keep the generations to come.  

As we rededicate ourselves to the tasks ahead, let us reflect on the lessons of community, the spirit of citizenship, the resilience of civic pride and all the miracles, large and small, these things have wrought here in Floral Park. 

It is our responsibility to see the days to come as well as ourselves, in its largest dimensions. So as we take our first cautious but dauntless step into the dawn of our second century, let us always remember that our future is not something to be awaited for but something to be achieved.  

Happy New Year and Happy Birthday Floral Park!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thanks to the hard work of Centennial Chairperson Tom Hayden, 1st Assistant Fire Chief Frank Wakely, local boy and girl scouts, our recreation staff, fire department and the following committee members, the fun-filled day was a huge success.

Winter Carnival Committee Members
Virginia Appel
Tom Dillon
Ann Giardiello
Debra Joyce
 (Can-Dee Music Company)
Janet Kloepfer
Dominick Longobardi
Kurt Meyfohrt
Joan Reilly
Rob Reilly
Bernadette Verdu