It will take a whole village to capture “The Spirit of Ballston Spa” for 2020 heritage preservation project
Sample contributions might shine the spotlight on ‘home schooling’ innovations or precious moments involving families, friends and neighbors. Did the pandemic change the way you celebrated St. Patrick’s Day, Easter, Passover, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Memorial Day, the Fourth of July? How about your graduation, prom, reunion or wedding anniversary plans? A picture is worth a thousand words.
Just as it took a whole village to build Kids’ Creekside Village in 2008 (CLICK HERE), it will take a whole village to make the Ballston Spa Living 2020 Community Yearbook a literary Time Capsule to be treasured for generations to come.
The heritage preservation project’s original concept as the sun rose on the new decade had been a blissfully simple one. Ballston Spa Living would create a keepsake-quality volume filled with images of concerts, exhibits, fairs, festivals, parades, shows, sales and other crowd-pleasing multi-generational events as they unfolded during the calendar year.
Then along came the coronavirus pandemic. And with it the reality that life in the revitalized village heralded as a destination for all seasons would need to change in unprecedented ways in order to help prevent the spread of COVID-19.
Although this free website contains foundational blocks for the yearbook, including some content that documents history-in-the-making against the backdrop of the coronavirus pandemic, contributions of additional images and captions that capture “The Spirit of Ballston Spa” during 2020 will be warmly welcomed.
Editor Ann Hauprich (CLICK HERE) and Publisher-Webmaster Mary Hauprich Reilly (CLICK HERE) hope a diversity of sources will contribute to sections based upon the themes of such existing COVID-19 galleries as “The stories behind the masked faces” (CLICK HERE).
Also needed are additional images that capture Signs of the Times, Social Distancing Etiquette, Streetscapes, Supply Shortages and Symbols of Hope to name but a few.
Sections devoted to SMILEstones and Silver Linings are also in the process of being developed. Among those to be documented by Ballston Spa Living are the uplifting tale of how a lad’s 10th birthday evolved into a Spirit of Ballston Spa celebration complete with a “parade” (CLICK HERE) and the poignant account of a disabled octogenarian who enjoyed her final weeks surrounded by loved ones after being brought home from a nursing care facility near the start of the COVID-19 crisis (CLICK HERE) While these certainly form a solid foundation for this part of the yearbook, others that warm hearts and lift spirits will also be warmly welcomed.
Sample contributions might shine the spotlight on “home schooling” innovations or precious moments involving families, friends and neighbors. Did the pandemic change the way you celebrated St. Patrick’s Day, Easter, Passover, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Memorial Day, the Fourth of July? How about your graduation, prom, reunion or wedding anniversary plans? A picture is worth a thousand words.
As a Christmas gift to the community, a digital copy of the more than 200-page full-color 8.5” x 11” yearbook published will be available free of charge via BallstonSpaLiving.com commencing on December 24. New links will be added by Labor Day for those wishing to purchase hard copies of the limited edition volume for private collections and for those who offer support as part of a special section honoring Spirit of Ballston Spa sponsors.
BOTTOM LINE: Your contributions of photos, artwork and video clips that are suitable for family viewing will make it possible for us to more fully capture The Spirit of Ballston Spa during the COVID-19 pandemic. Each submission should be accompanied by caption information. In order that we might recognize all contributors to our web site, we ask that each submission include the contributor’s full name and a recent head shot — with or without a protective facial covering in place. Select images and reflections will subsequently be published as part of photo-essays within the covers of the Ballston Spa Living 2020 Community Yearbook. In those instances, donors will be contacted directly for more information by Editor Ann Hauprich or Publisher Mary Hauprich Reilly.
To submit contributions via email attachment, kindly send them to Publisher Mary Hauprich Reilly at mhaupten@gmail.com. Snail-mail submissions may be sent to Editor Ann Hauprich, C/O Legacies Unlimited, PO Box 336, Ballston Spa, NY 12020.
Thank you!