Fireworks, Excursion Trains Return for Lansdale Founders Day

Lansdale Founders Day is weeks away, and the Founders Day Committee continues to meet and put the final touches on the programs for the annual downtown event.

"The big news this month is fireworks and Founders Day. I am starting to breathe in the paper bag that we are two weeks out. I don’t know where the time went," said Councilwoman Mary Fuller during this month's Parks and Recreation Committee report. "We have an awesome lineup."

Numerous sponsors have helped make Founders Day possible this year, Fuller said: Tyco Fire Products; Wisler Pearlstine; Abington Health; Signarama; Richard Strahm REMAX Realty; Minuteman Press; Milestones in Music; Quakertown National Bank; SEPTA; Lansdale Borough; Delta Development Group; Remington, Vernick and Beach; Pennoni Associates; Molly Maguires; Equus Capital; Hangley Aronchick Segal Pudlin & Schiller law firm; Univest; Lansdale Borough Manager Timi Kirchner; Green Street Luxuries; Walton Oil; Berk Wiper and Spiezle Architectural Group.

This year featured some patron donations too, including EMS Trucking and Metz Engineering. 

"Thanks to generosity of all those sponsors," Fuller said, who chairs Discover Lansdale, the nonprofit responsible for Founders Day. "Whatever contributions people can make for the event are always welcome."

The excursion train from Lansdale to Souderton returns this year, Fuller said, and will run the same route at the same times, 11:30 a.m., 1 p.m. and 2:30 p.m.

However, there will be some new things on that excursion train—live narration in each of the three cars of the history of the towns along the rail line.  

"Dick Shearer from Lansdale Historical Society has put together a lot of very cool information and stories that happened along this rail station over the last 140 years," Fuller said. "We will have live narrations and a script to guide the riders and tell them interesting stories of things that happened over the years."

While Fuller didn't want to spoil any of the historical anecdotes, she did recount one tale of how one town along the route burnt down its train station in order to rebuild a new one.  

A video walking tour created in 1980 by the Lincoln family of Lansdale will run in a continuous loop in front of 311 Arts, Fuller said, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

"Mr. and Mrs. Lincoln put together this tour of Lansdale with commentary, on all the great history of downtown," she said. "It has been remastered and re-narrated by a local volunteer, Pat Reiker. You can watch the videos and then walk to the places to see what they look like today."

Lansdale Historical Society will also be pulling out the old Shelly's soda booth, along with other memorabilia. Shelly's was located on West Main Street in Lansdale, at the site of the old Spice Smuggler.

"I remember from being a kid. You walked in and there was a bakery. Then, they had a soda fountain counter. You would walk to the back to the next room and there were a series of booths and menus," said Parks and Recreation Director Carl Saldutti during the Parks and Recreation Committee meeting. "It was a neat place. I remember it pretty well."

"My mother would always talk about the egg cream," added Fuller.

The zipline, which was very popular at a recent First Friday, will be featured at Founders Day as part of the Family, Fun and Food Festival.

The festival will feature a dunk tank, live music, a coloring contest sponsored by Milestones in Music, food and refreshments.

Lansdale Library will be celebrating its 85th anniversary, Fuller said, with a cake at 3 p.m. Naturally, it will have a couple entertaining events, including a wine tasting from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. at $20 a person or $30 per couple. Whole Foods is providing the cheese and the wine tasting is organized by Friends of Lansdale Library.

"And an added feature to fireworks, as if we need anything else, is live music, of course broadcast or amplified, in the Penndale School area and parking areas," Fuller said.

Here's a rundown of all the featured events for Founders Day:

• 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.: Lansdale Farmer's Market
• 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.: Festival of the Arts
• 10:15 a.m.: Opening Ceremony & Lifetime Achievement Award Presentation
• 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., and 2 p.m. to 4 p.m.: Lansdale Police Open House
• 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.: Jenkins Homestead Open House
• 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.: Lansdale Borough Hall Open House
• 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.: Fairmount Fire Company Open House 
• Noon to 7 p.m.: White's Road Pool and Fourth Street Pool open free of charge
• 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.: PennSuburban Chamber of Commerce's 100th Anniversary celebration and Health Expo at Susquehanna Avenue parking area next to the North Penn Boys and Girls Club
• 3 p.m. to 8 p.m.: Family, Food and Fun Festival
• 9 p.m.: Fireworks