WARWICK— In the recently completed, 10-month long, townwide visioning process known as Community2gether and conducted under the auspices of Community 2000, the most frequently expressed idea was to bring the different parts of Warwick — its villages and hamlets — closer together to promote a greater sense of community.
'A unifying event'That townwide aspiration will take an important step closer to becoming a reality with the first "Three Lakes Festival” scheduled for the summer of 2019.
“Warwick has these three beautiful lakes — Glenmere Lake in Florida, Wickham Lake outside the Village of Warwick and, of course, Greenwood Lake,” said Daniel Harter Jr., the newly elected Mayor of Florida who first had the idea of creating a unifying event around the lakes, “and it just seemed like there was an opportunity there."
That idea grabbed people’s imagination almost immediately and a planning committee which includes the three mayors — Jesse Dwyer of Greenwood Lake and Michael Newhard of Warwick in addition to Harter — of more than 20 people has already held their first meeting.
ActivitiesPreliminary plans call for three special, activity-filled days, one at each lake, spread out over the summer months of 2019, with each community planning its own event.
“The idea," Dwyer said, “is for people from all over the town to get to know the lakes and the communities and the people they may not know that well … yet.”
Specific activities will be chosen by each lake subcommittee, but many ideas were tossed out at the first meeting. They included kayak/canoe races, a “flotilla” parade with prizes, fishing contests, educational programs on the history/ecology of each lake, “plein air” painting classes, and, of course, music and food.
Cold-weather festival also may be consideredEven the possibility of having a winter version of the festival with ice skating, ice fishing and other cold-weather activities was mentioned.
Said Annette Sanchez, a member of the Three Lakes committee and co-owner of Jean-Claude’s Patisserie with stores in Warwick and GWL: “It was exciting to see the mix of people come up with so many great ideas around the original concept. Impressive!"
Newhard summed up the feeling of many who are involved with the project when he said: “I would hope the Three Lakes Festival becomes an annual event which enables all of us to draw closer together.” Published in the Warwick Advertiser - July 5, 2018
The Work of Warwick's Town Vision Begins
Photo by Jonathan Talbot. Pictured left to right: Vision Co-chair Geoff Howard, Vision Co-chair Roger Moss,Warwick Town Supervisor Michael Sweeton, Village of Warwick Mayor Michael Newhard, Greenwood Lake Mayor Jesse Dwyer, Florida Mayor Daniel Harter Jr., Vision Co-chair Tony Trimarco, and Vision Consultant Gianni Longo.
WARWICK — The townwide Warwick Vision took almost a year to develop and involved more than 3,000 residents. The finished Vision document was officially presented to Warwick’s elected officials — the Town Supervisor and the mayors of Florida, Greenwood Lake and Warwick — in a well-attended ceremony at Town Hall on Tuesday evening, May 22, and almost immediately ideas in the Vision began to move forward. Published in the Warwick Advertiser - May 30, 2018