Dan and Stacey Flanagan unveil the Wilmington Bicentennnial Time Capsule at Preston Festival Field on Saturday, Sept. 17. (News photo — Andy Flynn)

WILMINGTON — If you were at a cemetery, you’d swear it was a burial service. But it was more like a celebration of life.

More than 30 people gathered around a white tent at Preston Festival Field Saturday morning, Sept. 17. The sun was out, and blue jays made their presence known as a light gray cloth covered a stone monument that contained the Wilmington Bicentennial Time Capsule. If you didn’t know any better, you could have mistaken it for an odd-shaped coffin about to be lowered into the ground.

But the corn stalks, pumpkins and colorful mums surrounding the monument — made out of stone saved from the old Wilmington bridge over the West Branch of the AuSable River — gave this scene a festive atmosphere. String music such as “Ashokan Farewell” played by the Mulvey family and refreshments from the Little Super Market and Up the Creek restaurant helped, as did the bicentennial pins many people were wearing.

This was a celebration. A chance to document what life is like in Wilmington in 2022 and show younger generations 50 years later how we lived, what buildings were around and what hopes we had for the future.

Inside the monument — which was finished Saturday morning by Kevin Rowe and his crew at Rowe’s Contracting in Wilmington — is a stainless steel time capsule, measuring 17 by 19 by 10 inches deep.

Wilmington Bicentennnial Time Capsule Committee chair Marjorie Swift, right, hands Wilmington Historical Society President Karen Peters a list of all the items placed in the time capsule on Saturday, Sept. 17 at the Preston Festival Field. (News photo — Andy Flynn)

“And it is full,” Time Capsule Committee Chair Marjorie Swift told the crowd. “The capsule, collecting stuff, was such a treat and all the fun things that came to me for it.”

Swift pitched the idea of a time capsule to town Supervisor Roy Holzer and the Wilmington Bicentennial Committee after attending a holiday ceremony last November in the village of Warwick in the Hudson Valley. She noticed a time capsule encased inside a monument there and figured Wilmington should have one, too.

“I think I messaged Roy on Thanksgiving,” Swift said, “going, ‘Make sure I’m invited to your meeting.'”

“Margie’s known for her baked goods,” Holzer told the crowd, “so I actually thought it was to give us a pie or something.”

No pie. Just an idea.

Wilmington town Supervisor Roy Holzer speaks during the dedication of the Wilmington Bicentennnial Time Capsule on Saturday, Sept. 17 at the Preston Festival Field. (News photo — Andy Flynn)

Swift soon found herself heading a committee that included Stacey Flanagan, Laurie George, Rarilee Conway and Sara Hobday. She secured construction from Rowe Contracting and a metal plaque from Adirondack Awards in Lake Placid, which states:

“Wilmington Bicentennial TIME CAPSULE sealed September 17, 2022 to be opened September 17, 2072. Sponsored by the Wolfe Family Descendants Town of Wilmington & Friends.”

Swift collected items for the time capsule, and while she won’t reveal all the contents, she did mention some.

“I think it should be a surprise,” Swift told the News on Wednesday, Sept. 21.

Items include letters local children wrote to themselves, hoping to read them again when the time capsule is opened. Some letters were sealed, but others were not, allowing Swift to read a few.

The Mulvey family band played string music such as “Ashokan Farewell” prior to the Wilmington Bicentennnial Time Capsule dedication on Saturday, Sept. 17 at the Preston Festival Field. From left are Russ, Tara, Barbara and Jessica Mulvey. (News photo — Andy Flynn)

“Reading their letters, there was so much hope and love for our town,” she said at the dedication ceremony.

There are historical items from the Wolfe family, who sponsored most of the project; artwork from local artists, such as Stevie Capozio, who died on Aug. 25 at the age of 101; newspaper articles; books; a letter from town Supervisor Roy Holzer to the supervisor in 2072; items from Whiteface Mountain Ski Center, Santa’s Workshop and various restaurants in town; history leading up to the present day from the Whiteface Community United Methodist Church; and items that help tell the story of the coronavirus pandemic, such as test kits and masks. There’s even a small homemade book with photos of all the signs in town.

“There’s a lot of photos,” Swift said Wednesday. “We have two flash drives in there.”

One USB flash drive includes a video from around town donated by a visitor and another one includes 130 photos from around town taken by local professional photographer Jeri Wright.

Speaking to the News before the celebration began on Saturday, Wright said she included a letter with her flash drive explaining to the tech gurus 50 years from now that she hopes they have the technology to access the digital photos.

The Rev. Chrys Beck, pastor of the Whiteface Community United Methodist Church in Wilmington, speaks during the Wilmington Bicentennnial Time Capsule dedication on Saturday, Sept. 17 at the Preston Festival Field. (News photo — Andy Flynn)

“I started out with film 70 years ago,” Wright said. “I know all about archival inks and papers, thinking I should have printed these, but it would be very expensive and so time consuming. I’m 91 now, so I can’t get around and do all that stuff.”

Asked if there was one place in town that she enjoyed photographing the most, she pointed to the mountain bike park — known as Randy’s Park — built under the leadership of local students Charlie Wilson and Henry Loher and their friends — known as the Hardy Kids.

“I watched them build the first one, and now they’re working on one for the little kids, which is so cute,” Wright said.

The contents of the time capsule will become the property of the Wilmington Historical Society after it is opened. Therefore, after historical society President Karen Peters said a few words, Swift handed over the time capsule’s inventory inside a sealed envelope for safe keeping. It is “not to be opened” until Sept. 17, 2072.

“We will keep it under guard,” Peters said.

Peters is a retired teacher, and during her speech, her inner teacher came out. This was indeed a teachable moment.

“What’s the meaning of a time capsule?” Peters said. “According to Merriam-Webster, a time capsule is a container holding historical records or objects representative of current culture that is deposited in a cornerstone for preservation until discovery at some future age. In our case, we know the opening will be in 2072.”

Then she asked a second question.

“Wilmington’s bicentennial time capsule will be opened in the 250th anniversary year of the town. If a 200-year anniversary is called a bicentennial, what is a 250-year celebration called?”

The answer: “It’s a semiquincentennial or a sestercentennial. Or, maybe easier to remember, a quarter millennial.”

“A quarter millennial,” Swift commented. “I like that.”

“No matter the name of the celebration here, when Wilmington’s bicentennial time capsule is opened in 2072,” Peters continued, “what will they learn from those representative artifacts about the Wilmington of 2022?

“They will learn that the mountain and the river shaped our lives in ways large and small. And that with a legacy of a farming, lumbering, mining and industrial past, our town transformed over time into a tourist economy based on the natural beauty and the resources of the area sprinkled with a lot of human ingenuity.

“They will learn that those tourism activities supporting businesses and organizations — including fishing, hunting, biking, hiking, skiing, special attractions and events, restaurants and lodging properties and preservation and scientific resource regulatory organizations.

“They will learn that we were a close-knit community that included residents and visitors alike.

“They will learn that we cared about each other and supported each other in good times — like annual gatherings and celebrations — and in difficult times like COVID-19 and ice and wind storms.

“They will learn that, while parts of our history mirrored the national scene, our unique history defined our town culture and that small-town living has its advantages.

“They will also learn that we were fun-loving, creative, hard-working, tenacious, proud, forward-looking, purposeful, respectful of our history and that most of us, most of all, we care about our town’s future.”

The time capsule celebration included an invocation and benediction by the Rev. Chrys Beck, pastor of the Whiteface Community United Methodist Church in Wilmington; the reading of “A Poem for Wilmington’s Bicentennial” by Carrie Ann Conrad; and comments by Essex County Board of Supervisors Chairman and Willsboro town Supervisor Shaun Gillilland, Assemblyman Matt Simpson (R-Horicon) and Sen. Dan Stec (R-Queensbury).

“I think we all have a sense of how important history is, our own history, our family histories, our community history,” Stec said. “A time capsule is a concerted effort to really put thought into what do we want to say, what message do we want to leave for our children to pull from and draw that energy when they need it 20 or 40 or 50 years from now.”

Simpson, who was elected to represent the 114th Assembly District in November 2020, said he was struck by the way the Wilmington community has embraced him.

“What’s really come through is the community spirit here,” Simpson said. “There’s not many places that I’ve been that I’ve ever felt such tight community spirit or relationships here. And that’s what’s in this time capsule, and in 50 years, those people will see what you all have brought prior to them. I think that’s just a great accomplishment, and it says an awful lot about your community.”

After all the speeches were finished, Dan and Stacey Flanagan removed the cloth for the big reveal, and people took photos of the time capsule monument on their cellphones to share with friends and family. But they left this celebration of Wilmington life in 2022 with something more profound. Karen Peters gave everyone a little homework with her final question:

“In 50 years, at the 250th celebration of the founding of Wilmington, or the semiquincentennial, what do you think the residents of 2072 Wilmington would include in their own time capsule?”