Published: October 02, 2008 04:04 pm         

In These Otsego Hills

Unfortunately, we have decided that we must admit, much as we don’t particularly want to, that we have indeed moved from the summer season into the fall season.

After all, we can’t think otherwise when we have been asked to note that Christ Church is holding its annual fall rummage sale this week on Friday, Oct. 3 from 10 a.m. until 4:00 p.m. and on Saturday, Oct. 4 from 10 a.m. until noon.

The sale will be held in the Christ Church Parish House located at 69 Fair Street here in Cooperstown. Additionally we note that the annual Harvest Festival at the Farmers’ Museum, the Apple Fest sponsored by the Cooperstown Rotary Club at the Fly Creek Cider Mill and the PumpkinFest sponsored by the Cooperstown Chamber of Commerce, fall events all, have all come and gone for this year.

And while this year we did not, unfortunately, make it to any of these great fall events, we did manage to take in a relative newcomer on the fall celebration scene, namely the second annual ``Autumn in New York Viennese Ball’’ which was held at the Otesaga on Friday, Sept. 26.

And we must admit that when we accepted an invitation to attend the ball, we really had no idea what we were getting into.

We had never heard of a ``Viennese Ball.’’ All we knew was that it included dinner, entertainment and dancing. Dress was to be semi-formal and women were encouraged to wear Viennese ball gowns. And, in spite of the fact that we don’t owe a Viennese ball gown, or any other ball gown for that matter, we dressed in something we hoped would be appropriate and appeared at the appointed time and place. We were stunned.

The ballroom at the Otesaga had been turned into a sparkling wonderland with huge floral arrangements decorating the tables.

We encountered men in tuxedos as well as men in military uniforms and women bedecked in gorgeous ball gowns worn over what had to have been massive petticoats.

We were charmed. We felt we had stepped back in time. And we were so grateful that we had worn a dress and not pants.

Following a sumptuous dinner of Viennese delights, we were treated to an entertainment featuring Paul and Harriet Tomasko singing various selections from Vienesse operettas. Their fantastic performance was accompanied by Edward Leavett on the piano.

And then it was time for dessert. It was hard to know which particular creation was our favorite. We didn’t meet one we didn’t like.

We then settled in to watch, as we had no plans to participate in, the dancing. And while watching the couples waltz around the dance floor was great fun, we must admit that we were most taken with the Polonaise, a slow group dance in which all the couples participated.

As we listened to the seemingly intricate directions for the dance, we could not imagine that it would actually work. But work it did in spite of a few missteps by some of the participants.

It was delightful! All in all we had a wonderful time, made all the more enjoyable by the fact that the proceeds from the evening benefited the families and programs of the Catskill Area Hospice and Palliative Care.

We must admit that we feel somewhat of a lack in our education in that we had never heard of a Viennese Ball before.

It made us wonder if there were other such balls held each year in other locations. To answer that question we accessed the website VienneseBall.org where we learned that in 2008 there have been, or will be for those still coming up, Viennese Balls in Vienna, New York City, San Diego, Salt Lake City, Washington, DC, Bucharest, Nyack, NY, Portland, Oregon, Totowa, NJ, Ashland, Oregon, Wilmington, DE, Haverford, PA, San Mateo, CA, San Francisco, Montreal and Cooperstown.

And, as the website notes, a Viennese Ball is indeed ``Magic and Romance on Three-Quarter Time.’’ When the third annual ``Autumn in New York Viennese Ball’’ is announced for the fall of 2009, we shall be certain that we sign up for another magical evening.

And who knows, if we put our mind to it, we might just be able to come up with our own Viennese ball gown. In closing, we would like to note that Paul and Harriet Tomasko, who entertained at the Viennese Ball, will be presenting ``The Songs of Stephen Foster’’ at the Fly Creek United Methodist Church at 4 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 5. Tickets, which are $15.00, are available at the door. Refreshments will be served and we understand that proceeds from the event will benefit the church. We have also heard, and are not a bit surprised by this, that the Stephen Foster songs require a completely different set of costumes than did the Viennese Ball entertainment. All in all, it sounds like another good time is in the making.

We remain,

In these Otsego hills,

The Ellsworths

PLEASE NOTE: The Ellsworths may be reached by mail at 105 Pioneer Street, Cooperstown, NY 13326, by telephone at 607- 547-8124 or by e-mail at cellsworth1@stny.rr.com.