Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
PHOENIXVILLE RISES
Vandals Strike: But untimely arson fails to snuff out community celebration Supporters pitch in: Donated wood assembled to build replacement bonfire
PHOENIXVILLE » Despite the destruction of the 30-foot wooden Phoenix statue early in the day by vandals, the spirit of the community still burned brightly at the 11th annual Firebird Festival Saturday night.
About 3 a.m. Saturday, vandals burned the wooden bird to the ground, seeming to rob the community of the symbol of its annual celebration of the phoenix, the avian namesake of Phoenixville that rises anew from the ashes. Rise the community did. Undeterred by the crime, festival organizers, volunteers and dozens of members of the community quickly rallied to save the day. Using new wood donated by countless festival supporters, a new Phoenix structure was built and the bonfire went up as scheduled.
Although initially shocked by the sabotage, festival organizer Henrik Stubbe-Teglbjaerg said the community came together and honored the creativity of the festival.
“Of course I was a little shocked in the beginning but then I went home and (saw) Facebook people who said the idea about bringing wood up,” said Teglbjaerg. “It was so heartwarming to see every-
“It really shows the strength of our community. It feels very good.” — festival organizer Henrik Stubbe-Teglbjaerg
body brought things. Everybody was helping out, and it was amazing. In a sense that’s kind of what we are doing. We are building this bird and we are letting go of it. So I had to also let it go; this idea of the bird, because what we created is so much better. It really shows the strength of our community. It feels very good.”
Each December, Firebird Festival is held to honor the Winter Solstice and welcome the coming winter season. What began as a small community gathering, has exploded in popularity in recent years with thousands of people attending the event, rain or shine.
“Last year because of how extreme the weather was, we were only at 3,000 people compared to the year before at 16,000 people. It doesn’t really matter if there is 16,000 or 3,000,” said Teglbjaerg.
“I feel that spirit here. That’s much more important than having a number I can brag about,” he said.
Ralph Cockerham, committee chairman of Cub Scout Pack 119, had a tent set up with baked goods for attendees to enjoy. He said the festival was great for the boys to see firsthand the community collaborating and helping the festival continue despite the vandalism.
“Within hours people were assembled here. All the different businesses here in the Phoenixville area donated food and people donated their time. It’s just amazing. We had people with trucks come here and say ‘can we bring wood here?’ It’s just amazing how this has come together. We pulled it together in hours. It’s awesome,” said Cockerham.
Cub Master John Shaw agreed.
“I think there is some pretty cool symbolism. This morning we were standing by the ashes of last night’s bird and you see this new one rise out of it. It’s pretty cool. You try and look at the good side of things. I don’t think there are a lot of opportunities in our lives where you get to see a community come together like this. It’s inspiring,” Shaw said.
Jeremy Bowers the volunteer lead builder of the Phoenix statue for the last four years, said he was heartbroken upon hearing the statue had been burnt down.
“It was amazing. Within hours through social media we had 200 plus vehicles lined up all the way around the block waiting to drop off materials. Within a few hours we had 200 people all helping carry materials down (to the field,) building the new bird (and) tending the fire.”
Bowers said next year the Firebird Fest committee will take precautions to
help protect the statue.
“It’s an evolution. Every year we learn something new. Now we learned we need to look into getting volunteers to baby-sit the bird,” Bowers said.
“I grew up here and I moved away when the Firebird started to get popular and I never had a chance to come “said Catherine Quinn, 20 , of Montgomeryville. “I’m so happy that I was finally able to come but I was so mad this morn- ing when I found out that it got burned down.”
Quinn wasn’t the only one who was outraged by the burning, many attendees expressed disgust and sadness that the wooden effigy of the blazing bird had been destroyed after it had been so diligently worked on for the festival.
“I was really sickened and saddened that someone would do that knowing what it means to the community,” said Jamie Kelly, 29, of Phoenixville.
However, neither those sentiments nor the weather seemed to hinder the crowd’s enthusiasm for the annual celebration.
Despite muddy grounds, rainy weather and the devastating loss of the festivity’s icon, residents muddled through the field to enjoy live music, fire performers, plenty of shopping tents and of course, the ceremonial lighting of the wooden phoenix.
As costumed personalities raised a Phoenix head attached to sheet-like wings, the group paraded toward the makeshift phoenix as crowds chanted to begin the lighting.
“I’ve been coming here since it started and came out to support the town since it was affected at 3:30 in the morning,” Bryanna Gates, 22, of Phoenixville. “It’s really cool. It’s a very ceremonial type of thing that they start off. It’s awesome.”
As the embers began to rise and flames engulfed the statue, the crowd chanted and cheered as the town’s biggest bonfire began. For many of the festival-goers the town togetherness was reassuring and humbling after the events from earlier that morning.
“It was touching beyond belief. It’s hard to explain,” said Barry Galeman, 50, of Phoenixville, director of advertising and sponsorship for the event. “I was overwhelmed with emotions that weren’t anger,” he said of helping the volunteers rebuild the phoenix.
Galeman explained that the support of the community was beyond belief.
“We were out in the pouring rain and we were turning away workers,” he said. Galeman had a list of local leaders and business owners that put in calls to offer their help in the efforts.
As the 75 volunteers banned together, enough wood was gathered by noon to complete the statue. The wooden statue was rebuilt and set ablaze at the regu- larly scheduled time of 8 p.m.
“Everyone just mobilized and I just feel like I’m in a Disney movie,” he smiled.
Those feelings appeared to be shared by the community at large as well as the organizers.
“We draw strength from the outpouring of support from all of you, to show that this will not stop us from celebrating around the true purpose of the festival — the community coming together to celebrate life, and our human creativity,” said the group on their Facebook page.