Nearly 200 Floral Park residents and their friends celebrated the end of the 20th century by participating in the village's Millennium Mile held on Friday, Dec. 31. The Mile turnout was higher than expected due in part to the moderate weather for the noon event after a moist morning. A number of runners, walkers and rollerbladers enjoyed the opportunity to dress up in holiday costumes while Lu Zimmer made an "oldies" outfit to stroll down Tulip Avenue. Visitors from Maine and Texas were joined by others from Yaphank and Connecticut in the run down Tulip with their friends and family from Floral Park.

In the run, resident Richard Gregory ran the Tulip Avenue course starting at Covert Avenue and ending at Village Hall in a great time of 4 minutes, 48 seconds for the winning time. The next three male runners were separated by 2 seconds when Bobby Oerzen of Chaminade edged Richard Cotta by a second who beat former FPM runner Dan Fowler by a second, finishing at 5:01, 5:02 and 5:03 respectively.

Ember Brosius led the women's field with a time of 5 minutes, 48 seconds, followed by Kerri Corbett of FPM (6:22) and Crystal Anthony (6:31).

Santa costumes, special "2000" eyeglasses and hats, and other add-ons made the mile a happy one with many young children enjoying their walk and jog with mom or dad. Five-year-olds Tommy Dreyer and Kelly Derby won their special category as the youngest runners successfully completing the mile course. Other male winners were Brian Winters (12 and under), Bobby Oerzen (13-17), Richard Cotta (18-25), Dennis McEnery (25-45), Ron Prokopowicz (45-60), and 76-year-old John McManus with a time of 7:28. We were delighted to have John join us as he is the world record holder for the mile run by a male 75 or over.

Female winners were 9-year-old Meghan Gribbon who won the under-10 category with 11-year-old EJ Dreyer running a great time of 6:42 to lead the 10-13-year-olds. Kerri Corbett won the 17-30 category with Peg Lynch winning the 30s, Suzanne Schoen leading the 40s with a good time of 6:55 and Carol Lipsky winning the top group.

John McManus and Fran Hornberger were crowned as the Father Time and Mother Time winners as the oldest participants. Four FP Fire Department members won the best centipede, struggling to complete the one-mile course in full fire gear carrying a hose. The exhausted four were Chris Corbett, Anthony Bianco, Greg Gronert and David Pickwick.

Jim Whalen of Beier's hosted the post-mile reception and awards were presented to the top three runners in seven categories, along with five costume awards, including FPM Music Chairman Stan Earnhard who jogged down Tulip in a tuxedo jacket and shorts blowing times on his trumpet. The music at the start of the race was pure inspiration.

The Mile was coordinated by the Village Recreation Department with great efforts by Jim Krug, Kurt Meyfohrt and Wendy Bilka. Bob Spillman was the official scorer and coordinated the race results at the finish line.

After the awards ceremony, many of the participants joined in the time capsule ceremony across from Village Hall to celebrate the turn of the century and the millennium. At the conclusion of the brief comments, young boys and girls delighted in helping to put the dirt back on top of the time capsule. Due to the request of several residents, one of the time capsules will not be buried until near the end of the month to give everyone an opportunity to craft their message to future residents in the year 2049. So if you want to add a message, a picture or a memoir of the 20th century that would be enlightening to those 50 years from now, please send it to Village Hall at One Floral Blvd. with the words "Time Capsule" on the envelope.

Overall, the Millennium Mile and Time Capsule Ceremony were fun events with the help of some very dedicated people: the FP Fire Department led by Assistant Chief Charlie Rassiga, the Police Department, Public Works led by new Superintendent of Public Works Ken Tymecki, Village Hall Administration members and Recreation Department led by Jim Krug. They were greatly assisted by a number of volunteers who watched street corners to make the mile event run smoothly. We thank the Finn's of Raff Avenue, Leslie's of Larch Avenue, Lorie Kalberer, Bill O'Haire, Andrew Taylor and Brendan Dunbar of FPM, Jane DeMasi, Mary Corbett, Trustee Phil Guarnieri, Bob and Marie Burke, Bill Clancy, Gay and Devin Taffel, Terri Emmel and a handful of other assistants.

Thank you for your efforts as the day could not have been successful without your efforts.

The full results will be posted at the Recreation Center and on our future website in about two weeks.