Phoenicia will celebrate the 40th anniversary of its landmark cast-iron eagle with a parade, ceremony, live music, and conservation programs on Aug. 22.

Eagle Day will begin with a parade along Main Street at 11 a.m. on Saturday before moving to the eagle statue at the intersection of state Routes 28 and 214 for a commemorative ceremony. The free celebration, held alongside the Phoenicia Festival of the Arts, will continue at Parish Field with food, vendors, artisans, family activities, and live music by Earl Pardini’s bluegrass band.

The roughly two-ton statue, with a wingspan of about 13 feet, was unveiled at Phoenicia’s western entrance on Aug. 23, 1986, a decade after Shandaken adopted the bald eagle as its official symbol. The town has gathered every 20 years since the statue’s 1986 dedication to celebrate Eagle Day.

Hundreds attended the inaugural dedication, which was led by CBS newscaster Roland Smith. A time capsule was buried near the statue and is scheduled to be opened in 2076, the tricentennial of the United States.

Dennis Frano was among the people who poured out of Al’s Restaurant, a beloved Phoenicia eatery that closed in 2012, to watch metal sculptor Dakin Morehouse lower the eagle into place from a cherry picker and bolt it to its base.

“Wild eagles fly by that spot every day,” Frano said. “Every town’s got to have some sort of a centerpiece, and that one just fit perfect.”

The statue is believed to be one of the cast-iron eagles that adorned Grand Central Station, an expansion of Cornelius Vanderbilt’s Grand Central Depot, in the late 19th century. The station was replaced by the present-day Grand Central Terminal, which opened in 1913, and the eagles were dispersed throughout New York.

New York Daily News Photographer David McLane began searching for the statues after photographing one at the North Tarrytown railroad station in the 1960s. He eventually located nine others within 50 miles of New York City.

McLane once searched the basement of the New York Public Library for a book that he believed would identify the eagles’ sculptor. The page that might have solved the mystery had been torn out, according to McLane’s son, Denis McLane, who said his father never identified the book.

McLane then bought an eagle at 110 Villa St. in Mount Vernon for $100 and had friends move it to his home in Brewster. He donated the statue to Shandaken in 1985.

Morehouse restored the eagle, strengthening it with stainless steel bolts and adding protective zinc and aluminum-bronze coatings. The Phoenicia Rotary Club, residents, and the Shandaken Eagle Committee have cared for it over the past 40 years.

“Maybe in the next decade someone else can take over the festivities and the celebration and help with the maintenance. We are just so appreciative of all of the people that volunteer out of the kindness of their heart,” said Samantha Awand-Gortel, a lifelong resident of Phoenicia, who leads the committee. “I can’t do any of the community things without our volunteers,” she said.

Due to Eagle Day’s commemoration every 20 years, the group of volunteers and lead members rarely stay the same. 

The materials for sandblasting, painting, and other restoration cost roughly $3,000. A certificate of deposit account, a fund tied up in a certain term that earns interest on the balance, was made 20 years ago to cover the costs for this year. A grant provided by the Ulster Savings Bank Charitable Foundation also helped with supplies and expenses.

The labor of maintaining the eagle is free and provided by local volunteers.  

This year’s festivities will include a pet parade and contest, with prizes donated by David Pillard of Tender Land Home. Christina Varga, the founder of Varga Gallery and Studio and producer of the Phoenicia Festival of the Arts, will lead the procession with a giant eagle sculpture.

Ward Todd of Radio Kingston and the Ulster County Regional Chamber of Commerce will announce the parade, and Pastor Lee Stowe of Memorial United Methodist Church in Shandaken will serve as master of ceremonies. 

Organizers will also recognize students who submitted essays about eagles and Shandaken history. Drawings by Bennett Elementary School students are on display at the Phoenicia Library and Morton Memorial Library in Pine Hill as part of a coloring contest.

A “Pride of Shandaken” award will honor a community member for helping others and working to improve the town.

Representatives from the Ashokan Watershed Stream Management Program will offer educational activities about bald eagle history and conservation during Eagle Day.

The celebration will also draw attention to the bald eagle’s recovery and the threats the species still faces.

Bald eagle populations fell sharply during the 20th century because of DDT, habitat loss, and illegal shootings, according to the American Eagle Foundation. The species was federally listed as endangered across most of the continental United States in 1978 and removed from the endangered species list in 2007 following decades of recovery. Bald eagles remain protected under federal law.

Nicole Caputo, a member of the Shandaken Conservation Advisory Council and a volunteer at the Friends of the Feathered and Furry Wildlife Center in Hunter, said the center receives four to nine birds with lead poisoning each year. One eagle treated and released about five years ago later died of lead poisoning, she said.

As part of Eagle Day, the Town of Shandaken recognized the wildlife center’s Swap Out the Lead initiative, which encourages hunters to replace lead ammunition with copper alternatives. Eagles can ingest lead fragments while feeding on carcasses, causing potentially fatal poisoning.

Caputo recalled a warning from the center’s late co-founder, Missy Runyan.

“Missy used to say: ‘A lead bullet keeps killing after it is shot,’” Caputo said.

Mia Quick is an editorial assistant at The Overlook. Send correspondence to mia@theoverlooknews.com.