2008 Woodie Awards
One Sweet Day in Hamilton: Great Chocolate Wreck Festival Celebrates Local History
Tory Glerum
Issue date: 10/4/07 Section: News
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Sponsored by the Partnership for Community Development (PCD), an organization devoted to sustaining economic opportunity and community vitality in Hamilton and surrounding areas, the festival commemorated the Great Chocolate Wreck of September 27, 1955, when two boxcars of Nestle chocolate products were spilled off a southbound New York Ontario & Western (O&W) train.
The day began with a Chocolate Wreck skit put on by the Madison Summer Drama Club and a historic tour of the wreck site on Lebanon Street guided by local train historian and noted author John Taibi.
The unveiling and dedication of a new historic sign took place at the wreck site shortly thereafter with the support of Hamilton Historic Commission, the Village of Hamilton, Parry's and Earthworks design studio.
Back on the green, Phil Edwards, a member of the Central New York Chapter of the National Railway Historical society, stood nearby an immense operating model train provided for viewing by the organization. He said the model was authentic enough to represent the type of engine that would have run through Hamilton at the time of the Great Chocolate Wreck.
"People came up and said they remembered the 1955 event and all the old trains," Edwards said.
Al Edwards, another volunteer, said he was 13 when the wreck happened.
"The train went up the coal ramp, flew through the Leland Coal Shed and dropped into somebody's garden," Edwards said. "Chocolate was all over the ground and kids were there loading up their wagons."
A reenactment of this same spill occurred at the festival later in the day as piñatas in the shape of the 1955 train zipped down a line and spilled treats on the green for collecting and tasting.
A number of other fun and delicious activities were set up for small children, including a bean bag toss, a train car to climb in, a chocolate finger painting station and a plastic pool filled with wood shavings and buried chocolate treats to dig for. Families could also watch local artist Deb Whitman carve a replica of the historic New York O&W train into a huge block of chocolate. She even let hungry on-lookers share the edible shavings.
One Hamilton resident said his son was having a great time diving for chocolate in the pool and looking at the model train.
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