UPDATED June 13th:

We’ve received word from the Saddle & Cycle Club that their annual Fireworks show is returning this year. It will be Sunday July 4th at dusk!

Enjoy the show responsibly, and if you do visit our 2nd floor roof deck please remember to be respectful of your neighbors.

A Reading: The Declaration of Independence

Your Social Commission is planning a special event for early July. In a normal year, that would be our fabulous 4th of July Celebration! But, sadly, the pandemic has caused the Celebration to be canceled for this year. So, might there be a worthwhile alternative? We think so, if we can secure the help of a dozen or so Park Tower volunteers. We’d like to do a pre-recorded reading of America’s Declaration of Independence, dating from 1776 but affirmative and powerful even now.

The Declaration takes about 10 minutes to read — click here — and those of us who sign on to read individually assigned portions will be video-recorded individually with Zoom, at mutually convenient times. Then we’ll stitch all those segments together and post the finished product to www.ptcondo.com and to Facebook, where it can be viewed by all beginning July 4 and for a week or so afterward.

We have some fine points in mind, like identifying the readers with photos (head/shoulders) and a sentence or two about each. And perhaps including a recorded performance of Aaron Copland’s stirring, Fanfare for the Common Man.

But more on that later. If you think this is a cool idea and would like to be a reader, please email me by Monday, June 14 at the address just below. Any concerns you might have we can then talk about. And by the way, we would love to include a variety of readers — owners and tenants, management and staff, immigrants as well as citizens, teenagers and older folks, too. Thanks for your interest, and let’s have fun doing something worthwhile for the occasion.

To volunteer for this activity, e-mail the Commission at:

ptcasocial@rcn.com