The Meadowlands Blog

Wild Turkey Seen in Rutherford

   Joe Barnaskas of Rutherford called to say he saw a huge Wild Turkey hen with a baby in his backyard last week.
   "To see a Wild Turkey, especially one that size, down here is really something," said Joe.
    The first record of Wild Turkey in the Meadowlands in recent memory was during an avian study done here a few years back.
   A link to a South Bergenite story on the study, mentioning the previous rarity of Wild Turkeys, is here.
   

BLACK HISTORY MONTH 020409: Local Tuskegee Airman

     The Meadowlands Commission is honoring Black History Month with a weekly post on this blog. Today the focus is a Tuskegee Airman from Rutherford.

    In future weeks we'll  look at the Underground Railroad in Jersey City, a slave cemetery in Little Ferry, and a famous black actress and civil rights activist who worked in Kearny.

   Calvin J. Spann, who grew up in Rutherford,  served with the famed Tuskegee Airmen during World War II.
    From 1943 to 1946, 1st Lt. Spann served in the US Army Air Force, 332nd Fighter Group, 100th Squadron, as part of the famed Tuskegee Airmen -- the first-ever group of black Army pilots. 
    Spann was among an elite group of Tuskegee Airmen who escorted B-17 bombers and reconnaissance  planes over Nazi Germany during World War. Spann flew 26 combat missions.

   In a phone interview yesterday from his home in Texas, Spann said: "My growing up in Rutherford inspired me to be a Tuskegee Airman. Planes from Teterboro Airport took off right over my house.

   "I was able to do everything any young man in high school did, and when I got into the Air Corps and they said they didn't think I could learn to fly, I thought that was preposterous. I'd been doing everything everyone else was doing all my life, and it really stuck with me. That was my experience growing up in Rutherford."

    Click here for more with Tuskegee Airman Calvin Spann.

FLYWAY GALLERY: Rutherford Show

   

The Flyway Gallery in the Meadowlands Environment Center will host the Art Association of Rutherford’s 61st Annual Open Juried Art and Photography Exhibit from Oct. 3 through Oct. 31.
   The show focuses on nature and the environment and features photos and sketches of birds, ducks, egrets, wildflowers and other natural scenes. A gala reception is scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 11, from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m

    The NJMC created the Flyway Gallery to help foster the cultural identity of the 14-town Meadowlands District by providing a space to showcase the talent of local artists. The gallery is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday and 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.
   Admission is free. For information, please call (201) 460-8300 or visit click here.

  For more art works, Click "Continue reading..."