Rawson Circle Neighborhood group presents ‘annual gift to community’
Staff Photo; Tara Dyer Stoyle
By Carlton Fletcher
[email protected]
ALBANY — Every year, something has come up that has kept Betsy and Tyler Rose from participating in their Rawson Circle Neighborhood’s annual Christmas carriage rides.
Not this year.
With 3-month-old Palmer in tow, unimpressed as she was with all the goings-on around her, the Roses were among the first of many to show up for what the Rawson Circle Neighborhood Association’s Valerie Buchanan called “our annual gift to the community.”
“This is the first time we’ve had riders come to the Garden Center — which has bathrooms and plenty of carriage space, so it’s perfect for this event,” Buchanan, whose husband, George, made a dashing and convincing Santa Claus, said. “It takes most of the money we make to pay for the horses and carriages, but any funding that’s left over is used to sustain the Rawson Circle Historic Garden District and the Garden Center.
“The response to this year’s event has been excellent. We actually have a waiting list of riders.”
It took a bit of good look and a lot of scrambling on the Buchanans’ part for the carriage rides to come together Monday. The original horseman, who had prepared to bring a 16-person carriage to Albany for the event, had a last-minute family emergency, leaving the Rawson Circle event in jeopardy.
“We just started searching, trying to find someone who could come at the last minute,” Valerie Buchanan said. “We found these wonderful folks — Ed and Drenea York of Dothan Horse and Carriage — and they were able to make it over. Plus, Judge Jim Thurmond was a huge help; he had two carriages that he allowed us to use.”
The Yorks said it was a bit of divine intervention that allowed them to make the trip over from Dothan, Ala.
“Ed is a trucker, and he was working today,” Drenea York said. “The only other person we might have gotten was working, too, but it just worked out that Ed was able to get away.”
So it was Ed York and 5-year-old Percheron Terry who saddled up for the growing crowd as the 5:30 p.m. start time neared.
The Roses were all set for their initial ride around the luminary-lined streets of the neighborhood.
“It seems like every year there was something that threw us off schedule,” Tyler Rose said. “Not this year. We’re looking forward to this ride.”
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