Long-time Col. Edwin Drake personifier John Depew isn't letting COVID-19 stop him from being around for the Oil Heritage Festival this week. Depew is a fixture at the festival and usually rides atop one of them fancy horseless carriages in the annual parade.
Though most of the live events were cancelled due to the governor's restrictions and safety, some events have been turned virtual. Live streaming sends the events to people's homes.
Col. Drake wouldn't understand what is happening. He died long before the automobile and even longer before mobile technology. But Depew just rolls with the punches.
His characterization... well for decades he has been Drake to generations of Oil Heritage Festival goers.
Thursday night the two concerts and the crowning of the Oil Heritage Queen were done with social distancing and masks inside 228 Seneca Street and sent out live by Stream TV. Depew has long escorted the candidates to the stage for the announcement of the winner. He didn't break from that this year.
Though most of the live events were cancelled due to the governor's restrictions and safety, some events have been turned virtual. Live streaming sends the events to people's homes.
Col. Drake wouldn't understand what is happening. He died long before the automobile and even longer before mobile technology. But Depew just rolls with the punches.
His characterization... well for decades he has been Drake to generations of Oil Heritage Festival goers.
Thursday night the two concerts and the crowning of the Oil Heritage Queen were done with social distancing and masks inside 228 Seneca Street and sent out live by Stream TV. Depew has long escorted the candidates to the stage for the announcement of the winner. He didn't break from that this year.
Depew is an old-school pressman who worked for The Derrick for a number of years. He has seen technology change, but revels in the chance to affix his crown with a tattered top hat and layer on an old school cotton shirt and a woolen coat with tails no matter the temperature - just so he can bring history to life.
When COVID-19 started rearing its ugly head to disrupt his annual dredging up Drake from the grave, he just shrugged a shoulder and put on a mask.
When COVID-19 started rearing its ugly head to disrupt his annual dredging up Drake from the grave, he just shrugged a shoulder and put on a mask.
It may not be historically accurate, Drake lived even before the 1918 epidemic, but it was safe, and it let the tradition continue at a time when a virus seems to be taking away everything we have.
Oil Heritage may be different this year, but it wasn't defeated. This may be the testament to remember as the city moves into its 150th year and the celebrations are taken up a notch. COVID-19 did not kill who we are.
Oil Heritage may be different this year, but it wasn't defeated. This may be the testament to remember as the city moves into its 150th year and the celebrations are taken up a notch. COVID-19 did not kill who we are.
Watch live streaming of the Oil Heritage concerts tonight at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0l2DuhIVlo
Or tomorrow night at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AnkI4DoDZC4
(At the lawyer's Guns and Money show you can watch the Rock-n-Roll judge I wrote this story about a few years back: https://venangoextra.com/everyone-has-a-story-the-rock-n-roll-judge)
Or tomorrow night at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AnkI4DoDZC4
(At the lawyer's Guns and Money show you can watch the Rock-n-Roll judge I wrote this story about a few years back: https://venangoextra.com/everyone-has-a-story-the-rock-n-roll-judge)
 |  |
EDITOR'S NOTE: A few years back I took a street portrait of Depew as Drake at the parade. It was an app on my phone that i just loved using. It came up in memories on Facebook and I was able to show it to him as we chatted on Seneca Street last night and I made a few photos of him as we talked. He is aging well.
RSS Feed