'Under the Stars' Rescheduled for Aug. 16

After a rained out concert on Aug. 3, the Franklin Lakes Memorial Pond Committee has rescheduled its first ever annual “Under the Stars” event, for Tuesday, Aug. 16 from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m., with a raindate of Aug. 17.

The concert to honor those who lost their lives and raise funds for the pond’s maintenance. The pond is located on the Municipal Field behind Borough Hall, off DeKorte Drive.

“The pond is not only for people from our town, but for the 3,000 people we lost on 9/11, their families and the brave rescuers” Kathy Psirogianes, co-chair of the committee, said.

The Jersey Rollers play classic rock like The Beatles and Rolling Stones as well as ‘90s rock, like Tom Petty and the Stone Temple Pilots.

“We don’t just play the hits,” Greg Roukema, the band’s lead guitarist, said. “We take a famous artist you would recognize, but we don’t play their prototypic songs you’d hear in a bar.”

In addition to music, the event will feature an auction; some of the items are footballs, signed by players like Eli Manning, that were donated by the New York Giants Organization.

The event will also feature an award-winning short film, written by Anya Aste Cole Sax. The film follows Garrett Schlag, a local who lost of his father, Steven Schlag in the 9/11 attacks.

The funds raised will go towards plantings, a requirement set by the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), lighting and the perpetual maintenance that the grounds require, Psirogianes said.

“We want to finish the memorial and make it a beautiful asset to the town,” Psirogianes said. “We also want people to understand the meaning behind it. So many community members and volunteers have helped, but we need everyone’s support to help finish it.”

Over the course of the summer, the memorial committee along with the guidance of Blue Meadow and Boswell Engineering, has worked on a waterfall to help aerate the pond. The waterfall is now in its final stages of completion.

Roukema, who is a Franklin Lakes resident, played at the original fundraiser years ago. They have supported other causes as well, such as the American Cancer Society.

“We’ll always play for a good cause, and we’re happy to do it,” Roukema said. “We have a wide appeal; younger people like us because they recognize the songs, and for older people, it’s the music they grew up with.”

The band will come out with its first album, which hasn’t been named yet, late fall and will be available for purchase on their website. It will be a mix of covers and original material.

Jake Stigers, an internationally known singer/songwriter, who joined the band two years ago, is the lead singer of Jersey Rollers. “Ride With You”, on the band’s website, is one of his hits.

“This will be the best night of music you have seen since 1976,” Stigers said. “We’re more of a gang rather than an actual music band – a little rough around the edges.”

After this event, the committee will look to the future as they plan their annual 9/11 commemoration, for all of those who whose lives were taken and to honor the three borough residents who died in the World Trade Center attacks: Thomas J. Cahill, a securities trader at Cantor Fitzgerald, Frank Deming, a practice director at Oracle Corp, and Steven Schlag, Cantor Fitzgerald, as well as Alexia Tsairis, who lost her life in the terrorist bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland.

The commemoration will take place on Sept. 10, at the memorial pond. For more information, email Jo Ann Romano at jromano@cinemaads.com.

If you cannot attend the event but would still like to contribute, please send your check to:
The Franklin Lakes Memorial Pond Fund
P.O. Box 217
Franklin Lakes, NJ 07417