Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, August 9, 1995                   TAG: 9508090047
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV-2   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: PULASKI                                LENGTH: Medium

COUNT PULASKI STILL WILL HAVE HIS DAY: OCT. 7

So the town's new economic development director, Barry Matherly, said his office is committed to organizing the 17-year-old festival again this year.

Matherly attended a breakfast meeting Tuesday of the Pulaski Business Alliance at the Renaissance Restaurant. He said he had made a get-acquainted tour of Pulaski and found strong support for continuing Count Pulaski Day.

"It is going to happen," he said. With the short time left to plan for it - the event will be held Oct. 7 - a huge celebration would be hard to mount, Matherly said. "But we definitely feel we can have a Count Pulaski Day" that can grow back in time.

As soon as this year's celebration is over, Matherly said, planning will start for the 1996 celebration.

The town also will do some long-range planning for the annual Depot Day Festival, held each June for two years. Matherly said Depot Day would emphasize Pulaski's railroad heritage while Count Pulaski Day would deal more with its Polish heritage. "We see keeping both celebrations," he said.

Keith Stafford, an assistant in Matherly's office, will devote the next three weeks to coordinating events for Count Pulaski Day. Matherly also needs businesses, individuals and groups to contact his office at 980-5342 with suggestions or activities with which they would help.

Mayor Andy Graham had asked last month about the possibility of the Alliance sponsoring the festival, when it appeared that Count Pulaski Day might dwindle away with no one taking the lead in organizing it. Council members had discussed dropping it until they heard objections from downtown merchants.

At its July meeting, the Alliance members decided that they lacked the time, resources and expertise for the entire task but offered to help.

The Alliance also offered to sponsor an Octoberfest in downtown Pulaski as part of Count Pulaski Day or, if it was too late to plan for the annual festival, in place of it.

"We really feel like it was a stopgap," said Alliance Vice President Pat Gooch. "It may not be a money maker like Count Pulaski Day could be in the future. ... The hope was that there would still be a Count Pulaski Day festival and this would just be part of it."

Matherly said Tuesday the Octoberfest should fit in well with Count Pulaski Day activities.

Gooch encouraged downtown merchants to sponsor small events of their own at their stores and businesses on Count Pulaski Day, including activities for children, sidewalk shows, strolling musicians and anything that would reflect the heritage of Pulaski's namesake.

In other business, the Alliance accepted the resignation of Debbie Jonas, owner of The Colony of Virginia Ltd. store on Main Street, as its president. Jonas notified the organization that she had run into a number of constraints that would prevent her devoting the proper amount of time to the job.