The Russians Are Coming (and they're planting lilac trees)

SARATOGA SPRINGS – What once would have been an inconceivable notion
became reality one Friday afternoon in the fall of 2004,when a group of young musicians
from the Schuylerville Central Schools performed the Russian national anthem
on a sun-filled day in Congress Park.

The moment was not lost on school Principal Michael Mugits.

'We once grew up in fear of each other and as adversaries, but now we are partners,' he said. ‘Even as the two nations are joined together as unfortunate victims of terrorism, they are
also united in a hopefulness of a prosperous and peaceful future.”

They then planted a lilac tree - a favorite of the late writer Anton Chekhov and the Russian city’s namesake - near the park’s carousel.

The occasion of the ceremony was to welcome Russian educators visiting the Spa City, commemorating the bond of sister cities shared between Saratoga Springs and
Chekhov, Russia.

The first meeting between the two cities originated a few years earlier on a memorable day that had a welcoming committee of Spa City residents waiting for the Russians to make their entrance by descending from high atop one of the city’s buildings.

They waited and waited. Then, they waited some more, eyes fixated on a woman pacing
back and forth with a walkie-talkie in her hand.
She wore a dark suit and had an ominous air about her. Her hair was pulled back tightly,
in a bun. There was a cool, detached grace to her as she moved and when she squinted
her eyes, an icy stare pierced the stillness that sent shivers running up and down the spine.

“The Russians... are on the roof,” she announced, walkie-talkie clutched in the
white-knuckled grip of her palm.
“They know you’re here,” she said, “and they are on their way down.”

Moments later they appeared, eight members of the Chekhov delegation led by their mayor, Gennady Mikhailovich Nedoseka.

Each of the group is a leader of industry, business, arts and education in their
homeland of Chekhov, home to a population of 100,000. Their reason for coming here was to exchange ideas and form a bond that would asisst each of their respective cities to become a better place.

If there was any trace of a vintage paranoia in the souls of old timers waiting for the
Russians to appear, the fears disintegrated as soon as the music of an electric keyboard
filled Broadway with the traditional Russian gypsy romance, “Ochi Chornye,” (“Dark Eyes”).

The lilac tree that was planted in Congress Park will grow approximately 20 feet tall
and 15 feet wide.
It is expected that it will continue to grow well into the future, at least until the young
musicians who performed in Friday's ceremony reach well into their golden years.

by Thomas Dimopoulos
originally published in The Saratogian, 2003-2004.