UPPER DELAWARE RIVER, NY & PA — The Upper Delaware Council (UDC) held its 38th annual River Valley Awards on September 13, which honored outstanding community members for their service in the …
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!["Normally, my rule is to not put poisonous mushrooms on the same platter [as non-poisonous ones],” honoree Nathaniel Whitmore explained about the mushroom display he had set up during Sunday's banquet.](/uploads/original/20260917-123851-db3-Whitmore.JPG)
UPPER DELAWARE RIVER, NY & PA — The Upper Delaware Council (UDC) held its 38th annual River Valley Awards on September 13, which honored outstanding community members for their service in the river valley.
The award ceremony, which took place in Central House Family Resort in Beach Lake, PA, began with a speech from county historian John Conway.
Conway detailed the various history-focused events the county had hosted in the past year, including the free Hamilton showing in the Narrowsburg Union on September 19 that (even as of the discussion on the 13th) had already sold out.
"Why do we bother to do this?” Conway asked. “Well, I think it’s pretty important that we remain connected to our history.”
Conway said his thinking was much like that of author Michael Crichton, who compared a person with a lack of historical knowledge to a leaf that doesn’t realize it’s part of a tree.
"Without the root and the branches, a leaf, by itself, has no foundation,” Conway said. “Without our history, we cannot possibly live our lives to the fullest.”
After Conway’s speech, the Fort Delaware Fife and Drum Corps received an award for Cultural Achievement.
The corps were honored for “interpreting military-inspired heritage through outstandingly dedicated volunteer musicianship and spirit,” according to Laurie Ramie, executive director of the UDC.
They then gave a festival performance, with their patriotic drum beats and whistling ringing through the dining room's rafters.
"We try to keep some history alive for everyone,” a member of the corps said.
After the performance, Laura Chavez Silverman and Nathaniel Whitmore won the Recreation achievement award for their roles as “wild food foragers, naturalists [and] aficionados of botany,” according to Ramie.
While Silverman was not in attendance, Whitmore was, and had set up a display of wild mushrooms he found nearby.
"Normally, my rule is to not put poisonous mushrooms on the same platter [as non-poisonous ones],” Whitmore said as audience members erupted in laughter. “I’m just trying to keep dirt off the tablecloth.”
Whitmore explained that he had a variety of mushrooms displayed, including a Jack-O’-Lantern mushroom.
"A lot of people don’t realize that fungus glows in the dark,” Whitmore explained, adding that the Jack-O’-Lantern mushroom glows in the dark due to a phenomenon known as foxfire.
Whitmore emphasized that his intention behind the work he does was not to entertain people, but to “connect people with the land.”
After Whitmore’s presentation, many others were honored, including a group of five women receiving the Robin M. Daniels Memorial Lifesaving Award for saving a 25-year-old man's life.
The five woman, Anna Maley, Chiara Theodore, Jenna Waligroski, Madison Balmos, and Reagan Myers, were on their annual 4th of July tubing trip when they saw a 25-year-old man with no life jacket struggling to keep his head above water due to strong rapids near Railroad Bridge 2 in Sparrowbush.
While the five ladies couldn’t pull him out immediately due to the rapids, they instructed him to hang onto their connecting rope. After they made it past the rapids, they helped the man into a vacant tube.
The man later joined his friend on shore, who also fell in the river trying to help him.
“We were just in the right place at the right time, and we knew that we couldn’t just sit there and watch someone struggle,” Waligroski said. “We’re very thankful that we were all together that day and able to help. It’s something that none of us will probably ever forget.”
Other honorees included:
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