by John Beagle and Ann Mort

The Grandpa gang is a group of mostly-retired men from Middletown. There not really a gang, but they do work together as a team. 

Mainly the Grandpa Gang was formed to help with Light Up Middletown. They setup and dismantle all the lights and displays. They power up and verify all the lights come on. And they repair and maintain Light Up Middletown throughout the entire event.

Light Up Middletown runs from the day after Thanksgiving through New Year’s Eve.

Ann Mort explains about the Grandpa Gang:

"There are about 20 of them who work throughout November setting up the displays, then take turns during the season to maintain, repair, turn on and turn off each day.  In January, they dismantle and store the displays.  They do some maintenance during the year  - checking light strings, etc.

Several of the local restaurants realize the value of LUM to their bottom line as people go out for dinner and then visit the display. So, restaurant managers donate food coupons to the Grandpas to eat lunch at their place while they work.

Grandpas range in age from Bill Beck who is 50+ to some well into their 80s. 

Other organizations try to lure them into their construction teams but with little success. Given the age and length of LUM, most do only this one event. Several (such as Barney Strassburger, site manager,  and Dick Mort have a long history of helping set up All American Weekend.  Bill Becker has a long history with Fenwick Festival."

Talk about the Grandpa Gang on the Middletown USA Blog Forum