By Steve Sears

It’s never easy planning a birthday party. Guest lists have to be made, the party planned, and you hope all goes off without a problem.

Now, envision planning a birthday celebration for well over 10,400 people. 

Throughout 2022, the Borough of Franklin Lakes has been celebrating its 100th birthday, and Dina Robinson, Community Director of Franklin Lakes since September 2019, was tasked with doing and been at the forefront of the planning the Centennial celebration calendar, and she’s been aided by many people.

“We started the planning in 2019, prior to COVID-19 actually,” Robinson says. “The mayor (Frank Bivona) gave me a call and said, ‘You know, Franklin Lakes is going to be 100 years old in 2022. I’d love for you to take that under your wing.”

From the point of the mayor’s request, planning started and then COVID-19 happened, so it pushed Robinson back a little bit. However, everybody regrouped, and Robinson created a gigantic Centennial Committee. “With all aspects of the borough,” Robinson states, “meaning residents, senior citizens, high school students and college students. I had someone from the fire department, the ambulance corps, Office of Emergency Management, Borough Hall, and many different township employees. Also, every house of worship was invited to the meetings, all the schools – we have two high schools in town, and we have three elementary schools and one middle school – and everybody was included in our large Centennial Committee.” Subcommittees were then formed, and things were broken down by event (there were four big events during 2022), and Arcadia Press in September of this year published Images of America: Franklin Lakes, written by the Borough of Franklin Lakes and Colin Knight.

Thus far much has gone on in 2022 in Franklin Lakes, which has as its adopted motto, “The Borough of Franklin Lakes 1922 – 2022: Pride In Our Past, Faith In Our Future.” First up was the Roaring 20’s/Speakeasy Gala on March 19, where 400 people dressed in 1920’s fashion and flapped away to music at the Indian Trail Club. Talk about turning back the clock. Courtesy of the Centennial website, “Franklin Lakes past and present residents showed up as a flappers, and  gangsters and silent screen stars” and “They experienced living during the Prohibition era during this throwback celebration.  Guests enjoyed era cocktails, bountiful fare, dancing and rolling their own cigars.” “We selected that date in March because that’s when we broke off from Franklin Township,” Robinson explains. “So that was our kickoff, if you will. The Roaring 20’s/Speakeasy Gala party was phenomenal. Everybody was dressed up, and we even had Charlie Chaplin’s in the room. It was cool.”

After the initial event, the Centennial Celebration Parade (May 21) featured marchers who walked from Commerce Street to Franklin Avenue, then to De Korte Drive ending near Borough Hall to celebrate the special anniversary of 100 years. Local businesses and organizations entered floats in the parade, and afterwards live music, food and drink, and fun games, horse and wagon rides, and a petting zoo were enjoyed at Municipal Field. The Fireworks, Music & Food Festival was then held on June 24, and the final event was of the year, Centennial ‘Eats ‘n Beats” Street Festival, was planned for September 17.

Robinson also adds, “We have a time capsule we’re going to dig up on that day (September 17) and then we will bury a new time capsule near the end of the year. The time capsule that we have now is buried at that Veterans Plaza on the corner of Pulis Avenue and Franklin Avenue.” 

Purchase and reading of Images of America: Franklin Lakes will no doubt be a good companion with the following. Robinson and the borough have a dedicated website for the Centennial that can be found at www.franklinlakescentennial.com. A visit to the gallery page on the site yields photos of old buildings, people, and press clippings of yesteryear. All of this helps you think back to and envision the way things were, and how far forward the borough has come.