After a very nasty “Florida January,” February 6, 2025 was a beautiful day. Perfect, weather-wise, for the 2025 Annual Peekskill Day. Held in Carlin Park in Jupiter, Florida,  Peekskill Day is a delightful way to see some old buddies and close friends. 

Roughly  37 years ago, after moving south from Peekskill, Eileen and Rick Baisley thought it would be nice for Peekskill High School graduates who moved south to have a get-together time for a simple day of camaraderie. And so Peekskill Day began. 

Some years ago there were two Peekskill Days. One was in Tarpon Springs on the  west coast of Florida and another in Melbourne on the east coast. Word-of-mouth  encouraged more and more visitors. It’s estimated that in 2010 or so, there were over 200 attendees combined. In recent years, due to natural events, the number has  considerably dwindled and Peekskill Day is now strictly an east coast event.  

Several of us have chosen to get the word out that we’d like to see the number of attendees increase. Peekskill Day is not only for Peekskill High School graduates; it’s for anyone who moved south from our hometown to Florida. That includes people who now live in Florida all year or “snowbirds” who come down for part of the year. 

Kudos to Alice and Spanky MacLennan, who have organized the gathering the last few years, and to Sandy and Jack VanScoy, who help by saving supplies and setting up. 

Come on down to join us. There will be coffee and pastries waiting to welcome you!  You’ll see visitors with well known names: Schmidt, Hanley, Cacace, Lepore, Sewalk,  Rohr, Rice, Lemak, Treptow, Cummins and who knows who else.  

P.S. Anyone with comments or questions or seeking more information can visit our Facebook page Peekskill Day with Friends. The date for Peekskill Day 2026 — either the first or second Thursday in February 2026 — will be confirmed in November 2025.