Village of Valley Stream is turning 100: See what the village has in store for the celebration of a century.

The Incorporated Village of Valley Stream, the third-largest village in the state, is about to hit its centennial mark. The years 1925 and 2025 will serve as bookends to ten decades of colorful history — with both years falling in periods of significant growth for Valley Stream.

At almost 100 years old, this suburban community at the edge of New York City is sprawling, larger than ever, and home to an increasingly diverse population. Tracing back its arc to the beginning, its residents, before forming a local government, were under the direct rule of the Town of Hempstead. Its budding population was about 7,500, according to village records. It hosted a few schools, and was still surrounded by tracts of farmland.

Fast-forward to today, and the village — over 40,000 residents strong — is a suburban hub with four school districts, a volunteer fire department, a village government and a robust local infrastructure. As Valley Stream nears the big 100, village officials plan to raise a glass with an even bigger year-long bash. Everyone is invited to celebrate.

Celebrating a ‘great big, small village’

“Our yearlong centennial celebration will begin right away,” Mayor Ed Fare said in a statement.

According to Fare, the celebration will kick off in January with the raising of a commemorative 100th Anniversary flag in front of Village Hall. The year will be padded with a slew of other events including the village’s main attraction: a parade and community block party on the Village Green Sept. 27.

“This major event will include a full-scale parade with all community groups and schools invited. The block party on the Village Green will have picnic activities, food trucks, a DJ and live music, bounce houses, and giveaways for the kids,” Fare said. “It will culminate with an exciting light show after dark. This will be a real community party atmosphere, so don’t miss it.”

With an event as big as this, there will also be plenty of village-issued merch available including special centennial challenge coins, shirts, mugs, buttons, pens, and other celebratory collectibles. Even the village’s lineup of annual events from its Memorial Day Parade to its Independence Day fireworks display promises to be tinged with centennial flair.

Much, however, is still in the planning stages and a clear picture of the celebration will come into sharper focus in the coming months.

“I like to say we are a great big, small village,” said Fare. “Yes, we are one of the largest villages in New York State, but we continue to have a small-town community feel.”

Preserving Valley Stream’s historic legacy

For her part, village historian Carol McKenna has been engaged in a centennial project of her own: sifting through local archives from the Town of Hempstead to piece together the story of the village’s incorporation.

“It’s my hope that the Valley Stream Historical Society can put this information on display at the Pagan-Fletcher Restoration for the public to see,” she said.

McKenna, who has presided as the village historian for close to 30 years, is as astounded by the village’s longevity and humbled in having been tasked to chronicle its history for a long stretch of its existence.

“There are approximately 531 villages within New York State. Over the years, 25 villages have been dissolved. There was a village in Suffolk County, the Village of Mastic Beach, which lasted for about seven years,” she said. “The point is: 100 years is terrific.”

To be able to provide such a vast array of local services, programs, and activities to a growing population for as long as it has is no small feat, argued McKenna.

But the passage of time is also exposing newfound vulnerabilities to the survival of the village’s long-running institutions, not least its principal history-preserving organization: the Valley Stream Historical Society.

Volunteers, noted McKenna, are hard to come by. Fresh blood is needed in the society and in many other older village institutions and clubs to keep them alive. The 77-year-old historian is also quietly looking out for her successor.

“I’m not a spring chicken,” she said. “At some point in time, I’d like for there to be a younger generation to pass on the work of preserving history, and also for my role to be taken over by someone who can give it their best efforts.”

But while she looks toward the far future, McKenna is eager to celebrate with her village in the coming months.

“No matter what the village decides as its events next year, I think that all of us should participate from the schools to the existing organizations to all the residents,” she said. “It should be a big, big party.”

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