10/10/10 a popular date for events

PHOTOGRAPHER: Tatiana Zarnowski

Brides, promoters and organizations see the once-in-a-century 10/10/10 on Sunday as a way to get people to remember the date of their event — including the groom-to-be.

“They think of an anniversary date: 10/10/10 — he’d better not forget that one,” joked Maria DeMartino, wedding coordinator and event planner at the Glen Sanders Mansion, which has four weddings booked Sunday.

“Every room is being used,” she said.

That’s not unusual at the Scotia banquet hall on a Sunday, a popular day with brides now, but these weddings were booked about a year and a half ago, which is when couples have to speak for a special date like 9/10/11, which is a popular one for next year.

Three couples have already signed up for that date, which falls on a Saturday.

“It’s all about the date, definitely,” DeMartino said.

Several events are happening in the region on Sunday, and though most organizers are putting the date in the promotional materials to get it in people’s heads, the numbers appear to have no special meaning.

There’s no biblical significance, said Northway Church pastor the Rev. Buddy Cremeans, who is holding an event Sunday at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center.

“It just sticks [in people’s minds]. That’s the only significance,” he said.

Skidmore College is piling on the 10s on Sunday with a 10-year anniversary celebration for the Tang art museum that starts at 10 a.m. and lasts for 10 hours.

The day-long celebration includes music, a scavenger hunt, films and art activities.

At Congregation Agudat Achim’s 32nd annual Carrot Festival in Niskayuna, organizers found a meaning in Hebrew for the date.

The number 10 is a command meaning “give” in that language, they said.

“So we decided that means ‘give, give, give,’ ” said Anita Merims.

The festival will include a giving tent with community organizations.

In Northumberland, people will be taking part in a 10/10/10 Global Work Party to take action to solve the climate change problem.

From 2 to 6 p.m. at Lock 5, Hudson Crossing Park, people can learn about green gardening and climate solution activities or see an eco-fashion show. Visitors will plant more than 1,000 flower bulbs, design a T-shirt or apron and watch a music video inspired by the park.

The fashion show begins at 5:30 p.m.

For more information about the global effort, visit www.350.org.

Nationally, “I Am,” a new movie about the Ten Commandments, is being released early to be shown Sunday in more than 2,000 churches around the globe in an advance viewing. Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment said it’s the first feature film to be released to churches before its general release on DVD Nov. 2.