"Our Hero Inc."

      "HI!"

           Welcome to  "Our Hero"inc , my name is Jeffrey R. Tirante & for those of you just tuning in, here's the

  skinny.....

          I created "Our Hero"as a result of my return to my home town of Vineland, N.J,& the "tour I signed on for"

with the Palace of Depression Project Assn.inc.........

                When I was a kid my Uncle Lou  would take us kiddies "bottling", on one particular field trip, he took my

 family to see the Palace & there, told us Daynor's story of the "three fortunes lost, & the Angel",

We listened & watched that day, as the city of Vineland razed the Palace to the ground. 

   As I got older, I would often return to what now remains today, the Ticket booth, benches, & patio, that leads

to Little Robin's creek , with friends just to hang & play some guitar, or just to lurk on my own thankfull to have

the Palace as a source of inspiration & sanctuary.  

    I moved to Philadelphia in 1977 to pursue an education in the Arts, & careered

in photography , & in the fall of 1986, with friends & family, Carol & I were

married at the Ticket booth. 

   Several years later... A friend gave me an article regarding Kevin J. Kirchner,

& his proposal to re-build the Palace of Depression  & create a " Living history 

 & Arts center" on the original grounds, requesting  volunteers & donations, Kevin asked as well for any

memories on the Palace for research & for display in the history center, so,.... I met with Kevin & offered our

wedding images ( the only wedding to take place at the Palace) & to "sign on" as a volunteer, Kevin inturn,

presented me with images of the Palace in it's "Hay-Day" I had only seen images, & the Palace it'self, in it's final

Days.....

    "That year"....

My Father took ill, & had begun coming to Philadelphia for treatments, on what would turn out to be the last time

I would see him again we sat down together with the images Kevin had given me, getting the lay of the land  and

joking about how if this was home work  we'd work it up together as a diarama, these , & the toys we made when

I was a kid were often  modeled from the play -clay my mom made for us in the kitchen, " if you can't buy it, build

it!"...  I was now looking forward to this spring, my father's recovery, & perhaps he & his family coming out to

the project some time in the future.....  

            On the eve of my father's next trip to the city, I had decided on a lark , after something like 26 odd

years, to borrow some of Carol's bee's wax, & had started a diarama of the Palace, & ticket booth, by

morning, several other pieces as well, eager to show my dad what I did in school today, I was just wrapping up

when my brother John called me to say dad had passed away that morning,...

         All said & done, I'd like to think he was there with me working on one last project,...

To Dad,..."represent".

   "That spring"...

      Kevin invited Carol, my brother Mike & myself to our 1st "Founder's Day" & to meet the 

                                "Friends of Historic Vineland"

 The members inacting famous figures from the city of Vineland's history, Kevin represnting

George Daynor, & displaying the wax models I had given him along with images of the palace & recoverd 

artifacts from the digs around the site, Well, the models weren't going to last long between the heat & the

Handling!,

      Kevin asked me if I could come up with something a little more durable, so, working again from the images & my

wax models, I created the "Hero" (Large) concept model we now display, & on a lark , decided to cast some of the

smaller wax models as well, returning the following spring to Vineland for Founder's Day (& with a unaimous

vote!) sporting my horns, I joined Kevin & Co. at the Palace booth as "Mr. J. D'vil" Hawking the 1st Palace souvenirs

in over 40 years.