Founded in 1936, the Woodbury Lions Club primary mission is to bring together service-minded people for the purpose of serving their community through fund raising and service projects conducted throughout the year. Some of the most notable accomplishments of the club in the past seventy-five years have been their Scrap Drive during World War II, spearheading the effort to establish the swimming pond at Hollow Park in 1968, the design and construction of the pavilion at Hollow Park in 1985 (dedicated in 2010 to the memory of the architect and past club president Lion Robert P. Keating), construction of the bandstand on the North Green, dedicated to the memory of composer and Woodbury resident Leroy Anderson in 1986, and donating the cost of training one guide dog to FIDELCO, $20,000, in 2007. The Woodbury Lions also supports other sight and hearing related causes, collects used eyeglasses for those in need, helps support the Lions Eye Research Center at Yale University and provides local sight and hearing screenings at various time throughout the year. In 1992, the Woodbury Lions Club Foundation was established to provide scholarships to local students; over $144,000 has been given out in the past ten years alone.

 

There are also less obvious contributions to the community that the Lions make each year. The flags hanging along Main Street in Woodbury from Memorial Day through Veteran’s Day, and the luminaries that line the same street on Christmas Eve are both Lion Club projects. The many benches found throughout town are placed in memory of past Lions Club members who have passed away. The Woodbury Food Bank, as well as other local charities, receive donations from the Woodbury Lions throughout the year.

 

Besides the car show, the Woodbury Lions Club holds two other major fundraisers each year. The annual Haunted Hayride started in 1991 and provides a scream-packed ride through cemeteries, forlorn fields and a spooky barn, inhabited by werewolves, ghosts and other ghouls. The Duck Race, the newest fundraiser for sight and hearing-related causes, started in 2010, launches thousands of yellow rubber ducks into a local river with the first to navigate all the hazards, keep from getting trapped along the riverbank and cross the finish line winning a prize for their “owner”.