It’s 11:30 a.m. Broadway is filled with 20,000 people walking around dancing laughing and enjoying the day. Up on the corner of Liberty Street stands a man watching with a grin on his face brought to tears by the sight of the Newburgh Illuminated Festival. The image of an empty Broadway filled with hypodermic needles, deterring anyone from entering has been replaced with music, dance and excitement.

“I am standing in a place that in my memory as an 8 year old and an 18 year old was sad and challenged,” said Ernenwein. “I got to play a small part in bringing people out of their houses to the heart of the city where people live and work.”

Paul Ernenwein grew up in the City of Newburgh, he watched as the city transformed from a place where you were nervous to walk down the street, to a place where he could let his teenage daughter walk around freely and concern free.

“When I was young, in elementary school it was 1995, we would not be sitting here now,” said Ernenwein. “Crack and cocaine were very relevant which became very challenging for me.”
Ernenwein is the man you see at every community event lifting up the people around him every way he can. He is the guy sitting at the bar that somehow knows each and every person walking through the door at a busy restaurant, even though he’s not the owner.

Growing up in the city of Newburgh Ernenwein saw the challenges the city faced, he saw the drug epidemic, he walked past the hypodermic needles cluttering sidewalks on his way to school, or on his way to his father’s shop, Rosenbaum’s on Liberty Street. These things were difficult to see at a young age, but they never squashed his pride for being a resident of Newburgh. A pride that he wears proudly speaking to anyone in the city of Newburgh.
“We joke that the Flouride in the water made us a little bit crazy,” said Ernenwein. “That’s why everyone has this incredible love for this place.”

Ernenwein’s mother was the Executive Director of Planned Parenthood in the City of Newburgh. He grew up watching his mother and her friends take care of anyone or anything in need.
“I was witness to heros doing great things for the community,” said Ernenwein. “My experiences all come from watching my parents. They had the largest influence on how I see the world. I don’t come out of tragedy or diversity, I come out of inspiration from my parents.”
After graduating from Newburgh Free Academy, Ernenwein was part of the 20 percent of his class that went on to a four year school. While in college at the State University at Albany, he worked with legislators who spiked his interest in law.

After college Ernenwein moved to the Bronx where he worked as an Assistant District Attorney, but he never took his eye off the City of Newburgh. He eventually decided to come back to the City as a partner in a local law firm. Catania, Mahon, Milligram & Rider Attorney’s at Law.

More than seven years ago Ernenwein was approached by Mayor Judy Kennedy to start a festival on Broadway. A huge music festival to get singers and people from all over to come past the waterfront on to Broadway. Something people were afraid to do for many years.
“[Kennedy] realized there was no place that needed an event more than Newburgh,” said Ernenwein. “It was an event to see where Newburgh is, as the sunsets on the river and the river moves. The region is filled with people who were left with bitterness. Kennedy wanted to show off Newburgh again. She inspired so many volunteers and people to the point that 20,000 people came out to enjoy the day.”

Kennedy may have started the festival, but It’s impossible to mention the Newburgh Illuminated festival without mentioning Ernenwein, its Chairman. He ran the past two Newburgh Illuminated Festivals with a heavy heart after the death of Kennedy, but has kept the tradition alive. Instead of accepting birthday presents he does a huge party called the Paul Craul where all proceeds go to Newburgh Illuminated.

He is the man who wakes up at 5 a.m. the day of the festival to pick up any garbage cluttering the streets so that not a piece of garbage or trash is seen by visitors to the city. He is the guy behind the scenes pulling together a force of volunteers to take on a second job and dedicate hours upon hours to put the day together.

When talking to Ernenwein about the City of Newburgh he has the ability to sweep you up with a view of the City through his eyes. He is untouched by the troubled past. He prefers to remember the good things about his childhood growing up in the City. He looks beyond the troubles at the people that were lifting each other up through the toughest times in the city. He continues to look forward with a bright eye to what the city will become in years to come.
“My goal is to continue to hear from my daughter and her friends that this is a place to continue their lives,” said Ernenwein. “I hope they continue to enforce the truth about Newburgh, that is there is a lot of work to do and no finish line.”