webster on the web

I am so thankful for friends.

A little while ago, my friend Dave Kassnoff offered to write a blog for me as I took a few days off for my elbow surgery. Here it is today for your enjoyment.

Picturing Webster today (reviving the photo contest)

by David Kassnoff

 Sunset from Lodge at Webster Park, D. Kassnoff

While Missy recovers, I thought it’s a good time to revisit a long-lost practice of celebrating the local beauty of our community.

But, when I go looking for a current, local photo competition, I come up a bit short.

The Webster Arboretum ran a photo contest for a few years, but the most recent entries I found appeared from June, 2017. Missy Rosenberry’s “Picture Webster” photo contest ran in the Democrat & Chronicle, predating this blog space, in 2010. The Webster Library has featured local photographers, both professional and hobbyist – but the library’s current limitations on hours and access makes a photo event unlikely in 2020.

So far, no photo contests on my radar. Or, it seems, anyone else’s.

This is slightly ironic, as Webster this year has played host to a number of photo enthusiasts. We’re a photogenic town, even without our usual parades and festivals. Digital photographer and newsman John Kucko regularly shoots and streams lakeside scenes from Webster Park, in summer and winter. Oklahoma Beach and its Sandbar Park were among the best places to photograph last month’s Neowise comet in the night skies. And, I’ll admit to capturing a few vistas along our Lake Ontario coastline this summer. Just for the satisfaction of it.

I’d hate to see Facebook and Instagram hog all the great pictures – and not recognize the imaginative picture-takers in our town. Our diligent efforts at social distancing have given rise to chalk-drawn driveways and other creative outlets. I’d like to see someone take the lead on a community photo contest, with entries posted on a website where viewers can comment. Webster is home to several HTML-coding experts, so this shouldn’t be so difficult.

Who’s willing to step up?

Mini-bio: A Webster resident, David Kassnoff teaches strategic communications courses at St. Bonaventure University.

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email me  at missyblog@gmail.com. “Like” this blog on Facebook and follow me on Twitter.

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The Village Quilt Shoppe in the Village of Webster is celebrating its one-year anniversary, and boy, do they have a lot to celebrate.

The anniversary celebration runs through this coming Saturday Aug. 8, with prizes, raffles, and other surprises. On Saturday there’ll even be cake and lemonade.

The first year for any new small business is always a challenge, but there was no way owners Vanetta Parshall and Monique Liberti could have anticipated the struggles they would face when they followed their dream and opened their shop at 21 E. Main St. last summer. For a while it looked like they weren’t going to make it.

After a strong grand opening, hugely welcoming reception from the community, and a rapidly expanding clientele, disaster struck.

Just days before the Village of Webster’s White Christmas celebration took place, an event where potentially hundreds of new customers would discover the shop, a water leak from the apartment above them came through the floor and destroyed much of their merchandise. They to close to regroup.

Thanks to their loyal customers who bought gift certificates and “flood fabric,” they made enough money to cover their deductible. After restocking and completing some renovations, including a new floor, they reopened just a little more than a month later.

Then, after a strong grand reopening, hugely re-welcoming reception from the community, and a rapidly expanding clientele, COVID struck, and they had to close again.

Of course, we all know that story. Following the governor’s regional guidelines, it was almost three months before they could open again in June. Reflecting the kind of people Vanetta and Monique are, they spent that time coordinating an effort to make masks for health care workers and other agencies.

So, at least for now, things are smooth sailing again. And the ladies credit their loyal clients for helping them weather the storms.

Monique wrote,

Village Quilt Shoppe owners Vanetta Parshall and Monique Liberti

“Both Vanetta and I know that the primary reason we have made it is due to our customers. So THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU- we truly appreciate your support and are looking forward to another great year!”

She added, “Things can only get better. If we can make it through a flood and pandemic we can make it through anything.”

So make sure to pop in sometime in the next few days to say hi and congratulations.

The Village Quilt Shoppe is located at 21 East Main, at the corner of Lapham Park. They’re open Tuesday, Thursday and Friday 11 to 5, Wednesday 11 to 6 and Saturday 10 to 3.

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email me  at missyblog@gmail.com. “Like” this blog on Facebook and follow me on Twitter.

You can also get email notifications every time I post a new blog by using the “Follow Me” link on the right side of this page.

Today’s blog is about community.

My story begins last Saturday morning around 11 a.m., when my husband and were riding our bikes on Rt. 250 north of the village. Just before we reached where the Hojack Trail crosses the road, I hit a pothole and went head-over-handlebars onto the road.

But that’s not what this story is about. It’s about the people who took the time to stop and help.

A large group of Genesee Valley Hiking members was crossing 250 as we approached, and when I went down, several of them immediately scurried over. Sandy, a nurse, called 911 while Stacey stood a few feet down the road slowing traffic. As we waited for the ambulance, Sandy even offered to transport my bike back home.

Those were the only two names I got, but there were others there ready to step in if necessary, not to mention all the drivers who slowed and asked if we needed anything.

This was not the first time I’ve seen this kind of community response after a traumatic incident. But it did confirm for me something we too often forget, especially in times like these when so many awful things are happening: there are more good people in this world than bad. People who are willing to stop whatever they’re doing to help a stranger in need.

And don’t worry about me; I broke my elbow but it would have been a lot worse had I not been wearing a helmet.

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email me  at missyblog@gmail.com. “Like” this blog on Facebook and follow me on Twitter. 

You can also get email notifications every time I post a new blog by using the “Follow Me” link on the right side of this page.