Archive | 2020

Way to go, Webster!

13 Jun

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Saturday afternoon, hundreds of Webster residents came together at Veteran’s Memorial Park on North Ave. to show their support for the Black Lives Matter movement.

The peaceful gathering featured several speakers, and an 8 minute, 46 second period of silence to represent the length of time a police officer kneeled on the neck of George Floyd.  There were also petitions, and a huge poster for people to sign and pledge to be an anti-racist.

It was a very meaningful, moving and inspirational ceremony, and I’m proud to be a part of a community that supported it so strongly. Thank you also for the special police who helped manage the traffic to make sure all of the attendees were safe.

I apologize to my readers for not letting you know about this event in advance. I didn’t even have any idea it was happening until a friend mentioned it to me, and that was a full hour into the ceremony. Still, I was able to quickly head on down there (another benefit to living in the village) and snap some pictures.

Ironically, I found out about it just after I had returned from a similar event in the Village of Pittsford. There, the Rochester Anti-Racism Action Coalition had organized a march from the community center to the Port of Pittsford gazebo. That event also drew many hundreds of people, a testament to how serious people are about the Black Lives Matter movement. Hopefully, participation in these rallies will turn into commitment to help bring about real change this time.

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The village is open for business!

13 Jun

Things are far from being back to normal, but our village businesses are showing some signs of life.

Especially now that we have reached Phase III, village businesses are beginning to open their doors to retail sales again. What’s different is that staff members will be wearing masks (and customers should be as well), and there might be one-way tape marks on the floor and in front of the registers encouraging proper social distancing.

However, what hasn’t changed is that the same friendly owners and staff members will be there to welcome you, and they’ll be very happy to see you.

Frankly, I’m relieved to see that most of our village businesses were able to weather the pandemic. The one notable exception is The Pickled Paintbrush, which closed for good about a month ago. (But even that unfortunate news has a happy upside, which I’ll mention later.)

You, the loyal customers, are the main reason these businesses are still here. John Bucci, owner of The Music Store, 18 E. Main St., was blown away by the support his shop received while he was closed, making purchases via email, phone calls or online.

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John Bucci behind the counter at The Music Store

“Everybody was just being amazing,” he said. “People who needed a set of guitar strings, buying three or four, saying ‘We gotta keep you here, I gotta do what I can.’ Whatever they wanted, if I was even close to what they needed they were fine.”

He’s been in business for 31 years, he added, and always wondered “Does it matter? Then to hear the phone calls and the people going ‘Yeah, we got to keep you in business.'”

I also stopped by Nest Things, 11 E. Main, where owner Gail Maier took a few minutes to show me the beautiful garden she’s created behind her shop. Stop by for yourself and she’s be happy to give you a tour.

The Village Quilt Shoppe, 21 East Main, one of Webster’s newest shops, is also back in business after staying busy helping craft thousands of face masks for healthcare workers and social agencies.

Working on projects at the Village Quilt Shoppe

Chandeliers and Performance Hobbies are also up and running again, and I’ve seen people popping in and out of The North Bee on North Ave.

Staff members of Chandeliers Boutique

But probably the most exciting news comes from LaLa of Webster, at 38 E. Main. After only a little more than a year and a half in business, LaLa not only weathered the storm, but is expanding.

Owner Lisa Schlonski will be expanding into the former Pickled Paintbrush space, which is right next door to her current shop. It will more than double the floor space she already has, including adding a third floor, which will become a clothing boutique.

Lisa hopes to finish renovations in just a few weeks, so watch for notice of a grand reopening party.

It doesn;t look like much now, but this is going to be LaLa’s new clothing boutique
The first floor of the former Pickled Paintbrush, soon to be the expanded LaLa.

Plus, of course, the restaurants are opening up. I saw some brand new, beautiful patio seating at The Filling Station, and Barry’s outdoor patio is getting so busy that they’re taking reservations.

So let’s keep supporting our local businesses and show them how much we appreciate them.

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A day of celebration for our seniors

12 Jun

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June is packed with a lot of fun days as we celebrate the last days of school, and especially those students who are moving up to new schools. Tops on that list of fun days for me is the day our high school seniors — in their gowns — parade through the halls of their former elementary schools.

That couldn’t happen this year, but the district was able to come up with something pretty darn close.

This morning, our Webster Thomas and Schroeder seniors were invited to drive through their high schools’ bus loops, where they were cheered and congratulated by their teachers. They they spread out throughout the district to their elementary schools, where they were cheered again by their former elementary school teachers. Most of the cars were decorated to the max with streamers and balloons, and signs indicating the student’s future college or life plans.

The event is always a very touching moment for these teachers, many of whom haven’t seen these kids since they were in 5th grade.

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Plank North teachers lined the bus loop to celebrate their former students.

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Across the “street,” Plank South teachers welcomed their former students at the same time.

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Marching Band bottle and can drive is June 13

8 Jun

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The Webster Marching Band could REALLY use your returnables this year.

Due to the pandemic and the schools’ being closed, the band hasn’t been able to do any of their usual fundraisers this year.  But they’re planning to at least resurrect their bottle and can drive by turning it into a drop-off event this year.

On Saturday June 13, instead of putting your bottles and cans outside of your home, the band is asking that donations be dropped off at one of three locations, between 9:30 a.m. and 4 p.m.:

  • Can Kings in Webster across from Eastway Wegmans,
  • Can Kings in Fairport, 1276 Fairport Rd.
  • Xerox Building 128 Parking lot off Phillips Road

If you can’t make it to any of these locations, you can call the Bottle and Can Hotline at 234-8684 (choose option 1) and someone will pick up your donations.

For more information, visit the Friends of Webster Marching Band event page on Facebook.

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Neighbors come together for a special birthday parade

7 Jun

How about a little happy news for a change?

A very special birthday parade was held this afternoon for a very special young man, Jack Frank, who turned 9 years old today.

Jack’s mother Alana said that she put the word out to her neighbors — many of whom own some real hot-rods —  and a few of Jack’s teachers at Plank North that she’d love to brighten his day with a parade. It kind of morphed into something much bigger than she ever expected or hoped for.

Even our local first responders answered the call, leading perhaps 50 or so cars, motorcycles and bicycles down the street, to Jack’s utter delight.

Check out this short video from the beginning of the parade and you can see how much fun he was having. (The fire trucks are kind of loud, so get ready to turn down your speakers!)

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Plank North celebrates their fifth graders

7 Jun

Much like our high school seniors, Webster’s fifth graders are losing out on a lot of celebration as they near the end of this school year.

Normally these last few weeks of fifth grade would be filled with awards ceremonies, field days and parties. But of course nothing like that can happen this year thanks to the pandemic. So elementary schools across the district are coming up with creative ways to celebrate our fifth graders’ achievements. On Friday night, Plank North Elementary did that by hosting a fifth grade parade through the bus loop.

Staff members spread out along the entire length of the bus loop with banners, flags and decorated cars, and welcomed students and their families with big waves and cheers as they drove through the bus loop. (Most of the families decorated their cars for the celebration as well.) Upon reaching the front of the building, “graduating” fifth grader received awards and gifts from the school, and wished good luck as they head off to Spry Middle School.

Clearly the teachers enjoyed the evening as much of the kids. Even under all the masks they were wearing, you could tell that the staff members’ grins were a mile wide.

Here are some photos from the evening:

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Peaceful protest comes to Webster

6 Jun

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Perhaps you noticed a gathering at Veterans Memorial Park on North Ave. this afternoon. A couple dozen people came together for a “peace, love and music rally.”

On her Facebook invitation earlier in the day, the event’s organizer wrote that “We will be playing music through the decades to show things never change.”

She continued,

Music brings people together. Look at all the beautiful protests with singing and dancing. Let’s show those nasty people protest is not looting but a group extending love to everyone. I hope it also offers a chance to meet others in our community that have the same goals especially when it comes to our children.

Several of the attendees had brought posters which they displayed to the the cars passing by on North Ave. Others simply enjoyed the beautiful weather by relaxing in the grass on blankets, listening to some great music.

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Webster Community Blood Drive a huge success!

5 Jun
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Local first responders gather in the Webster Recreation Center parking lot at the end of the community blood drive.  

Wow.

Just wow. That about sums up my feelings after seeing the final tallies from this week’s Webster Community Blood Drive.

This biannual drive is always a very popular one because of the raffle prizes, but even without the promise of those prizes, our Webster community came out in record numbers. Word from the Red Cross folks is that the two-day drive attracted 191 donors, who (counting double reds) donated 197 units. Both days’ goals of 85 units were blown away in what is the best Community Blood Drive in recent memory.

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Many donors also took the opportunity to write encouraging notes on posters for the first responders. 

But not only that! When the Webster community heard that this year’s drive was being held to support local businesses and first responders, they answered the call, dropping eight gift cards and more than $450 in cash into the box on the welcome table. One kind donor also included several nice notes and “Miraculous Medals.” All of the donations will be distributed to members of the North East Quadrant Advanced Life Support, the Webster Volunteer Fire Dept., and the West Webster Volunteer Fire Dept.

So THANK YOU to the Webster (and surrounding) community members who came out in support of this week’s drive by donating blood and/or cash and gift certificates. You all helped save hundreds of lives through your donations, and showed some much-need support those first responders in our community who also save lives.

A personal thank you to Monroe County Legislator Matthew Terp and Webster Deputy Supervisor Patti Cataldi for their work organizing the drive, and to Matt for manning the welcome tent in front of the Rec Center for the entire drive (except when he went inside to donate).

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Matt Terp (right) and Shirley Humphrey welcome donors at the Rec Center.

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Check out this Community Arts Day slideshow

3 Jun
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These penguins, created by Melissa Pennington’s students at Klem North, are a great example of the art you’ll see in the slideshow.

I love Community Arts Day.

This all-day event, which is normally held every April at Webster Schroeder High School, is a terrific opportunity to reconnect with old friends and neighbors, and check out what’s new with many of our area non-profit agencies and organizations.

But mostly, Community Arts Day is our school district’s annual show-off day. Students from every one of our elementary, middle and high schools have artwork on display, plus there are music, dance and martial arts performances.

This year’s Community Arts Day had to be canceled, of course. But I’m happy to report that you can STILL check out some of our kids’ incredible artwork, albeit virtually.

Our district’s art teachers have each taken a selection of their students’ work and compiled photos of them in this Community Arts Day 2020 slideshow. Click through, sit back and enjoy hundreds of  stunning works of art, including sketches, paintings, sculptures, pottery and more. Every single one of our elementary and secondary schools is represented.

It’s going to blow you away. And best of all, you don’t even have to get out of your pajamas to appreciate them this year!

Here’s the link again.

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Sample pieces from students in Kate Zalewski’s Drawing One class at Webster Thomas.

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Town’s summer celebration canceled? Not completely!

2 Jun

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Summer events are dropping like flies. But kudos to the Town of Webster for finding a creative way to still hold their Summer Celebration in a safe, socially-distant way.

Here’s the information I got from the folks at the Rec Center:

2020 is the year of thinking differently – and town festivities are no exception. While we have made the tough call to cancel Summer Celebration this year, the Town of Webster Parks and Recreation Department is bringing our Webster community together that day…in a different way!

Introducing “Summer Celebration Re-Imagined”! On Saturday, June 20 from 12 p.m. to  – 2 p.mm come to the Rec Center, 1350 Chiyoda Drive, to pick up a FREE bag filled with surprise items to celebrate summer at home!

The bag distribution will be a drive-thru party in a parking lot! We can’t tell you everything we have in store for you… but we are encouraging you to pack up the family and come pick up a bag! (*Bonus points if your car is decorated in fun summer gear!*) So, even though we can’t be together this year, we can still celebrate!

**PLEASE NOTE** There is a limit to ONE (1) BAG PER CAR. Bags are available to the first 1000 cars from 12:00 pm – 2:00 pm or until supplies run out. Please wear a mask, remain in your car at ALL times and follow the traffic pattern.

Sounds like fun. I’m hopping for bubbles and sidewalk chalk 🙂

sumemr celebration poster

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