Archive | July, 2021

Village of Webster’s “Christmas in July” will feature an EMS parade

16 Jul

Plans continue to come together — and get more exciting — for some great family events in Webster Village the last week in July.

The latest addition to a whole week of activities is a “Christmas in July” Summer Parade of (at least) EMS vehicles on Thursday July 29 beginning ar 7 p.m. I’m sensing the organizers are looking to plan something a little like the huge Fireman’s Parade, but on a much smaller scale.

Community members are encouraged to dress up in their best holiday attire. That means get up into the attic and dig out all your Santa hats, antlers, Christmas lights and even ugly sweaters.

True to the “Christmas in July” theme, there will also be caroling and Christmas cookie decorating at the gazebo. More details as they come will be posted to this Facebook event page.

Then, on Friday July 30, West Main Street will be closed for an evening of family games and entertainment…and beer.

The village’s first-ever Family Games Night and Beer Garden will feature sidewalk chalk art for the kids (and adults), giant street games like Jenga and Connect Four, and a free yoga class. The Coach Sports Bar will be serving up beer and wine and Webster Hots will offer dinner options.

Live acoustic music is also on tap from 6:30 to 8 p.m. featuring Steve Bartolotta.

Earlier in the week, don’t forget that Elf (yes the Christmas movie!) will be the featured attraction at Movie Night in Gazebo Park, Tuesday July 27 beginning at 8 p.m.

You can also stay on top of Village of Webster events by regularly checking the Webster BID website.

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Letterboxing: the perfect family hobby

14 Jul
The “Webster Borwnies” letterbox, with a stamp pad, hand-carved rubber stamp and logbook.

If you’ve never heard of letterboxing, please read on. I’d love to introduce you to this very family-friendly hobby which, when my children were young, was one of our favorite things to do.

In a nutshell, letterboxing is kind of like a treasure hunt. Each “letterbox” (usually some sort of Tupperware or other plastic container) contains a rubber stamp, stamp pad and a logbook. There are literally thousands of these hidden all over the country — and world. Searchers go online for clues, then follow the clues to track down the letterbox. (The site I like best is Atlasquest.com)

Once the box is retrieved, each searcher uses their own personal rubber stamp to stamp the box’s logbook (adding the date and a personal note if they’d like). Then they take the box’s stamp and imprint that into their personal logbook to keep track of their progress.

Most of the clues are simply step-by-step directions and are pretty easy to follow. Occasionally a clue might also include locating a particular compass direction, or require counting off a number of paces, both of which kids love to do. If you really get into it, you can come up with your own trail names (I’m Mama Rose) and carve your own rubber stamps (which is actually pretty easy).

Here’s a good example.

Tuesday morning I went to Atlasquest.com, searched for letterboxes in Webster and downloaded some simple directions to an easy-to-find letterbox hidden in Webster Park. It’s called “Webster Brownies,” and was likely hidden by a Webster Brownie troop.

Here are what the directions look like:

The directions were spot-on, and I had no trouble finding the box tucked inside the tree. (However, I was a little concerned about the folks siting on a nearby bench wondering why I was climbing up into the tree.) I didn’t have my personal stamp with me, so I just signed my name and the date into the logbook, put everything back in the waterproof baggies and dropped the box back where I found it.

Sometimes you might come across an extra surprise on your adventure, like I did Tuesday. Tucked inside the tree along with the letterbox was a large stone with the instructions to “paint a square and re-hide it.” I don’t know if the same Brownie troop created this little treat as well, or someone else added it to the site. In any case, I have to find my watercolors and get to work.

There are so many things to love about letterboxing. Unlike geocaching, you don’t need a GPS unit or your phone to track down coordinates. It costs basically nothing (aside from buying a stamp and a logbook), and it incorporates puzzle-solving, following directions, and even a little orienteering, all while discovering new parks and trails and getting some exercise.

Try it yourself; you might become addicted like my family did. All you need when you first get started are some clues, a small personal notebook to record your finds, and a stamp pad in case the box doesn’t have one. You don’t even need to have a rubber stamp of your own. You can just sign your names and date into the logbook. But check in your kids’ rooms, because they probably have some rubber stamps in there somewhere.

You can download clues from Atlasquest.com. Search for Webster and Penfield if you’d like to start local. Even that limited a search will show dozens in our area. But think big! Are you going to the Thousand Islands this summer with the kids? Download some clues and do some exploring up there. Just make sure you have a dedicated family letterboxing logbook, because you’ll be filling it up. (We also liked to record each find with a photo which we pasted into our logbook.)

Here are some more photos from the day:

  • The tree with the letterbox was 30 steps west of the bench (that one with the trunks)
  • The letterbox before I opened it — and bonus rock
  • One of the best things about letterboxing is discoving nature

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

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Hot off the presses! Free concert!

13 Jul

My friends at the Webster Public Library wanted me to gve you all a heads-up about Wednesday night’s FREE Caring Community Concert at the Webster United Church of Christ, 570 Klem Rd.

This concert will feature the eight-piece contemporary band Allegro, and begins at 6:30.

This is the first of the church’s annual summer benefit concert series, and this one will be near and dear to any book lover’s heart, because it will benefit BookBox for Kids and Teens, the Webster Public Library’s summer mobile library at Phillips Village.

BookBox is a terrific program begun by Children’s Services Librarian Jason Poole several years ago. It’s designed to get books into the hands of kids who can’t easily make it to the library — specifically the 500 or so kids who live in the Phillips Village neighborhood.

Once a week, library staff members set up a tent in an open field and unload a couple of crates of books. Kids can stop by, scan the collection, sign out one book or several, and keep them for the entire summer if they’d like. They can even make special requests, and their favorite books might very well show up the following week.  

It’s a great way to keep kids reading all summer long, and a great cause to support.

The Wednesday night concert is free, but a collection will be taken and donations will go to support BookBox.

The concert will run from 6:30 to 8 p.m. at the United Church of Christ, 570 Klem Rd.

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

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Newsy tidbits from the town

12 Jul

Today’s kind of a mini-mailbag, highlighting some news I’ve gathered from various Town of Webster sources, including the weekly digital newsletter and the July edition of the hard-copy Webster Today.

Joshua Ramph (courtesy Town of Webster newsletter)

There’s a story in the digital newsletter, for example, about a recent Eagle Scout project which improved Miracle Field of Greater Rochester. Joshua Ramph from Troop 108 — assisted by several businesses, friends and Scouts — replaced the chain link fence there with a handsome split-rail fence.

You can read a little bit about the project in the newsletter, but I’m also trying to track Joshua down for more details, so look for a blog about this soon.

There’s also a notice on the website about how the Town is honoring veterans every week through September, and they’d like community members to submit names of past and present service members.

They explain,

In the absence of our usual summer parades and ceremonies, we will be recognizing our military with a virtual celebration each week, along with special recognition at Town Board meetings.

Here is where we need your help! Do you have a family member or friend who is a veteran or currently serving in our military that you would like to see honored by the Town?

We invite you to complete our online nomination form to submit their name, from now until September

To submit a name, click here and fill out this form. If you have any questions, email Communications@ci.webster.ny.us. This interesting note from the recent Webster Today: the Town is looking into the possibility of building a dog park. They’re in the very early planning stages, and are looking for community input.

So if you really like the idea of a dog park, click here and fill out the survey. It’s only an eight-question survey, so it shouldn’t take much time at all. And while you’re there, you can also fill out one of the other surveys you’ll find. There’s a Webster Parks and Recreation survey, one about the police department, and another about community sewers.

Finally, this actually came across my Twitter feed and Facebook page:

I have to believe that some of these “rumors” are tongue-in-cheek, or perhaps fueled without support by certain Facebook pages. If you need to get the straight story about these issues or any other Town news, I suggest you follow the Town Facebook page, Twitter feed, or just contact Town officials.

And definitely make sure to read the monthly Webster Today cover to cover.

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

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Revisting the “Great Flip Flop Rescue” at Bayside

9 Jul

There’s been a lot of chatter recently about how Bayside Pub will likely soon be history due to the Town of Webster’s big Sandbar Park Project.

It all made me think back to a warm summer evening five years ago when we joined our friends for dinner — and what became dinner AND a show — at the popular restaurant. I’d like to share the blog I wrote after our memorable adventure.

An entertaining trip to Bayside

(originally published July 18, 2016)

Believe it or not, last night was the very first time my husband and I had ever been to the Bayside Pub up on Lake Road. Our friends Dave and Patty invited us along when they headed up there for dinner. They warned us there’d be a wait for a table, but that we’d enjoy sitting outside with a beer and listening to some music while we did.

They were right on both counts. The wait was long because — as many of you probably already know —  Bayside is quite small and apparently everybody in Webster knows that sitting on the Bayside lawn on a gorgeous summer Sunday evening, drinking a beer and listening to music is THE thing to do.

Before long we were joined by four other friends. We talked, and laughed, and sang along with a very entertaining local cover band called Vintage.

But the best part of the evening was what will forever be known as the Great Flip Flop Rescue.

Allow me to paint the scene. We’re waiting at a table right on the water, and as we’re chatting, I watch as a young girl scampers down the short dock toward her family’s small boat. She stops in front of it and kicks off one of her flip flops, expecting it to land in the boat. Not even close. Instead, it plops into the bay. Undaunted, she kicks off the other flip flop. Which lands in the bay right next to the first one.

She stands there, looks at them, looks around to see if there’s someone who can help, looks at them again. Finally, she heads back down the dock, probably in search of adult assistance.

Eventually, Dad comes by, heads toward the water, looks at the flip flops and walks back towards land with a rather peeved expression. Meantime, our victim scampers back and forth on the dock, flip-flop-less, while the wayward footwear continue to float away.

Before long, a small knot of family members and friends from the neighboring boat has convened on the dock, and the adult strategizing begins. Now all four of us, still waiting for dinner, are closely watching the action, anxious to see how the exciting drama plays out.

One of the flip flops had not yet floated too far away, and somehow they retrieve that one rather quickly. The other one is more problematic.

There is much discussion on the dock. Someone pulls a pike pole out of one of the boats, and extends it to its full length before realizing that it would take about 10 of them to reach the flip flop at this point. Someone starts uncoiling a rope attached to a toddler’s floaty.  Someone else tries casting a fishing rod in its direction.

There is much discussion at our table, too. Like football fans questioning a poor call on the field, we’re wondering why SOMEONE doesn’t think to throw a tube into the water (there’s one tethered to flip-flop-family’s boat) and paddle over to it.

Perhaps she hears us, but it is flip flop girl who finally also has that brilliant thought. Now skittering around in one flip flop, she hops into her boat, pulls the tube up next to the side of the boat, and starts trying to climb in. As soon as she puts one foot on it she realizes that without help, she’ll also be in the water. So instead, she yanks on the rope and, all by herself, wrestles the tube into the boat.

Apparently no one else thinks it’s a brilliant idea, because it just sits there.

FINALLY, neighboring-boat-owner-family figures they might as well head home. So they pull all their kids and stuff together, back their boat out of the dock, putter over to the flip flop, retrieve it and return it to flip flop girl.

There was actual cheering.

The Bayside may someday be gone, but memories like these will always remain.

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

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Webster community mailbag

6 Jul

A couple of reminders this morning about upcoming events, plus a few new events for your consideration.

This Friday July 9, the Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd, at the corner of Webster Rd. (Rt. 250) and State Rd., will host a drive-through Taco Dinner, beginning at 4 p.m. and ending when they’re sold out.

Customers will have a choice of beef and chicken Birria style street tacos along with rice and black bean sides. The meals, priced at $12 for the first one and $11 for each additional meal ordered at the same time, are prepared by Tacodero, of Rochester. Its owner and chef, Cordero Rivera, has worked as a private chef cooking for hip-hop artists and NBA players in NYC before moving to Rochester.

Orders can be placed when you drive into the event. Proceeds will support the church’s outreach efforts in the Webster community and the greater Rochester area.

The Friends of the Public Library have added more dates for their Pop-Up Book Sales.

Four more sales have been scheduled for Thursday July 15, Saturday July 31, Thursday August 12 and Saturday August 28. They’ll be held in the Webster Public Library parking lot from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., weather permitting. (Cancellations will be posted on the library’s website and Facebook page or you can call the library at 585-872-7075.)

Prices will be $1 for hardcover, 2/$1 for paperback. On August 28, the last sale day, bring your own bag and fill it to the brim for just $3 (or two bags for $5).

By the way, remember that the library is holding Outdoor Storytimes at Harmony Park every Tuesday and Thursday morning at 9:30 a.m. No registration is necessary. The park is located just off Phillips Rd. on 10 Foster Drive. For more information, check out the library calendar here.

This tidbit also from the library: “Binge Bags.”

If you’re in the mood to take a break and binge on four or five movies — all with the same theme (like Star Wars or the best of Stephen King) — you can check out a “Binge Bag” at the library. It will be your own personal movie marathon. (Don’t forget the popcorn.)

The Webster Public Library is located at 980 Ridge Rd., at the back of Webster Plaza.

The Webster Recreation Center’s next Family Fun Day will be on Saturday July 17.

The Summer Splash Family Fun Water Day will be held from 3 to 5 p.m. at the First Responders Splash Park, located on Chiyoda Drive adjacent to the Webster Recreation Center. Make sure to wear your swimsuits, bring a towel and some cash because there will be food trucks.

No registration is required, and the event is free for all ages.

And while you’re near the Rec Center, make sure to grab your copy of the new “Find a Way to Play” playgrounds passport. This is a new program from the Webster Parks and Recreation Department which encourages families to get outside and explore all of the great play areas we have here in Webster.

The 10-page passbook highlights many places right here in town where children and adults can be active and have fun. It encourages everyone to visit different facilities and discover each one’s unique amenities. The booklet provides a brief description of not just playgrounds, but two spray parks, the skate park and more.

You can read more about the program in this blog I wrote a few weeks ago.

There’s a very special event coming up later this month which I’ll write more about at a later date. But it’s something I think you’ll want to get on your calendar right now, especially if you’re not familiar with Rochester Challenger Miracle Field.

Miracle Field is located on Ridge Road behind Town Hall. This beautiful facility was specifically designed for individuals with physical and/or cognitive challenges and is fully wheelchair accessible. It offers those with developmental, physical or intellectual disabilities a barrier-free, safe, accessible place to experience the health benefits and joy of play through baseball, other team sports, and adaptive recreational equipment.

On Saturday July 24, Miracle Field will host their “Heroes Helping Heroes” day, a tribute to the Challenger athletes and the men and women who keep them safe.

From 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. first responders will be playing ball games alongside the Challenger players. You can watch the games, cheer on these amazing athletes, then stay to visit with law enforcement representatives, first responders and mounted police officers. Plus there’ll be carnival games, food trucks, a dunk tank and a visit from Spikes, the Red Wings mascot. It should be a great morning of family fun.

More to come about this event later. But in the meantime, you can visit the Rochester Challenger Miracle Field website for details.

Also coming up later this month, a brand new event from the Webster BID, those folks who bring you White Christmas in the Village, Trick or Treat Trail, Wine Walks and more.

It’s being called the Family Games Night & Beer Garden, scheduled for Friday July 30 from 6 to 9 p.m. on West Main Street in the village.

The BID website promises sidewalk chalk art, Giant Jenga, Giant Connect Four, Cornhole and a free yoga class. Beer and wine will be served up by the Coach Sports Bar and food from Webster Hots (including a kids’ menu). Live acoustic music will be provided by Steve Bartolotta from 6:30 to 8:00.

Details are still being hammered out, so stay tuned. You can also check the BID website for updates.

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

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New shop will join East Main St. merchants

2 Jul

Another crafty shop is coming to the Village of Webster.

The Village HandWorks will be opening in just a few weeks at 19 East Main St., right next door to the Village Quilt Shoppe. As the name implies, the new shop will feature original hand-crafted goods, and offer a place for crafters to practice their skills, take a class or two, or just gather to sit, stitch and share their projects.

The Village HandWorks is owned by Webster resident Jenn Ratcliffe, an experienced spinner and weaver herself. She envisions her new place as a “unique yarn shop/learning center,” a welcoming environment for crafters of all skill levels who love making things with fabric and paper. She and her talented friends will be offering classes in spinning, weaving, fiber arts, knitting, crocheting, sewing, embroidery, crewel work, print making, book arts, dyeing and more.

There’ll be a big leather couch in one corner where people can sit and stitch, get help with their projects, and read research books from her library. And this is fun: she’ll be setting up her spinning wheel and loom right in the front window so passers-by can watch her work.

Jenn is clearly passionate about her craft and super excited to be part of the Village of Webster community.

It makes me feel good to be part of the revitalization of the village. COVID is still here, but it’s a little less scary and people are starting to get out more. Being in this retail space allows me to share my skills and ability, and also brings life to this space and hopefully to the village.

And being right next door to the Village Quilt Shoppe? Some might consider that direct competition, but Jenn considers it a great opportunity for collaboration.

I don’t quilt, and there will be no quilting (here) because that’s their expertise. We’re looking forward to working as a team to create classes together. Maybe while mom’s next door taking a quilting class, her children can be here taking a different kind of class.

For now, Jenn and her husband Tim are deep into cleaning and renovating the long-vacant storefront. But they hope to have a soft opening by July 17 followed by a grand opening the following week. Stay tuned for more details about both. Their website is still under construction, but what they have so far you can see here.

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

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