This is the kind of thing I love to write about, because we don’t hear stories like these often enough.
It comes to me from one of my most faithful readers, Linda Meyers. She and her daughter Julia had gone over to her sister’s house on one of those very windy days a few weeks ago, so that Julia could present her Girl Scout Cookie sales pitch to her aunt in person. When they arrived home, however, they noticed that Julia’s cookie money envelope was gone. Sometime during the visit, perhaps when they were walking back to the car, the wind must have stripped the envelope from the clipboard they were carrying.
Linda returned to her sister’s house and scoured the yard. She was able to find $4 caught in a tree in the backyard, but no more. And no envelope at all. She knew she needed some help. She wrote,
Since I didn’t find the envelope or the rest of the money, I posted about the missing envelope on Facebook … and texted a few friends who live close to see if they could look in their yards, which they very kindly did! A few of my sister’s neighbors also went out to look even though it was dark, cold, and windy! One friend/neighbor even said her neighbor and his grandson turned it into an (unsuccessful) scavenger hunt.
Unfortunately, these valiant efforts turned up nothing and it looked like the money was gone forever.
But then, just a few days later, Lena Budd, an official from the Girl Scouts of Western NY, called to report that a Webster man had found Julia’s envelope, complete with Julia’s name and troop number. Lena had gotten a call from Karla Nichols, a Girl Scout Leader in Hilton who works at Mayer’s Lake Ontario Winery. SHE had been contacted by Fran and Rich Grizzanto, who found the envelope, thinking that Julia Meyers might be related.
Linda got Fran’s phone number and called her right away. “We had a lovely chat,” she wrote. “Turns out (Fran) lives diagonally behind my sister. She said they had found $21 floating around their yard and in their bushes. The envelope itself had gotten stuck in a prickly bush along their front walk.”
Later that evening, Linda and Julia stopped by the Grizzantos’ home to pick up the envelope. They were “lovely,” she said, adding that “Rich said he wished he’d gotten a video of his wife scrambling to grab money in the backyard! Fran gave us a jar of her homemade grape jelly, which is delicious, and noted that it is her 21st batch of jam. Coincidence that she recovered $21?”
In the end, Julia was only able to recover $25 of the $50 she had in the envelope, but since no one was really expecting to get any of it back, that was a big relief. Linda says that they’ll be returning to Fran and Rich’s house in March with some free cookies to thank them for their efforts.
So that’s the story of the missing cookie money envelope. A lot of people had to show a lot of kindness to get that envelope and the money back to a hard-working Girl Scout. Many thanks to all who helped make it a happy ending.
If you like this story and perhaps want to meet little Julia for yourself, she and her Troop 60344 will be selling cookies on:
Saturday March 4, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Hegedorns
Sunday March 12, 1 to 4 p.m. at Lowe’s
Saturday March 25, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Walmart’s Home entrance
Saturday April 1, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Walmart’s Home entrance
(Julia herself may not be at all of these dates, but will definitely be at Lowe’s on the 12th!)
The Village of Webster’s Fall in Love With Webster month-long community celebration is well under way! All month, residents and visitors will enjoy merchant discounts and special events, all embracing the theme of love.
The goal is to promote a fun way to unify the village residents and business owners. But it’s also all about helping community members get to know our village a little better, find out more about our many fine businesses, and encourage everyone to get more involved in all of the activities found here.
Here’s what’s coming up this week. Check back this weekend to see what’s scheduled for week 4. And for a whole list of the month’s events, visit the Fall in Love With Webster Facebook page.
Kick off your Fall in Love With Webster experience this week by stopping by the Village Hall, 28 West Main, to reach into their “Random Acts of Kindness” jar and select a slip of paper suggesting a random act of kindness you can do this week. And while you’re there, check out information about the wide variety of services the Village Hall offers.
Come into Yesterday’s Muse bookshop anytime this month and choose a mystery book — wrapped in brown paper — for just $5. Each has a description on the front hinting at what the book is about. All you have to do is find your perfect match, unrap the book and enjoy your blind date! This was a hugely popular Fall in Love With Webster event last year.
Brimont Bistro is offering an AMAZING Valentine’s Day-only dinner featuring Beef Tenderloin with Burgundy Demi-Glace, Crab-stuffed Shrimp and Butternut Squash with Herbs Asiago Au Gratin Potatoes. Call 585-872-3170 to make reservations.
Join Michelle the second Tuesday of each month for her latest table runner class. Each month she will have a new table runner or table mat pattern. Some months there will be kits, others you use your own fabric. All will be beautiful and will be great for your home or to use as gifts. Instructor is Michelle Coon.
Cost is $40. Call the Village Quilt Shoppe at 585-626-6916 to find out what the pattern is and to sign up.
Sewcial Day is the perfect day to come hang out with your friends. Bring your sewing projects and use this time to get caught up without home distractions. Snacks will be available. Sign up is required due to limited space. Vanetta and Monique will be available for help and encouragement.
Stop by Kittelberger Florist today anytime between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. and you’ll get a flower for yourself, and one to giv away in honor of National Random Acts of Kindness Day today (one pair of flowers per customer).
You’ll love this handy zip-up Tool Case to store and carry a variety of tools, from rotary cutters and scissors to markers, turning tools, small rulers, and more. A variety of easy-to-access pockets in vinyl, mesh, and quilted fabric can be customized to fit the tools you use and love. The finished project is 9½”H x 12½”W x 1½”D when closed and opens to 12½”H x 20½”W. Instructor is Michelle Coon.
More details about all these events and what’s coming up the rest of the month at the Fall in Love With Webster Facebook page. Make sure to “like” the page to get regular updates, because new events are being added every day.
It’s hard to turn a corner these days without bumping into a cute little boutique of some kind. They’re so common, I imagine it’s rather difficult for these shops to distinguish themselves from one another in a meaningful way.
That’s not the case for Holly-Wood Decorative Creations in BayTowne Plaza, where owner Holly Pearson has found a way to make her new boutique stand out from the crowd.
Holly proudly features only products created by women and minority-owned businesses, and an impressive variety of those products, to boot. While many boutiques focus on a particular kind of merchandise, like children’s or maternity items, Holly-Wood’s shelves are filled with something for all ages: wood products, artificial flowers, jewelry, drinkware, stuffed animals, bows and bags, signs and candies. Soon, she’ll be stocking even more food products, including baked goods and sauces.
And every single one of them is made by a woman or minority-owned business.
Another distinction Holly believes she has from similar shops is the close relationship she has with her vendors, which translates to more personalized service for her customers. For example, if a patron were to see an item they particularly liked but wanted in a different color, Holly said, “I can text (the vendor) with a special request and I’ll get a response, usually while they’re still in the store.”
Holly opened Holly-Wood Decorative Creations last May, after beginning her own online woodcraft and home decor business during the COVID shutdown. When the world began to open up again, she started showing her work at art and craft festivals. There, she got to know many of the other vendors, and they would talk about the difficulties of selling their products in local shops.
“I noticed that you’re either overly packed in a store or your items aren’t showcased,” Holly said.” So I wanted to have a store where I focused on displaying everybody else’s items.”
“I advertise everybody else’s stuff all the time,” she continued. “My husband yells at me because I don’t really advertise my stuff. But I think that it’s good to help everybody else. That’s what you need to do. If you help somebody else out, in the end it will help you out.”
So about a year ago, she decided to open her own shop. It took a long time to find a perfect place, not very big (“we weren’t sure it was going to be feasible”), and where the management would be willing to work with her as a new business owner (“a lot of them spit out business mumbo jumbo”). She found everything she needed at BayTowne.
“They were wonderful with me here,” she said. “I really enjoy being in this plaza.”
Clearly the decision to move into BayTowne was a wise one. Holly-Wood opened last May with just 17 vendors, and a lot of empty floor space. Since then, Holly said, “we’ve grown massively.” She now features 32 vendors, with more arriving soon. She can actually accommodate about 45 vendors, and envisions that kind of growth happening sooner rather than later.
Business has been so good, Holly and her husband have considered moving to a bigger space in BayTowne Plaza when their lease is up this spring. But that’s as far as she’d go; there’s no way she’ll be leaving the area anytime soon.
“I love this area,” she said. “Everyone has been wonderful, everybody is so happy and friendly. They love the products. They love hearing the story.”
Holly-Wood Decorative Creations is located at 1900 Empire Blvd., Webster, in BayTowne Plaza. Connect with Holly on Facebook here. She’s open Wednesday through Sunday, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.
I’m very excited about the news that came across my email box a few days ago: the Village of Webster is thinking seriously about putting together a country music festival.
I think this is a great idea. I mean, the Webster Jazz Fest has been a tremendous success every year, so why not dip into another musical genre, and a very popular one at that?
The event is being organized by the fine business owners who comprise the Webster Business Improvement District (BID). Plans are in their very early stages, but BID chair Elena Bernardi was able to tell me that they’re picturing an event similar to the Jazz Fest, but on a smaller scale, perhaps featuring three or four bands. It would probably be scheduled for sometime late summer.
Right now the organizing committee is looking for interested business owners and community members who’d like to be part of the planning process. They need ideas and definitely could use some sponsors to help get the new festival up and running.
If you’d like to add your two cents and help plan this exciting new village festival, email the Webster BID at info@websterbid.com.
One of Webster’s most valued organizations, Webster Comfort Care Home, located at the corner of Holt Rd. and Klem Rd., is marking a significant anniversary this week: 20 years serving the comfort needs of those in their final weeks of life.
A lot of people have heard about Webster Comfort Care Home, but fewer realize the incredibly positive service the volunteers and staff members there offer the residents and their families. Providing round-the-clock care for a terminally ill family member can be very difficult and stressful, especially while grieving. The dedicated and compassionate staff members and volunteers at Webster Comfort Care Home work to completely remove that burden, upholding the dignity and ease the suffering of its residents while supporting their loved ones in a warm, home-like atmosphere.
It’s a service that most people don’t think about until they find themselves, or a family member, in need. Now, on the occasion of its 20th anniversary, Webster Comfort Care hopes that lots more community members will take the opportunity to get to know them better.
It was September of 2000 when a group of friends gathered around the kitchen table at the home of Dave and Kathy Whitlock. They’d come together to discuss the possibility of creating a comfort care home in Webster, a place which helps ease the transition of the final journey for residents, their families and loved ones, by providing symptom control, pain relief and quality of life.
Pulling off a project of that magnitude was an ambitious undertaking. It would require finding a house, creating a board of directors, hiring a director, recruiting volunteers, and navigating a mountain of paperwork.
By the end of the evening, however, driven by the rallying cry of “What do we have to lose?”, Webster Comfort Care Home was born, and this month the home is celebrating its 20th anniversary of serving the Webster community.
The idea to build a comfort care home in Webster originated with a similar facility, Pines of Peace in Ontario. Shortly after he retired, Dave Whitlock started volunteering at the Wayne County-based comfort care home. After a few months, the director pulled him aside, and told him that while she appreciated his commitment to volunteering, perhaps his time might be better spent starting another home in Webster. She explained that she often had to turn away Webster residents because of her need to prioritize Wayne County applications.
So Dave recruited his fellow Pines of Peace volunteers Kathy Fulton and Noelle Schabel, their husbands, and his own wife Kathy, and on that September evening in 2000, created the first Advisory Board and got the wheels moving.
After establishing the project as a 501(c)(3), the first order of business was to start fundraising. The organizers started knocking on doors, holding public meetings, reaching out to churches and community agencies for donations. No one turned them down, and before long they had raised about $35,000. Still, that was far short of the estimated $100,000 it would take to purchase a house and make the needed renovations.
That’s when Norm Gerber, a local home builder, stepped in. As former president of the Rochester Home Builders’ Association, he went to his group and asked each member to donate one day’s worth of labor to build a house. He also asked them all to contact their suppliers and get all of the materials donated. Even the building parcel at the corner of Klem and Holt roads was cheap; part of it was donated by builder John Schantz, and the rest by a member of the Klem family who asked only that they pay the back taxes.
On Sept. 18, 2002, ground was broken for the Webster Comfort Care Home. Less than five months later, on Feb. 3, 2003, the first resident was admitted.
From the very beginning, turning the dream of a Webster comfort care home into a reality was a true community effort.
A huge poster hanging on one of the office walls at the facility lists more than 200 community agencies, businesses and individuals who helped build the home. It includes builders, restaurants and bars; there’s a nursery, a nail salon and a pizzeria. Their contributions ranged from small monetary donations to manual labor and entire pallets of building materials. The United Methodist Church of Webster held a “house shower” for the new home just before the doors opened, providing much-needed kitchen, pantry and bedding supplies. Two other women worked together to make curtains, some of which are still hanging in the kitchen today.
What the community created was not so much a facility, but a home much like any other, with two resident rooms, a spare bedroom, a kitchen, dining room, living room and a big garage. A place where family members and their loved ones feel welcome, supported, and comfortable during those last difficult days and weeks.
And believe it or not, it’s a happy place.
Even though patients and their families come to Webster Comfort Care Home at a terribly difficult time in their lives, being able to hand off the burden of care to a compassionate team of doctors, nurses and volunteers is a huge relief.
“They realize how tired they were or how (the) lines were blurring,” WCC Director Julianne Groff said, adding,
It’s normal to become bitter or angry. We do a lot of validating here. It’s ok to cry, it’s ok to not cry. It’s ok to feel a little resentment, it’s ok to be angry that your loved one is sick. The volunteers here do amazing things with families, too. Just listening, comforting, validating, allowing people to be where they are.
The staff members are certainly known to cry, too, but it’s really not as distressing an environment as you might think.
Bill Fulton explained, “One of the things that you hear when you say you volunteer is “Oh, that’s got to be a depressing place. But everybody who’s ever volunteered will counter that by saying we laugh more than we cry.”
Julianne agreed.
There’s much more laughter here than there are tears. Because it’s not about dying as much as it is about living whatever time you have left. To try to make each day count however they want it to count. Whether they want to sleep all day and be left alone, if they want to come out and do a jigsaw puzzle, they want to watch Price is Right, or they just want someone to sit with them, whatever it is. Whatever they want that day to look like.
In the last 20 years, Webster Comfort Care Home has served 433 residents, and the facility continues to rely on community support to stay up and running. Funding comes entirely from donations, which cover overhead costs and keep their pantries stocked. Residents and their families are never asked for payment. There are lots of ways to help, including donating supplies or attending one of the annual fundraising events like the annual Duck Derby (coming up May 20), the Webster Masonic Lodge spaghetti dinner (May 5), or the United Church of Christ summer concert (July). And of course they can always use more volunteers. You can read more about these opportunities and see an entire wish list at webstercomfortcare.org.
Congratulations on your anniversary, Webster Comfort Care Home. I think I speak for the entire Webster community when I say we hope you enjoy many more.
* * *
More about Webster Comfort Care Home (from the website):
The Webster Comfort Care Home management team is a group of citizens who believe in the dignity and value of every person, and who care about our community. United in our desire to provide hospice-based care, our role is a privileged one. We believe in individualized care to accommodate the physical, emotional, social and spiritual needs of the home’s residents. We also wish to embrace each resident’s family and friends with love and support that would continue throughout the grieving process. Partnering with local hospice agencies, we provide complete and comprehensive around-the-clock care.
Read more about the facility and how you can help at webstercomfortcare.org, or by calling (585) 872-5290
For this month’s Webster History Bit, I want to introduce you to one of the Webster Museum’s best friends.
Just steps inside the front door of the Webster Museum sits one of the museum’s most faithful greeters, a life-sized white dog made from papier-mache. His head cocked slightly to one side, he seems to be patiently and carefully listening for when the front door opens and he can welcome the museum’s next visitor.
His name is “Nipper,” and if you’re of a certain age, you’ll recognize him as the mascot of RCA Victor, one of the most famous trademarks of the 20th century.
Nipper has been part of the museum’s collection – and presumably welcoming museum patrons – for almost 40 years. But he had some interesting travels before then.
When exactly Nipper came to Webster has been lost to history but it’s believed that around the late 40s and early 50s, he was a feature on East Main St. in the village, where he sat in the front window of Mayor Roy Hawley’s hardware store, watching the world go by. After many years he was removed from the shop and relegated to Mayor Hawley’s garage.
Sometime after the death of the Mayor, his widow gave Nipper to her neighbor Dick Batzing, who at the time was a teacher at Bay Rd. Elementary School, and Town Historian. For a few years, Nipper resided in the school’s music room. When the room had to be converted to classroom use, Nipper was moved into a hallway, where he became a beloved landmark, helping students locate their rooms and receiving regular pats on the head as classes passed.
Nipper did have a very scary experience during his school days, however. In September 1974, vandals broke into the school and chopped him to pieces. Fortunately, a generous benefactor came to his aid several weeks later. Roberta Kappel, an art teacher and mother of a former Bay Rd. student, successfully reconstructed Nipper, and he was returned to the school, to the delight of students and staff members alike.
When Bay Rd. Elementary closed in 1983, Batzing brought Nipper to the Webster Museum, where he continues to delight visitors, both young and old.
Meet Nipper yourself at the Webster Museum, 18 Lapham Park in the Village of Webster. It’s open Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays from 2 to 4:30 p.m. Visit the website at webstermuseum.org to learn more.
I’m going to lead today’s mailbag with some good food.
To thank the community for supporting their missions throughout the year, St. Martin Lutheran Church, 813 Bay Rd., will host a free Shrove Tuesday Pancake Supper on Tuesday Feb. 21 from 5 to 7 p.m.
The menu will include sausage and applesauce, unlimited pancakes and syrup. Beads will be handed out, and you can even make your own masks. You’re invited to come dressed in Mardi Gras style, too.
This is an event for the whole family, and while the dinner is free to all, a free-will offering to support the church’s Little Free Pantry can be made, or bring boxed and canned goods.
The Village of Webster Historic Preservation Commission needs you
The Village of Webster Historic Preservation Commission is looking for new members to help further their mission to identify, register and protect the historic resources in the Village of Webster.
Among their responsibilities, commission members
highlight homes, business and sites by recognizing them as a Site of the Month
protect buildings
conduct historic-related programs
oversee the Edna Struck Memorial on Lapham Park and the Pioneer Cemetery on East Main
Meetings are held once a month, so the time commitment isn’t even that onerous.
If you’re a Village of Webster resident and are interested in joining the Historic Preservation Commission or would like to find out more, call 585-265-0671 or email VWHPC1905@gmail.com .
Kindergarten Registration is open
Webster CSD kindergarten registration for the 2023-24 school year is open.
Families that currently have other children attending Webster CSD are asked to register via the Infinite Campus Parent & Student Portal by selecting More, then Student Registration and completing the 2023-24 registration completely online. All registrations completed via the portal are streamlined by accessing the current information on file.
Families registering their first child with Webster CSD are asked to go to the Student Registration web page to fill out an online registration form. Families that do not have access to a computer may call Student Registration at (585) 216-0029.
It’s important to register kindergartners as soon as possible to help the district properly plan for the incoming students. It will also help assure that your child can attend your neighborhood school. If there’s not enough space for a child to enroll at their home elementary school, registrations will be processed in the order in which they are received.
For more information and to register online, click here.
Learn more about the Webster Highway Facility Project
If you’d like to hear more about the plans to renovate the Webster Highway Facility, here’s a great opportunity:
On Thursday, February 9 at 7 p.m., Highway Superintendent Pat Stephens will give a presentation on the estimated costs and timeline for the proposed new highway facility. You can attend the presentation in person at the Town Board Meeting Room, 1002 Ridge Rd., or watch the event live on Spectrum Channel 1303, the town website or the town Facebook page.
This is not a public hearing. Residents will be able to offer comments at future meetings, as well as use the online comment form at any time. You can also learn more about the project, sign up for an in-person tour, view a virtual tour and view meeting presentations on the website here.
I took the tour a few weeks ago. You can read about my experience here.
Healthy Eating on a Budget, Thursday Feb. 9, 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. (via ZOOM) for adults. Learn how to make good choices and plan for your trip to the grocery store so you can get organized, save money and choose healthy options. Registration is required.
Scrapbooking Fun, Friday Feb. 10, 1:30 to 4:30 p.m. Paper and tools will be provided and as much inspiration as you want. Bring something you’re working on, and spend an afternoon crafting and sharing ideas. Registration is required.
“Pal”entine’s Day Celebration, Tuesday February 14, 6 to 7 p.m. celebrating Valentine’s Day and the love you have for all your friends. For grades 4 through 12. Registration is required.
Picturing Loss: Art and Bereavement, Wednesday Feb. 15, 3 to 4 p.m. (via ZOOM) for adults. Joyce Raimondo presents how she and famous artists express grief through painting. Registration is required.
String Pull Painting Art, Friday Feb. 24, 11 a.m. to noon, for grades 4 to 12. Make some beautiful string pull painting art. Registration is required.
And make sure to check out the Webster Public Library website for information about all of their outstanding February Break programs and events designed to keep your kids busy and their minds active.
The Village of Webster’s Fall in Love With Webster month-long community celebration has begun! All month, residents and visitors will enjoy merchant discounts and special events, all embracing the theme of love.
The goal is to promote a fun way to unify the village residents and business owners. But it’s also all about helping community members get to know our village a little better, find out more about our many fine businesses, and encourage everyone to get more involved in all of the activities found here.
Here’s what’s coming up this week. Check back next weekend to see what’s scheduled for week 3. And for a whole list of the month’s events, visit the Fall in Love With Webster Facebook page.
Kick off your Fall in Love With Webster experience this week by stopping by the Village Hall, 28 West Main, to reach into their “Random Acts of Kindness” jar and select a slip of paper suggesting a random act of kindness you can do this week. And while you’re there, check out information about the wide variety of services the Village Hall offers.
Come into Yesterday’s Muse bookshop anytime this month and choose a mystery book — wrapped in brown paper — for just $5. Each has a description on the front hinting at what the book is about. All you have to do is find your perfect match, unrap the book and enjoy your blind date! This was a hugely popular Fall in Love With Webster event last year.
A monthly club for you to use those scraps making small projects. The projects are from the book Little Handfulls of Scraps by Edita Sitar. The instructor is Debbie Lester.
Perplexed by paper piecing? Join this beginner class! You’ll learn foundation paper piecing with this low-pressure project, designed specifically for The Village Quilt Shop. The instructor will provide the foundations in the class kit, included with your class fee. You bring your sewing supplies, and we’ll have a positively pleasant time paper piecing. You’ll leave with a finished block that you can finish as a potholder on your own. The instructor is Jane Beamish.
Join singer/songwriter Marty Roberts, along with percussionist/conga player Donny, at Cobblestone on Main restaurant for a few hours of music from this dynamic duo. Cobblestone on Main is located at 109 West Main Street.
Do you have a project that you are stuck on, or one you’ve never started because the pattern is written in gibberish? Or, do you just need some help? Then Technical Thursday is for you. Michelle has the ability to decipher just about any pattern she’s come across. If the project that you need assistance with is not a pattern the shop sells please bring it in a week ahead of time to give Michelle time to review. Class size will be limited to four students to allow individual instruction. Instructor is Michelle Coon.
Serenity Life Creative Arts Therapy is “Falling in Love” with their new location AND excited to offer a class called Love Yourself Art Reflection. You’ll work with an art therapist to create a piece of art signifying self-love, at their new location, the Dean House at 93 West Main St.
More details about all these events and what’s coming up the rest of the month at the Fall in Love With Webster Facebook page. Make sure to “like” the page to get regular updates, because new events are being added every day.
After 13 years anchoring the northwest corner of the Village of Webster’s four-corners downtown business district, Heart to Heart Bride is preparing to move to a much larger building.
The beautiful bridal shop will be relocating into the former Rochester Linoleum storefront at 1170 Ridge Rd. With 13,000 square feet of floor space, the new location will be more than four times the size of her current shop, allowing for additional inventory (including mothers’ dresses), larger and reconfigured fitting rooms, a large private fitting room, and more.
Owner Sarah Ashworth says that she hopes to have all of the renovations completed and be ready to open by April 1. Stay tuned for more details about the move and opening date.
What’s going on at Empire Lanes?
If you’ve wondered about all the activity happening at Empire Lanes lately, I have your answer, courtesy Barry Howard, President of the Webster Chamber of Commerce. He wrote,
Bowlero Corporation operates Bowlmor Lanes, a chain of bowling centers. Bowlero acquired all the AMF bowling centers in 2013, essentially saving them (AMF) from bankruptcy. My latest information is that they are remodeling the Empire Blvd location and rebranding the AMF name to the Bowlmor name.
Ruff Day Resort is on the move
Ruff Day Resort, the dog boarding and daycare business at 1999 Empire Blvd. will be expanding this spring to a much larger facility on Gravel Rd.
Owner Amy Holtz wrote that the decision to expand was driven largely by the fact they’ve been at capacity for overnight stays, training and daycare. Their new location at 1085 Gravel Rd. will double the outdoor space they now have. They’ll also be adding turf which “will be fabulous during the mud season.”
Three new training rooms will accommodate larger classes and private lessons during the day, evenings and weekends. Luxury boarding suites will be available, plus lots of fun spaces for the smaller pups who want to play separate from the big dogs.
Amy hopes to be able to open the new location by May 1, provided all construction goes as planned. Stay tuned for more information as the move is finalized.
Serenity Life has expanded in the village
Serenity Life Creative Arts Therapy, which for a year and a half has operated out of a cozy little house at 98 North Ave., has just opened a second office, dedicated to providing services for young children.
The new offices are located in the historic cobblestone Dean House at 93 West Main St. in the Village of Webster. Since the beginning, Serenity Life has served patients of all ages, beginning even at 2 years old, with counseling and creative arts therapies. But in the time they’ve been open, owner Mattye McKibben says she and her staff members have noticed there’s a lot of need to support younger children — which they affectionately call their “littles” — but there are limited options.
So they’ve renovated the new location specifically to serve patients ages 10 and under, especially focusing on providing art and play therapy. Adults and teenagers will still be seen at the original North Ave. location.
For anyone who enjoys stage performances, song and dance, you’re gonna love these first few weeks of February. No fewer than four stage and concert performances are scheduled, beginning this coming weekend, when Willink Middle School presents Disney’s Newsies, Jr. in three shows on Thursday and Friday Feb. 3 and 4.
Featuring a cast and crew of 100 sixth, seventh and eighth graders, the show is based on the real-life newsboy strike of 1899. It tells the story of Jack Kelly (Nicole Eggleton), a rebellious newsboy who dreams of a life as an artist away from the big city. After publishing giant, Joseph Pulitzer (Jeremiah Fischer), raises newspaper prices at the newsboys’ expense, Kelly and his fellow newsies take action. With help from reporter Katherine Plumber (Evie Aiezza), the newsies learn that they are stronger united and create a movement to fight for what’s right.
The show is packed with high-energy songs which have become well known to theater-goers and non theater-goers alike, including “Carrying the Banner,” “Seize the Day,” and “Santa Fe.”
Shows are Friday, Feb. 3 at 7:30 p.m. and Saturday, February 4 at 1 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. at Willink Middle School, 900 Publishers Parkway, Webster. Tickets are on sale now on the Drama Club website. Cost is $10 for adults and $6 for students and seniors. Children 3 and younger are free.
Also this weekend, on Sunday Feb. 5, our very own Chorus of the Genesee and Rochester Rhapsody will participate in a free concert at the Kodak Hall at Eastman Theatre called “A Taste of Song.”
The concert, presented by the Greater Rochester Choral Consortium, will feature 16 area choral groups. More than 600 singers from local choirs/choruses of all sizes and musical styles will sing in this unique, 75-minute collaboration.
Each chorus performs for five minutes or less in a “prism” arrangement, with ensembles singing from various locations throughout the theater. Groups perform continuously without a break or applause between ensembles.
The Chorus of the Genesee and Rochester Rhapsody will be joined by the Eastman Rochester Chorus, the Genesee Valley Orchestra and Chorus, First Inversion, Madrigalia, the Oasis Community Chorus, the Rochester Gay Men’s Chorus, and many more. For a complete list and more details, click here.
The concert begins at 4 p.m. at the Eastman Theater, 26 Gibbs St., Rochester.
Next weekend, on Thursday, Friday and Saturday Feb. 9, 10 and 11, Webster Schroeder Musicals will present the ABBA-inspired jukebox musical Mamma Mia!
Chances are you’re familiar with the story, but here’s a short synopsis for those who aren’t:
Young Sophie is readying for her marriage to her fiancée, which will be taking place on a beautiful Greek island where she lives with her mother, Donna. She’d like to invite her father to the ceremony, but problem is, she doesn’t know who he is. After reading her mother’s diary, she invites three men, one of whom she believes is her father. When Donna discovers they’re all on the island, she naturally becomes a little distressed. Emotions run high, but everything works out in the end.
The play features tons of popular ABBA songs, including “Money, Money, Money,” “Thank You for the Music,” “Dancing Queen,” and of course “Mamma Mia.”
Mamma Mia! will be presented on Thursday, Friday and Saturday Feb. 9, 10 and 11 at 7:30 p.m., with a matinee performance on Saturday at 2 p.m. Reserve tickets are $14 each and are available now. Click here to purchase.
Webster Schroeder High School is located at 875 Ridge Rd.
And last but not least, also on Feb. 10 and 11, the Webster Theatre Guild will present “The One-Act Play that Goes Wrong” as part of a dinner theater at the Penfield Recreation Center.
Both the Saturday and Sunday shows will begin with a pasta dinner at 6:30 p.m., followed by the performance. Tickets are $25. The event is a fundraiser and proceeds will help fund scholarships for graduating high school seniors and support the staging of upcoming musical theater productions.
I wrote a much more complete blog about this yesterday, so click here for more information.
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