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Attention Bug owners!

31 Jul

This note will be of interest to anyone who owns one of those classic Volkswagen Beetles, or would just love to own one.

Bug Bust 22, sponsored by the Finger Lakes Region Volkswagen Club, will motor into town this Sunday August 5 from 8 am to 3 pm at Webster Schroeder High School, 875 Ridge Road.

It’s a car show and swap meet specifically featuring one of America’s favorite cars, the classic Volkswagen Beetle.  If you’d like to show your car and vie for some prizes, registration begins at 8 am, and the show itself begins at 9. Awards will be handed out at 2:45, including 1st, 2nd and 3rd places for custom-made cars, a longest distance traveled award and Best of Show. There will also be door prizes, raffles, games, food and refreshments.

Pre-registration is $5 per car, or $8 on the day of the show.  Free admission for spectators.

Click here for more information. But remember, if you’re traveling from the west side, don’t plan to take Rt. 104, because it will be closed to traffic from Friday night through Monday morning.

Blood donors needed — now more than ever

30 Jul

An article in yesterday’s newspaper got my interest. The headline read,

Red Cross: Blood supply at lowest level in 15 years

As a regular blood donor, and someone who regularly encourages others to become donors, I knew I needed to pass this information along.

Donations always slow down over the summer as people go on vacations. But apparently this year the problem is compounded by severe storms in July which forced the cancellation of dozens of blood drives. Plus, since July 4th landed on a weekend, more employees took extended vacations and fewer businesses hosted blood drives.

So they’re at a point where doctors may have to cancel elective surgeries, and even more serious procedures like transplants will have to be postponed.

Fortunately, there are several local opportunities for you to help save a life by donating blood in the next few weeks:

St. Martin’s Lutheran Church
813 Bay Road, Webster
Wednesday August 8, 1-7 pm.

Webster Knights of Columbus
70 Barrett Drive, Webster
Thursday August 9, 1-7 pm

Curves
1698 Penfield Road, Rochester
Tuesday August 14, 1-6 pm

All presenting donors this month will receive a coupon for a free Turkey Hill Sun Brew Iced Tea.

If you can’t make any of these, you can always take the short trip down to the Perinton blood center at the Perinton Hills Mall on Moseley Road in Fairport, where they accept donations from 11 am to 6 pm Mondays and Wednesdays and 7 am to 1 pm on Saturday.

Just drop in at your convenience, or schedule an appointment at 1-800-733-2767 (an appointment will get you in and out a little faster).

 

Hojack Trail extension officially open

27 Jul

Hikers have something to celebrate this evening.

The much-anticipated extension of the Hojack Trail will officially open to the public this evening (Wednesday July 25) with a ribbon-cutting at 7:30 pm,  where the trail crosses Route 250 (South Ave.).

The Hojack Line itself has always passed through the village, of course. But what’s new and wonderful is that the old railroad tracks have been removed in the section from Holt Road east to Xerox, making an already great trail even better.

The project has been in the planning stages for years. Its completion is a result of outstanding cooperation between the Town and Village of Webster highway departments to remove the tracks, prepare the railroad bed for a walking trail and leveling the crossings for automobile traffic. Original plans were to have the new extension ready by July 31.  And look at this — they did it.  So there’s still plenty of time to try it out and hike it this summer and fall.

Many thanks to Webster town and village officials who helped make this happen.  It’s a valuable addition to Webster’s already exceptional trail system, thanks in large part to the volunteers of the Friends of Webster Trails.

If you don’t know the history of the Hojack Line, I recommend you click here to read a very informational piece on the Friends’ website.

 

 

Photos from the Firemen’s Parade

13 Jul

Not much to say about yesterday’s Fireman’s Parade. As always it was a great event, and the Webster community came out in force. One report I heard was that chairs were being set up along Main Street even before 7 am.  One of the marchers told me the crowds were bigger than she had ever seen before, 4 and 5 deep all along the route.

I took tons of photos, of course (actually, only about 200) and have posted a few of my favorites here. The rest can be seen by clicking here or on one of the photos.  I didn’t get a photo of everything in the parade (there were SO many fire trucks!) but I did try to capture the highlights. And you’ll notice that small children are some of my favorite subjects.

The Fireman’s Carnival continues tonight and tomorrow, culminating with fireworks at midnight. Click here  for details.

 

A famous local fiddler, cool science and a kiddie parade

11 Jul

Several little tidbits of information I want to toss out today, before I get to photos of last night’s kiddie parade. A few of these have been hanging around my email box for weeks, just waiting for me to get around and blog about them.  But this first nugget came to my attention just yesterday afternoon, and will interest anyone following the career of one of Webster’s finest musical talents, Kate Lee.

Kate is a 2010 graduate from Webster Schroeder High School, and an incredible fiddle player who has already been making a name for herself in Nashville, where she attends Belmont University.  Last November, for example, she was one of several back-up musicians for Rascal Flatts on the Country Music Awards television program.

Yesterday she announced something even more exciting. On July 24 she’ll be playing violin for the Heart & Soul Concert behind Rod Stewart and Stevie Nicks in Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena. Wow.

Keep an eye on this young lady, folks, ’cause she’s going places.  Actually, you can see her for free at the Little Theater the day after the Heart & Soul Concert, playing a free concert from 7:30-9:30 pm.  Check out her website here.

* * *

This Friday, CDS Monarch’s Wolf Life Transitions Center on Hard Road will host a Luau Dance from 6:30-8:30 pm.  As always, there will be refreshments and music from DJ Delight. Cost is $5 per person for community members. RSVP to Summer at 347-1661 or Summer.Vanscott@cdsmonarch.org.

* * *

Cherry Ridge is hosting a concert series this summer, called Under the Stars. Gateswingers Big Band will perform on Tuesday, July 24, and Gentlemen of Song will perform on Thursday, August 16. The concerts are held on the Cherry Ridge Lawn from from 6:30 – 8 pm and there’s no charge. Refreshments will be served and attendees are encouraged to bring their own lawn chairs. In case of inclement weather, concerts will be moved inside.

Cherry Ridge is located in Webster, across from Webster Schroeder High School.

* * *

Remember that great idea you had at the beginning of the summer? “Hey, let’s NOT sign the kids up for camp this year, so we can spend more quality time with them!”

So now you’re wondering what the heck you were thinking, and you’re all stressed because this late in the game all the summer camps are full. Don’t sweat. Here’s a super option:

It’s called “Cool Summer of Science with Mr. Noon,” a series of week-long summer science classes (for 4-6 year olds and 7-9 year olds) taught by Williamson High School science teacher Brendan Noon. The classes feature age-appropriate hand-on activities that are not only fun but help develop the skills kids will need to meet the next generation of National Science Standards. (So they’ll be learning while they’re having fun, but don’t tell them.)

Upcoming classes include weather and the interaction between organisms and their environment.  You can click here for more details, but I’ll tell you right now the kids will be making clouds, playing in a pond and collecting slimy things.  Sounds like fun to me.

Classes cost $25/day and are held from 9 – 10:30 am Monday-Friday, at 153 Salt Road in Webster. For more information log onto the Science With Mr. Noon Facebook page or email Mr. Noon at Brendan.Noon@yahoo.com.

* * *

Finally, a quick note about the Kiddie Parade which took place last night in the South Avenue/Spry Middle School neighborhood. This annual warm-up for the Fireman’s Parade (which happens tonight in the village) is always an adorable affair.  I love the idea of this parade, because it gives kids of all ages a chance to get dressed up in costumes, march in a real parade (albeit a very short one) and throw candy at high velocity at the people lining the parade route.

(And I had forgotten about the candy at high velocity part. Popping in and out of the parade taking pictures, I felt at times like I was in a war zone dodging bullets. A strawberry Dum-Dum actually hit me so hard in the shoulder it made a mark.)

It’s also fun to see how much the kids’ parents enjoy the parade. Many of them dress up in themed costumes, and it’s obvious how much thought and effort work goes into many of the “floats.”  I’ll bet some families start working on them months in advance.

One child who was watching the parade walk by described it this way: “It’s like Halloween, only earlier.”  I’m not sure whether he was referring to the costumes or the abundance of candy.

As usual, I took lots of photos. Click here or on the photo above to see the gallery.

email me at missyblog@gmail.com

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More music, more music, more music!

9 Jul

A crowd enjoys one of last summer’s concerts.

I write with some regularity about all the music options we have here in Webster during the summer months, in particular the village band performances on Thursdays and Gazebo concerts on Fridays.  But so far I have been totally ignoring another fine concert series which conveniently gives us somewhere to park our quad chairs on Wednesday.

The Main Street East band got the kids into the act.

That would be the Community Concert Series at the United Church of Christ on Klem Road. The concerts themselves take place on the front porch of the church, and seating is on the lawn — or indoors if it rains. And what’s really neat about these concerts is that proceeds from each concert benefit a different Webster non-profit organization.  There’s no charge, but a free will offering is accepted and concessions are sold, including soda, hot dogs, hamburgers, pulled pork and a weekly “special.” Last year the church raised $5400 from the concerts in free will offerings.

The concerts start up tomorrow, Wednesday July 11 and continue every Wednesday through the middle of August.  Here’s the schedule: (Click here  for more information about the bands.)

The Dady Brothers will return on August 8.

July 11: Gateswingers Big Band to to benefit Webster Comfort Care Home
July 18: Main Street East to benefit Webster Health & Education Network
July 25: Half Ton Horns to benefit Webster Friends of Trails
August 1: Ruby Shooz to benefit Webster Community Chest Food Cupboard
August 8: The Dady Brothers to benefit Heritage Christian Home Jennifer Lane
August 15: Nik Lite to benefit Webster Fire Department Ladies Auxiliary

Concessions open at 6 pm and the concerts begin at 6:30. The United Church of Christ is located at 570 Klem Road.

Thank you to Susan Mitchell for letting me know about these concerts. They sound like a lot of fun, for a good cause.

 

Webster Jazz Fest hit a high note again this year

8 Jul

Thousands were already on hand when the festival began, and more kept arriving all evening.

If you didn’t make it into the village of Webster last night for the Jazz Festival, you missed a wonderful evening filled with great music, great food, good friends and incredibly good weather.

Mother Nature threatened all day to make the evening a wet one, but by the time the music really started to groove, the rain clouds had parted and blue skies prevailed.  It wasn’t even that hot or muggy.  By 5:30, when the Bill Tiberio Band hit the downbeat at the Four Corners stage, hundreds of people had already settled into their lawn chairs or on blankets, or had staked out the handful of cabaret-style tables in the middle of West Main.

As the weather continued to get even better, people kept arriving and the crowds kept getting bigger.  At around 7:00 everyone turned their quad chairs around to face the Corning Park stage, where jazz fest regulars Paradigm Shift performed a set.  Then at 8:30, pianist Lao Tizer wowed the crowd with his take on contemporary jazz. I even liked his stuff, and jazz normally bores me to tears.

The Bill Tiberio Band opened the show.

On a side note….

I spent most of the evening (when I wasn’t wandering around taking photos) at Barry’s Old School Irish, which has become a second home of sorts for my family.  I was reminded how last year when I was at the Jazz Festival I also spent most of my evening on that corner.  At that time, though, there was only a sign announcing that Barry’s would be “coming soon.”  In the blog I wrote a few days later, I remarked:

Barry’s calls itself an “old school Irish pub, cafe and bakery,” whatever that means. My husband is Irish and he’s never heard of such a thing.  And he went to an old school, complete with nuns wielding hand-smacking rulers.

When Barry’s finally did open up its doors, we sure didn’t get any ruler-smacking nuns. But we did get a bunch of new friends, which helped make this year’s Jazz Fest even better that last year’s.  And I didn’t think that was possible.

Jazz Festival headliner Lao Tizer (center) was a crowd favorite.

The waitresses who worked the crowd were an inspired idea. They brought tons of business to the village restaurants.

These t-shirts were another great addition this year. I’m sorry I forgot to purchase one before I left.

As the sun set the music got cooler…

… and the dancers came out.

Jazz Festival returns to Webster Village this weekend

5 Jul

I hope this recent string of good weather keeps up for a few more days, because the Jazz Fest rolls back into town this Saturday.

This year’s featured entertainers include The Bill Tiberio Band, Paradigm Shift and contemporary jazz keyboardist Lao Tizer. You can click here for more details about the evening’s events, but here are the basics:

Everything happens on West Main Street in the village, where the street will be cordoned off, two stages set up, and there’ll be plenty of room to set up chairs and blankets for the evening. You can start setting up at 4:15, and the music begins at 5:30. Admission is free.

Here’s the schedule:

  • 5:30 pm: The Bill Tiberio Band on the East Stage (near the four corners)
  • 6:50 pm: Paradigm Shift on the West Stage (near Corning Park)
  • 8:30 pm: Lao Tizer plays two sets on the East Stage

Bring your own picnic fixings and beverages or you can buy something from one of many food vendors set up along the street.

Aside from a possible thunderstorm, the weather looks like it might cooperate. But if not, the rain plan is for Bill Tiberio to play at The Coach Sports Bar (23 West Main St.), Paradigm Shift at Hatter’s Pub (5 West Main St.), and Lao Tizer at The Coach.

This is always a wonderful event, and the whole town seems to come out for it. It’s a great chance to meet up with family and friends on a beautiful summer evening.

 

A fond farewell to “Miss A.”

4 Jul

When my kids were young, we all knew “Wheels on  the Bus” by heart. We’d sing it at all our preschool activity classes and mommy/child events, and it was one of our favorites for long car trips.  Back then, the bus had a driver, lights, a horn, doors and people.

Adrienne reads a story to the kids. (Click on any photo to see a gallery with more.)

Apparently, in the 15-plus years since I’ve heard this little ditty, the bus has become a “space bus” and has also picked up a llama and an alien in its travels.

At least that was the interpretation I heard yesterday from Jason Poole of the Webster Public Library.  The occasion was Stories in the Park, a half-hour story time hosted by the library every Tuesday in July at Ridge Park, featuring Jason and Children’s Librarian Adrienne Furness. The library has been hosting these story times for years, but yesterday’s was extra special, because it marked the last time that Adrienne — or “Miss A.,” as the kids know her — would be participating.

After ten years as the children’s librarian at Webster Public Library, Adrienne will be moving on to a position as Library Director of the Henrietta Public Library.

Adrienne has been with the Webster Public Library for a little more than ten years, starting just a few weeks before the new library

Jason gets the kids hopping. I think they’re being fountains.

opened in Webster Plaza. In that time she has become a beloved figure in the children’s room, making an already pleasant area even more inviting with her ever-present smile and welcoming personality.

Yesterday’s program was a good example of why Adrienne will be sorely missed. When I got there just before the program started, I was amazed to see how many kids and adults were squeezed into the Ridge Park gazebo.  There were more than 50 small children crowded onto two tarps on the ground, in their parents’ laps or on the picnic benches. And there were almost that many parents and grandparents. Plus, more families kept arriving even after the stories began. I’m sure a lot of them came for the playground but were pleased to find something  even better going on, so they just stood outside the gazebo and watched.

Jason started the program with a song, accompanying himself on a guitar. Then for the next half hour he and Adrienne tag-teamed with stories, movement games and children’s tunes, keeping all 50-plus kids jumping, laughing, smiling, singing, shouting, standing still as stones, wiggling, whispering, spinning and dancing.

And even better, when Adrienne was reading a story, every child’s eyes were glued to the book, their faces bright with wonder, their minds open to new information. It was a beautiful thing to see. At that moment, a BOOK was the most important thing in their lives. All I could think was that I was watching the next generation of readers become inspired. They were learning to love stories and books.

No children’s librarian could ever ask for a better legacy.  Thank you, Adrienne, and good luck.

(Click on any of the photos to see more from yesterday’s Stories in the Park.)

 

Check out the faces of the kids. They are totally involved in the book.

Some of Miss A’s many fans gather for a final photo after the program.

Stories in the Park to honor children’s librarian

30 Jun

I love my readers.

When I mentioned in my blog yesterday that I felt swamped by the grad party I’m having Sunday, I got two separate messages from people wanting to help out.  One was from Amy Weetman, a name you might recognize from a previous blog. Amy was kind enough to teach me how to hula hoop a few months ago.

Turns out that Amy is involved in a project which she’s trying to publicize. She sent me the following write-up, which I am pleased to repost here:

Jason Poole and Adrienne Furness

Stories in the Park, put on by the Webster Public Library, will begin again this summer on Tuesday, July 3 at 10:30 am.  It takes place at Ridge Park under the pavilion on every Tuesday of July, weather permitting. (Ridge Park is the one on Ridge Road behind the Town Hall.)

At the first Stories in the Park we will be celebrating our beloved Children’s Librarian, Miss Adrienne Furness’ last day in Webster.  She has accepted a new position as the Director of the Henrietta Public Library.  Jason and Miss A. have been together at the Webster Public Library for more than eight years and when they do a storytime together, something amazing happens.  We will all miss Miss Adrienne’s stories and finger plays, but are glad we got to have her for so long.

Jason Poole will continue along with a new Children’s Librarian.  Webster is very lucky to have such talented people in our midst entertaining our children and sharing a love of reading.

I am organizing snacks to follow the July 3 Stories in the Park.  Please contact me if you would like to contribute:  amyweetman@gmail.com  If you have any photographs of Story Times that you would like to share, I will be putting together a disc for Adrienne.  Thank you!

And thank you, Amy for being my guest blogger today!

 

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