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Free children’s vision screening tops weekend events

2 May

Another busy weekend coming up in Websterland, with some very worthwhile events worth your consideration:

In celebration of Healthy Vision Month in May, ABVI and Goodwill will be hosting a FREE Early Vision Screening for children ages 6 months to 5 years on Saturday May 5. The screening will  provide a quick assessment of a young child’s eyes, making it easy for parents to identify potential vision issues and get them corrected before irreversible damage is done.

The statistics are startling: one in every four children in our community between the ages of 6 months and 5 years have an undiagnosed vision issue that will adversely impact their ability to learn and could potentially lead to blindness. Those numbers can be reduced significantly if parents simply had their children’s vision tested regularly –and what a great opportunity this is to do that.

The free screening event will take place from 10 to 2 pm at the Webster Goodwill Store (in the Ridge Road plaza across from Towne Center).

Some of the Friends having fun in the dirt at last month’s workday.

When you were a kid, did you like to play in the dirt?  The Friends of Webster Trails asks, why’d you stop? There are still plenty of opportunities to dig and get dirty at the group’s monthly workdays, a time when the Friends get together to maintain Webster’s awesome trail system.

This Saturday is the next scheduled workday, at the Whiting Road Nature Preserve. Plans are to to fix the wet and muddy trouble spots on the Blue trail and across the street leading into Webster Park. There’ll be plenty of stone-shoveling, wheelbarrow-pushing and trench digging to go around.

New workers are always welcome. Meet in the Whiting Road Nature Preserve parking lot parking lot Saturday morning at 9:00 AM. Wear gloves, bring drinking water and dress for the weather. (P.S. Don’t wear your Sunday best.) If you’ve got some loppers, shovels, mattocks and maybe even an extra wheelbarrow laying around, you could bring those, too.

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Don’t forget about the performance by the University of Rochester YellowJackets this Saturday afternoon at 4 pm, sponsored by the Immanuel Evangelical Lutheran Church is located at 131 West Main Street in the Village.

The YellowJackets are a fourteen-member vocal ensemble that sings a cappella arrangements of popular songs. They have performed and traveled both domestically and abroad. They were also contestants on season three of the nationally televised Sing Off. There is no admission charge for the event, however, a free will offering will be given. The group will also give a presentation on their recent humanitarian trip to Kenya.

There is no cost for the presentation but a free-will offering will be accepted.

There’s been a lot of chatter around town lately about the state of the village water system. As the village considers options to improve the system through reverse osmosis or changing over to MCWA water — or doing nothing — pro and con arguments are being hurled from all sides. Most recently I’ve heard talk that there are actually dangerous chemicals in the local water supply.

On Monday May 7, a group called Webster Village Residents for MCWA will be holding a public meeting beginning at 7 pm at the Webster Public Library to argue their side of the issue and to kick off something they’re calling their “Blue Ribbons for County Water Campaign.”  You can check out their Facebook page here for more information.

Calling all World War II veterans

1 May

This important notice arrived in my email box yesterday courtesy Webster Supervisor Ron Nesbitt:

The Honor Flight Network is actively seeking out World War II veterans to honor with a free flight to Washington, D.C. to see the World War II memorial.

If you haven’t heard about this great organization, here’s a bit of information from their website:

Honor Flight Network is a non-profit organization created solely to honor America’s veterans for all their sacrifices. We transport our heroes to Washington, D.C. to visit and reflect at their memorials. Top priority is given to the senior veterans – World War II survivors, along with those other veterans who may be terminally ill.

The hope is to eventually give every living World War II veteran a chance to enjoy this great honor. But the sad reality is, time is getting short.  According to the Honor Flight website, based on 2011 statistics, our country loses World War II veterans at the rate of approximately 900 per day.

So if you know of an veteran who would benefit from a Honor Flight, call the Webster Town Hall at 872-7068, or email supervisor@ci.webster.ny.us for a Veteran Application.

Time to start putting this summer’s village events on the calendar

29 Apr

We have two months’ worth of calendars on our refrigerator — this month and next month, of course. Today my husband noted, with something that sounded like disbelief in his voice, that we can officially erase April and replace it with June.

As busy as the end of the school year is for all of us (especially this year when I have a high school senior, college senior and graduate student all graduating), summer is even worse. I’ve already got half a dozen June events scribbled on various pieces of scrap paper, waiting to take their spots on the June calendar.  I have to get them written down somewhere fast or they’re going to start pushing each other out of the corners of my brain.

I’m sure many of you understand. So as a community service, here is a (fairly) comprehensive list of this summer’s village events so you can get them on your calendars ASAP and not miss any of them. I’ll write more about each one as the dates approach, but in the meantime, here are some basics:

* This Saturday, village merchants will be out in force for the first-ever Spring Sidewalk Sale. Look for sale tables all along Main Street from 11 am to 2 pm, and get some great bargains. Rumor has it there will also be some sort of street entertainment to keep things hopping while you’re shopping.  And make sure you wear your best purple fashions while you’re there, because Saturday is also the village’s Paint the Town Purple Relay For Life kick-off event. This annual celebration helps raise awareness for Relay For Life, a fundraiser for the American Cancer Society. You’ll be hearing lots more about this soon.

* Memorial Day Parade and ceremony at Webster Rural Cemetery: Monday, May 28. The parade usually starts at 9 am.

* Village of Webster Farmer’s Market opens on Saturday June 9, and continues every weekend through october 13, from 8 am to 12:3- pm. I’ve heard talk that the location might be changed this year, so stay tuned.

* Jazz Festival, Saturday July 7.  Word from the village is that this year’s festival will be expanded, so it should be better than ever. And it’s already pretty awesome.

* Firemen’s Kiddie Parade: Wednesday July 11 beginning at 7:00 pm.

* Firemen’s Parade: Thursday July 12, beginning at 6:30 pm, and Firemen’s Carnival, July 11-14

* Movies in the Park begin on Tuesday July 10 and run every Tuesday through August 14.

* Village Days this year will move to September 21 and feature a German Oktoberfest theme. It will be a three-day event and include a fall sidewalk sale and the Soap Box Derby on North Avenue.

Some other events for which I do not yet have exact dates are the Friday Night Gazebo Concerts at the gazebo on North Ave., and the Village Band Concerts at the band shell at Harmony Park on Phillips Rd. They both begin in the middle of June and run through August, but I don’t think the schedules have been finalized yet.

Community Arts Day in photos

26 Apr

Judging from the crowds which filled the Webster Schroeder hallways Saturday, this year’s Community Arts Day was a success yet again. I spent the afternoon making laps of the school, reacquainting with old friends, making new ones, talking with community representatives, checking out the artwork, and taking lots and lots of photos. If you were there, you know how much fun it was. If not, check out these photos of some of the kids I met, and make sure to make a point to attend next year, because it’s a terrific event.

(Click here or on any of the photos below to see a gallery with lots more.)