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Webster community mailbag

4 Jul

mailbag iconToday’s mailbag is so packed that it’s taken me two days to pull it together.

Let’s start with a reminder from the Webster school district, which would REALLY like you to register your kindergartner, or new student,  early. Having an accurate count of how many students to expect this September will help the planning process immensely.

For details, please go to Student Registration at www.websterschools.org.

Local business updates 

The North Bee, one of our newest and cutest businesses, has some new hours: Tuesdaynorth bee 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., Thursday 11 to 3,  Friday 10 to 2 and 6 to 8, and Saturday 10 to 3. They’re closed Monday and Wednesday.

The shop will be available on Sundays for private events, and (this sounds like fun) on Tuesday nights in July and August starting on July 9, owner Amy Stringer will have a tent set up outside her shop with kids activities and free honey sticks for each child.  Remember that starting next Tuesday, the village will be starting their Movies in the Park series just across the street at Veterans Memorial Park. So stop by before the movie for some fun and honey!

The North Bee is located at 27 North Ave. in the village.

Exercise has its rewards

ROC & Soul Fitness, 44 East Main St., has a lot of cool classes this month, but one in particular jumped out at me.

unnamedThey call it “Barre in the Beer Garden,” a free, 45-minute barre class held Saturday July 13 at K2 Brewery on Empire Blvd. (21 and over please!)

It’s being held in K2’s spacious new beer garden behind the brewery. If you haven’t been to K2 yet this summer and seen this gorgeous new facility, this would be a great opportunity to check it out.

The class will begin at 10 a.m., and of course you’re invited to stick around for a beer, wine or cocktail afterwards.

July’s Webster Public Library programs are out of this world!

For starters, their galaxy-themed summer reading program is up and running, and all ages can participate.

All you have to do is complete a galaxy game board or a galaxy reading bookmark. Each complete board or bookmark earns you an entry into the weekly prize drawing plus a free book of your choice. Plus, all completed boards will also be added to the grand prize drawing at the end of the summer!

Your kids might also be interested in these two galaxy-themed programs:

  • Race Through Space With American Girls & Boys, Friday July 19 from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m.

Learn all about the history of the Space Program in America through the eyes of eight American Girl and Boy characters starting in the 1940s through 2018 where LUCIANA is featured in her real space suit from Space Camp! Don’t forget to bring your favorite doll or stuffed animal to learn right beside you! This program is for boys and girls.

All ages welcome, both boys and girls, and no registration is required.

Teens and tweens have several opportunities to make some Galaxy Crafts:

  • On Friday, July 12, make your own galaxy t-shirt. Please bring a black or very dark colored t-shirt, but all other supplies will be provided.
  • On Friday, July 26, make your own galaxy jewelry. All supplies will be provided.
  • On Friday, August 9, make you own galaxy painting. All supplies will be provided.

All three of these programs run from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., and all youth entering grades 6-12 welcome. Registration is required (and limited) and is going on now.

Find out more about these programs on the Webster Public Library website. The library is located at 980 Ridge Rd. at the back side of Webster Plaza.

And don’t forget to visit representatives from library when they set up shop at Webster’s Joe Obbie’s Farmers Market on Saturday July 13. They’ll have raffles, free giveaways and summer program brochures.

The market is located at Webster Towne Center on Holt Road near the gazebo, and is open from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. every Saturday through October.

Makin’ Music at Cherry Ridge

The next (and last) concert at Cherry Ridge is this coming Tuesday July 9, Featuring Ruby Shooz, beginning at 6:30.

St. Ann’s Community at Cherry Ridge is located at 900 Cherry Ridge Blvd. (off Ridge Road near Five Mile Line Road), Webster. Bring your lawn chairs and/or blankets, and if you need dinner, picnic fare will be available for purchase beginning at 5 p.m.

The concerts are free and open to the public. For details and rainy day information, call (585) 697-6700.

Softball clinic held

softballSome of our stand-out Webster athletes will be lending a hand when the Rochester Lady Lions hold a youth softball clinic on Tuesday July 9 from 5  to 8 p.m. at Mercy High School on Blossom Rd. in Rochester.

Webster Schroeder Varsity pitcher Sydney Bolton will be there, along with program coaches and college softball players to facilitate hitting and fielding stations. The clinic will help girls fine-tune and improve their current skills. Players attending will receive a free clinic t-shirt as well as a tasty frozen treat from Kona Ice.

Girls ages 9 to 13 of all skill levels are welcome. Cost is $20. Click here to visit their website for more information and a registration form.

More to come

I’m working on a few other blogs about upcoming events of interest, including a food truck rodeo at Webster Schroeder High School to benefit the Webster Marching Band, the Strive for 5 school bus safety event for new kindergartners, and the return of the Garlic Festival. There’s also a brand new business in town that I need to let you now about. So stay tuned!

And please drop me a line if your organization has something coming up you’d like help promoting … or even if you want to send me a photo of your kids’ lemonade stand. I’d love to hear about them!

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

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Miracle Field opens Saturday with a family-friendly celebration

7 Jun

challenger miracle field

Saturday is going to be a BEAUTIFUL day for a baseball game!

The community is invited to join the celebration as Challenger Miracle Field officially opens for the season with a free Family Day from 1 to 4 p.m. There’ll be all sorts of kids’ games and activities including a bean bag toss, soccer darts, can smash, face painting, balloon animals and a bounce house. Plus, at 2 p.m., you can watch the official groundbreaking ceremony for the Karpus Family Barrier-Free Playground.

The concession stand will be open for purchases with free Popcorn in a souvenir stadium cup. You’ll also be able to purchase a variety of new Miracle Field “swag” including t-shirts, car magnets, chap stick, and more.

There’ll be plenty of free parking and seating for the festivities and to watch the game. So come on down and help cheer on our challenged athletes at the field built especially for them.

Challenger Miracle Field is located on Ridge Road behind Town Hall. This brand new facility was specifically designed for individuals with physical and or cognitive challenges and fully wheelchair accessible. The idea was to give people 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.

Click here to find out more about this amazing facility and organization.

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This year’s Peep Show was speeptacular

31 Mar

IMG_0495The 2019 edition of the Greater Rochester Peep show happened this weekend, and it was bigger and better than ever.

This annual extravaganza is sponsored by the Webster Community Chest. I’ve been attending since it began several years ago, and I don’t believe I’ve ever seen so many people checking out the entries before. I didn’t get a final official count, but there must have been easily more than 100 Peeps-themed entries spread throughout six exhibition rooms, the whimsical creations of dozens of local businesses and community groups who were vying for one of many “Peeple’s Choice” awards.

Live entertainment was provided this year for the first time, featuring demonstrations by local groups including the Rochester School of Irish Dance and DK Dance Studio. Organizers also brought back the children’s activity room this year, along with a snack bar, merchandise table and raffles.

Peep Show visitors purchase tokens to vote for their favorite displays. All funds raised through the voting, raffles and snack bar will be split among several local charities.

Thank you to all of this year’s sponsoring organizations, and everyone who spent so much time creating the spectacular displays. And congratulations to this yer’s organizing committee for a job well done. You have created an amazing event which touches all corners of our community and brings everyone together in so many ways. I am already looking forward to next year.

Here are a some photos from the show. To see a full gallery, click here.

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Get ready to Peep!

20 Feb

peep

Good news for Peeps lovers. The 2019 Greater Rochester Peep Show is right around the corner.

If you’ve never heard about this really fun event, you’re going to want to keep reading, especially if you like eating those yellow (and now pink and purple and whatever other colors) marshmallow chicks and ducks. I’ve never been a big fan. I put them in the same category as those faux-orange circus peanuts. They squeak when you bite into them.

But I LOVE the Peep Show. This is a two-day event at the Webster Recreation Center, where two entire rooms are filled with incredibly creative sculptures, dioramas, and various other works of art created with Peeps. It’s simply the cutest thing ever.  (Click here for a small photo gallery from 2017.)

This year’s show is scheduled for Saturday and Sunday March 30 and 31. More details will come (but it’s free and great family fun). But for now, Peep Show organizers are looking for Peep creators.

Businesses, organizations or individuals are encouraged to enter a display for judging. Prizes will be awarded at the end of the show for the display that gets the most visitor votes.

Not feeling very artistic? You can support the event in other ways as well. You can hang a poster, donate a prize or become a partner in underwriting the show. Several levels of sponsorship are available, and all proceeds will benefit the Webster Community Chest.

Find out more about the show and how you can help by visiting the Rochester Peep Show website here, email peepshow@frontier.com or call 585-671-8738.

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Don’t miss this holiday light display

10 Dec

house

If you and your family like traveling around the neighborhoods during the holidays to see the different Christmas light displays, read on, because I want to tell you about one that you shouldn’t miss.

It’s at the home of Charlie and Cora Venishel, 100 Henderson Drive in Penfield (across from the library and Penfield Recreation Center).  For years, in addition to an incredible front and back-yard light display, the Venishels hosted a magical Christmas town inside their home, with a gingerbread house toy shop, miniature villages, hundreds of nutcrackers, electric trains, exquisitely decorated dining rooms, and more. For a small donation to the Ronald McDonald House Charities, families could enjoy the front yard decorations, tour the village, then wander out into the backyard where thousands more lights twinkled. (Click here to read the D&C column I wrote about it.)

The couple hosted the event for ten years, raising more than $30,000 for Ronald McDonald House. After the 2015 season, they decided to hand off the villages to their children. But they’ve continued to set up their amazing front yard display in the years since, and have added something new every year.

Visitors will see all varieties of Christmas trees, trumpeting angels, icicles, lighted walkways, huge “Season’s Greetings” sign on the roof, Santa’s mailbox, and an Ice Princess’ castle, all illuminated with somewhere around 25,000 twinkling lights. There are also giant candy canes and life-sized snowman, and an antique, refurbished sleigh with Santa and Mrs. Claus, led by eight reindeer (and Rudolph, of course).

Like many private home Christmas light displays, the effect is breathtaking. But what’s different is the Venishels’ continued commitment to helping others. They’re encouraging visitors to help them raise money for AutismUp, a local organization dedicated to supporting those with autism spectrum disorder. They’ve put a mailbox at the end of the driveway for anyone who might like to drop in a dollar or two for the cause.

So make sure to stop by the Venishels’ display, 100 Henderson Drive. Park for a bit and actually wander down the sidewalk to the Ice Princess’ castle. Then tuck a few bucks into the mailbox before you leave. It’s a great way to share the joy and love of the holiday season.

 

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Photos from White Christmas in the Village

2 Dec

IMG_0015Once again we didn’t have a whole lot of white for Webster’s White Christmas in the Village. But I’ll wager that the thousands who came into town for the cookies, wagon rides, caroling and visits with Santa appreciated the unusually warm temperatures.

We could have done without the light rain, though, which began just as the parade started.

Still, it was another successful event. The village looked beautiful, the businesses were all decked out in their holiday finery, and several who remained open throughout the afternoon benefited from a steady flow of holiday shoppers.

Of course I took a lot of photos. Many of them didn’t come out very well because of the low light and wet conditions, but I hope you enjoy what I did manage to get:

Click here to see the gallery. 

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Santa is coming to town! Here’s where to see him.

16 Nov
santa jim 2

Santa Jim with some young friends at Village Hall last year. 

I exchanged a few emails with Santa last night (yes, he has email; it is the 21st century, after all), and got the down-low on when you and your kids will be able to catch him around town in the next few weeks.

And when you won’t.

First, the “won’t.” Anyone who has been used to catching Santa at Webster Towne Center plaza (Kohl’s plaza) every holiday season will be be disappointed to hear that the plaza will not be hosting him this year.

But as I mentioned in a previous blog, Santa will be at St. Martin’s Church on Bay Rd. on Friday Nov. 30 for their Christmas celebration. He’ll read a story, there’s cookie decorating and free pizza…Scroll down to see Wednesdays’s post, or click  here for more details.

On Saturday Dec. 1 he’ll greet children at Webster Village Hall from 4 to 5:45 p.m. Then he has to get ready to take a ride on a fire truck for the Electric Parade down Main Street, which begins at 6 p.m. You don’t want to miss this one.

Of course the area shopping malls are always a good place to catch Santa, and as far as I know, our very own Santa Jim is still spending some time in the Santa chair at Eastview.

You can also catch Santa (but not Santa Jim), by the way, at the Chorus of the Genesee’s Breakfast with Santa on Saturday Dec. 1 from 9:30 to 11 a.m. I’ll have more information about that soon.  Click here to get tickets for that.

I also spent a few minutes last night looking back on the column and follow-up blog I wrote about Jim Lockwood, or as I affectionately know him, “Santa Jim.” If there’s a holiday event in Webster, chances are he’s the Santa in the chair. If you’re at all interested in a behind-the scenes look at Webster’s best-known St. Nick, including the training involved and how many kids tug on his beard (the answer might surprise you), click here for the blog I wrote following my meeting with him. It’s really pretty interesting.

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I wish Webster had scarecrows

17 Oct
Turning Point

Probably my favorite scarecrow in Victor, created by The Turning Pointe dance studio.

Fairport does it up big. This year Victor is doing it, too. Business owners all along the town’s main streets are lashing scary and whimsical scarecrows to the lamp posts near their shops.

Fairport’s done it for years, and they’ve become such an important part of the village’s Scarecrow Festival that it’s even named after them. Victor is doing it for the first time this year as part of their second annual Spooktacular Victor event. In both cases, the scarecrows are a main festival feature. But they also will draw families to town at other times, which means more foot traffic for local business owners.

I really wish Webster would do this to. Or more accurately, I wish Webster would do it AGAIN. As recently as five years ago the village did organize a scarecrow contest, and even invited community members to vote. You know what that means: people actually had to COME INTO TOWN to look at them, and that can only mean good things.  And what nice decorations they made for when thousands of adults and children descended on the village for the Trick-or-Treat Trail.

So c’mon, Webster BID. Can we do this again next year? Think of how nice they would look alongside those beautiful planters, and what a nice addition they would be to our village’s Halloween events.

Here are photos of a few others in Victor:

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What did YOU do this weekend?

15 Oct

IMG_9635

Boy, wasn’t Sunday just a picture-perfect autumn day?

The firefighters at the West Webster Fire Department really lucked out with the weather for their open house, allowing them to pull all their rigs out of the bays, set up SO MANY food tents and give-away tables, and give little wanna-be firefighters a chance to go through an inflatable fire-safety house (never seen one of those before) and use a real fire hose to extinguish some not-so-real flames.

I popped by the event and snapped some photos, making sure to give a wide berth to the free hot dog table and free doughnut table. Click here to see a gallery.

IMG_9574

The annual Webster Fall Festival held Saturday afternoon didn’t have quite as good weather. An already cool day was made even more so by a lot of clouds and a stiff wind. But the brisk temperatures didn’t seem to bother the large numbers of families who attended.

The event was held at Gosnell Big Woods Preserve on Vosburg Road, which provided plenty of open space for kids’ games, pony and wagon rides, classic cars, food trucks, a live entertainment stage, and a few community agency information tables.

The event benefited Rochester Challenger Miracle Field, which is a great cause not only because it’s right in our own Webster back yard, but it’s simply an awesome facility for the differently-abled.

Click here to see a gallery of photos from that afternoon.

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History, miniatures and music

14 Sep

Three really cool events are coming up next weekend, and I want to give you a heads-up about them now so you can get them on your calendar.

museum tour

First, on Saturday Sept. 22, the Webster Museum and the Webster Union Cemetery are joining forces for a Living History Tour at the cemetery.

The tour, which takes place from 1 to 4 p.m., will introduce you to several of Webster’s citizens from the past, played by museum volunteers. You’ll hear their stories and be able to ask questions about what their lives were like back when our town was young.

Click here to read a more detailed blog about the event, including the people you will be meeting. Webster Union Cemetery is located at 345 Webster Road (Rt. 250 at Woodhull). A $5 donation would be appreciated.

On Sunday Sept. 23, ROC City Scale Modelers will host their 37th annual ROCON scale model show and contest, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Webster Recreation Center, 1350 Chiyoda Drive.

If you’re even a lukewarm fan of scale models, you have to see this show. The Rec Center’s gymnasium is lined with tables displaying hundreds upon hundreds of miniatures including aircraft, auto, armor, figures, ships, juniors, fantasy and more. For those who choose to enter models, the cost is $10 for 1-3 entries for adult modelers, $2 for each additional model, and $1 each for junior entry (15 years and under). You can register when you get there.

For those who simply enjoy modeling as a hobby, there are also a lot of vendors at this event offering the latest books and gadgets. Basically, it’s a modeler’s paradise.

Once again, ROCON 37 will take place Sunday Sept. 23 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Webster Recreation Center, 1350 Chiyoda Drive. General admission is $5 and children under 12 are free.  Click here for more information

 

rhapsody

Finally, how about extending your weekend with a song?

On Monday Sept. 24, Webster’s own Rochester Rhapsody will be holding open rehearsals for women of all ages.

Rochester Rhapsody, the Rochester chapter of Harmony, Incorporated, is an international organization of female a cappella singers specializing in the barbershop harmony style.

Female guests can “FALL in Love with A Cappella” at the Harmony House, 53 E. Main St. on Monday Sept. 24 from 7:30 to 9 p.m., during the group’s open rehearsals. If you can’t make it that Monday, you can stop in also on October 1 and 8.

Women of all ages can participate in vocal warm-ups and exercises in a relaxed environment, learn new songs, meet with other women, and enjoy an evening of singing and camaraderie.

“If you like to sing but haven’t had much experience, we’ll help you find your voice,” said director Sue Melvin. “The beautiful harmonies, when shared, bind us together. I’m very proud to be a part of this group…it’s more like a family than just friends. It’s ordinary women coming together to make extraordinary music.”

The 3-week event will culminate in a concert performed for the local community on October 15 at Harmony House at 7:30 p.m. All of the guests who have attended open rehearsals will be invited to join in the performance.

For more information about “FALL in Love with a Cappella,” and about the chorus itself, click here. a copy of our flyer or information on Rochester Rhapsody chorus, email info@rochesterrehapsody.com or call 585-865-2731.

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

You can also get email notifications every time I post a new blog by using the “Follow Me” link on the right side of this page.

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