webster on the web

A couple of events from my friends at the Webster Chamber of Commerce today.

The first is the announcement about their next Eat, Drink & Connect event. These networking events are great opportunities to develop current business connections and start new ones. They’re also a chance for Chamber visitors to socialize with Webster Chamber members and find out more about the organization.

Normally, these occasions are hosted by one Webster Chamber member, but this month the Chamber is adding a twist and making it a co-chamber event.

On March 13 from 5:30 to 7 p.m., the Webster and Brighton Chambers of Commerce will be hosting a joint event at the Preservation Beer Company in Fairport. The featured speakers will be from LifeWave. LifeWave Directors Kendall Welden and Sarah Robinson will present information about their wearable patches for health and wellness. 

There’s no fee for Chamber members to attend; the guest and visitor fee is $10. All attendees must pre-register: 

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This second note is from Webster Chamber member Embrace Your Sisters, a Canandaigua-based organization dedicated to providing emergency financial support for people with breast cancer. The organization covers 13 counties, and more than $600,000 has been distributed to date.

In the past, Webster residents have supported — and received financial support from — Embrace Your Sisters, so I’d like to share this information about one of their upcoming events, the 18th annual Tea at Two Fashion Show on May 4.

Here’s the press release I received:

Public Preparation for 18^th Annual Embrace Your Sisters Tea At Two Fashion Show Fundraiser

Save-the-date for the 18^th annual Embrace Your Sisters (EYS) Fashion Show Fundraiser on May 4, 2025, at 2 p.m. (doors open at 12:30 p.m.). Once again, the show will be held at Casa Larga Vineyards & Winery in Fairport. 

The Fashion Show is one of two annual events which are coordinated by the volunteer EYS Board members to raise money in support of breast cancer patients, with short-term emergency funding, across Monroe County and the neighboring 12 counties. Over the past 19 years of EYS, they have distributed over $600,000! Embrace Your Sisters is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, EIN: 80-0277604.

Currently, the public is being offered the opportunity to join in on the community support and earn visibility. Sponsorships, Program Ads, and donated products and services for the Silent Auction are all ways to participate. The deadline to participate in any of these ways is March 21.

Plus, your attendance at the 2025 Embrace Your Sisters Tea At Two Fashion Show Fundraiser will be very appreciated. A critical mass of attendees makes the silent auction, liquor and wine pull in handcrafted bags, jewelry, music, appetizers, desserts, beverages, speakers, and of course, the runway fashions, even more enjoyable! Click here to buy your ticket or a table of 10.

If your loved one, friend, or colleague has been challenged with a breast cancer diagnosis, please tell them about Embrace Your Sisters. To read more about the Tea At Two Fashion Show and express your interest, click here.

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

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(posted 3/9/2025)

Hot on the heels of the recent announcement that registrations are being taken for this year’s Community Arts Day, I also got an email from the organizers of the Webster Garlic Fest that plans are ramping up for that tasty festival, too.

This year’s Webster Garlic Fest is scheduled for Saturday and Sunday Sept. 6 and 7 at the Webster Recreation Center, 1350 Chiyoda Dr.

This festival keeps getting bigger and better every year, and organizers continue to open up more and more spots for vendors. This year, 160 spots are available for vendors to set up inside the Rec Center or along the pathway outside. Applications are now being accepted for Garlic Fest vendors, and if you’re at all interested, I suggest you apply really soon, because spots fill up quickly for this very popular festival. Click here to apply.

If you’re not familiar with the Garlic Fest, it’s a great family festival for anyone who loves all things garlic. The Rec Center gymnasium and grounds outside are packed with crafters, food vendors, distilleries, wineries, food trucks and, lots and lots of garlic growers. Many of them provide tastings and samples. And even if you’re not a big fan of garlic, there’s lots of other neat things there. In past years there have been baby goats (in pajamas), alpacas, a huge 70-year old tortoise, Mr. Wally the Balloon Man, a comedian and entertainers.

This year’s schedule of vendors and entertainment won’t be finalized for a while, so stay tuned. In the meantime, bookmark the Webster Garlic Fest website to stay up on the latest.

All proceeds from the Webster Garlic Fest benefit:

• Wreaths Across America: Honoring and remembering veterans resting in local cemeteries on National Wreaths Across America Day, this year happening on December 13, 2025

• Blue Star Mothers ROC NY8 (Military Families):
  Building Care Packages for locally deployed service members and helping military families in our area.

• Gold Star Mothers Rochester (mothers who have lost a child, spouse, sibling or parent in active duty):
  Helping community veterans-in-need with meals, resources, and year-round support.

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

You can also get email notifications every time I post a new blog by using the “Subscribe” link on the right side of this page (or all the way at the bottom of the page if you’re on your phone).

(posted 2/21/2025)

In today’s History Bit, we take a closer look at a place that I’ve written a lot about, but never really featured in any depth: the Webster Museum.

Located at 18 Lapham Park in the Village of Webster, the volunteers at the Webster Museum work tirelessly to keep the people, places, artifacts and stories from our town’s early days fresh in our minds. These nuggets of history made our town and village what they are today, and should never be forgotten. 

Unfortunately, however, many people don’t even realize that our town has a history museum, let alone have visited it. So today, and several more times this year, these Bits of Webster History will focus on the permanent exhibits at the Webster Museum. For some, they may be reminders of things you already know about. For others, they’ll hopefully serve as an introduction to the valuable resource that is the Webster Museum, and will spark a visit to find out more.   

Our first stop, just to the left inside the front door, is the Village of Webster’s Main Street. Here you see a recreation of Witmer’s Variety Store, which for many years was one of the village’s mainstay businesses, located in the east half of 1 East Main, where Jeff’s Computer Service used to be.  

The store was owned and operated by Mabel Witmer, whom everybody simply knew as “Mrs. Witmer.” It was a true variety store, selling just about everything under the sun for the home, work and school – even school uniforms. 

Mrs. Witmer ran the shop for many years before it closed in the mid-1970s. The exhibit’s display cases, and much of the merchandise in the cases and on the shelves along the wall came directly from the store. They illustrate the incredible assortment of items available at Witmer’s Variety, and provide a good sense of why so many town and village residents came to rely on the shop for their everyday needs. 

Make sure you don’t leave the store without paging through the binder on the counter, which has several historical photos of Main Street, including one of Mrs. Witmer in her shop. 

Stay tuned for our next stop along Main Street in the next few months, when we  remember another beloved and long-standing village business, the Webster Candy Kitchen. In the meantime, you can find out more about the Webster Museum on their website. Or, better yet, stop by for a personal tour. 

The Webster Museum is located at 18 Lapham Park in the village, and is open every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday from 2 to 4:30 p.m. There’s no admission charge.  

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

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(posted 1/5/2025)

To all of my friends and readers on this very special day, Merry Christmas! My wish is that you’re spending it surrounded by family and are fully able to relax and soak in the magic of the day.

Thank you for being part of my life; I feel blessed to be able to write this blog and know that so many people out there are touched by my words.

Your blogger friend, Missy Rosenberry

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

You can also get email notifications every time I post a new blog by using the “Subscribe” link on the right side of this page (or all the way at the bottom of the page if you’re on your phone).

(posted 12/24/2024)

The Friends of the Webster Public Library reached an amazing milestone on Wednesday when they presented a check for $20,000 to Library Director Adam Traub.

That’s an impressive amount in itself, but even more so is the fact that the donation brought the total year-to-date donations from the Friends to $80,000.

Wow.

But a number like that really doesn’t mean much to many of us until we realize that without those volunteer-driven funds, the library quite possibly could not run many of the programs that we’ve come to know and love. Funds raised by the Friends, for example, support story hours, Night Out at the Library, STEAM Adventure, and many special programs like the Rochester Mandolin Orchestra Holiday Concert.

Chances are you’ve helped the Friends in their quest to raise funds for the library by supporting one or more of their many fund-raising ventures. They include the spring and fall book sales, the lobby bookstore, the vintage and collectible book sales, last month’s hat sale, the Kittelberger flower bouquet cards, and sales of t-shirts, sweatshirts, tote bags and other merchandise. 

So thank YOU, Webster community, for your generous support of the Friends of the Webster Public Library. And thank YOU, Friends, for all of your hard work helping make our library the great place that it is.

Pictured above: (Kneeling): Adam Traub, Library Director. (Middle row): Jenny Paxson, Library Liaison to the Friends; Ginny Nguyen, Town Board Liaison; Eileen Brookins; Linda Wilson; Deb Suffoletto; Peg Ehmann: Ruth Tetlow;  Brenda Rubenstein; and Gail Dominik. (Back row): Richard Reid; Mark Johns, Monroe County Legislator; and Ted Cole.

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

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(posted 12/18/2024)

The holiday season got an early start last Friday morning at Webster Montessori School (WSM), when the school hosted its first-ever Mini Macy’s Parade.

The parade featured more than 50 very creative hand-crafted miniature floats, so many that it took almost 45 minutes for them all to snake through the school’s gymnasium through a parade route lined with streamers.

Very much like the actual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, it was a festive affair. Students from all of the school’s classrooms gathered in bunches to enjoy the spectacle, while parents and grandparents sat along the walls. One after another, the mini floats rolled by, pulled by 5th and 6th grade float handlers selected from the school’s Upper Elementary classrooms, each one as delightful as the one before.

The variety of float designs was impressive and very entertaining. There were a lot of nods to actual Macy’s parade floats and balloons, like Dino the Dinosaur, Mickey Mouse, the Peanuts gang and several turkeys. But plenty of others broke the mold entirely, like a school bus (with pictures of actual WSM students in the windows), the “used car sale lot,” and “Old McDonald’s Farm,” and others highlighting local businesses including Kodak, Knucklehead Brewery and Wild Wings. And of course, pop culture was well represented with floats depicting Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour, Bluey, and the movies Coco and Frozen.

Appropriately, the final float carried Santa Claus, who then surprised the assembled students and adults with an in-person appearance, accompanied by Mrs. Claus.

Jennifer Thornquest, WSM’s Director of Advancement and Community Engagement, pulled together most of the parade details and acted as announcer. She organized the parade line-up by theme, and as she introduced each float, described for the audience the float’s builder, topic and pertinent details, much like in the actual Macy’s parade. AND she matched each float with an appropriate theme song (for example, the fire truck float was accompanied by Johnny Cash’s “Ring of Fire”). It all made for a very Macy’s-parade-like experience.

The event was truly a school-wide endeavor. Thornquest wrote,

All families of our Webster Montessori community were encouraged to submit a float of any theme, size, and style. The hope was to encourage families to craft together, brainstorm ideas and promote creativity. Most of our floats were completed by the adults AND children in their households, making each float unique and a beautiful collection of joint collaborations. 

Families had about a month to work on their creations. Staff members assisted with some of the in-classroom submissions, including what Thornquest called the school’s “marquis/signature float” which they plan to use every year: a hand-knit rendition of the school’s mascot, a great-horned owl, created by staff member Sarah Reynolds. For its first parade this year, the owl was perched atop a custom basket that mirrors the design of the school’s main lobby.

Three floats were chosen as top prize winners. “The Adorable UFO” by Maren K. and family came in first place; “Mermaid World” by Vivienne and Hailey F. and family took second; and there was a tie for third place between “Nemo and Friends” by Porter and Maverick T. and family, and “Cocomelon and WMS Friends School Bus Float” by Chloe M. and family. Each winner received a $30 Wegmans gift card and all four will be featured on illuminated dollies at the Webster Village Parade of Lights during Winter Wonderland on Dec. 7.

Because it’s what I do, I took a photo of almost all of the floats, which I’ve included in this Facebook gallery. You can also click here to see the story that WROC-TV broadcast about the event, and click here for WHEC-TV’s story.

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

You can also get email notifications every time I post a new blog by using the “Subscribe” link on the right side of this page (or all the way at the bottom of the page if you’re on your phone).

(posted 11/20/2024)