The Webster Art Club will be strutting their stuff this month at a big art show hosted at the Pittsford Barnes & Noble from May 4 through May 31.
Seventeen Art Club members have submitted 55 pieces for this particular show, which will be judged by retired Webster art teacher Carolyn Carlton. An opening reception will be held on Saturday May 4 at 1 p.m. in the community room on the second floor — a good chance to meet the artists.
This month’s show is a great representation of how creative and incredibly talented these artists are, and how fortunate we are that they choose to share their work with us.
A look at last year’s art showA recent Open Art activity
Mary Coy, president of the Webster Art Club, says this about the club:
As a club, we focus on community first, art second. We’re known to be a friendly group of artists of all levels who support each other on our artistic journeys. Our season runs from Sept-June, with monthly meetings the second Wednesday of the month from 6:30-8:30pm at the Webster Recreation Center on Chiyoda Drive. We invite different artists in the community to come and share their process with us. We also have Open Art sessions every Wednesday morning, also at the Rec Center, where members come together to work on their own projects. Once a month we provide an Open Art Focus, a specific activity for those who want to learn something new.
One of our favorite meetings of the year is in March when we invite the Advanced Placement Art students from Schroeder and Thomas high schools to give a presentation of their art. We enjoy being connected to a younger generation of artists, for they have new ideas to teach us.
Other activities the group participates in are field trips to different galleries, a rotating art display at the Rec Center and Creative Canvas workshops for the Rec Center, (the next one will be held May 15 at the arboretum).
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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).
The Webster Art Club will be strutting their stuff this month at a big art show hosted at the Pittsford Barnes & Noble from May 4 through May 31.
Seventeen Art Club members have submitted 55 pieces for this particular show, which will be judged by retired Webster art teacher Carolyn Carlton. An opening reception will be held on Saturday May 4 at 1 p.m. in the community room on the second floor — a good chance to meet the artists.
This month’s show is a great representation of how creative and incredibly talented these artists are, and how fortunate we are that they choose to share their work with us.
A look at last year’s art showA recent Open Art activity
Mary Coy, president of the Webster Art Club, says this about the club:
As a club, we focus on community first, art second. We’re known to be a friendly group of artists of all levels who support each other on our artistic journeys. Our season runs from Sept-June, with monthly meetings the second Wednesday of the month from 6:30-8:30pm at the Webster Recreation Center on Chiyoda Drive. We invite different artists in the community to come and share their process with us. We also have Open Art sessions every Wednesday morning, also at the Rec Center, where members come together to work on their own projects. Once a month we provide an Open Art Focus, a specific activity for those who want to learn something new.
One of our favorite meetings of the year is in March when we invite the Advanced Placement Art students from Schroeder and Thomas high schools to give a presentation of their art. We enjoy being connected to a younger generation of artists, for they have new ideas to teach us.
Other activities the group participates in are field trips to different galleries, a rotating art display at the Rec Center and Creative Canvas workshops for the Rec Center, (the next one will be held May 15 at the arboretum).
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).
The event, scheduled for Sunday May 5 at the Cottreall-Warner American Legion Post on Ridge Rd., will shower up to 20 babies with “Baby Baskets of Loving Care,” each filled with gifts for moms and their babies including baby clothing, handmade outfits, homemade blankets, sweaters, booties and hats, diapers, wipes, baby supplies, toys, and more. The new mamas will also be offered chair massages and other pampering at the event.
Active duty, veterans and military spouses of active duty and veterans who are expecting or have children up to 6 months old are welcome to register for and attend the shower. (Must be a resident of Monroe or Wayne counties.)
The Mothers have been pulling together donations for many months, but they’d love to get a lot more. If you’d like to help out, you can donate to their baby gift registry through this Amazon.com link.
Blue Star Mothers president Amy VanDerwerken said, “We love how the local community comes together to support this event. They allow us to provide diapers, clothes, wipes, bibs, blankets, bottles, toys, books, etc.” Besides the many individuals who donate from the Amazon Baby Shower list, they also receive donations from several local businesses and community organizations.
Blue Star Mothers are mothers, stepmothers, grandmothers, foster mothers and female legal guardians who have children serving in the military, guard or reserves, or children who are veterans. The Baby Shower for Military is one of the group’s most important service projects. Each year BSM NY8 honors up to 20 local military families, and for some of these expectant mothers, it may be the only baby shower they get, since they’re usually stationed far away from their close relatives.
“We hope to continue growing and working with the community to be able to support our local military families,” VanDerwerken said. “We could not do this military baby shower event without that support.”
The Military Baby Shower will be hosted by the Cottreall-Warner American Legion Post on Sunday May 5 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. It’s totally free for the first 20 women to register. To sign up, or for more information, contact one of the Baby Shower Committee Co-chairs, Amy VanDerwerken and Jill Harris, at 1VP.NY8@BlueStarMothers.US.
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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).
St. Martin Lutheran Church will host a free Mardi Gras Pancake Supper on Shrove Tuesday, Feb. 13 from 5 to 7 p.m., to thank the community for supporting their missions over the year.
Dinner will include sausage and applesauce, with unlimited pancakes and syrup. Participants are invited to come dressed in Mardi Gras style. Beads will be provided, and you can make your own masks.
The event will be held at St. Martin Lutheran Church, 813 Bay Rd. Everyone is invited to this family-friendly event, so bring your friends. There’s no cost, but a free-will offering of a boxed or canned good for the church’s Little Free Pantry would be gratefully accepted.
Catch this musical if you can!
This year’s spring musical season in our secondary schools continues with Webster Schroeder’s production of Catch Me if You Can,which will take the stage next Thursday through Saturday.
Based on the 2002 Dreamworks hit movie starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hanks, the musical Catch Me if You Can introduces us to Frank Abagnale Jr. (Ryan Parody), a precocious individual seeking fame and fortune. He ran away from home in 1964 at the age of 16 with nothing but his boyish charm, big imagination, and millions of dollars in forged checks. From 1964 to 1969 Frank successfully posed as a substitute teacher, a pilot, a doctor, and a lawyer, living the high life and winning the girl of his dreams. When Frank’s lies catch the attention of FBI agent Carl Hanratty (Jack Baker), Carl does whatever it takes to bring Frank down. It’s the true-life story of the world’s (now) most respected authority on forgery, embezzlement, cybercrimes and scams.
Shows are Thursday, Feb. 8 at 7 p.m.; Friday, Feb. 9 at 7 p.m.; and Saturday, Feb. 10 at 2 and 7 p.m. at Webster Schroeder High School, 875 Ridge Rd. Tickets are $14 and available now through WebsterSchroederMusicals.com.
Start your Super Bowl Sunday off right
If you’re planning to spend a lot of time on the couch on Super Bowl Sunday (like I am), you might want to consider starting off your day with a fun workout.
The Webster Recreation Center has cooked up a FREE Super Bowl-themed “Football & Fitness” sampler workout for Sunday Feb. 11. Beginning at 9 a.m. you can sample four workouts with four different instructors, split into 15 minute “quarters.”
You can even earn raffle tickets for some great prizes. Check out the poster for details.
It all happens at the Webster Recreation Center, 1350 Chiyoda Dr., beginning at 9 a.m. There’s no cost, registration is not required and you don’t have to be a member of the Rec to join the fun.
Kindergarten registration opens
Kindergarten registration is now open for the class of 2037.
Families are asked to go online now to register their children who will be entering kindergarten this September. (Families who do not have access to a computer may call the Webster Central School District at 585-216-0029 to have a registration packet mailed to them.)
Families are encouraged to register early as it takes a substantial amount of time and planning for the appropriate number of students to be enrolled in each of the seven elementary schools. In the event 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.
This news also from the schools which will interest local business owners:
High school students in the Webster Young Entrepreneurs Academy (YEA!) will pitch their businesses in Shark Tank-style to a panel of investors this spring, and Webster YEA! is looking for local businesses and persons to be the next Kevin O’Leary, Daymond John, or Barbara Corcoran for these budding entrepreneurs.
YEA! transforms Webster Schroeder and Webster Thomas students into real, confident entrepreneurs. Through the year-long program, Webster YEA! students generate business ideas, conduct market research, write business plans, pitch to a panel of investors, and launch their very own companies. Investors pledge $700 toward student businesses and join the in-person Shark Tank-style presentation of student entrepreneur business proposals to be held on Thursday, March 21.
Interested in being an investor and on the panel? Contact program coordinator Jim McEntee at james_mcentee@webstercsd.org.
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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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One of the best things about volunteering for the Webster Museum is the über-informative “News You Can Use” newsletter sent out each month to volunteers. It has so many neat little history tidbits gleaned from the recesses of the Webster Museum, some of which you’ll be seeing some day in my History Bits feature.
So I’ll save those for future use, but here are some other newsy items of interest:
The museum’s recent Kittelberger Florist fundraiser was reportedly a “huge success.” More than 180 tickets were sold, meaning $1800 was raised for the museum. Thank you to everyone who sold, and bought, the tickets. If you missed it, I have a feeling it’ll be back again next year, so watch for it.
Now on display in the museum’s exhibit space at the Webster Public Library, “Quirky Cameras,” featuring cameras that look like anything but a traditional camera. The collection is courtesy Frank Calandra.
A new exhibit on the Webster Grange is taking shape at the museum. Formerly known as the National Order of the Patrons of Husbandry, the Grange was a secret society founded in 1867 to protect and advance agricultural interests. In the early 1900s, the Webster Grange was the largest in the country. It brought Rural Free Delivery of mail to town, and was instrumental in establishing telephone service. The exhibit will be completed soon, so stop by the museum to check it out.
Finally, what you’ve all been waiting for: the results from the 2023 Festival of Trees.
This year’s contest included 15 beautifully decorated mini-trees, from these organizations:
Webster Firemen’s Ladies Auxiliary
Webster Citizens Action League
Webster Republican Committee
Jack’s Foundation
Lala of Webster
Webster American Legion Auxiliary
Well Field Preservation
Webster Arboretum
Webster Community Chest
Webster Quilt Guild
Webster Garlic Fest (Wreaths Across America)
Webster Comfort Care Home
Country Gardeners
Webster Grange
Museum Volunteers.
More than 300 museum visitors took the time to vote, and I can tell you from personal experience, it was a difficult choice.
Webster Comfort Care HomeWebster Quilt Guild
This year’s winners were Webster Comfort Care Home and the Webster Quilt Guild. Thank you to everyone who participated in any way to make this event a great success. And special thanks to The Saxophone Therapy Project and The Goodwin Family Performers who provided entertainment during the Webster’s Winter Wonderland festivities.
The Webster Museum is located at 18 Lapham Park in the Village of Webster. It’s open every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday from 2 to 4:30 p.m.
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My more discriminating readers may recognize this month’s History Bit as identical to the one I posted last December. But you’d be wrong. (I actually changed a few words.) But this beautiful creche deserves revisiting every year. So here you have it again!
Hand-crafted creche a Webster Museum holiday tradition
We can always count on the Webster Museum to be especially beautiful and sparkly this time of year, with holiday decorations and miniature Christmas trees sprinkled throughout the displays. But for more than 40 years, the real star of the show has been the Burkardt Family Creche.
This beautiful, hand-carved creche, on display near the museum’s entrance, has a fascinating history all its own. This creche was made in Germany by C. Jess, a church architect. He made one piece a year between 1918 and 1944, each year giving the newly carved piece to his sister Freda in Frankfurt, Germany.
Freda and her husband Henrick kept the creche hidden during World War II so that it wouldn’t be destroyed in the frequent bombings. It would have been passed on to their only son, but he was killed during the war, so they sent it to Freda’s brother, Rudolph Burkardt Sr., who lived with his family on Salt Rd. in Webster.
The Burkardts displayed the creche in their home for decades before donating it to the museum in the late 1970s, where it’s been a treasured centerpiece of the museum’s holiday decorations ever since.
The scene has roughly two dozen pieces, all hand carved out of linden wood. In addition to Baby Jesus, Joseph and Mary and the Three Kings, it also includes a shepherd boy, angels, sheep, camels, oxen, and even an elephant.
The Burkardt Family Creche will be on display at the Webster Museum until January, when museum volunteers will painstakingly wipe each piece with oil and pack them away until next year. So come see it while you can, and while you’re there, make sure to vote for your favorite community-decorated Christmas tree during the museum’s Festival of Trees. Votes will be accepted through Dec. 31. You can also vote online atwebstermuseum.org.
The Webster Museum is located at 18 Lapham Park in the Village of Webster. It’s open Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays from 2 to 4:30 p.m.
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There’s a new military vehicle in town, and it’s a really big deal.
I say that not just because the M706 Commando armored car, recently acquired by the Cottreall-Warner American Legion Post, is not only really big (it weighs more than eight tons), but the simple fact that the Legion was able to get one is a big deal in itself.
The armored car arrived by flatbed trailer on November 17, after traveling more than 600 miles from the AAF Tank Museum in Danville, Va. The museum closed last month, at which time several of its exhibit pieces became available, and the American Legion post jumped at the chance to get one.
That’s about the only way organizations can acquire a display piece. Past Legion Commander Greg Cody explained that most decommissioned military vehicles are used for target practice, so you basically have to wait for a museum or Legion post or VFW post to close and their display pieces go up for grabs.
For our Webster American Legion, it’s been a long wait; Cody put in the post’s application a full nine years ago.
Considering the armored vehicle saw action in the Vietnam War in the early ’60s, it’s in pretty good shape. Still, Cody said, “When it showed up it was in worse shape than in the pictures we saw.” It was missing some windows, and the turret and the hatch had been removed and stuffed inside the vehicle.
Pretty much all that remains inside are the seats and the steering mechanism. “When they give you a tank or vehicle, they come completely stripped inside so no one can make it work,” Cody explained. Even the engine is removed. It had also clearly spent some time outside after the museum closed, because there were leaves and branches inside and some surface rust.
Getting a static display piece for our small-town Webster American Legion is, as I said, a big deal. Usually only the bigger Legion or VFW posts get them, or perhaps entire townships, because it’s a rather expensive proposition. The government doesn’t charge anything, but it does cost a lot of money to have the monster vehicles loaded up, trucked hundreds of miles, and then unloaded. You also have to have enough room to display it.
The vehicle’s under wraps right now, tucked under a tarp in a corner of the Legion’s parking lot. In the spring, Cody will crawl back inside to clean it up and do more repairs, give it a new paint job, and work with a local machine shop to fashion some mock gun barrels. That’s also when the Legion’s members will decide where on the property it will be permanently displayed. The plan is to put a fence around it, plant a garden and install a plaque.
It’s sure to be a fitting memorial to all those who served.
I had a terrific time last Saturday, accompanying Santa and one of his elves as they strolled through the Village of Webster, checking out the Small Business Saturday savings and handing out treats to the children. It was so much fun to see the children’s eyes light up when they saw Santa, and the smiles he brought to everyone’s faces.
We were out there for 90 minutes in the morning and again in the afternoon. My husband caught some of the action on video, which we’ve put together in my first-ever “vlog.” Click the photo below to see that video.
(Click on the photo to watch the video)
Two local television stations, Channel 10 and Channel 13, sent cameras to capture some film as well. After all, Santa showing up in the Village of Webster? That is definitely news.
The Webster Community Chest invites community members to eat your dessert before dinner. To be more precise, how about enjoying a big ice cream sundae, prepared in a hand-crafted bowl created by our Webster CSD art students?
On Wednesday, Nov. 29, the Community Chest will partner with the Empty Bowls Project to raise funds to help feed our less fortunate neighbors. From 4 to 6 p.m. in the Schroeder High School cafeteria, you can choose one of a great variety of hand-crafted ceramic bowls, and have it filled with an ice cream sundae. Enjoy the sundae, then take the bowl home. Suggested donation is $20.
Webster Schroeder High School is located at 875 Ridge Rd.
Then, on Friday Dec. 1, follow up your dessert with a spaghetti dinner from 5 to 7 p.m. at the Webster Masonic Temple, 30 Orchard Street. Dinner will include spaghetti with marinara or garlic sauce, meatballs, salad, bread … and more dessert (ice cream and a cookie)!
Cost is $12 for adults, $6 for children 12 and under.
Tickets for both the Empty Bowls Project and the spaghetti dinner can be purchased in advance here, or at the door. Takeout dinners will be available. All proceeds from both events will go to feeding the hungry in our Webster community.
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I definitely remember the first time I walked into BC’s Chicken Coop. Owners Christina Wasson and Brandie Rauber had recently opened their restaurant on South Avenue, and I stopped in to try their chicken and write a blog about them.
I especially remember two things: how nice Chris and Brandie are, and how delicious their chicken is. I mean REALLY delicious. They sent me home with a few pieces they’d just plucked out of the fryer, and they smelled so good, they didn’t even make it back to my house.
I wrote about them again in 2017 when they moved to 159 West Main Street. The much larger location is a lot more visible, and there’s more parking, more storage space and a bigger kitchen. But the best part about the new restaurant is the spacious and comfortable dining area, something they didn’t have on South Ave.
In the several years since, the Coop has continued to serve their unbelievably delicious chicken, award-winning wings, soups, salads, sandwiches, pork rib dinners and a nice variety of sides, including a lot of gluten-free options. Plus, they’ve greatly expanded their catering operation. But recently they announced some big news.
BC’s Chicken Coop now serves beer.
Like their menu offerings, there’s pretty much something for everyone on the beer list. It leans towards Genny products and local and regional breweries like K2 and Young Lion, and includes some seasonal offerings, ciders and White Claws. PLUS there’s a variety of Finger Lakes wines.
Right now the liquor license is just temporary, but that will change before too long. In the meantime, head on down, get a great meal in a quiet, comfortable atmosphere, and enjoy a beer along with it.
BC’s Chicken Coop is at 159 West Main St. in Webster. Check out their menu here, and remember that everything is cooked to order, so you might want to call ahead … or grab a beer while you wait.
By the way, that blog I wrote back in 2010 seems to have disappeared into the void. But if you’re REALLY interested in reading it, Chris and Brandie still have a framed copy hanging on their wall.
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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 “Follow Me” link on the right side of this page.
I feature the people and places and events that make Webster the wonderful community it is — and throw in some totally-not-Webster-related personal ramblings every once in a while as well.
I love it when readers send me news about the great things happening in their schools or the community, so please email me anytime at missyblog@gmail.com
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