There are some really neat events coming up today and tomorrow that I wanted to make sure everyone heard about.
If you can remember back to the Relay for Life scheduled at Thomas High School the first week of June, you might also remember that the weather that night was stinky. Not only was the Relay washed out, so was one of its most meaningful ceremonies, the Luminaria 
walk.
In the Luminaria ceremony, people light candles inside paper bags decorated with messages for loved ones who are fighting cancer right now, and who have lost that fight. When the ceremony is done at the Relay for Life, the bags are lined up all around the track, while everyone makes a memorial lap. That was not possible with the rains we had that night.
But this evening, weather permitting, the Luminaria Ceremony will take place. Plans are to gather at Veterans Memorial Park in the village of Webster during the regular Friday Night Gazebo Concert (tonight’s features Barry’s Crossing), and place the luminaria around the park, up an alleyway, onto Main Street and back down North Avenue to the gazebo. Everyone will be invited to join in the luminaria lap through the village after the concert.
We all know someone who has been touched by cancer. This is a beautiful way to honor them.
Tonight’s concert runs from 7-9 pm (bring blankets and lawn chairs) and the ceremony will follow immediately afterwards.
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Tomorrow, also at Veterans Park, the first-ever Webster Folk Festival will kick off at 1 pm. Seven different local folk groups will headline the festival, and a handful of smaller groups will fill in during the set breaks, assuring seven hours of non-stop music. Musicians are invited to bring their instruments and sit in at the jam tent and there’ll be workshops in fiddle, ukelele, guitar and drums, and an instrument petting zoo. Several village restaurants will offer refreshments. There will be a big tent set up so you can get out of the sun, or bring your blankets and coolers and stretch out in the grass.
The music begins at 1 pm, and will continue in the village even after dark, as several of the performers will be playing gigs at Barry’s Old School Irish and Hatter’s Pub.
For more information and a schedule of performers, check out the Webster Folk Festival website and the Facebook page.
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If you’re more into hiking than music, consider attending the grand opening and dedication of the new Eva and Harlan Braman Preserve, on Ridge Road just east of Basket Road.
The preserve is comprised of about 60 acres of successional field, previously farmed, and about 11 acres of mature forest. In the recent past, the property provided important successional field habitat for bobolinks and other birds, including migratory birds.
The Eva and Harlan Braman Preserve was donated to Genesee Land Trust by Laurel Bruns and her brother, Gary Braman, in December
of 2011.This gift is in honor of their grandparents, Eva and Harlan Braman. Remembering a childhood of eating apples grown in her grandfather’s orchards, Laurel thought about the future of this beautiful natural setting and talked with her brother about turning it into a preserve that could be enjoyed by wildlife and by people.
Saturday morning’s ceremony will begin at 10 am with light refreshments, followed by the dedication at 10:30. You’ll get a sense of the beauty of this preserve as you hike the half mile trail from the parking lot to the dedication site. Be sure to wear sturdy boots (the grass can be high in places) and be prepared for birds and bugs.
For detailed driving directions, a trail map and more photos, visit the Genesee Land Trust website.
webster on the web 