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Photos from Webster’s parade

29 May

 

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So the weather could have been a little bit better for Monday’s Memorial Day Parade, but it also could have been a whole lot worse.

This is the first year I can remember that we’ve had any kind of rain for the parade. But even this year it wasn’t too bad; a few sprinkles during the marching, and a shower during the ceremony at Webster Rural Cemetery. The crowds lining Main Street and Ridge Road were noticeably thinner this year, probably thanks to the threatening weather, but there were still plenty of onlookers. Many of them came prepared with umbrellas and pop-ups, or found space under some of the large trees that lined the route.

Despite the dampness, I didn’t hear any grumbling. I think we all realized that the men and women we were honoring had suffered much worse.

The only disappointing thing about the day was seeing how many people forgot to stand when the flag came by.

I’ve posted a few photos here, but there are plenty of more here in my gallery, including some from where everyone was lining up, through to the ceremony.

P. S., if you got any great photos which I can add to my gallery, please email them to missyblog@gmail.com.


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Mini Webster mailbag

16 May

Just a few interesting notes this morning.

For starters, Webster Schroeder and Webster Thomas high schools will both have new assistant principals next year.

Karen Murray has accepted the position as assistant principal (alpha M-R) for Webster Thomas High School’s Gold House, effective July 1. Murray is replacing current interim assistant principal Jeremy Slack.

New APs for web

Karen Murray and Dan Sepka

Murray, a Webster resident and graduate, previously served as a middle school ELA teacher and literacy specialist at both Spry and Willink middle schools. She also was a high school literacy specialist at Webster Thomas HS.

 

Dan Sepka will be the new assistant principal (alpha A-E) for Webster Schroeder High School, also effective July 1, replacing current interim assistant principal Jim Vitale.

Sepka is currently an integrated co-teacher at Spry Middle School and prior to that, worked for 10 years at State Road Elementary School as a consultant teacher.
He has spent his entire teaching career in Webster CSD as a co-teacher in all subject areas, and has been a Warrior varsity assistant coach since 2005.  He is also a graduate of Webster Schroeder HS and a Webster resident.

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The Webster Parks and Recreation Department has asked me to remind everyone about their great summer camp programs.

Right now is the time to sign up for programs to keep your kids active and entertained this summer. The Rec offers both full-day camps for children ages kindergarten through 5th grade, and fun camps for teenagers.

In full-day camp, kids are grouped by grade and rotate through a variety of indoor and outdoor activities. Campers will also enjoy several field trips to miniature golf, Seabreeze, bowling, movies ad more.

The Fun Camps will take teenagers to a new exciting destination every dayfrom ice skating to RocVenture, a baseball game to paintball.

The Rec also offers a preschool camp for children ages 3 to 5, and half-day fun camp for kids in kindergarten through 3rd grade.

For more details about all the options, click here.

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opioidThe Monroe County Legislature and the school district are teaming up for a very important presentation on May 31 to raise awareness about the rising threat of opioid abuse in our community.

The presentation will be held Wednesday May 31 at 7 pm at the Webster Community Center, 1350 Chiyoda Drive. Click on the poster for more information.

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Webster Mailbag

25 Apr

mailbagI tell ya. Go away on a cruise for a week, you think you’ve got everything tucked away for a while, and you come back to an overstuffed email box.

Let’s get started.

The Webster Public Library’s spring book sale, sponsored by the Friends of the Library, happens this week.  Tuesday night is the members-only preview night, from 5 to 8:30, when members of the Friends get first crack at the incredible selection of books for sale. Don’t worry if you’re not a member. Memberships will be available at the door, so walk right up and take advantage of this special opportunity.

The general sale begins Wednesday April 26 at 10 am and runs through 8:30 pm. Thursday April 27 is buy one get one free day, and Friday (10 am to 5 pm) and Saturday (10 am to 1 pm) are bag days, when you pay just $3 for a bag of books.

All monies raised go to support library programs.

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The Webster Museum will host Webster resident Ed Harding for a very interesting archaeology program on Saturday April 29 at 2 p.m.

Harding will share his story on how finding a projectile point while digging a fence post in his father’s back yard in 2012 has kept him digging and finding many more Native American artifacts. He learned that the first arrowhead was more than 3,000 years old.

If you’ve found any smooth rocks or interesting rocks you think might be important, feel free to bring them along to the presentation and have Ed take a look at them.

And while you’re at the museum, make sure to check out the collection of Native American artifacts, which are also located on a Webster map according to where they were discovered. If you haven’t seen the woolly mammoth molar yet, which was found on a farm on State Road, it’s pretty cool.

The Webster Museum is at 18 Lapham Park in the village. It’s open Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday from 2 to 4:30 p.m. Admission is free and it’s  handicap accessible.

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St. Martin Lutheran Church, at 813 Bay Road in Webster, will host its Spring Chicken BBQ and FunFest on Saturday April 29 from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m.

Half-chicken dinners including salt potatoes, cole slaw, roll, butter and beverage are available for $10.00. Pie slices and other desserts will also be available for purchase. A hot dog dinner for kids is $2.00.

Dinners are eat-in or take-out. Tickets can be reserved by calling the church office at 671-1899, or purchased at the event while supplies last. Proceeds support the church’s Christmas Stocking Project, which reaches more than 500 local youth in Monroe and Wayne counties.

The FunFest will feature the a bounce house, face painting and balloons.

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The First Baptist Church of Penfield, 1862 Penfield Road, has let me know about two events coming up in the next few weeks.

The Holy Yoga Spring Series, titled “Finding the Extraordinary in Our Ordinary Lives,” begins April 27 and runs every Thursday through May 25. The series is described: “Each week we will become a living prayer; praying together the prayer that Jesus gave us. Gentle, slow flow Holy Yoga will stretch us in heart, mind, body and soul.”

Classes begin at 6:30 p.m. and cost $10 each. All are welcome. Please bring your own mat.

On Saturday May 6, join the First Baptist Church of Penfield for Chicken Barbecue from 2 to 6 p.m., or until sold out. Chickens will be prepared on site by Gale-Wyn Catering. Dinners are $10.50 and include a half barbecued chicken, coleslaw or macaroni salad, salt potatoes, roll and butter, plus a dessert. Eat in or take out.

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Chorus of the Genesee announces annual show

14 Apr

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One of the most entertaining concerts of the spring is fast approaching: the Chorus of the Genesee’s 64th annual show, on Saturday May 20.

This year’s show is called “The Songs of Your Life,” with a fun theme. It’s a radio show being presented by WCOG Radio, featuring “best of” segments from four locations around Rochester, with each segment or locale having its own theme. Each segment is sponsored by one vintage advertiser, and will feature the Chorus of the Genesee and one quartet.

The internationally-ranked quartet “Throwback” will join the Chorus as this year’s special guest. Throwback has placed in the top 10 in international competition for the past two years, and their performance is always a crowd-pleaser.

“The Songs of Your Life” will be presented on Saturday May 20, beginning at 7 pm at Penfield High School. Tickets are $16 in advance ($12 for students), $18 at the door, and group pricing is available. To purchase, call (585) 265-9540 or contact any Chorus of the Genesee member.

The Chorus of the Genesee is a non-profit, educational organization devoted to preserving the original American art form of Barbershop Harmony. The Chorus rehearses in Webster, New York, but performs all over the greater Rochester area. A portion of our proceeds support both local and national service projects. For ore information, visit their website here.

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Greater Rochester Peep Show a sweet success

8 Apr

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Just a quick blog to tell everyone to tell everyone about my trip to the Greater Rochester Peep Show on Saturday afternoon.

What fun it was. More than 80 “paintings” and dioramas featuring marshmallow Peeps were spread among two rooms at the Webster Recreation Center, depicting everything from a library to a construction site to a baseball field. The creativity was amazing, and several of them made me laugh out loud.

The Peep Show runs through Sunday, from noon to 4 pm. There’s no admission charge, but you can purchase concessions and voting tokens to vote for your favorite entry. Kind of the “Peeple’s Choice” winner.

The kids will enjoy peeking out of the 8-foot long fairy castle and shooting peeps with a slingshot on the Peeps target range.

You don’t want to miss it. Noon to 4 Sunday, Webster Recreation Center, 1350 Chiyoda Drive.

You can see a lot more photos in my Webster on the Web Facebook gallery.

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Busy weekend ahead

5 Apr

I’ll be bopping around Webster all day Saturday, camera in hand, taking photos of two

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Student artwork from all of Webster’s schools will be on display at Community Arts Day. 

great community events you and the family will not want to  miss.

 

For starters, the Webster Central School District’s annual celebration of our students’ artistic talents, Community Arts Day, returns this Saturday from 10 am to 4 pm at Webster Schroeder High School, 875 Ridge Road.

This is a super family-friendly event, which features artwork from students representing all of our Webster schools, elementary through high school. There are free music performances, dance, community displays, food and baked goods for sale, and plenty of things for kids to do. And just about everything is free of charge.

It’s a great entertaining, low-cost way for the family to spend a morning or afternoon. You can check out the whole schedule here.

And while you’re out and about…

The Greater Rochester Peep Show is also Saturday (and Sunday) at the Webster Recreation Center.

This fun fund-raiser sponsored by the Webster Community Chest invites community groups and agencies to create sculptures or dioramas completely out of — or utilizing — marshmallow Peeps candies. This is the second year the Community Chest has hosted the show, and they expect it be even bigger and more spectacular than the last.

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One of the fanciful creations from the first Greater Rochester Peep Show in 2015.

You can vote for you favorite Peeps creation with tokens which you can buy at show, or just wander around the display rooms and admire the artwork. In either case it should be lots of fun and I am looking forward to seeing this year’s displays. There’s also free face painting for the kids.

 

The show will run from from 11 am to 6 pm Saturday and noon to 4 pm Sunday. You can read more about it here.

The Webster Recreation Center is located at 1350 Chiyoda Drive, just north of the village of Webster.

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Middle schools give back to our community

24 Mar
Spry Student Council

Principal James Baehr and members of the Spry Middle School Student Council present a check to AutismUp. (Provided photo)

As you all know, I love using this blog to highlight the great things our kids do for our community. Here is another excellent example.

Willink and Spry middle schools host an annual charity basketball game each spring, at which student and staff teams challenge each other in several friendly — if not exactly competitive — games. The event always benefits two local charities, one chosen by each school’s student council.

This year’s event was held on March 3, and once again it was spectacularly successful. A few days ago, representatives from Willink and Spry presented checks totaling about $2900 each to their chosen charities: the Veterans Outreach Center and AutismUp.

On March 20, Willink Student Council officers Daniel Card, Ben Welch, Megan VanWie, and Greyson McDonnell visited the Veterans Outreach Center to present their share of the money raised from the charity game. The Veterans Outreach Center provides comprehensive resources to current and former members of the U.S. Armed Forces and their families through direct service, community collaboration, and advocacy.

Two days later, Spry Middle School Student Council officers Miles Curry, Hannah Tischner, Haley Bolton, Antonia Ciccarelli, Sophia Veltri, Sierra Doody, and Jillian Alexander welcomed a representative from AutsimUp to present her with a check. AutismUp supports individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder, and their families, by expanding and enhancing opportunities to improve quality of life.

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Willink Student Council

Representatives from the Willink Middle School Student Council present a check to the Veterans Outreach Center. (Provided photo) Enter a caption

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Forget the snow. Village announces spring and summer events

15 Mar

Capture

Despite what we might see piled high in our yards right now, spring is really right around the corner, which means that summer is not far behind.

That was confirmed for me a few days ago when I got my first event round-up email from Robyn Whittaker of the Webster BID, that local business organization that sponsors all of our favorite village events.

Here’s a quick look at what they have planned:

  • Saturday March 11: Village Idiots Relay for Life Team Pasta Dinner at the Fireman’s Exempt building from 4 to 7 p.m.
  • Saturday May 13: Gear Up!, a bicycle event supporting Rotary International and sponsored by Webster Rotary, Webster Chamber of Commerce, Webster Town and Friends of Webster Trails kicks off Mother’s Day weekend. Choose a 53 mile, 26.5 mile or the family-friendly 5-mile ride.
  • July 21 and 22: Webster Jazz Festival in the pubs and on Main Street.
  • June 30: Friday Night Concerts begin in the gazebo.
  • July 13: Movie nights in the park begin, this year once again featuring the Saturday Classic Movie Night.
  • September 9-10: The Garlic Festival returns to the Webster Parks and Recreation Department

Also watch for details about a Wine Walk, a wine and food pairing event a craft beer festival, a “bourbon blitz,” and of course the Trick or Treat Trail and White Christmas in the Village.

Put everything on your calendar, and see you there!

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A little windstorm couldn’t stop the Wizard of Oz

14 Mar
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Wizard of Oz Artistic Director Bill Ambler had to do some fancy footwork to make sure the show went on last weekend. (Provided photo)

We’ve been reading a lot of stories on Facebook and whatnot about how neighbors have been helping neighbors during this worst-ever stretch of March weather we’ve been having. Generators are being loaned out, hot meals made and warm beds turned down for those without power for days.

But I heard a story Monday which you won’t see on Facebook, but I think needs to be told.

Thanks to last Wednesday’s windstorm, it looked like Spry Middle School’s sold-out performances of The Wizard of Oz were going to have to be postponed. Wednesday night’s dress rehearsal had to be moved to Thursday night when all after-school activities were cancelled. Then, of course, there was no school Thursday so it couldn’t be held then, either. Nor could the whole event be moved to the following weekend, since so many of the cast members had conflicts.

When school was closed again on Friday, Artistic Director Bill Ambler had a real problem. So he turned to WCSD Superintendent Carmen Gumina for help.

Carm let Bill and his cast members into Spry early in the day on Friday, and the kids ran through their dress rehearsal. The curtain went up as scheduled Friday night, and for two shows on Saturday, playing to packed houses.

And I’m told it was amazing.

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Barry’s Old School Irish one of best places in U.S. to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day. Yelp says so.

9 Mar
Rory and Maley

Rory and Maley Barry are all ready to go for this coming week’s St. Patrick’s Week festivities at their mommy and daddy’s pub.

All of us here in Webster already know that Barry’s Old School Irish is one of the best Irish pubs in the country. And now the whole country knows, too.

According to a new survey just released by Yelp.com, Barry’s Old School Irish is one of the top 50 pubs in the United States for celebrating St. Patrick’s Day, coming in at #45.

Granted, the “survey” was conducted by just ranking the rating and number of reviews each pub received. Still, the fact that SO MANY people have ranked Barry’s favorably is a pretty good indication of the quality of our little pub, our very own, authentic little corner of the ol’ sod. (Click here to see the whole list, which was re-posted on travelandleisure.com.)

And if you’ve seen the lineup of activities Barry’s has planned for what we Irish (and Irish-at-heart) call the “high holy week,” you’ll understand why the pub is so popular. Basically, at Barry’s St. Patrick’s Day becomes St. Patrick’s WEEK.

It starts this Saturday morning, the city’s Parade Day. The pub will be open for a pre-parade breakfast and Irish coffee at 8 a.m. The Foxhunters will be back — as they are every Parade Day — with live Irish music from 2:30 to 7 p.m. Irish Dancers from the Jameson Irish Dance School will pop in at 5 p.m., Everheart takes the stage (actually a corner at Barry’s) to play from 7 to 11 p.m., our favorite Webster bagpiper will stroll through at 9 p.m., and at 9:30 p.m. there’s a Tullamore Irish Whiskey toast on the house.

Plus, there will be Guinness give-aways all day

And that’s just SATURDAY. Click here to see the full lineup of events for the whole week, including a whiskey tasting on Sunday, the weekly Barry’s Run/Walk on Tuesday (when we’ll paint the town green), an extra-special trivia night (of course) on Wednesday, a food and beer pairing on Thursday, and then… well, Friday needs no introduction. But one of the most exciting things about Friday is that there will be a heated tent on the patio. (Which means that’s going to be one of those 70-degree days, no doubt.)

If you haven’t yet been back to the pub since Danny and Jess completed their renovations, this would be a good time to check it out. There’s actually more room now, so there’s less chance you’ll have to go outside to walk around to the bathroom.

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