One more thought from the bike path

26 Jul

Near where the path begins at Salt Road, it’s particularly icky

You remember a little while ago I posted a blog about the bike path that runs along Rt. 104? My husband and I have become very familiar with the section between Five Mile Line Road and Phillips, having ridden it at least a dozen times in the last six weeks to visit the village.

Well, on a recent trip to the village, we decided to get crazy and follow the path all the way to its eastern terminus at Salt Road. It was only another mile, I thought, and it might turn out to be the nicest part of the trail.

Boy, was I wrong.

That last (first) mile of the bike path from Phillips to Salt is in awful repair. Don’t get me wrong — there are parts where it’s pretty, twisty and lined with reeds and cat-tails, and buffered from the highway by mature vegetation. But the path itself is bumpy and broken up, just gravel in some places, and with grass growing through in others. It lies in a wet, marshy area, which probably makes it harder to maintain.  But a friend who lives near there tells me that the poor condition of the path in that section is mainly due to its frequent use by snowmobilers in the winter.

The 104 Bike Path is a terrific resource for our town and there’s much to be said for allowing all residents to use it, all seasons of the year.  Precisely for those reasons, the town or the state — or whoever is responsible — should perhaps start focusing more on its upkeep.

Grassy strips like this are common in the Salt-to-Phillips section.

Photos from the Jazz Fest

26 Jul

What an incredible night it was last Friday night at the Jazz Fest. The weather was cool, the music was hot, the pints were flowing, the village looked beautiful, and I made some new friends. Congratulations to the Webster BID on another very successful event.  I’m already looking forward to next year.

Click here or on any of the photos below to see a gallery with many more.

 

Friends of Webster Trails get help from Eagle Scout

26 Jul

Today I bring you news of another Eagle Scout doing great things for our community.  He is Sullivan Easley of Troop 363, who chose to work with the Friends of Webster Trails (FWT) to complete his Eagle Scout project.

Thank you to Alisa Kokx for sending along the following article, which I have stolen from liberally. (OK, almost completely.)

A love of nature leads Sullivan (Sully) J. Easley of Troop 363 to complete his Eagle Scout project with FWT

Easley’s project included building six nesting boxes, which were installed at Whiting Road Nature Preserve, Gosnell Big Woods Preserve and Four Mile Creek Preserve. Easley also led a trail work effort on the future phase of the Green Trail at Whiting Road. Both project aspects were coordinated through Friends of Webster Trails.

Taran Bauer and Sully Easley (wearing hat) remove roots and vines where the future section of trail will go at Whiting Road Nature Preserve.

The nesting boxes will offer homes for screech owls and wood ducks. Per Easley, “I choose this project because I was interested in doing a project for FWT and I like wildlife. I first learned about FWT from taking part in a fellow Scout’s Eagle Scout Project at the Bird Sanctuary Trail last year. I was surprised by how many trails there are in Webster and by how many people use the trails.” Easley adds, “I learned a lot more about wood ducks and how they are present in Webster. Although they are not endangered, their nesting grounds are. They are tree nesters and like to live in abandoned woodpecker holes so the draining and clearing of forested wetlands for agriculture and timber and hunting in the early 1900s significantly reduced their numbers. Through conservation efforts and the installation of nesting boxes starting in 1930s, their populations are back.”

As part of his project, Easley also led a group of volunteers to help clear the future section of the Green Trail at Whiting Road Nature Preserve which will be opened later this fall once FWT completes the trail’s grading. FWT Trails Committee Chair Jeff Darling said, “Sully and his group of volunteers were instrumental in clearing mounds of multiflora rose and vines so we can site the new section of trail properly. This new trail will allow users to enjoy the northern 25 acres of the preserve and a view of Lake Ontario.”

In late April, Easley asked FWT’s Volunteer Project Coordinator, Alisa Kokx, for help identifying a meaningful project. All of the planning, purchasing of materials, building, installing, and trail work took place within the last two months. Easley was very determined to get this project completed since his family was moving out of state in early July. Per Kokx, “This was an amazing amount of effort and coordination for Sully with a short timeline. A typical Eagle Scout project usually takes six or more months. It was apparent that Sully was working on an aspect of his project practically every day in order to complete it prior to his family’s move. He did a great job planning all the details, organizing volunteers, and executing a very successful project … plus balancing school, various activities, and a family move.”

Easley led 26 volunteers on various aspects of the project totaling 203 volunteers hours. That’s pretty amazing for a youngster who just completed 8th grade at Willink Middle School.

Sully Easley and his volunteers install a nesting box at Gosnell Big Woods Preserve. From left to right: Andrew Streit, Derek Sahrle, Bill Wheatley (Troop 363 Asst. Scoutmaster), Sully Easley, Quentin Sahrle, Nick Bober, Kevin Thompson and Darwin Pray.

 

Local business is moving, but sticking with the village

26 Jul

The bad news is, Mac 5 Bikes is moving from its Webster Village location at the corner of East Main Street and Lapham Park. The good news is, they’re only moving about 100 yards down the street.

Even better yet, the new place is more than twice the size of the old one.

Mac 5 Bikes’ owner Chris Makowski told me that he and his wife had been looking for a larger place for almost a year, and came a hair’s breadth from signing a contract in one of the nearby plazas. But ultimately they decided “we’d rather stay in the village. It’s a more hometown, family atmosphere” than being located next to a Starbucks, he said.  Plus, “Our true customers wouldn’t ride to a shopping plaza.”

The new storefront, located at 37 East Main Street, is more than 5,000 square feet, more than double the floor space they have now. That will allow them to get all of their inventory out of the warehouse and on display, or at least stored on the second floor, where it will be much more accessible.

Chris added that they’re even thinking about using that second floor space for spin classes in the future.

But what’s really cool about the new place is that it’s historic.  According to the Town Historian, the building dates to around 1888, and was originally a funeral home. It still has some very neat old features including an antique in-wall safe and a 1940s-era pully-and-rope-operated elevator. Chris said they hope to eventually restore the building to the way it looked more than a century ago.

But for now, they’re just focused on putting some final details on the new place and opening the doors to the bike-riding public, hopefully by the third week in July.

A side-by-side comparison of 37 East Main in 1960 and today.
What the building looked like circa 1890

Village resident petitions Board for new stop signs

13 Jul

Joe Cassara is getting tired of cars speeding by his house on Dunning Ave., so he’s asked the Village to do something about it.

The current speed limit on Dunning is 30 miles per hour. Cassara said that at times, vehicles travel down Dunning at an excessive rate of speed, by his estimate from 40-60 miles an hour.  The stretch from Main Street to Fuller Ave is wide, flat, straight and unimpeded, making it an easy place to speed.

Cassara wrote,

Many of the houses in this neighborhood are owned or rented by families with young children. Dunning is a popular street for surrounding areas (Park, Elm, Curtice Park, Fuller, Lapham Park, Ridge), and is often filled with families walking, riding bikes, and playing outside. The speeding problem is dangerous to residents, and the posted speed limits aren’t enough to deter drivers of all ages from disobeying the law.

So last week he approached the Village Board and asked that stop signs be erected at Dunning and Elm, and Dunning and Park to slow the traffic.

“(The Board was) receptive to the stop signs,” Cassara reported, “and asked me to get a bunch of signatures to support my case. Then, they’ll bring it back for a vote to send to a public forum, the next step in the process.”

So Cassara has created an online petition which you can check out for details, sign if you’d like, and share with your friends and neighbors.  You can see it by clicking here.

The proposed stop signs would go at the corners of Elm Street and Park Ave. where they meet Dunning Ave.

A birthday party at the Rec with the Reverend Mother

12 Jul

Faith Bell reacts to hearing the assembled birthday party guests yell “Surprise!”

When the stooped, austere-looking nun shuffled into the Webster Recreation Center cafeteria earlier this week, you could almost hear a collective gasp from the audience.  A few people who were standing near the doorway didn’t really know how to greet her, so chose to stay silent and just stand back to let her pass. Anyone who hadn’t attended Mass in a while tried to look very inconspicuous.

But no one needed to worry. The Reverend Mother Phyl Contestable wasn’t there to hear their confessions. She was there to roast Faith Bell, the Rec Center’s senior services coordinator, on the occasion of her 80th birthday.

Actually, Faith’s official title is “Transportation Coordinator,” a term left over from the Monroe County meal program. But she does so much more than that.

Jane Laskey, the Rec Center’s Deputy Commissioner, wrote,

(Faith) handles the daily transportation needs of the seniors so they can get to and from the senior center, she plans and implements educational, support, and recreation programs, she coordinates some of the services associated with the center such as elder source, AARP taxes, blood pressure checks,  leads programs such as the poetry club, and acts as the primary liaison for families and often health care providers and the senior that attends the center.  Mostly she is an advocate for the folks that attend the senior center, a sympathetic listener and a cheerleader. … She is incredible, kind, full of Irish wit, and an amazing advocate for seniors.

A good sport as always, Faith banters with the Reverend Mother.

Earlier this week, Faith was also the butt of the Reverend Mother’s jokes. For a full half hour in front of about 100 family, friends and Webster Rec staff members, Faith endured the irreverent humor and personal jabs that only former-nun-turned-Nunsense-performer Phyl Contestable could dish out. Fortunately, any real embarrassment was smoothed over by birthday cake and friendly conversation after the performance.

Not that there was much embarrassment. True to form, Faith took the entire occasion in stride, starting when she walked through the door and heard everyone yell “Surprise!”

I couldn’t stay for the entire party, but was so pleased to be there to help celebrate with my friend. Happy birthday, Faith, and many more.

 

 

About 100 friends, family members and Webster Rec staff members attended.

 

Photos from the Kiddie Parade!

11 Jul

The rains threatened but never arrived for last night’s Kiddie Parade in Webster. It was, once again, an adorable and entertaining event, made better this year by the participation of the Webster High School Marching Band Kidets, who did a great job on their inaugural march.

I’m not going to say much about the parade itself, except that maybe next year I’ll FINALLY figure out what the parade route is and make sure it’s correct in my blog.  If you’d really like to see a story about the event, check out today’s D&C; they sent a reporter and a photographer last night. Click here to see the article.

But I will rely on my gallery of almost 80 photos to tell the story for me.  Click here or on any of the photos on this page to see the gallery.

 

Webster Kidets join this year’s Kiddie Parade

9 Jul

Director Brian Wilt leads his Kidets on a march around the Schroeder parking lot.

Our little village has its share of parades, but I think my favorite of them all is the Kiddie Parade. This adorable event is Webster’s smallest parade, which takes place every year the evening before Webster’s biggest parade, the Firemen’s Parade.

Compared to the Firemen’s Parade, which marches down Main Street for a full mile and lasts about two hours, The Kiddie Parade winds through south-side neighborhood streets, and lasts maybe 15 minutes.

But it’s the cutest thing EVER.

The Kiddie Parade gives children young and old (read: “adults”) perhaps the only chance they’ll ever have to march in a real parade. Entire families gussy up their wagons and scooters with streamers and signs and dress in coordinated costumes, and just have a blast. Many of the kids even get into true parade spirit and whip candy at the assembled crowds as they march.

This year’s Kiddie Parade, which takes place this Wednesday beginning at 7:00 pm, will be better than most because there’s going to be a special guest of sorts. This year marks the very first appearance of the Webster Kidets, a performance group introduced this year to give younger musicians a chance to see what being in a marching band is like.

The Kidets are comprised of about 20 fifth and sixth-grade musicians and four color guard members, all of whom have been practicing on and off for the last few months under the tutelage of Webster Marching Band Director Brian Wilt and a whole host of Marching Band student and adult assistants. In that short time these kids have learned a brand new piece of music and learned to march as a unit. Sort of.

I stopped by the band’s final practice last night at Webster Schroeder High School and came away very impressed by how far this band has come in such a short time. Sure, the performance wasn’t as tight as you’d expect from a polished marching band; the instrumentation was rather rough and the marching not particularly coordinated. But in step or not, these kids marched with poise and pride, befitting the fact they are a Webster marching band.

I can’t wait to see — and hear — them in the Kiddie Parade tomorrow night.

The Webster Kiddie Parade begins at 7:00 pm on Wednesday July 10 at Spry Middle School on South Avenue. It marches north on South Avenue, turns east onto Dunning, then heading down Sanford Street to the Firemen’s Field to officially open the carnival.

I took a bunch of photos at last night’s rehearsal. Click here or on any one of these to go to a gallery.

 

 

Summer concerts return to UCC

8 Jul

Mark your calendar for this Wednesday July 10, when the United Church of Christ on Klem Road kicks off its series of six Caring Community Concerts.

The UCC has been sponsoring these concerts for eight years now, and through free-will offerings have raised close to $40,000 for local non-profit organizations.  People are invited to bring lawn chairs or blankets and a picnic if they wish. There’s also a concession stand selling soda, hot dogs, hamburgers, pulled pork, and a weekly “special.”

There is no admission, but each week the church will collect a free-will offering benefiting that week’s chosen non-profit organization.

The Gateswingers Big Band gets things rolling this Wednesday beginning at 6:30. Click on the image below to check out the rest of the summer’s schedule and each week’s beneficiary.

 

Business news from the town

6 Jul

I heard some business news from Supervisor Ron Nesbitt a few weeks ago, confirmed recently by a story in this week’s Webster Post.

Three new businesses are coming to town, two of them helping to fill in that big open space next to Kohl’s at Town Center Plaza. The first is a store called HomeGoods, which I have never heard of before.  A quick Internet search, however, tells me that there’s already one of these stores in Victor. They describe themselves on their website thusly:

“HomeGoods is where savvy shoppers of every style discover distinctive home fashions at up to 60% off department and specialty store prices every day.”

I don’t consider myself a savvy shopper (unless “frugal” and “cheap” are synonyms for “savvy”) so I probably won’t be shopping there very much.

Sharing that empty space will be an LA Fitness.  Even after that and HomeGoods come in, there will still be some empty space for yet another store to join them.

The third new business heading our way is a Dairy Queen (YAY!) which will set up shop on Hard Road across from VanIngen Drive (just north of the entrance to Webster Square/Kmart Plaza). Developers hope that this will be up and running by the end of the year (when everyone will want ice cream). LA Fitness and HomeGoods still have some hoops to jump through, so there’s no word yet on when construction will begin for them.

And while we’re on the topic of new local businesses, construction on the new McDonald’s near Walgreens is proceeding apace, as well as the Tim Horton’s/Express Mart at the corner of Five Mile Line and Ridge Road.  Can’t wait to see what Ridge Road traffic will be like when these are finished.

 

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