A renewed appreciation for the Webster Public Library

13 Aug

I’ve really got to visit the library more often.

I’ve recently made a concerted effort to carve out more time in my life to just sit and read. That led me, of course, to the Webster Public Library to pick up a few books. I didn’t know exactly what I wanted, but trusted that the library’s ever-changing displays would guide me.

And, as a reader, that’s one thing I love about the library. Walking in there is like walking into a candy store where the shelves are packed with a dizzying variety of colorful, tasty, carefully-packaged morsels of goodness.

But on my last visit I was reminded that there’s a lot more to the Webster Public Library than just the books.

For starters, there’s the Artists’ Wall just to the left as you walk in. This month it’s displaying some beautiful works by local artist Rose Boccolucci, whose art stopped me in my tracks.

Over near the reference room to the right of the circulation desk, the Webster Museum has set up a display case highlighting the history of the Forest Lawn neighborhood with lots of old photos and memorabilia.

And standing proudly above the biographies in the main collection area are eight of the original Hegedorn’s panels which were rescued from the ceiling above the check-out area when the store closed in June. (I knew the library had adopted some, but it was a nice surprise to be reminded.)

In case you’re wondering, when I left the library, I did indeed have two books tucked in my bag, and they couldn’t be more different: an exploration of the cosmos written by Neil DeGrasse Tyson, and a Janet Evanovich romantic mystery.

Kind of like licorice and Sweet Tarts, actually.

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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 8/9/2023)

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Enjoying one last Family Games Night

12 Aug

Dozens of families enjoyed the last Family Games Night of the 2023 summer season on Friday night at Gazebo Park.

Children young and old bopped between Giant Jenga, corn hole, giant Connect Four and other games. There were balloons and snacks, and Dancing With Denise kept everyone hopping to a beat — when they weren’t twirling hula hoops.

Thank you Webster BID for a fun evening. Moving these events off of Main Street to Gazebo Park was a great decision, and I know these family-friendly events will continue to be popular in the coming years.

Here are a few more photos from the evening:

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(posted 8/12/2023)

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First Responders 5K returns to village streets in three weeks

10 Aug

I like participating in 5Ks. (You’ll notice I didn’t say “run” 5Ks, because the pace I set cannot actually be called “running.”) So I’m really looking forward to one of my favorite 5Ks ever, the First Responders 5K.

This is a favorite for a few reasons. First, it’s in the Village of Webster. I can walk to the start line AND it runs right by my house. Second, SO MANY of my Webster friends also run. And finally, some of the proceeds benefit a great cause.

The race website explains,

The First Responders 5K recognizes the strength, perseverance, and courage of police officers, firefighters, EMTs, 911 operators and their families in our local community.

First responders put their lives on the line for us every day as they face hardships that most of us will never know. The repetitive negative experience of stressful and potentially traumatic events that first responders face on a daily basis leaves them particularly vulnerable to post-traumatic stress disorder. We hope that this event can raise awareness for PTSD in first responders, and raise funds for a local charity, FRST Agency, that will provide support, awareness, assets, and services to first responders seeking assistance in dealing with the effects of PTSD.

A portion of proceeds, as well as 100% of additional donations, will be donated to the FRST Agency. 

The race is scheduled for Friday Sept. 1 at 6:30 p.m. It will BEGIN AND END at the south side of Fireman’s Field on Sanford St., and take racers through east-side village neighborhoods. Cost is $40 (plus fees) or $15 for active first responders. Each racer will also receive a t-shirt, and food and drink after the race.

My family will once again be setting up our “refreshment” stop on Fuller Ave. with water — and beer — so watch for our signs!

To register for the race, and for more information including a course map, click here . They’re also looking for volunteers, which is an easy gig and nets you a t-shirt, too. You can also find out more about that opportunity on the website.

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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 8/10/2023)

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You can help Adopt-a-Platoon

9 Aug

Here’s a nice story about an easy way to bring joy to the men and women who are fighting for our country all around the world, far away from their homes and families.

It’s the Adopt-a-Platoon initiative, begun in 2016 by the Webster Rotary Club. Its goal is to send care packages stuffed with snacks, toiletries, beverage items, writing supplies and more, as often as possible to as many soldiers as possible.

Pretty much since it began 16 years ago, the effort been coordinated by Rotary member Rich Comins, who latched onto the project the moment it was proposed. He remembers,

(Rotary member) Herb Gauch saw an article in the paper saying that Fort Drum was sending people to Iraq. I had a brother in the Navy, and you could see how lonesome he was. I was never in the military but I said if there’s any time that I can do something I’m going to do it. So when Herb announced it at the meeting I said I want to lead that.

Rich likes to ship his care packages at least every couple of weeks, but it all depends on how many donations he gets. For example, a month ago he only had enough donations to send out seven boxes, but last week he was able to ship another 12. Over the course of the program, he and the Rotary Club have packaged and shipped 978 boxes to more than 20 platoons.

Each Adopt-a-Platoon package is different, but candy, snacks, popcorn and cookies (especially Girl Scout cookies) are especially popular. Basically, Rich just packs as much as he can into a USPS Flat Rate box before shipping it off.

Right now Rich is relying on donations from friends, neighbors and acquaintances to purchase items for the care packages. He also puts in a lot of his own money, and the Rotary Club covers the shipping cost of $20.35 a box. Right now they’re collecting items for 185 men and women from the Rochester area who are serving with the Army National Guard in Kuwait.

And if there’s ever a moment he wonders if the effort is worth it, he need only read back through the emails he gets from grateful soldiers. One wrote, “I had a real bad day, and I came back to headquarters and there was a box for me. It lit up my day. It meant that somebody back at home likes me.”

In short, this is a very easy way for us to let our soldiers know that we here at home have their backs, and we appreciate the sacrifices they are making.

How you can help

Cash donations and/or donations of items for Adopt-a-Platoon care packages are greatly appreciated. Click here to see a list of suggested items provided by officers at Fort Drum, and email Rich Comins at richecomins@gmail.com to arrange drop-off. If you’d prefer to write a check, please make it out to The Webster Rotary Foundation, Inc., and contact Rich for a mailing address.

The Webster Rotary Foundation, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization, so all your donations are tax-deductible.

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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 8/9/2023)

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Webster community mailbag

8 Aug

I’m going to lead today’s mailbag with an event I only just learned about myself when I was reading through the Town’s Webster This Week newsletter.

It’s the Water Lantern Festival, being held this Saturday Aug. 12 at Charles Sexton Memorial Park (formerly North Ponds). It’s one of hundreds of similar festivals held world-wide every year by an organization called One World Lantern Festival, which describes it as:

an incredible experience where thousands of family, friends, and strangers celebrate life together. Water Lantern Festival brings together individuals from all ages, backgrounds, and walks of life to join in one emotional and memorable night. You’ll cherish these moments as you witness the beauty of thousands of lanterns and the lights reflecting upon the water.

Participants design their own lanterns, and are invited to inscribe their “hopes and dreams, or a letter to a loved one,” or any other meaningful message, and then send them floating out onto the water. I imagine the scene of countless illuminated lanterns floating on the pond will be spectacular.

Webster’s Water Lantern Festival will begin at 6 p.m. with food trucks, music and activities. Lantern designing begins at 8:30 p.m. and launch is from 9 to 10 p.m. Tickets are $26.98 (plus processing fees and taxes) and include a lantern kit, a commemorative drawstring bag, playing cards, conversation cards and access to the food trucks and music. IF YOU’RE INTERESTED IN ATTENDING, you should get your tickets by Wednesday Aug. 9, because the price goes up after that to $45.99 and even higher on the day of the event.

Click here for more information about the festival and ticket options.

The Village of Webster’s next and last-one-of-the-summer Family Games Night is this Friday Aug. 11 from 6 to 9 p.m. at Gazebo Park on North Ave. These great — and totally free — family events feature giant games, sidewalk chalk, great food and drink, and Dancing With Denise. Come for just a short time, come for the entire event; you and your kids will have a blast.

Remember to visit the Webster BID website regularly to keep up to date on village events.

Webster NY Hope has published this month’s wish list, which includes:

  • toothbrushes
  • toilet paper
  • pasta
  • cooking oil
  • towels (used or new)
  • socks for all ages
  • underwear for all ages
  • queen sheets

Items can be dropped off at Webster Hope, 1450 Ridge Rd., during their normal operating hours, Monday from 5 to 7 p.m., Tuesday from 10 a.m. to noon, Wednesday from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. and Thursday from 5 to 7 p.m.

The Webster Marching Band‘s next Bottle and Can Drive happens this Saturday Aug. 12 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. All you have to do is place those bags outside your house or at the end of the driveway, with a little note indicating they’re for the band, and they’ll be whisked away for a good cause.

Or, if you plan to be out and about on Saturday, you can drop them off at the collection site, Webster Schroeder High School, 875 Ridge Road, by 3 p.m.

OR, you can call the Bottle and Can Hotline (234-8684, option 1) ANYTIME to arrange a pickup at a time convenient for you.

The United Church of Christ‘s last Caring Community Concert of the summer takes place this Wednesday Aug. 9 when 8 Days a Week performs.

These concerts benefit local nonprofit organizations. There’s no admission, but each week the church collects a free-will offering benefiting that week’s chosen non-profit organization. This week’s concert will benefit the Friends of Webster Trails.  

The concerts all begin at 6:30 p.m., and food concessions begin at 6. The concerts are held on the United Church of Christ front lawn, at 570 Klem Rd. (In case of rain it’s moved indoors.)

Finally, looking ahead, these two events take place in a few weeks:

The Steam Police will sponsor a blood drive in the Spry Middle School cafeteria on Friday Aug. 18 from 1 to 6 p.m. There’ll be food, drinks, t-shirts, raffle prizes, and a whole lot of gratitude.

For an appointment (always a good idea), visit redcrossblood.org and use the keyword “SPRYMS” or call 1-800-RED CROSS (1-800-733-2767).

An electronics recycling event is scheduled for Saturday Aug. 19 on the Xerox campus off of Orchard St. (near the Rec Center). TICKETS ARE REQUIRED for this event, and you can sign up here for the time slot you want.

Some slots are already booked up, so sign up soon.

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(posted 8/8/2023)

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An update on the Soul Connection Tour

6 Aug

Today’s blog is for everyone who’s been following the story about Bob Freese and Peggy Schaefer and their goodwill trip to Newfoundland.

It’s a thank-you trip where Bob and Peggy are handing out candy bars as a small token of appreciation for the kindness the residents there showed on 9/11. The story about how Newfoundlanders opened their homes to almost 7,000 stranded airplane passengers was made popular by the hit Broadway musical Come From Away. (Click here to read my most recent blog about the trip.)

They’re calling it their “Soul Connection Tour,” and it has begun.

Bob and Peggy embarked on their journey on July 23, with more than 1400 wrapped and personally signed candy bars carefully packed away in their RV. Six friends and four RVs are joining them on the tour, and even before reaching Newfoundland they’ve had daily adventures, visiting historical sites, museums and castles, and sampling a lot of great food and beers.

Peggy Schaefer (right) with a happy brewpub employee
Two more candy bars handed out at the pub

It took them only a few days for Bob and Peggy to start distributing their candy bars, and it happened even before they reached the province. The first ones went to some fellas from Newfoundland they met at a historical site. The first ones the entire Soul Connection group handed out were at the Secret Cove Brewing Company in Port au Port, NL. Bob reports that “Yes, there were some tears! One family had their 10-year old boy come up to say thank you and shake hands as they left.”

Thank you to everyone who donated money or candy bars, and helped wrap and sign the candy bars. Your efforts are going a long way to help spread our country’s appreciation to the residents of Newfoundland.

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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 8/6/2023)

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Revelle’s Home Decor has landed safe and happy in Ontario

5 Aug

Dave and Peggy Revelle were all smiles on Saturday when they officially introduced their new Revelle’s Home Decor location to the public with a grand opening ceremony.

You may remember Revelle’s from when they briefly had a shop on East Main Street in the Village of Webster, adjacent to M.O. Pasta. They opened that storefront in May, but it took only a few months before they realized the space was much too small for the products and services they really wanted to feature. (Click here for the blog I wrote when they opened.)

Their new shop, located at 1864 Rt. 104 East in Ontario, measures 3,000 square feet, several times larger than the original. That means a LOT more space to display their own hand-crafted products, feature lots of local crafters, and devote a spacious back room to paint parties.

It was really that paint party aspect of the business which ultimately drove the need for a bigger space, Peggy said. “We thought we would try (the smaller Webster location) without the paint parties,” she said. “But in my heart it wasn’t happening. … This is what I’ve always done.”

So only about a month after closing their East Main Street shop, they’d found and started renovating their new place, which previously was a bait shop and seafood market. For Dave Revelle, the location is like “coming home,” since he grew up just a few miles away on Fisher Rd.

(L-R) Lisa Fede, Peggy and Dave Revelle, Gina Weatherell
Dave and Peggy Revelle

In addition to the incredibly beautiful refurbished and new handcrafted furniture pieces that the Revelles themselves are known for, Peggy is currently displaying beautifully crafted items from 23 local artisans, and hopes to add more in the near future. She’s also set up a smaller side room as her “Christmas room,” which will feature holiday-themed crafts year-round.

Plus, of course, there’s plenty of space now for paint parties, which Peggy is already booking. The first is scheduled for Aug. 17; participants choose from the website the sign they’d like to create, and Revelle’s will provide all the instruction and materials. (More information here).

Revelle’s Home Decor is located at 1864 Rt. 104 East, less than a mile east of Ontario Center Rd. To learn more, visit their website here and Facebook page here.

Here are some more photos from the grand opening celebration:

In the Christmas room
The spacious paint party space
So many great artisans

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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 8/5/2023)

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A bit of Webster history: the town’s first “telephone”

4 Aug

You never know what fascinating nugget of Webster history you’ll discover when you visit the Webster Museum. 

For example, just inside the front door hangs one of Webster’s very first “telephones,” which was used from 1887 to 1901. It hung in what was most recently the Music Store on East Main St. in the village, when the old post office was located there. A second one was installed in the railroad station on North Ave. 

The two instruments were connected by two wires strung across poles and roofs of houses along North Ave. They operated in much the same way as the old tin-can telephones we used to use when we were kids. Remember them? Stretch a string between two tin cans and you could talk back and forth just by keeping the string taut.

When the postmaster wanted to know when to expect the mail trains, he would knock vigorously on the center of the disc. This would cause the wires to vibrate and ring the bell on the telephone at the other end. To communicate, you would talk and listen through the center of the disc.  

This particular telephone has been in the Webster Museum’s collection since the museum opened in 1976. It was donated by Peter and Jay Smith, whose father was the postmaster (although the bell is not original).

Learn more about this and other interesting bits of local history at the Webster Museum, 18 Lapham Park in the Village of Webster. It’s open Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays from 2 to 4:30 p.m. Visit the website at webstermuseum.org to learn more.    

If you like these little bits of Webster history, make sure to check out the link above (or in the right-hand column) labeled “Webster History Bits” to see all of the ones I’ve posted in the past year.

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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 8/4/2023)

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More music and family fun in the village

3 Aug

There’s so much summer fun happening in the village these days, I’m having a hard time keeping on top of it all. So here’s a quick reminder about a few things coming up. (P.S. more information about these events can be found on the Webster BID website.)

This Friday Aug. 4, the Friday Night concert series at the gazebo continues with a performance by singer/songwriter Sarah De Vallière. She describes her music as “Randy Newman meets Joni Mtchell in a bar.” Not sure what that means, but I have seen Sarah play and she is very talented and very entertaining.

The concert will be at Village Memorial Gazebo park on North Ave., and begin at 7 p.m. There’s no cost, and you’re welcome to bring your chairs, blankets and a cooler with food and refreshments.

Next Friday, grab the family and come back to Gazebo Park for the next Family Games Night.

From 6 to 9 p.m. you’ll enjoy giant Jenga, giant Connect Four, corn hole, sidewalk chalking, beer and wine from The Coach and takeout from West Main Street restaurants.

Looking ahead, you definitely don’t want to forget about the Webster Jazz Festival, which is returning Friday and Saturday Aug. 18 and 19.

On Friday, enjoy Jazz in the Pubs at six local pubs and restaurants, then on Saturday the jazz takes to the street when four outstanding jazz bands perform beginning at 4 p.m. on the big West Main Street stage. Click here to see details about who’s playing and when.

ALSO… don’t forget to register for the Village Bed Race on Saturday Sept. 16.

This is going to be tons of fun, and I’m really looking forward to seeing what kind of creative contraptions the bed race competitors will come up with. Teams will be separated into two age groups, 14 to 19 and 20 and up. The course will include one challenge stop, there’ll be two heats and one final elimination race.

Complete rules, bed design specifications and registration links can be found on the Webster BID website, but here are a few highlights:

  • Wheels must be NO larger than 8 inches
  • There are five participants for each bed, four pushers and one sleeper
  • Sleeper must wear some type of sleepwear during the race

Gentlemen and ladies, start your beds!!!

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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 8/3/2023)

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News from the Arboretum

2 Aug

Last week, when I attended the most recent Music in the Park concert at the Webster Arboretum at Kent Park, I not only enjoyed the performance by Doctor’s Orders, but was also reminded of how peaceful and picturesque the park is. It is truly an under-appreciated jewel in our town’s park system.

When I was there, I picked up some information I wanted to pass along.

As part of their ongoing fundraising efforts, the Webster Arboretum is selling custom-inscribed bricks to be placed along the remembrance walkway leading from the Curry building to the gazebo. Each brick can accommodate up to three lines of text, 16 characters per line. The inscription might commemorate a special occasion, remember a loved one or beloved pet, be an inspirational message, or simply be your family’s name.

Each brick costs $75 and can be purchased online here. Even better, you can pick up a brochure at the next Music in the Park concert on Wed., August 16, which features Sarah De Valliere. The brochure includes a form which you can mail in with a check. Donations are all tax-deductible.

The Webster Arboretum at Kent Park is located at 1700 Schlegel Rd. Find out more about this beautiful park on the Arboretum’s website and Facebook page.

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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.

(posted 8/2/2023)

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