Did you see those two massive tanks that were creeping through town last night?
They came through Four Corners about 6:45, heading west down Main Street accompanied by a huge escort, including state troopers. The first tank to come through actually clipped the traffic light, causing the whole procession to come to a stop until a support crew with a cherry-picker could get up there and physically lift the wire up so the trucks could fit under.
When I posted this on my Facebook page last night, the theories as to what they might be and where they were going ranged from the serious to the farcical, including wind turbine parts, grain silos, submarines or the new Elon Musk rides for the Carnival.
But a few people were able to find out the real answer, including my friend George Baker, who spoke to one of the escort drivers. Apparently the tanks were destined for a downtown brewery.
Which means my friend Andrew actually came pretty close when he said to me, “I told my wife I would only have one drink tonight. I’m glad it finally arrived.”
If you happened to be driving or walking through the Finchingfield Lane neighborhood on Monday night, you would have seen a Fourth-of-July-inspired light display which you likely didn’t expect.
No, it wasn’t fireworks, although they were very much in evidence that evening. It was, instead, a series of 300 luminaria — little white bags, each with its own tealight candle — lining several of the neighborhood’s streets.
The display, which stretched for an estimated half mile along four streets, was the work of Canoe Birch Lane resident Mike Pauly, his wife, daughters, and several very helpful and enthusiastic young neighbors. It’s a project Mike has been doing every year around the Fourth of July for more than 20 years … but not always here in Webster.
Mike and Rachel Pauly (in back) with most of their young helpersDougie Gibson lights one of the luminaria
The tradition actually began when he and his family were making regular summer camping trips to Woodstream Campsite in Gainesville.
Mike remembered that a few other families would put about 20 candles out in front of their campers. His father liked the idea and thought they could do it, too. But they weren’t happy with just putting out a few dozen.
“We expanded on it,” Mike said. “It wasn’t long before we put 500 out and filled up most of the campground.” It became an annual project, with kids from all over the campground helping fill the bags and light the candles. After a while, the campground even started offering wagon rides so everyone could enjoy the spectacle.
They don’t make it down to Woodstream much anymore, so they haven’t put out the luminaria for a few years. But last year Mike’s wife Rachel had a great suggestion: why not continue the tradition in their own neighborhood?
And that’s what happened. Last year they started relatively small, putting out 200 luminaria. This year that number grew to 300. Young neighborhood helpers worked for several hours over a few days to fill the bags with sand and place the candles. Then, at about 7 p.m., Mike, Rachel, their two daughters and their team of helpers started working their way through the neighborhood to place the bags. Another trip through to light all the candles, and the streets were glowing. With everyone working together, the whole process only took about an hour and a half.
The result was beautiful, and the reactions have been very positive. “People have been saying, it looks great, thank you for doing it,” Mike said.
Unfortunately, it’s a short-lived display. The candles only last two to four hours, and Mike went around Tuesday morning to collect all the bags. So if you didn’t see them Monday night, you’ll have to wait until next Fourth of July.
Why does Mike continue to do this every year? I never actually asked him, but I can pretty much guess the answer: to bring joy to his neighbors and strangers who walk or drive by, and to bring a little light into everyone’s lives as we celebrate this important holiday.
What a very community-inspired, Webster-like thing to do.
This is a really good opportunity to check out many of our brand new businesses. Click on the name above to keep updated on what special things they have planned. (For example, Oh Bella is offering treats, and free gifts.)
The sale will take place on Friday and Saturday July 7 and 8, beginning at 10 a.m. each day. It’ll happen rain or shine, with some displays outside (weather permitting) and some inside — or a little of both! So let’s hope for good weather, put on some comfortable shopping shoes, and head on down to the village this Friday and Saturday.
When the orange water barrels, rolls of snow fencing and trash bins start showing up at Firemen’s Field, you know it’s almost time for the carnival.
Without a doubt, the highlights of the Webster summer event schedule are the Firemen’s Carnival and parade. This year’s carnival is scheduled for Wednesday July 12 through Saturday July 15, with the parade on Thursday night.
You can check out all the details about what will be happening — and when — at the NEJFD website and Carnival Facebook page but here are some of the highlights:
Wednesday July 12:
Craft Beer Night in the Beer Tent
Thursday July 13:
Firemen’s Parade begins at 6:30 p.m.
North Forty plays in the Beer Tent
Friday July 14:
Zac Brown Tribute Band plays in the Beer Tent
Saturday July 15:
Kiddie Parade at noon, beginning at Spry Middle School
Rich the Magic Man entertains at the fairgrounds
Free kids’ bike and grill raffle
Knight Patrol playing in the Beer Tent
Fireworks at midnight
And of course, games, rides and food every night. Admission is free, and to save money on rides, you can buy advance sale tickets through the Carnival Facebook page. You’ll also want to follow that page for more details and regular updates.
Just a reminder today that your opportunity to help share some love and appreciation with the people of Newfoundland is fast approaching.
You may remember my blog about Bob Freese and Peg Schaefer, two Webster folks who are planning a trip to Newfoundland to hand out candy bars to the residents there as a small token of appreciation for the kindness they showed on 9/11. The story about how, for five days, Newfoundlanders opened their homes to almost 7,000 stranded airplane passengers was made popular by the hit Broadway musical Come From Away.
This is the second time Bob and Peg have made the trip. On their first, back in 2019, they covered almost 5,000 miles up one side of Newfoundland and down the other, handing out 600 candy bars (Hershey Bars, specifically) to strangers they met along the way. Each candy bar had a thank-you message wrapped around it, signed by a grateful American (mostly Webster-ites).
The very first “wrapping party”600 candy bars readied for the 2019 trip
Later this month, Bob and Peg will be returning to Newfoundland to hand out even more candy bars and reconnect with many of the new friends they made there.
You can help them share the love. On Thursday July 6 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., Bob and Peg will be at the Webster Chamber of Commerce office, 1110 Crosspointe Lane (Suite C) for a candy-bar-wrapping-and-signing party. It’s a chance to add your personal thanks to the good people of Newfoundland. It would be great if you could bring some candy bars with you (1.55-ounce Hershey Bars). But even if you don’t, please consider stopping by and joining the signing fun. Bring the kids, too!
Typical Field Day Station with Morse Key Paddle and MicPete Fournia, W2SKY making a contact
The XRX Amateur Radio Club held their annual Field Day last weekend, and from all reports, it was a great success. The event’s chairman, Bob Karz, wrote that the club made more contacts than ever, meaning more points than ever, and they hope to finish in the top 11% of their class, which is a pretty big deal.
If little of what I just said made sense to you, keep reading. Bob sent along this very good description about what this interesting exercise is all about.
Amateur Radio Emergency Services and the XRX Amateur Radio Club held their 38th annual emergency preparedness Field Day June 24 to 25 at Kent Park in Webster. It’s not a field day in the usual sense, but rather an opportunity to try out our radios and hone our skills needed to provide communications to the outside world in the event of a real emergency.
Field Day involves over 30,000 amateur radio operators (or hams) in the US and Canada as well as a few from other parts of the world. This year we made over 1,000 contacts with stations in every state except Alaska, most Canadian provinces, Chile, France, and Puerto Rico all totally “off the grid” using power from generators and batteries with no internet or cell phones.
These days amateur radio is more than dots and dashes, although we did make several contacts using Morse Code. We also made contacts with voice and a computer mode called FT8 which is a little like the internet except over radio. FT8 is becoming increasingly popular for Field Day. This year for the first time we actually made more contacts using FT8 (420) than with any other method.
Field Day is an opportunity to try out new equipment and techniques. It’s also a chance showcase Amateur Radio to the public. We encourage visitors and even give kids (and their parents) a chance to make radio contacts. This year we had more than 30 people drop by including 12 kids who each made a radio contact with help from a radio “coach.”
Field Day is always the 4th full weekend in June. The next Field Day will be June 22 to 23, 2024. We will again be at the lower soccer fields in Kent Park. You are invited to drop by and see for yourself what some of your friends and neighbors are doing to help keep us safe in the event of a natural disaster. More information about the local amateur radio community can be found at www.rochesterham.org.
If you’d like to read more about Field Day, click here to read the blog I wrote about the one I attended in 2021.
Making their first contacts: ElizabethAnnaCalebC J Converse, KB2BMS making her first contactRaising the directional antenna
Webster has said its last, sad goodbyes to Hegedorn’s Market, but at least a small part of our hometown grocery will live on for much longer.
Regular blog readers have been following the story of the colorfully-painted ceiling tiles that for more than 30 years hung above Hegedorn’s check-out area. When the decision was made to close the store, Produce Manager Fred Palmer took it upon himself to make sure the panels were not only saved, but returned to the students who painted them all those years ago.
Thanks in large part to word spreading through social media, more than half of the 32 tiles were claimed, and Fred took photos of the artists with their panels when they came to pick them up (you can see many of those photos above and at the end of the blog). By the store’s closing day, 15 tiles remained unclaimed.
But even they have found homes.
Eight of the final 15 tiles have been donated to the Webster Public Library, where they’re currently on display. Library Director Adam Traub was very excited to adopt some of the tiles, saying,
Hegedorn’s has been a staple of the Webster community for generations; the Webster Public Library would like to thank Hegedorn’s for their contributions to this community by saving a piece of that history to share with generations to come. The tiles will be on display this summer in the main library (between Biographies and Graphic Novels), then hopefully find a permanent home in the ceiling of the children’s room.
This is actually a fitting end for some of the tiles since Adam and his classmate Greg Smalter created one of them.
The remaining seven tiles have been given to the Webster Museum. Museum Director Tom Pellett told me they’re considering installing several of them in the ceiling and/or walls of the toy room alcove.
He wrote, “We feel this is an important part of Webster. Not only because of Hegedorn’s history but also a reminder of the students who created them and Jack Morse, the art teacher who guided the project.”
Thank you to everyone who shared the blog and Facebook posts and helped find homes for these important pieces of Hegedorn’s — and Webster’s — history.
Here are more photos of the artists with their reclaimed ceiling tiles:
Ryan Johnson’s momCarrie (Frank) SwainBrad FrancisAdam BenfanteSantina BeachnerErin Cantaben’s DadWebster Library Director Adam Traub
Afterthoughts is a completely separate blog, where I’m re-posting some of my favorite columns from when I was the Our Towns East Extra columnist for the Democrat and Chronicle.
This particular column was published August 3, 2017. My husband and I happened upon this hot dog cart set up in Pittsford village on one of our occasional bike rides along the canal path. The proprietor was very friendly, he had lots of customers, and he’d been doing business there for years.
It was perfect column fodder, especially since the D&C wanted me to write about Pittsford as often as possible.
Popular hot dog cart makes retirement sweeter for investigator
Pittsford has its fair share of great restaurants, everything from diners to bistros. But every summer weekday, dozens of adults and children swear by one place for lunch in the village: Harladay Hots.
Owned and operated by Charlie Clottin and his wife Bernadette, Harladay Hots is an unassuming hot dog cart at 10 North Main Street, just steps from the village of Pittsford’s four corners. For seven years, it’s been a convenient and tasty lunch option for fresh-grilled hamburgers, white hots, red hots, and sausage or chicken sandwiches.
Charlie first started the business in 2009, immediately after retiring from the City of Rochester Police Department. That job actually gave him idea for the cart.
Click hereto go to Afterthoughts and read the rest of the post.
This is the latest in my on-again, off-again series of Bygone Blogs, in which I’m re-posting some of my favorite blogs from the last 15 years. This one was originally published on June 23, 2009, when I was working in the Webster Thomas High School library.
Our set of Encyclopedia Britannicas played a very important part in my young life. I was reminded of them the other day when I was poking through some old books in the attic, and I came across one with a familiar smell.
Smelly Yellow Books
An unfortunate and always difficult job every librarian must face at least once a year is weeding out-of-date and worn books from the collection. No one ever likes to throw out books, but it’s a necessary evil to keep a collection current and make room for new arrivals.
In our library, one thing nearing the end of its lifespan is our World Book encyclopedia set. I’ll be sad when that has to go, because for me it will mean the end of an era.
I remember fondly the Encyclopedia Britannica set we owned when I was a child. It was yellow, had 18 volumes and dark gold-leaf lettering. It resided, very dignified, in the same bookcase in the dining room of every house we lived in. The pages in those volumes guided me through countless school projects and research assignments. Just knowing they were there gave me confidence; I knew I had the resources at my fingertips to get a good grade.
We even used our Britannica to play the “encyclopedia game.” My mother would tell us which volume she had, then start reading the article (saying “blank,” of course, when an obvious word would have given away the answer.) We raced to tell her what the article was about. We loved that game.
And I can still remember how our Britannica set smelled. Robust, and just a little musty. To me, that aroma signified knowledge.
But no one uses encyclopedias anymore, at least ones printed on paper. High schools and public libraries now subscribe to online databases which tap into a thousand times more information than any encyclopedia set could ever offer. Google and Wikipedia are even easier. I think it’s safe to say our library’s World Book set hasn’t seen the light of day in more than a year.
The death of encyclopedia sets is really the end of an era. It’s like another piece of my youth is disappearing. The internet is awesome, and has opened up the world to us. But I hope there will never be a time when our children don’t know what it feels like to turn a page, or hear the snap of the paper…or know the smell of a book.
I’ve written about this before, but I thought I might revisit this topic again today because it continues to amuse me.
If you’re sitting around the house looking for some cheap entertainment, I recommend you check out your spam folder. Don’t worry, if you don’t actually click on a link, you’re safe. I do this every once in a while when I get bored. I visit my Gmail spam folder and see how many people want to give me money or need help carrying all their money-stuffed suitcases to the United States, or consider me a perfect candidate for a cheap loan. (I don’t get the male enhancement ads very much anymore. Maybe they wised up.)
But it’s the comments I get on my blog that really intrigue me. They’re not only a great mental exercise in decryption, but if I’m having a down day, they really do a nice job making me feel … well, accomplished.
Cases in point (these are copied and pasted without any editing):
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Thanks … I guess. I look forward to seeing you come back eventually in the foreseeable future.
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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