A family reunion of sorts took place Friday evening, when employees of the now-closed Hegedorn’s Market gathered for a good-bye picnic.
The event, held in a lodge at Charles Sexton Park, was organized by former front end manager Jeannie Uhl, with help from Cindy Frank and others to track down as many current and former employees as possible.
When I was there, the party was just getting busy. A few dozen people were already there, with more arriving every minute. They were seated inside and outside the lodge, enjoying a dish-to-pass dinner and visiting with their former colleagues.
They shared laughs, memories both happy and sad, and lots of stories — like how long-time customers would come to the store that final week just to take a stroll through the aisles. And how one more of the painted ceiling tiles had finally been claimed by its original artist.
But mostly they enjoyed one last chance to all be together as a family, like they were when they were working at Webster’s hometown grocery.
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
Holy cow, have I gotten a huge response from the blog I recently wrote about the Hegedorn’s ceiling tiles.
If you’re not familiar with this story (which is hard to believe), the gist of it is this: 32 years ago, students at Klem North Elementary School painted ceiling tiles which have been hanging above the registers at Hegedorn’s Market since around 1991. But rather than toss them in a dumpster when the store closes at the end of this month, the folks at Hegedorn’s are making an effort to return them to the students who painted them.
The blog has received dozens of comments and hundreds of “likes” and has been shared almost 70 times. I’ve heard from former students all over the state and the country who remember painting tiles, and are interested in getting them back — or at least seeing photos of them.
Hegedorn’s Produce Manager Fred Palmer has been taking the lead in removing the panels, and had originally planned to put them all on display above the produce case so customers would notice them and maybe recognize one.
Well, since the blog has received so much attention, putting them on display has not been necessary. Instead, people are being asked to call Hegedorn’s (585-671-4450), and the service desk is keeping a list of everyone who’s interested in retrieving their tile. Fred is planning to start making phone calls sometime this coming week.
In the meantime, all of the panels have been removed and are being kept in the back room of the store’s produce department. Fred was kind enough to let me spread them all out and take photos of them. It might help even more former students recognize their work, and it might be fun just to remember what all their classmates did.
Click here to see the entire gallery of panels, plus a few miscellaneous photos. I think I was able to photograph them all, but I see that I cut the name off of one of them. If you recognize the one with the Pepsi bottle, corn and carrots, please let me know!
P.S. If you happen to get your panel back, please snap a photo of you with it, so I can feature them in a future follow-up blog. And wouldn’t it be fun to also have your 4th or 5th grade photo along with it …????
P.P.S. Channel 10 and Channel 13 are both planning do stories about the ceiling tiles, so I’ll let you know when I hear more about that.
At the end of this month, when Hegedorn’s Market closes for good, Webster will be losing one of its oldest and most valued businesses. Fortunately, however, plans are in the works to preserve some of the most colorful pieces of Hegedorn’s long history.
For more than three decades, 32 hand-painted ceiling panels have decorated the length of the checkout area, entertaining any shopper (who happened to look up) with pictures of flying food items, snacks and beverages.
The panels, each measuring 2 x 4 feet, were created during the 1990/91 school year by teams of fourth and fifth grade students from Klem North Elementary School. Carrie Frank was a fourth grader that year, and her father Matt was Hegedorn’s Maintenance Manager. It was Matt who first approached art teacher Jack Morse about the unusual, grocery-themed art project.
Carrie remembers the assignment well: to take a product with a label and create it “flying in the sky” above the registers. Matt installed the completed tiles in the ceiling, and the art classes took field trips to the store to see them in place.
Carrie remembers, “It was a great experience as children growing up, every week going shopping and seeing our tiles at check out.”
Now, even though Hegedorn’s is closing, Carrie and her classmates are getting a chance to rekindle those memories and take their panels home.
Fred Palmer, Hegedorn’s current produce manager, has taken on the time-consuming task of removing the panels, and the more difficult challenge of tracking down the original artists. Even though the job means climbing up and down a very tall stepladder and dodging paying customers, Fred knows how important it is.
Pointing at one of the three panels he’d already removed, he said, “This is a piece of history. I’d hate to have it thrown into a dumpster and just be lost. It’s a connection to these kids.”
“It’s the sentimental value more than anything,” he added. “It’s priceless.”
The students signed the back of the panels, so Fred is going to make a list, then display all of the panels along the top of the produce case with name cards. That way, any former student who comes into the store can claim their artwork.
Hegedorn’s last day of operation is Sunday June 25, but Fred hopes to have all of the panels removed well before then.
Carrie Frank’s panel was one of the first to be retrieved. She lives out of town now, but will be back in town soon to reclaim her panel, complete with its flying Campbell’s Soup can. And she’s already got plans for it; she’s going to put it in her kids’ tree fort.
Which means that at least one of the Hegedorn’s tiles will fly again, for the next generation of young artists.
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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