District will have 2 security staff on duty during school day

Photo courtesy of Albion Central School: from left include Kevin Parker, Joseph Fuller, Randy Hoke, Shawn O’Mara, Joe Robinson and Jeff Gifaldi.

Press Release, Albion Central School

ALBION – Albion Central School is proud to share that it will be working with COP Security to oversee districtwide safety and security operations for the 2026-27 school year.

The COP Security team is composed of both retired and current law enforcement officers, as well as U.S. military veterans, bringing extensive experience and specialized training to enhance safety at Albion schools.

With the new partnership, campus security presence will increase from one to two security team members on campus during school hours. There are a total of six security team members assigned to the Albion district. They will be present at Back-to-School Night for students and families to meet and address any questions.

“As we head into a new school year, safety is always of highest priority,” said Mickey Edwards, Albion district superintendent. “We look forward to welcoming and working closely with our new security team to maintain a space where students and staff feel protected and at ease, allowing for their focus to remain on learning, leading and growing.”

COP Security, founded in 1998, takes pride in providing comprehensive security solutions, having served private and public area schools throughout the western New York area for 15 years.

“We understand that a secure learning environment for students and staff is paramount and we are committed to ensuring that their well-being is always at the forefront of our efforts,” said Shawn O’Mara, COP Security Director. “We thank Albion Schools for trusting us and look forward to building strong relationships and a welcoming atmosphere within the school community.”

The District previously utilized the Orleans County Sheriff’s Office for their School Resource Officer services, as well as Albion Police Department, and sincerely thanks them for their many years of trusted partnership.

Meet the COP Security team assigned to Albion schools:

• Kevin Parker – a U.S. Navy veteran and retired Orleans Correctional Facility employee, he is involved with several community organizations.
• Joseph Fuller – a retired Albion police officer, Fuller served as K9 handler, and Albion School Resource Officer for five years, and retired with the rank of sergeant. He holds several law enforcement certifications.
• Randy Hoke – a retired Monroe County Sheriff’s Deputy, he served as community relations deputy, criminal investigator and retired with the rank of sergeant. Hoke holds several law enforcement certifications and is threat assessment certified.
• Shawn O’Mara – He has more than 30 years of law enforcement experience. O’Mara is a retired Gates Police Officer and has served as Director of Security for Holley and Wheatland School Districts as well as Trinity Private Schools. He is a federal instructor for active shooter training and holds several law enforcement certifications.
• Joe Robinson – a retired Greece Police Officer, he served in the supervisor role as first line sergeant. He currently serves as a part-time officer with the Avon Police Department. He holds several certifications under the NYS Department of Justice.
• Jeff Gifaldi – a retired Orleans County Sheriff’s Deputy, he served 25 years, holding titles of undersheriff and criminal investigator. He holds several law enforcement certifications.

Community leaders from 1800s featured on annual tour

Photos by Tom Rivers

ALBION – Sue Starkweather Miller, the village of Albion historian,  speaks on Sunday at the grave of Anthony Tripp Sr., a Revolutionary War soldier who enlisted three times. He first served in Rhode Island in 1777 at age 15 as a drummer for three weeks. In 1779, he served in New York for two months and then for three more months in 1780.

He settled in Albion in 1811. Tripp died in 1846 at age 84.

The fence at Mount Albion was purchased by his wife Polly who had saved her widow’s pension funds.

He was one of four Revolutionary War soldiers highlighted on Sunday’s tour of Mount Albion Cemetery. This was the fifth and final of the local cemetery tours organized by the Orleans County Historical Association. There have been annual cemetery tours at Mount Albion since 1994.

Mount Albion was the first site from Orleans County to be listed on the National Register of Historic Places on Sept. 27, 1976. The 50^th anniversary of that designation is less than a month away.

About 100 people attended the tour which started at the chapel, a building from 1875 which just got a new slate roof to replace the original. The project was funded by donations from the community.

People were able to check the inside of the chapel, which will see major interior restorations beginning this winter.

The drop ceiling was recently removed to reveal a plaster and lathe vaulted ceiling.

The complete chapel restoration is a $225,000 project for the roof, exterior and interior work. Once it’s complete, Starkweather Miller said the chapel could be used for funerals, historical talks and other events.

People walk through the chapel including the area in the back where up to 16 caskets could be stored during the winter.

Upcoming work inside includes replastering of the north wall; electrical upgrades (wiring, outlets, internal and external lighting); heating unit for seasonal use; removal of old floor, repair subfloor and put in a new floor; and refurbish exterior doors and window trim.

Bill Lattin, retired county historian, co-led the tour with Starkweather Miller. He is holding a head board for Joseph White, a Civil War soldier buried at Greenwood Cemetery in Kendall. Lattin acquired the head board in the 1960s. It was in a janitor’s closet at the county courthouse.

Head boards temporarily were used until a headstone could be made and set.

Starkweather Miller shares about Howland Kimball, who entered the militia as private in Rhode Island and served for about six months. He lived to be about 95, dying in 1854. He was married to Hannah and had eight children.

William Butts, another Revolutionary War soldier, lived to be 85, dying in1841. He was originally from Rhode Island, and was a private, corporal and sergeant in Massachusetts. He served in 1775 to 1777, then again in 1779 and 1782. He and his family moved to Albion in 1835. He and his wife Rachel were married for 62 years.

The tour also featured Daniel Thurston, a Revolutionary War soldier who served in the New York militia. He died in 1829 at age 92. He was a farmer and a deacon in the Presbyterian Church for over 50 years.

Bill Lattin speaks by the grave of the Honorable Sanford E. Church, who served as lieutenant governor of New York, state comptroller and chief judge of the New York Court of Appeals. He died on May 14, 1880. His grave includes an elaborate marble canopy supported by red granite pillars.

The hitching post at far left is positioned in a stomping pad for horses. The pad helped to protect the dirt from the horses, Lattin said.

The tour included a stop at the grave for Michael Hanly, the first superintendent of Mount Albion Cemetery from 1862 to 1894. He lived from Sept. 4, 1821 to Sept. 11, 1907. He is buried next to wife Catherine.

Before there was a superintendent, people had to take care of their own plots, and not everyone kept them up, Starkweather Miller said.

The community has been very fortunate to have cemetery superintendents and employees so committed to the upkeep of the cemetery, she said.

“From the very first superintendent until now, I’ve seen nothing but dedication and care for this cemetery,” Starkweather Miller said.

Mount Albion opened in 1843. It was initially 25 acres that were purchased at $40 an acre or $1,000 total.

Daniel Cady, a lawyer and father of famed women’s rights activist Elizabeth Cady Stanton, gave the dedicatory address on Sept. 7, 1843 from this park in the cemetery.

The speech began:

“We have met to provide a mansion for the dead! We have come out of our quiet homes and the bright sun light and the crowded streets, and all the garish show of life to this secluded spot, to set apart a last final resting place where the weary pilgrim – the wandered through life’s thorny maze, may come and lay down his burdened form – where families may gather together the forms of those, their loved and lost ones – and whose sire and son, blooming youth and any age, the beautiful and the gifted, may sleep in undisturbed repose till the morning of the Resurrection.”

The tour highlighted Ebenezer Rogers, a shoemaker and tanner who later became a farmer. His brick home on South Main Street, just north of Allen Road, is the oldest house in Albion.

Building began in 1816 and was completed in 1820 for Rogers, who helped start the Barre Center Presbyterian Church as well as the First Presbyterian Church in Albion. The Presbyterian Church in Albion had 16 members when  the society formed in 1826 and grew to 420 by 1853.

Starkweather Miller also highlighted Joseph Hart. She has lived in his house for more than 50 years on South Main Street.

That house  was constructed between 1820-23 in the federal style. It was built to replace a log cabin which Joseph Hart erected in 1811/12 as an early settler. In 1921, the home was moved to its current location at 323 South Main St.

Joseph’s Hart son, Elizur, was a banker and congressman. He left $50,0000 for the First Presbyterian Church of Albion, plus another $5,000 for its Sunday school.

He helped has the money to erect the Soldiers and Sailors Monument, a Civil War memorial for the nearly 500 soldiers from the cunty killed in the war. It was dedicated on the 100^th anniversary of the USA –  July 4, 1876.

Bill Lattin highlights the monument for John Proctor, a key leader among the pioneers. He helped settle the hamlet of Childs in Gaines. Proctor first came to this area in 1810 at the age of 23 after purchasing several large parcels of land from the Holland Land Office.

He built a cabin in what is now Childs and lived modestly for his first few years in the area, surviving on a few acres of corn, wheat, and potatoes.

Perhaps John Proctor’s most famous accomplishment is his role as the “Paul Revere of Ridge Road.” In December of 1813, Proctor’s nearest neighbor woke him in the middle of the night to bring word that the British were invading from Canada and had already burned the village of Lewiston.

Proctor owned the only horse in the area, and so he rode 15 miles from Childs to Clarkson to warn other settlers that the British were coming.

Proctor had a vision for the hamlet and began to sell and rent his land to settlers, businesses, and churches that were starting to spring up in and around what is now Childs. In 1834 he paid for the construction of a cobblestone church for the Universalist Society of Gaines, and later sold a house of worship to the Free Congregationalist Church, an abolitionist congregation. Proctor was such a notable figure that before he named the hamlet Fair Haven, it was colloquially referred to as “Proctor’s Corners.”

Although he was an outstanding member of the community, Proctor’s personal life was marked by tragedy. John was married four times and had to bury three of his wives, and while he had six children, only two of them survived to adulthood.

The Proctor family obelisk memorialize Proctor’s wives and children, several of whom died in a typhoid breakout in 1828.

An Albion girl changed the face of the American presidency. Grace Bedell wrote the letter to Abraham Lincoln urging him to grow a beard to improve his chances for getting electing as president.

Her parents, Norman and Amanda, are buried at Mount Albion.

Grace Bedell grew up in Albion, but briefly lived in Westfield. She mailed the letter to Lincoln, recommending he grow whiskers, when she lived in Westfield.

Grace Bedell’s father Norman attended a country fair in the fall of 1860 and brought home a campaign poster featuring Abraham Lincoln and his vice presidential running mate Hannibal Hamlin. Grace, 11, didn’t see how Lincoln could win, not with that face. He was too homely looking. But Bedell, who lived in a pro-abolitionist home, had an idea that would make Lincoln more appealing to the masses: Grow a beard. On Oct. 15, 1860, she mailed a letter to Lincoln.

The Bedell family had lived in Albion for 40 years before they moved to Westfield in 1859. They stayed two years before returning to Albion.

Photo courtesy of Isabella Zasa: Marti’s on Main is located in the former Cornell Cooperative Extension offices at 20 South Main St. in Albion.

Press Release, Marti’s on Main

ALBION – Marti’s on Main Art Studio in Albion will host its first annual Art Auction on Saturday, September 26, featuring original artwork donated by 35 artists.

The auction will provide art lovers and collectors with an opportunity to view and bid on a variety of original works while supporting the nonprofit art gallery and its ongoing programming in the community.

“I’m incredibly grateful to the 35 artists who donated their work and made this first annual Art Auction possible,” said Kim Martillotta-Muscarella, owner and curator of Marti’s on Main. “We’re excited to showcase their artwork and create an evening that celebrates the arts while helping support the future of Marti’s on Main.”

Artwork will be available for preview beginning at 5:30 p.m., with the live auction scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m. Todd Jantzi, owner of Bontrager Real Estate & Auction Service in Batavia, will serve as auctioneer.

RSVPs are required by September 17, and space is limited. To RSVP, call or text 585-590-9211 or complete the online registration form by clicking here. Businesses and organizations interested in sponsoring the event may email martisonmain@gmail.com for more information.

About Marti’s on Main

Marti’s on Main is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit classified under Section 509(a)(2) of the Internal Revenue Code. The studio provides a space for artists to showcase their work and for people to experience and participate in the arts through exhibitions, workshops and events. Marti’s on Main relies on donations and membership fees to support its operations and continue its mission of supporting artists and making the arts accessible.

Photo by Tom Rivers: Marti’s on Main celebrated its grand opening on July 24, 2021 at the former Cornell Cooperative Extension building at 20 South Main St. About 125 people attended the three-hour open house. Marti’s hosts several art shows and classes each year. The building has been turned into art showcase by Kim and Neal Muscarella.

Photos courtesy of Tim Archer

ALBION – Some Albion eighth-grade students worked on community service projects over the summer.

In the photo at left, Elizabeth Colmenero (right) and Giuliana Liuzzi painted portions of the Town of Albion sign along Clarendon Road.

In the photo at right, Gavin O’Brocta (right) and Kyler Bennett painted the poles for historic markers, including the one by the Orleans County Courthouse.

Cooper Traxler giving hair in memory of friend, Byron Neal

Photos courtesy of Jamie Traxler

BROCKPORT – Cooper Traxler, 12, of Albion is shown on Friday before he got his hair cut at Next Level Barbershop in Brockport.

Cooper had 16 inches taken off with his first haircut in five years. He is donating the hair to Wigs for Kids in memory of Byron Neal, who passed away from cancer at age 8 on April 14, 2023. Byron and his family sat in front of Cooper for church services at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Albion.

Cooper got a major overhaul with the haircut by Jeremy Burris at Next Level Barbershop. Many of Cooper’s friends and football coaches recommended Jeremy for the haircut.

Cooper said he was excited for the change with a new school year starting next week. He will be going into seventh grade.

Cooper’s hair will be given to Wig for Kids out of Ohio. He will be raising $500 to go with his hair which will start the wig production, said his mother, Jamie Traxler.

Many kids with cancer lose their hair while enduring chemo treatments.

“He wanted them to have his hair to make them feel more like themselves until their hair grew back,” Jamie Traxler said. “So that they could focus on feeling better and getting better while not worrying about people staring because of losing their hair and how that made them look.”

Anyone interested in donating towards the new wig can send the money by Venmo to @JamieTraxler82.

Photos courtesy of Albion Central School: New Albion teachers stopped by Panek farms on Thursday.

ALBION – The group of new Albion teachers toured sites in the community on Thursday as part of their orientation.

Tim Archer, a retired teacher who led many community services projects with students, led the new teachers on a three-hour tour of the Albion community.

They visited Doug Farley, Bill Lattin and Collin Capurso at the Cobblestone Museum and its one-room schoolhouse, Kathy Harling (associate court attorney) at the Orleans County Courthouse, the Rev. Sue Thaine at the First Presbyterian Church, Harriet Greaser in her home (former Presbyterian Church manse), the Mt. Albion Cemetery Soldiers and Sailors Monument (Civil War memorial), and Jim and Kerry Panek at Panek Farms. New school board member Kaitlyn Panek was on hand to welcome the teachers.

Doug Farley, director of the Cobblestone Museum, shows the teachers a one-room schoolhouse that was built in 1849 and served the school district until 1952.

The teachers are shown inside the County Courthouse, a building constructed in 1858 that remains as the county’s main courts facility.

Provided photos

ALBION – SUNY Brockport students were at Bullard park today sanding the pavilion and digging out weeds in the playground. They also raked up mulch and filled in sports around the park.

There were about 1,000 Brockport students working on projects around the Rochester region today for the university’s annual Saturday of Service.

 Brockport wants to see students build community connections and a strong civic responsibility.

These students are pictured with John Grillo, Albion recreation director for the past 50 years.

Some Brockport students also worked on projects at the First Presbyterian Church of Albion. They helped with some painting and weeding around the church.

Students are shown in the sanctuary of the historic Albion church.

Aric Albright to take over in expanded role as superintendent of streets

File photo by Tom Rivers: Jay Pahura, Albion’s Department of Public Works superintendent, checks on the spray park at Bullard Park in June 2020. Pahura and the DPW did a lot of work on the upgrades at Bullard, in addition to their work maintaining and plowing streets, fixing water leaks, setting up and tearing down for events, and other projects in the village.

ALBION – The village’s superintendent of the Department of Public Works will be retiring on Friday. Jay Pahura has worked for the DPW the past 36 years.

Pahura has been a master problem-solver for the village, keeping the streets maintained, fixing waterlines and other aging infrastructure, village officials said in commending Pahura on Wednesday during his final Village Board as DPW superintendent.

“Over the years, you have helped keep this community moving—often behind the scenes, often without recognition, and always with a commitment to getting the job done right,” Mayor Tim McMurray said in praising Pahura on Wednesday. “From responding to major infrastructure repairs and unexpected emergencies, to preparing for public events and handling all the details that others may have forgotten to ask about, you have been someone the village could count on.”

Pahura brought a deep knowledge of the village and its infrastructure and strong work ethic to the job.

“Your work has made a real difference in the day-to-day lives of our residents,” McMurray said. “The roads, water, facilities, events, and services that people rely on do not happen by accident. They happen because of dedicated public servants like you who take pride in their work and understand that the smallest details often matter the most.”

The Village Board on Wednesday appointed Aric Albright, the chief operator of the village sewer plant (Pollution Control Facility), to an expanded role as superintendent of streets.

Albright will oversee the DPW, sewer plant, water plant and Mount Albion Cemetery. He will take on the added duties without a pay raise at his request, McMurray said.

Jason Zicari, the long-time superintendent at Mount Albion, also is retiring. Scott Bradshaw will serve as the working foreman at the cemetery.

Levi Boyer, chief operator at the water plant, will continue in that role.

McMurray said there will be cost-savings for the village with Albright in the new expanded role, and the mayor said it also makes more sense with the new position supervising all four departments.

“The village will be better off having one manager over everything,” McMurray said.

Albright and the village staff at the sewer plant as will continue to manage the sewer plants for Holley, Elba and Bergen.

The board on Wednesday voted to hire a part-time clerk to help with the paperwork and reports required at the sewer plants, and also Mount Albion. Callie Allport was hired for the job at $19 an hour.

Photos by Tom Rivers

ALBION – Rich Nolan, lead singer for the Highway 31 band, belts out a song during Wednesday’s concert at Bullard Park.

The band was scheduled for Aug. 12, but a thunderstorm postponed the concert to Wednesday.

The band is shown performing a medley of “Jack & Diane” by John Mellencamp and “Glory Days” by Bruce Springsteen.

The band members include Rich Nolan of Gasport as lead singer, and the guitar trio of Aaron Clark of Holley, Clinton LaPorte of Le Roy, and Clinton’s dad Tim LaPorte Sr. of Batavia. Timmy LaPorte of Elba, Tim’s son and Clinton’s brother, is the drummer for the band.

There was a large crowd for the concert, including this group of dancers. Organizers said about 1,000 turned out for the event.

Food vendors were available throughout the concert series which started on June 10.

This group sat a little farther away from the amphitheater.

The concert series was funded with state arts money administered by the Genesee-Orleans Regional Arts Council.

Village last adopted plan 13 years ago; needs to address changes in community

Photos by Tom Rivers: Albion Mayor Tim McMurray speaks during a meeting last week about an updated comprehensive plan for the Village of Albion. The plan was last updated in 2013 in a joint project with the town of Albion. The new plan will be specific to the village. McMurray said a comprehensive plan should be updated every five years.

ALBION – The Village of Albion is working to update a comprehensive plan that will guide land use and help set policies for addressing needs in the community for housing, economic development, recreation, public safety, infrastructure and historic preservation.

The village last adopted a comprehensive plan in 2013 in a joint effort with the town of Albion. The new plan will be focused on the village and overdue in addressing changes in the community, Mayor Tim McMurray said.

He welcomed about 30 people last week to an informational meeting on the initiative to update the plan. He wants to hear from more residents and Albion stakeholders on how the village should be planning for its future.

Albion has changed since the 2013 plan.  The population is down 6.9 percent from 2010 census to 5,637 in 2020. The largest private employer was at the former call center on east Avenue used by Chase and CRFS. That site is now vacant.

The Erie Canalway Trail that passes through Albion is now part of the Empire State Trail, creating strong opportunities for tourism and the downtown.

There have also been changes with bridges closures/reconstruction, emergency service restructuring (Albion Fire Department now in Albion Joint Fire District and COVA Ambulance closed with area served by Mercy Flight EMS). There is a renewed discussion of village dissolution.

There are also new state policies and funding programs to address broadband, climate resilience, wetlands, housing and historic preservation.

Albion is working with G&G Municipal Consulting and Grant Writing on the updated plan. G&G shared the following data about the village:

• Median household income is at $41,581 in village compared to $65,969 countywide
• Renters are severely cost-burdened with 37.4 percent paying at least 50 percent of income on rent
• 312 housing units are considered distressed, abandoned or off market.
• 40.7 percent of housing is built in 1939 or older
• 16.0 percent of workers are doing their jobs from home

Village officials want to hear ideas on developing a clear identity for Albion, McMurray said. Albion has several authentic stories to build on, but what story best reflects the community as a whole, he asked the group gathered at Hoag Library.

He said some possible themes or brands include Christmas Town, a sports and youth-focused community, a creative and artistic community, a historic Erie Canal community with landmark architecture, and “a community of caring and connection” where neighbors look out for one another. Or perhaps, McMurray said, Albion should look at a different brand entirely.

“What is our 5, 10, 15 and 20-year plan, rather than going day by day,” he asked the group.

Jay Grasso, owner of G&G Municipal Consulting and Grant Writing, is working with the village on the updated comprehensive plan. Not only will the plan help guide future development and land use in the village, Grasso said an updated plan is imperative for Albion to secure larger grants for housing, economic development and other community needs.

Some of the categories and ideas identified so far include:

Downtown and economic development

• Continue building renovation and downtown revitalization, and connect heritage tourism to the Empire State Trail.
• Diversify the economy away from a dependence on any single large employer and create an “Underutilized Sites Redevelopment Program” with the initial focus on the vacation former CRFS and Chase building.

Housing and Neighborhoods

• Make housing affordability and cost burden an explicit priority
• Create a village-specific housing needs assessment to better target programs
• Establish a vacant property registry and annual inspection program
• Pursue CDBG housing rehabilitation and demolition/clearance funding
• Allow carefully regulated ADUs (accessory dwelling units) to expand smaller-unit housing options

Transportation & Infrastructure

• Continue phased improvements to sewer plant, water plant and distribution system
• Develop a coordinated street and stormwater capital improvement plan
• Continue sidewalk repair and complete a current sidewalk condition survey
• Add a “complete streets” focus for pedestrians and bicyclists
• Study circulation and emergency-response impacts from the permanent Clarendon Street and Brown Street crossing closures
• Treat broadband as essential infrastructure; coordinate mapping/expansion and consider a “dig-once” policy

Government, Parks & Community Service

• Institutional future: acknowledge village dissolution/consolidation question while writing comprehensive plan and make recommendations that are useful under either outcome
• Shared Services: Build on existing intermunicipal cooperation. Monitor Mercy Flight EMS arrangement and joint fire district, and evaluate additional service-sharing opportunities.
• Community Assets: Continue park maintenance, seek funding for Bullard Park improvements, and address Village Hall records-storage conditions

Historic & Natural Resources  

• Albion is a certified local government and the village should leverage that designation to pursue grants. Albion should also connect historic sites to the Canal/Empire State Trail, and promote historic tax credits and NY Main Street funding
• The village should consider pursing the Climate Smart Communities registration, and should pursue a village street-tree program

Public Safety

• Continue safe neighborhoods, downtown, parks and public spaces through strong local police services, including coordinating police, code enforcement and housing initiatives to address vacant, distressed and problem properties.

Some needed updates for land use and zoning:

• Modernize the Canal Overlay for completed Empire State Trail; finish updates for signage, awnings, outdoor dining, and planned unit development
• Village should consider accessory dwelling units (ADUs), re-evaluate earlier R2 to R1 rezoning recommendations, energy efficiency and equity considerations to site planning.

McMurray, the village mayor, welcomed residents to be part of subcommittees working on different parts of the comprehensive plan.

“If you want things to change get involved,” he said.

Jerome Pawlak, a resident, attended the meeting and urged the village leaders to collaborate more with the towns of Albion and Gaines, as well as officials with the county and the local agencies.

County Legislator John Fitzak said the grants shouldn’t be viewed as “free money” because municipalities and businesses often need to provide some of their own money and may have to front the costs before getting reimbursed the grant amount.

“We still have to do most of the work ourselves,” Fitzak said about funding projects. “The grant is the cherry on top.”

Scott Burto, grants manager for G&G Municipal Consulting and Grant Writing, speaks during last Wednesday’s meeting about the comprehensive plan. Burto previously served 23 years as mayor of West Carthage in Jefferson County in northern New York. Burto said it is a very competitive environment with many municipalities seeking grant funding.

Photos by Tom Rivers

ALBION – Anita McCarthy places tickets in baskets up for raffle this afternoon at the Lockstone in a fundraiser for a new Santa School Museum.

There were just over 100 baskets in the raffle. The Albion Betterment Committee put on the benefit to help raise money for a new roof for the museum at 128 North Main St. Organizers say just over $4,000 was raised at the benefit today.

The group has secured a $10,000 grant from the Rochester Area Community Foundation, but the cost is expected to top $70,000 for the roof.

The Betterment Committee will be seeking a grant from Preserve New York for the roof and a grant from the Ralph C. Wilson for arts space and programming on the second floor.

People gather inside the Lockstone for today’s fundraiser.

The Betterment Committee purchased the building at 128 North Main last November from the estate of Henri Pulley. The site is 6,600 square feet. The Betterment Committee said the roof needs to be replaced before a museum opens.

The winning numbers for the basket raffle are called off. From left include Gail Ebbs, Lori Laine and Maureen Bennett. Laine helped secure many of the baskets for the raffle.

She said the museum on Main Street will be a boost for the community and the downtown business district.

“I believe in Albion and Albion needs to be branded,” Laine said. “What is a better brand than Santa Claus?”

The museum will pay homage to the late Charles W. Howard, who created the first Santa School in the world. He ran it on Phipps Road in Albion from 1937 until his death in 1966.

The group wants to develop an interactive tourism center with displays about the Charles W. Howard Santa School and Christmas Park, which Howard ran for many years near his farmhouse on Phipps Road.

Laine said many people still have strong memories of visiting Christmas Park as kids and meeting Santa.

“They hold that place as very special in their hearts,” Laine said.

Nolan Blake, grandson of Betterment Committee member Valerie Rush, served as an elf and took gift baskets to the winners. Rush has long portrayed Mrs. Claus during community events.

Betterment Committee leaders Joe Martilotta, Joe Gehl and Gary Kent have worked for years to promote Charles Howard’s legacy in Albion. Gehl, center, pulled the winning 50/50 ticket. Peter Turkow, the winner, donated the money back to the Betterment Committee.

Gary Simboli played Christmas music from his keyboard during the benefit.

Jesse Colmenero took photos of people and families in a holiday backdrop.

These Santa-themed rocks were painted during the event.

Provided photo from Susan Starkweather Miller

ALBION – The new slate roof is shown on Mount Albion Chapel on Friday. Easton Specialties Inc. in Honeoye Falls put the new Vermont slate on the roof for the chapel, and it was done in a way that the pattern and colors match the original slate from 1875.

The new roof is part of an overall $225,000 restoration of the building.

Local mason Neal Muscarella last year repaired and repointed the chapel’s entire exterior.  The most extensive damage was in the northwest section.

Easton also has rebuilt the northwest corner’s rafters and repaired the roof deck in spots where it has failed over the years. The company installed an ice and water shield, a copper drip edge and flashings.

Mount Albion will host a tour of the cemetery at 6 p.m. on Aug. 30, with the tour led by retired Orleans County Historian Bill Lattin and current Village of Albion Historian Sue Starkweather Miller. There is tour this evening beginning at 6 p.m. at the Otter Creek Cemetery with Town of Gaines Adrienne Kirby (13252 Ridge Road, Gaines).

There will be other substantial work to follow at the chapel including interior replastering of the north wall; electrical upgrades (wiring, outlets, internal and external lighting); heating unit for seasonal use; removal of old floor, repair subfloor and put in a new floor; and refurbish exterior doors and window trim.

The $225,000 for the chapel restoration was funded by donations from the community.

File photo by Tom Rivers: The chapel at Mount Albion Cemetery is shown in September 2024 before getting new mortar and a new roof.

Photos by Tom Rivers

ALBION – The Marti’s on Main art gallery in Albion held a reception on Friday for a new art show featuring Jan Kisiel, Jenna Papponetti, Paul Facklam and Sharon Stewart. The top photo shows Harriet Symons, 10, taking a photo of paintings by her grandmother, Sharon Stewart of Albion.

Sharon Stewart is shown with some of her acrylic landscape paintings. Some of them are from trips she went on to Italy and Greece.

Stewart is a retired math professor from a community college in Kentucky. She and her husband Brian moved to Albion to be close to their daughters and their families, including six grandchildren.

Stewart, 79, was an art minor at Houghton College. She has 21 paintings featured in the new show at Marti’s, which is located at 20 South Main St.

Jenna Papponetti, 26, of Albion has seven charcoal landscape drawings on display featuring the Erie Canal. Papponetti also has written and illustrated three books. For more information on her books and artwork, click here.

Paul Facklam is recently retired as an art teacher at Roy-Hart, working in the elementary, middle and high schools. Before his 27-year teaching career, Facklam worked 20 years as an illustrator.

He has paintings with marshmallows, which he said represent “that soft, sensitive part out us.”

The paintings by Facklam shows marshmallows with fishing lures, billiard balls, and a hammer and nails.

“The hammer and nails represent the difficult or painful things that happen to us,” he said. “The fishing lures symbolize the things that we can be drawn to that are not particularly healthy for us.”

Jan Kisiel, a retired event planner who lives in Holley, has 12 pieces in the art show. She uses egg tempera painting, mixing dry pigment, egg yolk and some water.

The top painting shows a lamb sticking out its tongue. It was inspired from the ‘Good Shepherd” stained-glass window at the Canalside Community Church in Albion, a former United Methodist church. That window shows Jesus as a shepherd with lambs. In the window, one of the lambs is sticking out its tongue.

Kisiel said being an artist and an event planner are similar in that both need a strong attention to details.

For information on Marti’s, click here or call 585-590-9211.

Photos courtesy of Marlene Seielstad

ALBION – The Albion Rotary Club on Thursday presented a ceremonial check for $5,000 to the Office for the Aging in Orleans County. Rotary held its annual golf tournament last month at Shelridge Country Club in Medina and most of the proceeds will go towards the OFA’s volunteer transportation program, which provides rides for local senior citizens to medical appointments and essential errands.

Pictured from left include tournament committee leader Cindy Perry-Follman, OFA director Melissa Blanar, OFA employee and golf tournament committee member Becky Karls, and OFA employees Jackie Taylor and Kathleen Bates.

For information about senior rides and volunteer driving, contact the Office for the Aging at (585) 589-3191

Kathleen Bates also was honored and welcomed as a “Friend of Rotary.” Bates has volunteered at many Rotary community events, including the golf tournament, dinners and by selling light-up toys at Albion’s July 3^rd celebration at Bullard Park.

She was presented with the honor by Becky Karls and Rotary President Mike Bonnewell, left.

The Rotary Club meets the first and third Thursdays at Tavern on the Ridge with the first meeting at noon and the second meeting at dinner time.

Photos by Ginny Kropf: The Genesee Orleans Ministry of Concern’s executive director Jami Allport is all smiles in her new bright office in what used to be the maternity ward on the second floor of the former Arnold Gregory Memorial Hospital.

 ALBION –  After spending 15 years in the downtown on Main Street, the Genesee Orleans Ministry of Concern has moved into what they hope will be their “forever” office.

According to executive director Jami Allport, the move on Aug. 5 was a smooth one. Their new office gives them 2,200 square feet  (compared to 900 at their previous location in the Presbyterian Church), and allows for three bathrooms, a client interview room, four office spaces, kitchen and a designated break room.

The Genesee Orleans Ministry of Concern had its beginning 70 years ago as the Migrant Ministry Program, started by Medina teacher, the late Arden McAllister. He was joined by Sister Marian Adrian who was visiting Orleans County from Buffalo and saw many children without shoes and socks. Sister Marian would become a key player and in 1968, the Migrant Ministry program became Genesee Orleans Ministry of Concern, with an office in Batavia. That site was closed 10 years ago as a cost-saving measure.

When Sister Marian died in 2020, she left a considerable sum of money to assure the agency would continue to help those in need. It became known as “The Agency of Last Resort,” helping the neediest of the needy.

When the Village of Albion raised the rent for GOMOC’s office downtown, the agency relocated for three years to the basement of the Presbyterian Church at Main and State Street. GOMOC was running out of space when agency leaders learned of the availability of the former maternity wing at the former Arnold Gregory Memorial Hospital, now an office complex.

“Our new space is not only bright and big, but welcoming, too,” Allport said. “It is appropriate in that this was a place which welcomed new life, and now it provides a new beginning for us.”

Not only does the new space have a corner office with two windows, but there are individual offices for an office manager, furniture coordinator, youth coordinator, a newly added homeless coordinator and a summer intern.

“This location makes us feel more professional,” Allport said.

(Left) Jami Allport, director of the Ministry of Concern, looks down the spacious hallway in their new quarters in the Arnold Gregory Complex. (Right) The new home of GOMOC allows space for a client interview room, as pointed out by executive director Jami Allport.

The Ministry of Concern is currently helping 1,000 families a year, and seeing an increase annually. During a recent week, they saw 17 youth in 15 minutes who signed up for the Back to School Program (clothing).

Allport said there was a time when the agency was in a slump, but survived because of the generosity of Sister Marian.

“I’ve been told I have a lot of the qualities Sister Marian did,” Allport said. “She was extremely aware and knowledgeable about finances. She was cautious, but still fulfilled the mission. She was definitely a rock.  She created a very solid foundation for us to build on.”

The world in which GOMOC started doesn’t exist anymore, Allport said.

The agency has seen an influx people getting out of prison with no place to live and many working homeless, she said.

“Going forward we have to look for funding to meet the needs of our community now,” she said. “Many of our old problems still remain, but many are definitely different now.”

GOMOC relies on individual and corporate donations, but Allport also seeks grants to meet their needs. She has written 38 grants this year, and only a few have been funded.

“While I apply for a lot of grants, every single donation we get makes a difference,” she said.

She added that everyone is welcome and no one who comes in for help is judged.

“We are here to help,” she said.

GOMOC welcomes financial donations and donations of small furniture, such as beds, dressers, tables and chairs.

The Ministry of Concern is open Monday through Friday at 9 a.m. and see the last client at 3:30 p.m.