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Cobblestone Museum to showcase artisan trades during open house on Oct. 17
File photos by Tom Rivers: George Borrelli, a blacksmith, shapes steal during a blacksmith demonstration on Sept. 6, 2025 at the Cobblestone Museum as part of the annual open house when all 10 buildings were open with docents and artisans. Matt Holland also demonstrated the art of blacksmithing. There were about 200 at the Cobblestone Museum campus for the event.
CHILDS – The Cobblestone Museum will open its campus to the public for free tours on Oct. 17
Although admission is free, donations are always appreciated. Wristbands will be provided so guests may roam the campus freely and enter locations of their choice.
This is an opportunity for everyone to visit the Cobblestone Museum’s 10 buildings from, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., and view a variety of artisans at work, according to Sue Bonafini, assistant director of the Cobblestone Society and Museum.
Docents and visiting artisans – some dressed in period clothing – will be inside the historic buildings to share history and provide demonstrations. To date, artisans who have confirmed their attendance will demonstrate crafts, blacksmithing, butter making, chair caning, lacemaking, printing at the Gordon Press and saddle making. A program with the day’s schedule will be available for visitors to note when and where demonstrations will take place.
Durinf last year’s open house David Damico of LeRoy, left, led demonstrations inside the print shop, which was built in 1875. It used to be in Medina, but was moved to the museum grounds on Route 98 in Gaines in the late 1977. The shop at the Cobblestone Museum has two printing presses from the late 1800s, and several cases of type.
Representatives of the Sons and Daughters of Union Veterans of the Civil War will be present in uniforms and 1800s attire to display some related items and recruiting literature.
Museum exhibits include former director C.W. “Bill” Lattin’s outstanding and still growing collection of Victorian Mourning Art and Sundries, inside the George W. Zeis Upper Gallery, located at the brick house. Rogers Groups art sculptures, plus 1800s-era paintings and antique coverlets created by local artists and weavers will be exhibited at the Visitors Center. Paintings by local artist Tom Zangerle, including some available for purchase, will also be on display there.
Kids can take a selfie at the Cobble the Mouse Selfie Station, or play some old-fashioned games at the schoolhouse.
Provided photos: Harold Clark of Rochester works at chair caning at a previous Cobblestone open house.
Shoppers can browse merchandise for sale at the Gift Shop, Used Book Sale or jampacked Christmas-themed Holiday Gift Shop. Low incentive pricing at the Used Books Building and Holiday Shoppe keep inventory moving, Bonafini said. Community donations of brand new or gently used Christmas items for the Holiday Shoppe are gladly accepted year-round.
Between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m., a food tent will serve Italian sausage hoagie plates for $10 pre-sale or $12 the day of the event. Plates include peppers and onions, assorted condiments, pickle spears and potato chips. Brownies will be sold separately.
For more information or to order pre-sale meal tickets, visit the Museum’s website at Cobblestonemuseum.org or call (585) 589-9013.
Members of the Genesee Country Lace Guild work on their projects at the Cobblestone Museum. They will return for this year’s open house on Oct. 17.
GO Art! announces reception on Oct. 15 in Batavia for 4 new exhibitions
Images courtesy of GO Art!
Press Release, Genesee-Orleans Regional Arts Council
BATAVIA – As autumn settles across Western New York, the Genesee-Orleans Regional Arts Council (GO Art!) invites the community to gather in warmth, reflection, and creative inspiration at the opening reception of four new exhibitions on Thursday, October 15, from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Admission is free.
The exhibitions—each distinct in medium, message, and artistic voice—offer visitors an experience that blends nostalgia, beauty, and meaningful social awareness.
The reception will be held at GO ART!’s historic Seymour Place gallery at 201 E. Main Street, Batavia, with all exhibitions on view through November 28.
Linda Fix: The Bucket List
This vibrant, multimedia exhibition chronicles artist Linda Fix’s recent journeys to Alaska and Italy—two destinations she long dreamed of exploring. Her collection spans alcohol ink, watercolor, mixed media, photography, embroidery, and textile art, each piece created on a different substrate and shaped by a different technique.
A retired registered nurse, Fix describes the exhibition as a celebration of curiosity and lifelong learning. “From the glacial blues of Alaska to the sun-washed textures of Italy, these pieces reflect my life with intention: to experience, to learn, and to create. This show is about saying yes. YES to Alaska, YES to Italy. YES to new material, a new stitch, and a new way to make something beautiful.”
The Bucket List is both a travelogue and a testament to embracing creativity at every stage of life.
Beth Newton: Stories Told in Shape and Color
Medina-based printmaker and painter Beth Newton presents a striking exhibition centered on woodcut relief printmaking—an ancient, process-driven art form that merges engineering precision with expressive storytelling.
“Each multi-color print requires carving a separate wood block for each color and meticulously aligning each block during printing,” Newton explains. “I approach each new project as a story, planning the entire image in support of that story using color, shape, composition, and scale.” This inherent marriage of art and engineering fascinates Beth.
Her work distills narrative into essential forms, offering viewers a rich interplay of discipline, imagination, and craftsmanship.
For the Love of Hexies: A Retrospective
This retrospective celebrates For the Love of Hexies (FLH), a dedicated group of quilters who have met monthly for more than 14 years at The Quilter’s Daughter in Perry Center, NY. Their work highlights the tradition of English Paper Piecing—a portable, hand-stitched technique in which fabric is basted around die-cut papers to create intricate geometric designs.
FLH coordinator Sarah Ballinger notes, “We call the process hexies for short, after the oft-used hexagon-shaped papers, but we also utilize diamonds, triangles, houses, kites, and jewels. Many fabrics are ‘fussy cut’ to emphasize stripes, florals, animals, or other motifs, creating kaleidoscopic secondary designs.”
The exhibition features quilts, table runners, pillows, and collaborative projects, including pieces made from fabric swaps and group challenges. New members are welcome at FLH’s monthly gatherings, held the first Friday of each month from 6–8 PM at The Quilter’s Daughter, 2817 Route 246, Perry, NY.
ANCHOR Trauma Center: Voices of Healing
GO Art! is honored to partner with ANCHOR Trauma Center, an emerging Batavia-based organization dedicated to trauma-informed, culturally responsive care for the GLOW region. Their exhibition features documentary-style installations, photo-and-text displays, and personal narratives that illuminate the experiences of trauma survivors.
October marks Domestic Violence Awareness Month – a national campaign established by Congress in 1989 to uplift survivors’ voices and advocate for safety, justice, and support. ANCHOR’s exhibition aims to empower local survivors by offering a platform for healing, storytelling, and community connection.
“We know trust should not be taken lightly,” ANCHOR’s Co-Founders share. “This October, we want to give survivors a spotlight to share their experiences of trauma, continued growth, and healing. We are grateful to GO Art! for partnering with us and look forward to continued collaboration.”
Through advocacy, therapy services, and case management, ANCHOR strives to ensure no one in the community falls through the cracks.
County will pay about $500K more to 10 towns for road plowing, salting and mowing
ALBION – The 30 percent to the 10 towns for plowing and salting county roads, plus doing roadside mowings, will cost the county an additional $471,010 in 2027.
The towns are currently paid $7,218 per mile. There are 196.82 miles of county roads. The county doesn’t have its own plow trucks or the personnel to plow and salt their own roads.
With the new agreement that starts Jan. 1, the towns will be paid $9,383 a mile. The three-year contract calls for the towns to then receive a 5 percent increase each of the following two years.
The town highway superintendents said their costs have risen dramatically with increased expenses for fuel, salt, equipment and personnel.
EDA, on better financial footing, looks to restart revolving-loan fund for businesses
ALBION – The Orleans Economic Development Agency wants to restart a revolving loan fund that previously helped many businesses get started or do expansions in the county.
The previous fund ran from 2001 to 2019 and initially received $320,000 from the state. The EDA loaned money to businesses and as the money was paid back it and then loaned out again.
The state, however, forced the closure of the fund by the EDA and other revolving loan funds administered by local development corporations.
The EDA gave businesses the loans at 75 percent of the lowest prime rate. With the new program, the loan would be offered through the Orleans Land Restoration Corporation, a separate entity with the same board as the EDA.
The EDA has its own bigger pot of money to work with after several lean years. The EDA has received about $2.5 million from the Heritage Wind project in Barre, with another $1.8 million coming from Apex Clean Energy, owner of the Heritage project.
The EDA currently has about $2 million in the bank. The board would transfer some of its money to Land Restoration Corporation for the revolving loan fund. The EDA, during a budget crunch, has borrowed money before from the Land Restoration Corporation and transferring money there would be paying it back for the previous loans, said John Misiti, the EDA board chairman.
He discussed the revolving loan fund this morning during the board meetings for the EDA and then the Land Restoration Corporation. He said the fund could become the “crown jewel” of the agency, assisting businesses in the county.
He and board member Craig Tuohey are working to establish guidelines for the program that would need input from the full EDA board.
Misiti said the guidelines may set a minimum loan of $50,000 to a maximum of $250,000. Those loans could be paid from five to 10 years, with the loans at 2 percent above the prime rate.
“We don’t want to make it real restrictive but we want to protect the agency too,” Misiti said during today’s EDA meeting. “We’re trying to make it simple, fair and secure.”
He is hoping to guidelines in place by the end of the year so the revolving loan fund could be started next year. He sees it as “a bridge loan” providing needed financing for projects in the county.
With the Heritage Wind project, the company cleared some of the wooded areas for the project, which includes 28 wind turbines with a capacity for 126 megawatts.
Apex, in an announcement to the community, said civil construction was scheduled to begin about Oct. 1, 2026, starting with work at the substation and Point of Interconnection switchyard site, including the installation of the collection substation foundations.
“Subsequent phases of construction—including installation of the electrical collection system high voltage construction at the substation and POI switchyard site and installation of the O&M facility, and delivery and installation of the wind turbines—are expected to occur in 2027 and 2028,” the company said.
Apex has already paid the EDA $775,000 in late 2024, and then another $1.8 million about a year ago. Another $1.8 million will be due a year after the PILOT/lease-leaseback transaction. The money to the EDA is for administering a PILOT agreement to the local municipalities.
The company will pay $9,000 per megawatt to local municipalities or $1,134,000 in the first year, with a 2 percent increase after that over 25 years.
Barre gets 75 percent of the money as part of a Host Community Agreement. The $6,750 per megawatt totals $850,000. The remaining 25 percent or $2,250 per megawatt is evenly split by the school district and county. That is $140,175 each.
Orleans agrees to 30% increase for towns to plow county roads
Towns, however, recently hit with 25% hike in road salt as well as fuel cost increases
Photo by Tom Rivers: Yates Town Supervisor Jim Simon, speaking during Thursday’s Town Board meeting, said the towns just want to break even for plowing and salting county roads and doing roadside mowing.
The 10 towns in Orleans County will be getting a 30 percent increase to plow and salt county roads, as well as doing roadside mowing. But it shouldn’t be viewed as a windfall.
“We need to at least break even,” said Jim Simon, the Yates town supervisor. “We’re not doing it to make a profit.”
The 10 towns in recent months have pressed the county for the 30 percent increase, plus 5 percent more the following two years. The towns currently get $7,218 a mile for their work on county roads. But that isn’t nearly enough to cover the town’s expenses, said the Orleans County Town Highway Superintendents Association which is led by Tracy Chalker, the highway superintendent in Clarendon.
The contract at the $7,218-rate expires Dec. 31. The new agreement provides a 30 percent increase or $2,165 more per mile in 2027, for $9,383. The towns then receive a 5 percent increase each following year in the three-year agreement.
The new deal was discussed at the Yates Town Board meeting on Thursday. Town officials are thankful for the higher amount, but they said it still may not cover the town’s costs due to rising fuel and salt expenses.
“I’m excited we got the contract with 30 percent, but I fear we might be trapping ourselves again,” said Sue Hrovat, a town councilwoman.
The highway superintendents were expecting a 10 percent increase for road salt for the upcoming winter, but that cost will be up 25 percent. That will be about $10,000 more in salt costs for Yates to salt the county roads in town.
The new agreement with the county allows for an option every May to review the deal f there have been dramatic changes in costs.
Chalker, president of the Orleans County Town Highway Superintendents Association, sent a letter to all 10 towns, thanking the town supervisors and boards for their work in securing the 30 percent increase.
The letter was signed by the following highway superintendents: Dale Root of Shelby, Dale Brooks of Barre, John Olinger of Ridgeway, Kurt VanWycke of Carlton, Dirk Lammes of Murray, Roger Wolfe of Yates, Mike Neidert of Albion, Eric Mason of Kendall and Tracy Chalker of Clarendon.
“You all played a very important role in our success to achieve our needs of 30 percent in our snow and ice and mowing contracts to get us closer to where we want to be,” Chalker wrote. “Your input and support was definitely a huge part of our success. Also it was great to see the towns come together and unite. So much can happen when we unite.”
County welcomes crowd of 250 for Family Game Night at Ridgeway Fire Hall
Photos by Tom Rivers
RIDGEWAY – It was the 12th annual “Family Game Night” on Thursday and for the first time it was held at the Ridgeway Fire Hall.
The top photo shows three Probation Department staff members – from left Sarah Osborne, director; Michelle Coots, probation assistant; and Carolyn Fisher, secretary. People were welcome to play Tic-Tac-Toe, get a fruit snack and learn about the department.
It was one of 16 stations from county departments at Family Game Night. There were 250 people preregistered for the event and other walk-ins likely attended Game Night, which was sponsored by the Orleans County Legislature, in conjunction with the county Youth Bureau.
Each family was able to take home a board game. There were about 120 board games available.
The goal of the event was to have less screen time on a phone and more time together. It was also a chance to learn about the services provided by the county departments.
Family Game Night was previously held at Dubby’s Tailgate in Albion and the Trolley Building at the 4-H Fairgrounds.
Evvan Spencer, 3, of Lyndonville races to complete an obstacle course, including climbing over a drainage pipe and navigating through traffic cones. It was set up by the county Department of Public Works.
A larger-scale version of Jenga was set up by the Mental Health Department. At left includes Sarah Kau of Holley and her daughters, Willow and Violet, holding the block.
Audra Fisher, secretary in the Emergency Management Office, shared fire prevention stickers and other materials.
Holley wins, Kendall bows in overtime
Holley outlasted Byron-Bergen 2-1 in overtime in a Genesee Region League girls soccer game this evening.
Carsyn Mogle scored from Jayna Burris and Ava Mosier tallied for Kyla Burne for the Lady Hawks as Zoey Warner made 3 saves in goal.
“Great team effort tonight for this win,” said Holley Coach Renee Wolf “They dug deep and did what they needed to do.”
The Lady Hawks are now 5-4-1 in the league and 8-5-1 overall.
Wheatland-Chili 2, Kendall 1 (2 OT)
Wheatland-Chili ended Kendall’s season long 12 game winning streak by scoring a 2-1 double overtime victory this evening in another G-R contest.
Ryleigh Denning scored the Kendall goal.
Kendall is now 8-1 in the league and 12-1 overall.
Wilson downs Medina to lock up N-O title
Photos by Cheryl Wertman – Medina’s Aidan Papaj works to gain control of the ball against Wilson’s Archer Simpson during this evening’s game at Vets Park won by the Lakemen.
Wilson locked up outright possession of a fourth straight Niagara-Orleans League boys soccer championship with a 3-1 win over Medina at Vets Park this evening.
The Lakemen improve to 9-0 while the Mustangs slip to 4-4.
Hayden Fellows scored 2 goals and Cole Herrmann 1 for the Lakemen.
Aleks Seefeldt netted the Mustangs goal.
Newfane 3, Roy-Hart 2
Newfane (4-5) scored a goal in the last 10 seconds to nip Roy-Hart (1-6-1) 3-2.
Dwayne Dawes scored 2 goals and Mason D’Orsaneo 1 for Newfane as Nathan Shorter, Brody Miller and Dylan Lamont earned the assists.
Jack Trombley and Mikey Fuller scored the goals for Roy-Hart as Joshua Jennings had an assist.
Wilson’s Hayden Fellows moves the ball up field as Tyler Raduns defends for Medina.
Roy-Hart/Medina girls post N-O shutout win
All the scoring took place in the second half as Roy-Hart/Medina (4-5) downed Newfane (0-9) 3-0 in a Niagara-Orleans League girls soccer game this evening.
Alexis Bedford, Kennedy Boyle and Maria Trombley each scored a goal as Lilly Maynard and Ruth Walker both had assists.
Akron 3, Barker/Lyndonville 0
Abby Gerstung had 2 goals and an assist and Sahpur Grijalva a goal to lead Akron (6-1) to a 3-0 N-O win over Barker/Lyndonville (3-6).
Albion spikers post win over Akron
Albion (2-6) outlasted Akron (5-2) in five sets 25-19, 25-19, 25-27, 10-25, 15-7 in a Niagara-Orleans League volleyball match this evening.
Jillian LeBaron had 14 kills, 3 aces and 19 digs, Charlotte Pike 4 aces and 29 assists, Anna Grillo 3 aces, 3 kills and 16 digs, Melia Prince 8 kills, 4 blocks and 6 digs and Sophia Bouchey 6 kills for the Purple Eagles.
Wilson d. Medina
Wilson (5-3) downed host Medina (1-7) 25-19, 25-22, 25-10 in another N-O match.
Caliyah St. Louis had 5 aces, Jenna Cecchini 4 and Sam Heschke 2 for the Mustangs. Heschke and Maya Anderson both had 2 kills and St. Louis 1.
Newfane d. Roy-Hart
Undefeated (7-0) Newfane outlasted Roy-Hart (3-5) in five sets 23-25, 25-19, 25-21, 20-25, 15-9.
Lauren Snyder had 15 kills, Skylar Walker 8 kills, Tessa Degenhardt 5 kills and Jaycie Heck 23 assists for Roy-Hart.
