Photo by Tom Rivers: Mark Ferrara shares about his book chronicling the Erie Canal during a presentation Saturday at Author’s Note in Medina.

MEDINA – An English professor at the State University of Oneonta has written a book about the Erie Canal, focusing on the American communities along its banks and the ordinary people who lived, worked and died there.

Mark Ferrara visited Author’s Note Book Store on Saturday afternoon to sign copies and read from his book, The Raging Erie: Life and Labor Along the Erie Canal.

Photo by Ginny Kropf: Mark Ferrara signs copies of his latest book, “The Raging Erie: Life and Labor Along the Erie Canal,” at Author’s Note Book Store on Saturday afternoon.

Ferrara grew up in the Richmond, Va. area, which he considers an “American community.” He also realized there were many American communities along the canal, including Utica and Syracuse where his parents grew up.

Realizing the canal’s bicentennial was coming up, Ferrara began reading everything he could about poor and working class who were forgotten whenever the canal was celebrated. His book took four years to complete – two years of research and then two more to put it all together and get it published.

Ferrara chronicles the fates of the Native Americans whose land was appropriated for the canal, the European immigrants who bored its route through the wilderness and the orphan children who drove the draft animals that pulled boats around the clock.

The author also shows how the canal served as a conduit for the movement of new ideas and religions, a corridor for enslaved people seeking freedom via the Underground Railroad and a spur for social reform movements that emerged in response to the poverty and suffering along its path.

The Raging Erie explores the social dislocation and untold hardships at the heart of a major engineering feat, shedding light on the lives of the canallers who toiled on behalf of American expansion.

Ferrara is also the author of seven books, two of which are American Community: Radical Experiments in Intentional Living and Living the Food Allergic Life. He has taught for universities in South Korea, China and on a Fulbright scholarship in Turkey.

This is the author’s first visit to Medina, and he planned to spend some time exploring the village before heading home.

The Raging Erie is available at Author’s Note, 519 Main St., or online at authorsnote.com. Signed copies can also be ordered for pickup or free shipping at the store’s website.

Photos by Ginny Kropf: Approximately 30 people showed up at Boxwood Cemetery on Saturday morning to learn about cleaning headstones.

MEDINA – Cleaning headstones is an ongoing task, as Friends of Boxwood Cemetery learned this morning.

Todd Bensley, a member of Friends of Boxwood Cemetery and Village of Medina historian, led a seminar for approximately 30 people, in which he demonstrated the proper technique and materials to clean a headstone.

The first headstone cleaning event took place in 2022, after a professional came and demonstrated how it should be done, Bensley said.

“I’ve been leading a seminar annually since then,” he said.

He explained why it is important to clean headstones, especially old ones.

“When lichens accumulate on the headstones, it eats away on the stone,” Bensley said. “Cleaning them preserves their history. For some people, their gravestone is the only way we know they existed. If the lettering is illegible, we have no way of knowing who they are. As village historian I wrote several books on Boxwood Cemetery. I tried to find information on some of the burials by going through archives, but the information on their gravestone was all I could find. If there is growth on them, it will eventually eat them away.”

Bensley’s wife Nicole this morning checked in participants, including several new members who signed up for Friends of Boxwood Cemetery. Copies of Todd’s book on Boxwood Cemetery were also available for sale.

Bensley explained there are 5,000 burials in Boxwood Cemetery, and even with two burials in a plot, that still adds up to a lot of headstones. He said it typically takes 20 to 30 minutes to clean the average headstone. He demonstrated the equipment needed, which included a pad to kneel on, plastic scraper, a pail, D-2 cleaner and a popsicle stick or skewer.

He also advised rubbing one’s hand over a headstone to see if it feels sandy. If so, cleaning should not aggressive. He recommended spraying on D-2, which has been diluted 50% with water, and letting it stand for 10 minutes before attempting to scrape it off.

“Use a scrub brush which you would use on your car,” he said. “If it is too harsh for your car, it is too harsh for a headstone.”

Bensley said a headstone won’t look like new after it has been cleaned, but it will look a lot better than it did.

Nicole Bensley checks in visitors who came for Todd Bensley’s presentation Saturday morning on cleaning headstones at Boxwood Cemetery.

One of the attendees was Anna Buckner, who said she spends nearly every day at the cemetery, walking her two dogs. She said she loves the cemetery and intends to join Friends of Boxwood Cemetery.

Barbara Sidher of Medina said she has attended the events put on by the Friends of Boxwood Cemetery, and came to Saturday’s seminar to learn how to clean her parents’ gravestone in Sacred Heart Cemetery.

Bensley said they are always looking for new members and volunteers. Anyone interested may contact them on their Facebook page.

Todd Bensley explains the correct technique for cleaning headstones to approximately 30 people who attended a seminar at Boxwood Cemetery Saturday morning. He holds a bottle of D-2, the proper cleaner to use on headstones. Anyone who signed up to become a member of Friends of Boxwood Cemetery received a free bottle.

File photos by Ginny Kropf: Here is a sampling of some of the creative zucchini race cars youth made at the Canal Village Farmer’s Market  last summer. The event returns the next two Saturdays.

MEDINA – With the Canal Village Farmers’ Market now open at its original home at West Center Street and West Avenue, market manager Gail Miller has announced the return of the popular zucchini races for the next three Saturdays.

On July 19, 26 and Aug. 2 the races will begin at 10 a.m. and last until 1:20 p.m. The races included categories for children and adults.

Inspired by a story from the Farmers’ Market Federation of New York, Miller hatched the creative idea last year.

“We really didn’t know what to expect last year, but we had more fun than we imagined,” Miller said. “This year, we’ve made some improvements, including a better track. We’re really looking forward to it.”

Last year, 15 youth participated in the event. Components of the races, including zucchini, are provided by the market.

(Left) Dave Miller gives two zucchini race cars a trial run to check out the track he built, before the competition starts at Medina’s Canal Village Farmer’s Market last year. (Right) Bishop Stanton, 9, checks out a zucchini race car last summer before beginning to build his own.

Children and adults who register for the races will each have access to all sorts of stickers, flags and fun stuff with which to decorate their racers, Miller said.

“Both kids and parents had a lot of fun creating their customized racers and sending them down the track,” she said. “Since the parents and by-standers all had so much fun, the market is encouraging the ‘young at heart’ to compete also. How about challenging your friends, neighbors or your siblings to compete for a zucchini race throwdown. And, of course, we’ll again have the Outlaw Class, which is great fun.”

Certificates and prize vouchers from Confection Connection and NOLA Snowballs will be awarded for the fastest, weirdest, coolest and best crash.

Racing classes will be:

• Sprout – under 8.
• Tenderfoot – 8 – 16.
• Young-at-Heart – 16+
• Outlaw Class – Open to all ages and any vegetable. Entrants can use their imagination to create a racing vegetable, keeping to the vehicle specs in the rules.

Participants can get additional information and register at the market in age-group categories, starting today (Saturday) at the manager’s tent.