Hometown Hero banners go up in Medina

Photos by Ginny Kropf: (Left) Ben Lacy of the Medina DPW installs banners on Tuesday in front of Lyon’s Collision on East Center Street. Lacy and DPW employee Chris Dix hoped to finish the task on Wednesday. (Right) Daniel Roberts, great-great-great-grandfather to a number of local residents, is the first Revolutionary War soldier to have a banner in Medina. It hangs on Main Street in front of Zambistro’s.

MEDINA – Although this year’s Hometown Heroes banners project faced several setbacks during the year, the results have been excellent, said Mary Woodruff, who started the project in 2019 with 38 banners. By the fourth year they had reached the maximum of 120.

“Everyone has been supportive and patient during this long period of completing the 2025 campaign,” Woodruff said. “One particular and most generous supporter has donated a large sum of money to the Medina Hometown Hero banner project. I was overwhelmed and most grateful for this kind donation. This person is very happy with the project and hopes it continues for a long time.

The donation will be helpful in many ways, such as updating their website and providing more opportunities for sponsors who would love a banner for their family members, but have limited funds in their budget, Woodruff said. Many more ideas are being considered, thanks to this very generous contributor since the project began in 2018.

The array of banners featured this year will highlight the number of servicemen and women in our village of Medina and towns of Shelby and Ridgeway, Woodruff said.

“Each year I am amazed at the number of banners produced and the history of all these servicemen and women,” Woodruff said. “I thank everyone who joins in keeping this most honorable project alive and well. Imagine the coincidence back in the fall of 2018 when I asked the village board members to consider the ‘Hometown Hero banner project.’ I presented my pitch, explaining each detail of managing this project, which would be done in memory of my wonderful father-in-law, Willis Burr Woodruff. My final step, I told the board, would be to contact Orleans Hub and ask them to support this project with an article. Unbeknown to me, Tom Rivers had arrived at the meeting and was there throughout my presentation. He assured me the project would be a featured article – and the rest is history.”

Every year, Woodruff expresses her thanks to the village of Medina DPW for installing the hardware and putting up the banners each spring. They are typically taken down around Veterans’ Day.

For several years Woodruff has expressed the desire to have a Revolutionary War soldier, and she ended up with two – Daniel Roberts, whose ancestors lived in East Shelby and Medina, and Benjamin Darling, who also lived on East Shelby Road, and most certainly served in the same regiment as Roberts.

In addition, Daniel’s grandson Ziba Roberts, who lived on East Shelby Road, served in the Civil War and has a banner this year.

Woodruff is already receiving requests for banners next year.

(Left) The second Revolutionary War soldier to have a Hometown Heroes banner is Benjamin Darling, who lived on East Shelby Road. This artist’s drawing represents Darling, whose banner is next to Daniel Roberts. (Right) A Civil War soldier is memorialized on a banner this year. Ziba Roberts, who lived on East Shelby Road and is the grandson of Revolutionary War soldier Daniel Roberts, is also one of the first three hung on Main Street.