Medina businesses, Lions Club plan sidewalk sale, chicken barbecue on Aug. 8

By Ginny Kropf, correspondent Posted 26 July 2020 at 1:36 pm

Groups want to promote commerce in community

MEDINA – After being shut down for all the spring and part of summer, downtown Medina businesses have decided it’s time to get things going again.

Medina Area Partnership took the reins and is partnering with Medina Lions Club and a group of local businesses to sponsor a downtown sidewalk sale and chicken barbecue on Aug. 8.

Scott Robinson, who owns the Shirt Factory Café with his wife Alix, is president of MAP and an ardent promoter of his home town. Both he and Alix are Medina natives and members of longtime families in the area. Robinson traces his roots in Medina back to the early 1800s, and his wife, the former Alix Kozody, claims beloved Medina High School art teacher H. Gilman Williams as her grandfather. The couple had been working in Washington, D.C. for 10 years when they decided it was time to move back and do something for their hometown community.

It was Robinson who pitched the idea a year ago to dissolve the Medina Business Association in an attempt to get some new faces involved and expand the footprint of the organization beyond the downtown.

The MBA board bought into the idea and the Medina Area Partnership was formed with the goal of involving businesses and organizations which might not be located within the village limits, but which had an interest and/or impact on Medina. MAP has membership categories for businesses, such as Takeform on Maple Ridge Road, on the outskirts of Medina, and the village of Lyndonville. They want to help any area community which is struggling, because a local community which is not excelling is not good for Medina, Robinson said.

“We are trying to be a resource during a troubling time,” he said.

Members of MAP knew how hard it has been for local businesses during the pandemic when stores were mostly closed down, and several annual events had to be canceled. These included the Medina Lions popular village-wide community yard sale, which brought hundreds to Medina, and the accompanying chicken barbecue.

So Ann Fisher-Bale, a member of MAP’s Event Committee, contacted Medina Lions and asked if they would like to partner with MAP and do a chicken barbecue in conjunction with a downtown Medina sidewalk sale. Of course, the answer was “yes.”

The sidewalk sale will take place at numerous stores in downtown Medina, while the chicken barbecue will be drive-through only at the Medina Senior Center on West Avenue.

The sidewalk sale hours will vary by store, while the chicken barbecue will be sold from 11 a.m. until sold out.

Tickets are available presale from any Lions member, Creekside Florist, Filomena’s Treasures and Herbalty Cottage. Some will also be available the day of the sale.

Lions member Jim Hancock said being allowed to use the Senior Center is a perfect setup for them. If it rains, they will be able to assemble the take-outs inside, while the public can drive in on one side, stay in their car and drive out the other side.

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