Medina Visitors’ Center opens for season on May 23

Photo by Ginny Kropf: Bob Gilsinan, left, and Jim Hancock are looking forward to another successful tourist season in Medina. They made a preliminary visit today to the Visitors’ Center in Rotary Park.

MEDINA – When the Medina Visitors’ Center opens May 23, it will be the 13th year of welcoming tourists to the village.

Jim Hancock, chair of Medina’s Tourism Committee and coordinator of the Visitors’ Center, and volunteer Bob Gilsinan today stopped by the Visitors’ Center in Rotary Park. They are preparing for the opening of the center for the 2022 season on May 23.

The house used as Santa’s headquarters at Christmas time doubles as the Visitors’ Center during the tourist season. It was an ideal spot to locate a Visitors’ Center, being in the center of downtown and in close proximity to the canal.

Last year, 330 visitors signed the register from 24 states and three foreign countries.

Gilsinan has been volunteering at the Visitors’ Center for four years and looks forward to his time there. He loves to talk to people and recalls the couple he met from Belgium who were biking the Erie Canal. He said they asked why there were so many churches in town.

One year while Hancock was on duty in the center, he met a couple from Montana who had their boat anchored in the Canal Basin. He said they had towed their boat then put it in the water where they could continue their journey to Key West.

“It’s heartwarming to see how amazed visitors are at the vibrancy of our Main Street and all the restaurants we have,” Hancock said.

There are two new volunteers so far this year – Betty Rogowski and the Rev. Vince Iorio, bringing the total of volunteers to 14.

“We can always use more volunteers,” Hancock said. “We do have enough now that we can have the Visitors’ Center open on Saturday.”

He said he didn’t know of any other small town with a Visitors’ Center like Medina.

The center will be open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Saturday throughout the summer.