Monopoly game featuring Medina businesses to return in local fundraiser

By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 6 February 2024 at 11:00 am

Photos by Tom Rivers

MEDINA – Tim Elliott, a Medina village trustee, and Jesse Cudzillo, director of the YMCA in Orleans County, are shown with the “Medinaopoly” games in 1995 and 2000.

Elliott and Cudzilo are spearheading the effort for a new Medinaopoly game with proceeds to be donated to the YMCA, PAWS Animal Shelter and the Knights-Kaderli Memorial Fund.

Elliott last week starting reaching out to businesses, first the brick-and-mortar sites in the historic downtown, to sponsor a space on the board. The spots have been selling fast. Elliott said there are still many opportunities for businesses to be included on the board.

“It preserves Medina history and provides a snapshot,” Cudzilo said about the local business landscape. “It’s unique and novel.”

There are 36 board spaces at $165 each, four corner spaces at $200, four cards for $300, and then a list where businesses will be included without a graphic for $50.

The Journal-Register, a former daily newspaper in Medina, claimed one of the corner spots in the 1995 game.

The Medina Rotary Club led the effort in 1995 and 2000 to sell the spaces on the board and to make the games available to the community.

Elliot and Cudzilo said the minimum order of games is 350. They are trying to get a sense of how many will sell, whether they should order above the minimum. Games can be preordered for $35. Canalside Tattoo has them available for preorder on the Canalside website.

Elliott and Cudzilo expect the games will be available in September.

The downtown especially has seen quite a change since the last game came out in 2000, although many in that game remain.

“It needs to be updated,” said Elliott, the former owner of Brushstrokes Studios and also Into the Enigma. “I was also looking to give back to the community and the businesses. It will also make a great Christmas gift.”

For more information, contact Elliott at (585) 735-5953 and Cudzilo at (585) 465-6917. Company graphics and questions also can be emailed to Cudzilo at jcudzilo@glowymca.org.

Eliott anticipates the game will raise about $10,000, with half going to the YMCA and 25 percent each to PAWS and Knights-Kaderli. Eliott said the Y has led several projects in the village, including the development of a new 9-hole disc golf course and a new welcome kiosk at the Canalside Basin.

Cudzilo said the funds will go towards updating the women’s locker room.

The board from 2000 included an image of the iconic Canal Culvert in Ridgeway. The new game may feature a dominant image of Medina’s downtown.