By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 6 July 2013 at 12:00 am
Photo by Tom Rivers – A couple snuggles on a slide at Bullard Park while the fireworks go off.
Tonawanda Indian Baptist Church served up free popcorn, cotton candy, tacos and beverages before the fireworks.
Mike Dean, in white shirt, was part of the praise band that performed at Bullard Park tonight. Dean leads the praise band at Tonawanda Indian Baptist Church in Basom, which is working to plant a church in Albion.
ALBION – The community got a second helping of fireworks tonight in Albion, two days after July 4.
The Tonawanda Indian Baptist Church in Basom treated the Albion community to a half-hour fireworks show, which was preceded by food, games and live music.
Tonawanda Indian is working to start a church in Albion. The Basom congregation hasn’t found a site for the church in Albion. It will be back in Albion this summer for backyard barbecues and Vacation Bible Schools.
A girl climbed to top of the playground in the Pee Wee Park section of Bullard Park to watch the fireworks.
Matt Dean is lead singer for the praise band at High Point Community Church in Corfu. He joined the band tonight at Bullard Park. Dave Jonathan of Elba is playing the guitar.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 6 July 2013 at 12:00 am
Courtesy of Tom Taber/Library of Congress
LEADERS OF THE BATTERY: Tom Taber restored and colorized this photograph from May 3, 1863 of the leaders of the 17th New York Light Artillery. The photograph was taken at Camp Barry, Washington, D.C. The group includes, from left: an unidentified Camp Barry officer who wasn’t in the 17th NY; 1st Lieut. Irving Meade Thompson of Albion; 2nd Lieut. Edwin Joel Barber of Lyndonville; Capt. George Tobey Anthony of Medina; 1st Lieut. Hiram Edwards Sickels of Albion; and 2nd Lieut. Hiram D. Smith of Medina.
ALBION – As nation reflects on the 150th anniversary of the Civil War and continues to celebrate the July Fourth holiday, I thought it was a good time to highlight the efforts of Tom Taber, an Albion man who worked dutifully for 15 years to track down stories about Orleans County men who fought in the war.
Taber’s book, The “Orleans Battery” – A History of the 17th New York Light Artillery in the War of Rebellion, details the service of 240 men from Orleans County who served in the war. The book came out last year and is available in local bookstores.
The Orleans Battery includes biographical sketches on nearly every soldier in the 17th. Taber also found 60 photographs of the soldiers that he included in the 320-page book.
He found a black-and-white image of the officers in the 17th through the Library of Congress. Taber restored the image, filling in cracks in the old negative. He used Photoshop to meticulously restore the image.
“There are problems all over with these old negatives,” Taber said. “There is stuff stuck on them and cracks.”
He uses the Photoshop computer program to fill in the cracks and recreate a scene. It takes numerous hours of research and painstaking detail.
Although the book came out a year ago, Taber has kept working to highlight the service of the local group of soldiers. After initially restoring the image of the officers in black-and-white, Taber has added color to the historic photograph taken at Camp Barry, Washington, D.C.
“My goal is to make it look like you’re sitting next to the photographer when he took the picture 150 years ago,” Taber said.
He added skin tones, dark blue coats and hats, lighter-colored pants and numerous other details.
“I want people to look like they did,” he said.
Taber, who retired in 2005 as a training coordinator at the county’s Job Development Agency, feels like he has adopted the soldiers from the 17th. Many returned from the war and led distinguished lives.
The leader of the local group of soldiers, Capt. George Anthony of Medina, would later move to Kansas and become governor of that state.
While hunting down images of soldiers from the 17th, Taber came across a scene from Appomattox Court House. A group of people includes soldiers and civilians by the famed red building where the Confederate Army surrendered.
Taber has been working on the restoration and “colorization” of the photograph. He studies the contrast from the sun and works to shade in intensity of color in trees and on the ground.
The Library for Congress image that doesn’t give the precise date of when it was taken. Taber said it could be the day of the surrender on April 9, 1865 or it may be a few days before or after.
The surrender at Appomattox ended a war with 620,000 deaths, including about 500 soldiers from Orleans County.
Tom Taber has restored and added color to this photo in April 1865 at Appomattox Court House, Virginia.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 6 July 2013 at 12:00 am
Provided photo – Ashleigh Cheverie is pictured with her parents Jan and Al after the Penn State-bound student was awarded a $6,000 scholarship from the Batavia Rotary Club last month.
ALBION – The Batavia Rotary Club recently awarded a $6,000 scholarship to an Albion girl who is headed to Penn State University to major in mechanical engineering.
Ashleigh Cheverie graduated from Notre Dame High School in Batavia last month. She was salutatorian of the Class of 2013.
The Rotary scholarship will provide $1,500 for each year she is at Penn State.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 5 July 2013 at 12:02 am
Big crowd watches fireworks show in Lyndonville
Photos by Tom Rivers – Young Explosives put on a show for a big crowd at Lyndonville.
The baseball field was full of people watching the fireworks. Lyndonville was packed with cars on Main Street and many of the side streets.
The Lyndonville Lions Club organizes the Fourth of July celebration each year in the community.
Maria Ball, 6, of Medina has fun with sparklers before the fireworks show in Lyndonville.
Tom Schicker of Albion helps send off a Chinese Lantern before the fireworks.
The Happy Ending band played for three hours before the fireworks. Tom Zangerle, left, is lead guitar and vocals for the band. Larry Loke of Lyndonville, right, plays bass and provides vocals.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 5 July 2013 at 12:00 am
Photo by Tom Rivers – Orleans County officials have a new historic marker under wraps today. The marker will be dedicated at 1 p.m. Saturday.
ALBION – A historic marker, with a log cabin logo, will be dedicated on the courthouse lawn during a 1 p.m. ceremony on Saturday.
The marker will honor the pioneering spirit of Albion’s first residents. In December 1810, William McAllister bought 368 acres in Albion, the east side of the village, from the Holland Land Company. The following year he built a log cabin where the current County Clerks’ Building stands next the county courthouse.
McAllister and his wife, known only in historical information as “Mrs. McAllister,” were Albion’s first settlers.
The Capurso family in Albion is paying for the marker.
Press release, Orleans County Sheriff’s Department
MURRAY – A Rochester man has been hospitalized following a mishap involving fireworks in the town of Murray, the Sheriff’s Department reported.
The incident occurred at approximately 5:45 p.m. on July 4 at a campsite on private property off the 16000 block of Ridge Road.
Brent A. Mead, 19, was holding a mortar in his hands while lighting fireworks. One particular round failed to launch but instead exploded within the mortar. Mead sustained injuries to his hands and chest. He was flown by Mercy Flight helicopter to Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester.
Charges against Mead may be forthcoming. The remaining fireworks were confiscated by the Sheriff’s Department.
The incident was investigated by Deputy T.N. Tooley.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 5 July 2013 at 12:00 am
Photos by Tom Rivers – Marcy Downey checks out the sound and lighting system inside Studio B at the Gotta Dance by Miss Amy site at 28 West Bank St. Downey will be the first performer in the new cabaret on July 28.
ALBION – For 12 years Amy Sidari and her staff have worked with hundreds of students each year, teaching them jazz, ballet, tap, hip hop and other dance moves.
Gotta Dance by Miss Amy will soon expand as a talent showcase, by using one of the studios for cabaret, with professional-quality lighting and sound. Sidari will have 20 tables inside “The Cabaret at Studio B,” and will serve gourmet desserts, coffee and soda during concerts and other productions.
“They will get a high-end Rochester performance without going into the city,” Sidari said this afternoon at the Gotta Dance site at 28 West Bank St.
She has the first performance scheduled for 7 p.m. on July 28. Albion native Marcy Downey will perform her current one-woman cabaret show, “Here’s To The Divas and Dames,” which pays tribute to popular singing divas, including Barbra Streisand, Whitney Houston, Liza Minnelli, Natalie Cole, Aretha Franklin, Patsy Cline, Billie Holiday and others.
“Anything she touches is successful,” Downey said about Sidari. “I love the idea of doing something right here in Albion.”
Marcy Downey, left, and Amy Sidari pose in front of the curtains at the Cabaret at Studio B.
Sidari repainted the room, installed lights and a sound system, made the curtains and added a padded performance floor. She had a team of helpers for the project, with her father Ace Caldwell handling most of the construction.
Sidari had the lights in storage for most of the year, bringing them out for the Gotta dance annual recitals in May.
She said the cabaret will hopefully draw more people to Albion to visit local stores and restaurants before the 7 p.m. shows.
Sidari has other events planned for the cabaret. Phyl Contestable performs as The Reverend Mother on Aug. 2. Sidari’s 6-year-old daughter Gina and her friends will have a fashion show Aug. 14 with a suggested $5 donation going to COVA.
Albion native Kailey Winans and Gary Simboli, high school musical and chorus director, will perform together on Aug. 23.
For more information on tickets and prices, call 585-354-2320.
Sidari also welcomes more performers throughout the fall. They should call that number if they’re interested.
Amy Sidari is working to turn a dance studio into a venue for singing and other performers. The space will continue to be used for dance as well.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 5 July 2013 at 12:00 am
ALBION – Driving home at about 8:40 p.m., another rainbow appeared following another shower this evening.
By the time I pulled over and grabbed the camera to get a picture of the Presbyterian Church and Orleans County Courthouse, the rainbow had lost some of its intensity. The back and forth with the rain and sunshine has produced some real colorful beauties lately.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 5 July 2013 at 12:00 am
On the way to Lyndonville for the fireworks last night, I chased a rainbow in Albion. It vanished before I could get a good photo of it. But I did get this picture of a boat near the Main Street lift bridge in Albion.
Not long after, I saw this tractor on Route 98 in Carlton, near Baker Road.
ALBION – Brighton Securities is holding informational seminars for the Albion community on strategies for taking the next steps following unemployment.
Brighton offered to do the seminars on Monday and July 22 after JP Morgan Chase announced it was laying off about 400 Albion employees in September.
Brighton Securities will provide advice for dislocated workers during the free seminars at Hoag Library in Albion. Topics will include tax tips, company-sponsored 401(k) plans, how to navigate unemployment, and how to maintain a steady financial well-being for you and your family.
Join Steve Hicks, Brighton Securities Batavia financial advisor, and Alexandra Conboy, Brighton Securities CEO, during the 7 p.m. sessions at Hoag Library, 134 South Main St.
