ALBION – The couple turning the former Pillars property on West County House Road into a wedding and events center is offering a series of free classes on marketing and building a business profile online.

Kerri and Cole Glover, owners of Maison Albion, are offering the classes from Sept. 7 through Nov. 2 at 13800 West County House Rd. The class sizes are capped at 25 people and social distancing will be adhered to for the 1 1/2 hour sessions.

Mrs. Glover, a native of Maui in Hawaii, has worked 22 years in the wedding industry and has been a key leader in developing 13 other wedding venues in Hawaii, Colorado, California, Texas and Montana. She has bachelor’s and master’s degrees in marketing.

Mr. Glover, a seventh-generation Texan, has a sales background, as well as 15 years in event management. He and his wife met in Denver. They were engaged in Paris and married in Venice. He has a degree in mass communication.

“We would like to offer them because our investment in this community is not just about the purchase and restoration of Maison Albion, but also in the people, businesses and community here,” Mrs. Glover said about the classes.

The class schedule includes:

• Sept. 7th – Beginning Website Design – Walk out of this class with a basic website design for your business.
• Sept. 22nd – Google My Business Listings and Online Review Management – Ensure your business is searchable in GoogleMaps, up to date, and learn how to respond and solicit online reviews.
• Oct. 7th – Social Media Creation and Development – Learn to create your Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest accounts and design social media content.
• Oct. 22nd – Public Relations and Event Marketing – Learn how to get free exposure for your business and create events that draw attention to your company.
• Nov. 2nd – Google AdWords and Beginning Search Engine Optimization – Leave this class with the knowledge to advertise with paid Google Ads and learn how to make your website searchable on the internet.

The classes begin at 5 p.m. and attendees are urged to bring a laptop or Maison Albion will have some to share. Please RSVP to bonjour@maisonalbion.com.

“When we open this venue, we want to ensure that as much revenue as possible is directed into the community,” Mrs. Glover said. “That means businesses that are searchable and recognizable online for a couple planning their wedding from Rochester and Buffalo as well. If we improve our online presence as a community, we improve the potential to capture as much income as possible locally as well.”

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Teams with Amy Sidari in Sid-Boli Productions, Crossroads Studio

Photos by Tom Rivers: Amy Sidari and Gary Simboli will be welcoming tour buses and concert-goers once the restrictions on crowd sizes ease due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Simboli last summer performed six concerts at Sidari’s Cabaret at Studio B for six bus tour groups.

ALBION – Gary Simboli, Albion’s musical director the past 35 years as well as a vocal teacher and choir director, has retired from his teaching career.

Simboli, 56, is continuing to perform in the community. Every Sunday morning he leads the music at the First Baptist Church of Albion and the First Presbyterian Church of Albion.

He also has joined forces with Amy Sidari in Crossroads Studio or Sid-Boli Productions.

Once the Covid-19 pandemic is over or restrictions relent on crowd sizes, Simboli will be performing at Sidari’s Cabaret at Studio B at the corner of Liberty and West Bank streets.

Sidari also runs the Gotta Dance by Miss Amy studio and Simboli has signed on to lead weekly sing-a-long classes for senior citizens. That starts in October.

“I will miss the kids and my theater team, but I’m very excited for this new chapter,” Simboli said during an interview at Gotta Dance and the Cabaret. “The kids have been great from the very beginning, with their heart and energy.”

Simboli and the high school drama program were working on Little Mermaid when the school was shut down on March 13. That performance was never able to happen. It would have been Simboli’s 70^thmusical at Albion.

The shows were consistently recognized as among the best high school musicals in the Rochester Region by the Stars of Tomorrow program through the Rochester Broadway Theatre League.

Gary Simboli is pictured during the June 28, 2019 Albion High School graduation along with Board of Education members Wendy Kirby, left, and Chantelle Sacco.

Simboli, in his role with Sidari, gets to be the performer while she works out the details with bus tour companies.

“She is very innovative,” Simboli said about Sidari.

During the downtime with the Covid-19 pandemic, when her studio and cabaret were closed, Sidari and her father Ace Caldwell worked to create a new space. (Simboli joked he handed some drywall to Caldwell, who is in his 80s.)

The room will be another dance studio to spread out the dance classes, which will be offered in the morning, afternoons and evenings. It will also be a “green room” for performers at the cabaret to rest and prepare off stage.

“They will be treated like kings and queens,” Sidari said.

Caldwell and Sidari also put in the infrastructure for a kitchen. Down the road, Simboli said he would love to prepare meals as part of a dinner theater at the site.

“When it’s finished, I think this place will be impressive,” Simboli said about the latest improvements.

Simboli has two shows for the performances – “Musical Mischief” and “All You Need is Love.” He performed last summer to the tour bus groups, for people who hadn’t been to Albion. They were positive about being in the historic downtown with the Courthouse Square and the Erie Canal.

“When you live here you forget just how beautiful this community is,” Simboli said.

He also is working on recording a Christmas album in time for the upcoming holiday season.

Sidari said she sees the studio and cabaret as a resource bringing hope and energy to the community, especially during trying times with the pandemic.

She is grateful Simboli is sharing his talents with the community. He has long been loved and appreciated by Albionites, but Sidari said the shows last summer proved Simboli has wide appeal. The tour bus groups all are eager to return.

“All six tour groups were booked to be back this year, with a dozen more possible,” Sidari said. “This will be a building with great energy.”

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Provided photo: Maura Pierce started on Wednesday as interim principal of the Ronald L. Sodoma Elementary School in Albion.

ALBION – A familiar face to the Albion school district will be serving as interim principal of the Ronald L. Sodoma Elementary School.

Maura Pierce started on Wednesday. She worked for the school district for 34 years until retiring in 2013. She has been serving the district in other capacities, including as evaluator of teachers and as an interim principal in the high school.

“I am looking forward to celebrating my 41st first day of school in the Albion district this year,” Pierce said. “I’m thankful to once again be able to serve our district and be part of the Purple Eagle family.”

Pierce started her career at Albion as a high school English teacher. She worked as an administrator in all three buildings. She was the School to Career coordinator and director of Special Education.

“Albion is a special place – one where I chose to spend my career and put down roots,” Pierce said. “My husband and I are very happy to once again be living in our community.”

She is stepping in as interim principal following the resignation of Rachel Curtin, who was the principal the past seven years. Curtin took a job as principal of the Chautauqua Lake Elementary School in Mayville. That is near her hometown of Ripley.

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ALBION – The school district in early June typically has a recognition event for retiring staff, and also for teachers and administrators who are awarded tenure.

The Covid-19 pandemic prompted the district not to hold the event in normal fashion due to a limit on crowd sizes.

The district, however, recently held a celebration for the staff, teachers and administrators, separating the recognition program by building – elementary, middle and high school.

• Retirees – The following retirees were recognized:

Elementary school: Kelly Wadhams (1st grade), Lisa Werner (2nd grade), Lynn DiBella & Peggy Lemke (teacher aides)

Middle school: MaryAnn Jablonski (6th grade), Richard Shrout (counselor) and Tim Thornton (cleaner)

High school: Gary Simboli (Choral Director), Sarah Beckwith (cafeteria monitor), Valerie Rush (teacher aide) and Jean Swiercznski (nurse).

District: Sue Starkweather Miller (public information officer, school to career coordinator)

Board of Education: Chantelle Sacco, Joyce Riley and Gregg Boose Sr.

• Tenure – The following also were recognized for earning tenure:

Elementary school: Elizabeth Incardona (5th grade) and Maggie Orbaker (special education)

Middle school: Brad Pritchard (Principal)

High school: Elizabeth Hall (Spanish), Ann Sentiff (Science) and Jennifer Ashbery (Principal)

District: Derek Vallese, business adminsitrator

• Educator of the Year – The district most years also recognizes a teacher as the “Educator of the Year.” This year the Educator of the Year went to the partnership between the Albion staff and parents.

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Photos by Tom Rivers

WATERPORT – Harrison Brown on Wednesday was presented with a $5,000 Rotary 7090 District Scholarship. Harrison is entering his sophomore year at Cornell University. He also is in the Army ROTC program.

He is presented the scholarship by Dick Remley, left, who was the Albion Rotary Club president in 2019-20, and Bob Artis, the 7090 District Governor in 2019-20.

Harrison, a member of Albion’s Class of 2019, was picked out of about 25 applicants for the scholarship. The Rotary district includes about 70 Rotary clubs in Western New York and Southern Ontario.

Harrison is the first person from the Albion community to receive the district scholarship. It is based on academic merit, demonstration of “Service Above Self” and an essay about the ideals of Rotary. The scholarship is for the second year of college.

Harrison is majoring in agricultural science at Cornell University. His family owns Orchard Dale Fruit Company, which was founded in 1804. After he graduates from Cornell, Harrison has an eight-year commitment to the Army.

Harrison, an Eagle Scout, in one of his essays for the scholarship cited the example of his grandfather, Edward Krause. He left his senior year at Auburn during November to join the military to help the country during World War II. He would later earn his GED diploma.

That example of “Service Above Self” has long inspired Harrison. Krause is the father of Margy Brown, Harrison’s mother.

Harrison Brown, second from left, is pictured with Dick Remley, past Albion Rotary Club president; Bob Artis, past district governor (and former Holley resident); and Marlee Diehl, the current Albion Rotary Club president and past district governor.

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ALBION – The school district announced today that it will not be offering in-person learning all five days to start the school for grades Pre-K to 6.

The district was planning to have in-person schooling be an option at those grade levels each school day, with grades 7 to 12 on a hybrid schedule, with in-person learning two days a week and remote learning the other three.

Now the district is looking at a hybrid schedule for all students. Families can also choose to do remote learning every day with no in-person learning.

“We will reassess the structure for grades PK-6 after the first five weeks of school to see if it would be possible to have students here for more than two days, but will need to start in the two-day-a-week model,” interim superintendent Scott Bishoping said in a letter to families. “We had hoped that we could manage having elementary students each day but we cannot be certain we can provide enough space to start the school year in that format.”

The needs to ensure that students are distanced by at least 6 feet so that face coverings can be removed while in the classroom, he said.

The district will discuss the reopening plan during three virtual parent forums on Wednesday. Those sessions will be at 10 a.m., 4 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. Click here for more on the forums, including the links to the session which will be on YouTube.

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John Keding, nearing 85^th birthday, could fix anything

Photos by Tom Rivers: John Keding, owner of Keding Automotive on East Avenue in Albion, has his last day of business on Wednesday. He has been working as a mechanic since he was 14.

ALBION – John Keding – a mechanic since he was 14, first fixing lawn mowers – is finally calling it a career. His last day of business will be Wednesday. He has been working for 70 years.

Keding, who is two weeks from his 85^th birthday, said he will miss his customers and daily interactions out in the community.

Keding put an ad in this past weekend’s Lake Country Pennysaver, announcing his retirement. Today, the phone rang often with congratulations.

Linn and Sarah Beckwith, customers for about 20 years, showed up in person with cookies and cards for Keding, office manager Karen Dibley and mechanic Shawn Deibel.

John Keding is shown in the shop today with mechanic Shawn Deibel and office manager Karen Dibley.

Mr. Beckwith said Keding has unquestionable honesty, and would spring into action for his customers.

“He provided very good service over the years,” said Mrs. Beckwith. “I had a lot of emergencies. He had quite a team here. We’re going to miss them.”

Keding said he is selling the building at 309 East Ave. to his daughter Christine and son-in-law Michael Buorgiorne. It will be the base for Buorgiorne’s construction business.

When Keding started as a mechanic when he was a teen-ager, he installed turning lights and fixed lawn mowers.

He learned the auto mechanic trade at the General Motors Institute in Flint, Mich., beginning the two-year program in 1953. He worked for General Motors for three years before a two-year stint in Army at Fort Dix from 1958 to 1960.

He returned to Albion in 1960 and worked as a mechanic for a car dealership for 13 years before a brief stint as an electrician.

He opened his own business at the East Avenue location in January 1974. Keding said the work has become more high-tech with problems in cars more difficult to diagnose due to computers and electronics in vehicles.

“I’ve really enjoyed it,” he said about his career. “It’s something I always wanted to do.”

Shawn Deibel, 25, has worked with Keding the past eight years, starting in high school.

“John has been a good teacher,” Deibel said. “He has always been accepting and if I needed help he would lend a hand. He has been a wealth of knowledge.”

Karen Dibley has worked as the office manager for the past 14 years. She will be taking a job at the high school as a teacher’s aide.

“He has a love for the job,” Dibley said about Keding. “If it came in broken, he could fix it. He has really enjoyed being out in the community.”

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Photos by Tom Rivers

ALBION – Orleans County has been on a rainbow run in recent weeks, with the multi-colored arcs emerging in the sky soon after a rain. This evening a bright-colored rainbow appeared at about 7:30.

The top photo shows the rainbow with the First Presbyterian Church of Albion.

Here the rainbow is pictured with a banner of Craig Lane, a major in the U.S. Air Force. The banners of local soldiers went up in late June and feature 33 people from the community who served in the military. This one is on East Bank Street.

The rainbow stretches over the County Clerks Building and the Orleans County Courthouse.

The courthouse dome has a special shine with the rainbow close by.

Downtown Albion, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, provided a nice setting for the bold rainbow.

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The Pate family – sisters Maia, left, and Eowyn with their parents, Angelo and Ondrea. There will be a benefit on Aug. 30 at the Elks Lodge in Albion from noon to 6 p.m.

ALBION – There will be a benefit on Aug. 30 for an Albion family who has been displaced from their home after a fire on June 20.

Angelo and Ondrea Pate and their two daughters, Eowyn and Maia, are currently staying with Ondrea’s father Richard Brackenbury in Waterport.

The Pate residence on West Academy Street was damaged in an early morning fire. The cupola on the house burned and flames spread inside the home. It is a total loss.

Mrs. Pate said the family is awaiting action from their insurance company, but they were told it could take a year.

“We’re still in limbo,” she said today. “We’re taking it one day at a time.”

The family would like to stay in Albion so Eowyn can finish her senior year and Maia, an incoming freshman, can also graduate from Albion.

During the fire, Ondrea’s daughter Felicia was also in the house with her four children. They were visiting from the state of Alabama and have since returned.

Noreen Dixon and her sister Donna Halladay are organizing the Aug. 30 benefit. The Pates were great neighbors to their mother, Marguerite, checking in on her frequently, and responding in the middle of the night if she needed help.

“They have been so great to my mother,” Dixon said today. “They would do so much for her, and take her calls at all hours.”

The benefit at the Elks Lodge includes beef on wick dinners for $10, raffles, a Chinese auction and a candy bar. There will also be live music with the event outside at the pavilion as well as inside. There will also be take-outs available. Organizers are preparing for 500 dinners.

“They have pretty much lost everything,” Dixon said. “It’s a horrible thing to go through.”

For more on the benefit, click here.

Photo by Tom Rivers: The Pate family’s home on West Academy Street was badly damaged in a fire on June 20.

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District has ‘Thought exchange’ on school website to post concerns and questions

ALBION – The school district has scheduled three virtual parent forums on Aug. 19 to discuss the district’s reopening plan.

Scott Bischoping, the interim superintendent, will go over the reopening plan and also will take calls and emails during the forum. Parents also can call in at 589-2078 or send an email to Covid19Coordinator@albionk12.org.

The forums at 10 a.m., 4 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. will be held on the ACS YouTube channel. Each forum time has a different link. (Click here to be directed to the links for each forum.)

If parents are unavailable on Aug. 19, recordings of each meeting will be available to watch on our YouTube channel. Parents can continue to send emails to Covid19Coordinator@albionk12.org.

Albion also has a “Thought exchange” on the district website. School district stakeholders can click on the link, post thoughts, concerns or questions regarding reopening of our schools, and then have others rate it. They can also rate other stakeholder thoughts.

When more people rate the responses, district officials start to see a clearer picture of topics that are more of a concern.

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Matthew Farley is in intensive care after suffering third-degree burns during from a grease fire on Tuesday night.

ALBION – The mother of an Albion man who suffered third-degree burns in a grease fire on Tuesday night has started a GoFundMe to help pay for his medical care.

Matthew Farley was cooking in the kitchen at his West State Street residence when he suffered severe burns at about 10 p.m. on Tuesday.

His mother, Staci Donnelly, says he has third-degree burns throughout his body and is in intensive care at Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester.

“He will need much time in the hospital, and then a long road of physical therapy,” she posted on GoFundMe. “He will have to relearn many skills after his burns have healed. We are looking at a very long road ahead of us.”

She also asked the community to keep her son in their prayers.

“Please lift him up in prayer as we all know the power of prayer in numbers,” she said.

Click here to be directed to the GoFundMe for Farley.

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Photo by Tom Rivers: A crowd of about 1,000 people attended the National Night Out at Bullard Park in Albion on Aug. 6, 2019. One highlight was the “Battle of Belts.” Dillon Black, front right, and Dan Baase, both of the Albion Police Department, were part of a four-man team of law enforcement officers. They topped two other adult teams with a time of 51.39 seconds. The teams compete to see who is the fastest getting into car and fastening their seatbelts. Each member then must switch seats and again fasten their seat belts. The time ends when each person has sat in each seat in the car and the horn is honked.

Press Release, Albion Police Chief Roland Nenni

ALBION – It is with deep regret that we must announce that the 2020 National Night Out Event is being cancelled due to Covid-19 concerns.

The event was postponed from its original date of August 4 to October 6 with the hopes that the risks associated with Covid-19 would be mitigated by October. While we as a community have done an amazing job to control the infection rate, we cannot guarantee that our event could be held in a manner to keep people safe.

This is very unfortunate as the event helps connect people in need with resources that can be life changing. This is at a time when those resources are needed more than ever.

The National Night Out Committee has worked very hard to make this year’s event better than ever and we vow to make next year’s the best we have ever held.

The committee will continue to work hard to prepare for next year’s event. Any donations that were made to the event will be applied to next year’s event unless they are requested to be refunded. Next year’s event will be held on August 3, 2021 at Bullard Park.

Below is a list of past participants that may can be contacted if anyone needs that assistance that they offer to our community.

• Orleans United Drug Free Communities Coalition
• Tobacco Free GLOW
• Parent Network of WNY
• Oak Orchard Health
• OCALS Learning Services
• Catholic Charities Friendly Phones & Home Visitation Program
• Orleans County YMCA
• Care Net Center of Greater Orleans
• Light of Victory Church
• Albion Free Methodist Church Youth & Kids Ministry
• MHA of Genesee & Orleans County
• Orleans County STOP DWI
• ABCD at Holley
• Orleans County Child & Family Services
• Orleans Community Health
• Orleans County Department of Mental Health
• Medina Area Association of Churches (MAAC)
• The Arc of Genesee/Orleans Rainbow Preschool
• Community Action of Orleans & Genesee Child Care Resource and Referral (CCR&R)
• Orleans County Health Department
• Orleans County Suicide Prevention Coalition
• Fidelis Care
• Genesee/Orleans Ministry of Concern- Just Friends Youth Mentoring Program
• Genesee/Orleans Council on Alcoholism and Substance Abuse
• OC Valor MRC
• Hoag Library
• Orleans County Chamber of Commerce
• PACT
• Early Head Start Child Care Partnership
• ACT – Helping Youth ACT Responsibly
• Albion Lions Club

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Photos by Tom Rivers

ALBION – A new tugboat (second from left) named after Elizabeth Cady Stanton, a famed leader of the women’s suffrage movement, moves a barge in Albion on Monday, just east of the Ingersoll lift bridge.

The State Canal Corp. was trimming vegetation along the canal banks. The other tugboat at far left also is a new model of a tugboat on the canal.

The new tugboat was dedicated on May 17, 2019 in Rochester to start the canal’s navigational season.

Coline Jenkins, Stanton’s great-great granddaughter, was on hand to dedicate the 26-foot vessel, which is stationed at the Canal maintenance facility in Albion.

The Elizabeth Cady Stanton is shown Friday on the Erie Canal in Albion, between the lift bridges on Main Street and Ingersoll Street.

The Erie Canal, which opened for its 196th season this year, played a significant role in the women’s rights movement. In the 1800s, the canal was like an interstate highway. It was frequently traveled between Seneca Falls and Rochester as Cady Stanton and her fellow suffragists coordinated their campaign for women’s rights.

Seneca Falls, which is part of the state’s canal system, hosted the first women’s rights convention on July 19-20, 1848.

Cady Stanton was one of the key leaders of the convention and the movement. She was the primary author of the Declaration of Sentiments, a manifesto that called on women to fight for their Constitutionally guaranteed right to equality as U.S. citizens.

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Photos by Tom Rivers

ALBION – Mike Grabowski makes the cole slaw in the kitchen at the Elks Lodge this morning in preparation for the chicken barbecue and “Un-Lawn Fete” for the Holy Family Parish in Albion.

The church had 540 dinners available and they all sold ahead of time. They meals will be served by drive-through only in takeouts from 11:30 to 3:30 at the Elks Lodge on West State Street, drive-through only for takeouts.

“This is the 26th straight year for this wonderful opportunity to get friends and parishioners together—be it with a distance-required aspect,” Father Richard Csizmar, the parish priest, said in a message to parishioners. “This will help us meet the financial needs of our parish, especially our annual insurance obligations. Thanks to all those who have prepared so much for this day and those who will attend.”

The event also includes 50 baskets will also be up for raffle at the church grounds at 106 S. Main St. The basket raffle starts at 9 a.m. and goes until 4 p.m. The cash prize raffle includes two prizes of $500 and five prizes of $100.

This group preps the plastic bags for the takeouts. They include from left: Joan Adduci, Jean Shervin (in back), Lorriane Dibley and Michelle Grabowski.

Tony Navarra cooks the salt potatoes in the kitchen.

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