Photo by Tom Rivers

ALBION – The Albion Rotary Club awarded $3,000 in scholarships to graduating seniors today. Pictured, from left, include Rotary Club President Alex Krebs, Leah Kania, Sawyer Braley and James Beach.

James Beach won the $1,250 Edward Archbald Memorial Scholarship, given to a senior who shares Archbald’s love of sports, recreational activities, community service and work experience. James has been an honor roll student, who has been active in the music program while playing on the tennis and golf teams. He also is in the chess and robotics clubs. He worked at Tops and volunteered over 100 hours at the Barre Presbyterian Church. He will be majoring in cybersecurity at Rochester Institute of Technology.

Leah Kania won the Dick Eddy “Service Above Self” Scholarship, a $1,250 award that is given to a student committed to community service and leadership, and who displays high potential for future accomplishment. Leah has been very active in the school chorus, band and drama programs. She has been a Student Council officer all four years of high school and is the current president. She is a member of the Rotary Interact Club, Close-Up Club and Multicultural/Diversity Club. Leah is the class valedictorian who gave more than 125 hours of community service. She will major in vocal performance at Baldwin Wallace University in Ohio.

Sawyer Braley was awarded the $500 Rotary Career Advancement Prize for a senior committed to community service, school activities and work experience. Sawyer is an Eagle Scout candidate who has been active on a trapshooting team and on the school’s soccer team. He will be in an advanced welding program at the Kentucky Welding Institute.

Photos by Tom Rivers

ALBION – Firefighters work to put out a fire in a truck on Wednesday outside the Albion Walmart.

The truck was picking up used tires from the Walmart. It had more than 400 tires on it when the vehicle was engulfed in flames. The truck is owned by HTI Recycling of Lockport.

Orleans County Fire Investigator Cole Hardenbrook determined the fire was caused by an electrical issue in the truck box, the Orleans County Emergency Management Agency reported today.

Firefighters were dispatched to the scene at 5:39 p.m. The store was evacuated.

A fire-suppression foam from the Barre Volunteer Fire Company helped to smother the flames and eventually put the fire out.

The store was able to reopen about two hours after the fire at 7:30 p.m.

ALBION – The Albion Police Department will be offering a Civilian Response to Active Shooter Events (CRASE) course to the community.

The course is designed and built on the Avoid, Deny, Defend strategy developed by the Advanced Law Enforcement Rapid Response Training (ALERRT).

Topics include the history and prevalence of active shooter events, the role of professional guardians, civilian response options. There will be examples of things to do in case of an active shooter event.

The Albion Police Department is committed to keeping the community safe and wants to gauge the interest from the community in the class, the department said in an email.

Depending the interest there may be more than one class on different dates. Those interested should send an email to contact@albionpolice.com and mention you are interested in the CRASE training.

The Albion PD would like to offer the trainings within the next month. If a business owner is interested the Police Department would be willing to conduct a training for all of the employees if they cannot attend the training.

Photos by Tom Rivers

ALBION – A fire with a truck holding 400-plus tires is out and the Albion Walmart has reopened to customers. The above photo was taken at about 7:20 p.m. Firefighters pulled out some of the tires that weren’t on fire.

Firefighters and Code Enforcement Officer Dan Strong tested the air quality and deemed it was safe for people to be in the building. The store reopened at about 7:30 p.m.

About two hours earlier a truck full of used tires was on fire. The truck was backed up to the store at the auto center on the west side. Firefighters had the driver of HTI Recycling of Lockport move the truck away from the store. That likely saved the building from significant damage.

Albion Fire Chief Rob Conner said water didn’t help put out the fire. Instead, they used a special firefighting foam to smother the fire. The Barre Volunteer Fire Company used about 110 gallons of the concentrated foam. When mixed with water that is more than 1,000 gallons that were put on the fire.

No one was injured due to the fire, Conner said.

Orleans County Emergency Management also brought its foam trailer to the scene.

The DEC Spill Team and the State Office of Fire Prevention and Control were called to the scene due to runoff from the foam.

Orleans County fire investigators are on the scene to determine a cause of the fire. An excavator from the Orleans County DPW also will be used to take off the side of the box of the truck so the other tires can more easily be removed.

Photos by Tom Rivers

ALBION – Firefighters are trying to put out a fire on a truck that is loaded with more than 400 used tires next to the Albion Walmart.

The fire spewed dark smoke on the west side of Walmart. The store has been evacuated.

Firefighters were dispatched to the scene at 5:39 p.m. Barre firefighters were also called to use a special foam to try to contain the fire.

The truck is from HTI Recycling of Lockport. A Sheriff’s deputy said the driver started the truck and felt a pop and then noticed an electrical fire up high in the truck.

Fire investigators have been called.

No additional information is available.

Barre firefighters, including Doug Bentley (lower left), are on scene, trying to put out the fire.

The fire is on the back side of Albion in a truck by the auto center.

Photos by Tom Rivers

ALBION – Employees from the Iroquois Job Corps in Shelby teamed this morning with staff and volunteers at Community Action of Genesee & Orleans for a pop-up food distribution.

The distribution is at a new location starting today. Instead of the Main Street Thrift Store parking lot on Main Street, the distribution will be at 165 Platt Street in the municipal parking lot that serves CRFS and is next to Dubby’s Tailgate. It is across the street from Dunkin’ Donuts.

Katrina Chaffee, director of Community Services and Reporting, puts packages of dates in a box. About 200 vehicles passed through the distribution with many starting to line up at 6:30 in the morning.

Organizers ask that people not start to line up before 7:30 a.m. to help with traffic issues.

At the Main Street location, the cars and trucks backed up in the side streets and even onto to Main Street, making it difficult for school buses and other vehicles.

At the municipal lot, the vehicles were able to be parked in rows, off the village streets.

Ernest Gursslin unpacks boxes of dates and also a frozen pasta meal. Gursslin is a volunteer with Community Action.

The food is delivered by Foodlink and is available for free to residents.

The dates for the distribution in Albion for the rest of the year include July 25, Aug. 8, Sept.12, Oct. 17, Nov. 14 and Dec. 12.

The Lyndonville Presbyterian Church and Cornell Cooperative Extension of Orleans County also run food distributions.

Cameron Richardson helps organize bags of onions and potatoes.

Photos by Tom Rivers

ALBION – Abby Kipler plays the sousaphone for the Albion Purple Eage Marching Band on Saturday during the Strawberry Festival parade, which returned after being cancelled in 2020 and 2021 due to Covid.

There were nine bands in the parade, which started at the school at 10 a.m. and ended at 11:30 in the downtown.

Alektra Hess plays the saxophone for the Albion marching band. This year the theme for the band’s show is “For Peace, Justice, and Good,” which is a tribute to superheroes.

The Mark Time Marchers were back for the parade in Albion.

Rochester Scottish Pipes & Drums made their presence felt.

The Mighty St. Joe’s Alumni Corps doesn’t shy away from a big drum line.

The Holley-Kendall Marching Band performed in the parade.

The Holley-Kndall band wears the colors from both schools. The band has grown in members this year.

The Hit Man from Rochester brought a big brass sound to the parade.

The White Sabers Drum and Bugle Corps based in Dansville returned to Albion for the parade on Saturday.

The Pembroke Marching Dragons have been a parade mainstay for years.

These four rocked on this float to promote the upcoming Sumer Festival featuring Rock the Park on Aug. 6 at Bullard Park. Several bands will perform that day from Aug. 6. That event is dedicated in memory of Jonathan Doherty, who was an active community volunteer.

Pictured form left include Mike Whiting, Dylan DeSmit, Zack Burgess and Chad DeSmit.

Photos by Tom Rivers

ALBION – Sheryl Watts is a Minion from the Despicable Me movie was a popular character in Albion’s Strawberry Festival parade on Saturday morning. The Minion was made of balloons from Air Raising Events. Watts is the owner and designer for that business.

She was one of 46 floats in the parade that started at 10 a.m. and ended at 11:30 a.m. The parade returned after being cancelled in 2020 and 2021 due to Covid-19 restrictions.

Dancing Derrick Bradley dressed in the Weed Man costume with a caravan of Weed Man trucks.

A big crowd lined Main Street for the parade. The procession started at the school district on Route 31 and then went north on Main Street to the Erie Canal.

Burger King’s mascot, the Burger King, waves to the crowd from a trailer during the parade.

Subway also had a costumed character in the parade.

Jeffrey Brown and Faith Bennett, both Albion High School seniors, wave to the spectators as the fair king and queen.

Colton Chappius tosses while sitting up high on some of his construction equipment.

Christine Nenni is dressed as a friendly bear in this display from Party Tyme Rentals.

The Barre Cubs acknowledge the crowd. The Cubs are back for another season in the Albion Midget League. The Cubs are one of five teams in the league this year. Barre also is an original team from when the league started in 1956.

The Girl Scouts joined the parade and encouraged local youth to be part of the organization.

U.S. veterans Ron Ayrault, left, and Mike Donahue march in the parade as the honor guard which also included Joe Gehl.

Erica Wanecski of Medina promotes the master gardener program at the Cornell Cooperative Extension in Orleans County.

Lori Laine tosses candy from a float for Frontier Heating & A/C Service. She is joined by her son Mike Laine, front left, and son-in-law Rex Harvey.

Kerry Panek gives some of her granddaughters a ride in style in a classic pickup truck.

This dachshund enjoys a breeze and all the action in the parade.

Judith Koehler and her husband Michael Bonafede were the honorary chairs of the parade. They have both volunteered for many years in the annual event.

Photos by Tom Rivers

ALBION – The return of the Albion Strawberry Festival also meant the Amazing Turtle Race is back.

There were 1,000 rubber turtles unleashed (at a very slow speed) into the Erie Canal today just after 2 p.m.

The turtles are dumped from bins into the canal and the first five finishers earn cash prizes for people who hold the tickets to those turtles’ numbers. The turtles are numbered 1 to 1,000. The tickets are $5 each or 5 for $20. Proceeds go towards the Strawberry Festival.

Aubrey Kennedy wore the hot turtle costume during the parade and then at the turtle race. Mickey Edwards, the Albion school district superintendent, stands next to the Turtle. Edwards was picked to dump a bin of turtles into the canal.

Jarred Saj is recognized for being the top turtle ticket seller with 315 tickets sold.

Of the five winning tickets, Saj sold four of them.

Some of the honorary turtle bin dumpers included, from right, County Legislator Skip Draper, Albion Mayor Angel Javier Jr. and Albion Village Trustee Zack Burgess, Jarred Saj, Police Chief David Mogle, and Mickey Edwards, school district superintendent.

Assemblyman Steve Hawley again served as emcee for the race and called the action as the turtles trekked down the canal.

Jay Kovaelski collects the turtles from the chute in the canal.

The top five prizes went to:

• $500 – Donna Moore
• $300 – Jen Watts
• $100 – Maxine Gray
• $50 – Dan Conrad
• $50 – Dan Thurber