Courtesy of Wolfpack Multisports: The T-shirt for the Strawberry Festival 5K and 8K includes a strawberry in a space suit.

ALBION – Organizers of the 36^th annual Albion Strawberry Festival picked “Out of this World” for the theme of the two-day festival next month.

The festival committee thought the theme would build off all the hoopla for the solar eclipse on April 8. It wasn’t planned with lots of buildup like the eclipse, but the spectacle of the Northern Lights on the night of May 10-11 also had people looking to the skies.

Now, it’s up to the community and festival participants to rally around the theme. Becky Karls, the festival committee chairperson, wants to see many displays with a space theme for the parade at 10 a.m. on June 8. She said “Out of this World” lends itself to lots of creativity in the floats.

“I want to see more floats,” Karls said. “That would be my wish.”

Some of the events during the festival will feature the theme. Organizers of the 5K and 8K on June 8 unveiled the T-shirts for the race which show a strawberry in a space suit on a rocket. The dash plaques for the car show also have the festival theme.

The June 7-8 festival also will feature live music at four different locations, an arts and crafts show, many food vendors, and many other events.

Karls is leading the committee for the first time, after many years as a key volunteer.

“I love people and I love community events,” Karls said. “I think it’s great to have something in the community to bring people out.”

She said the committee has many dedicated volunteers who work well together.

The committee leaders include:

• Mark Johnson – Business/Information/Raffle Vendors
• Trevor Thaine – Craft/Artisan/Farm Market Vendors
• Mike Bonnewell – Parade Participants
• Rebecca Alexander – Food Booth Vendors
• Jason Tarnowski – Family Fun Center
• Bill Pileggi – Music/Bands
• Mckenna Boyer – School Royalty/Artwork
• Becky Karls – Turtle race and Car Cruise In

For more information on the festival, click here.

Photos by Tom Rivers

ALBION – A group of Albion eighth-graders spent today painitng a flower-themed mural on a utility building at Bullard Park.

Two years ago, students in teacher Kamie Feder’s art classes painted the back of the building with colorful flowers. On Thursday and today, students painted the sides and front of the building.

They used leftover paint from the previous project.

“We wanted to make it fun and colorful,” Feder said. “Otherwise it’s just a tan building.”

Ayme Vallejo Morales works on painting a flower on the building. The students all designed their flowers for the mural.

This building used to be the bathrooms at Bullard Park until a new pavilion with bathrooms opened in 2021.

Drake Schomske, center, works on the mural this morning.

There were eight students working on the project on Thursday. Today’s group included nine: Schomske, Ayme Vallejo Morales, Mackenzie Cook, Cordelia Rivers, Tra’Monie Walker, Adelaide Pettit, Sophia Bouchey, Nate Wehling and Arian Fazliu.

Some of Feder’s students also painted a “Welcome to Albion” canal mural on the fire hall last fall.

Provided photo: Pictured form left include Brycen Potter, Blair Allchin, Matthew Schomske, Liam Skowneski and Tres Allchin.

ALBION – An Albion boy chose to spend part of his 12^th birthday on Thursday serving food at the Orleans Koinonia Kitchen. Tres Allchin recruited helpers: his sister Blair, mother Courtney Henderson and friends Brycen Potter, Matthew Schomske and Liam Skowneski.

Tres wanted to give back instead of having a birthday party with his friends, his mother said. Serving at the kitchen is the beginning of a year-long “Tres takes 12” effort to help at different non-profit organizations at least monthly throughout the year.

“We were so thankful and blessed to have had Tres and his friends come and serve the community,” said Faith Smith, the OK Kitchen director. “They even stayed at the end and helped clean up, wiping tables down and then vacuuming. It was such a blessing to have this crew serving.”

The OK Kitchen served 690 meals on Thursday, and those meals were based on Tres’ favorite food of cornbread. The kitchen served BBQ chicken, pasta salad, cornbread and birthday cake, cupcake and cookies.

Tres and his friends want to come back to help at the OK Kitchen, Tres mother said.

“He understands that he has immense privilege and that unfortunately not everyone gets dealt that hand and he would like to help better other people’s lives in any way he can,” Henderson said.

John and Kelsey Dreisbach and their children are shown during happier times before Mrs. Dreisbach suffered a miscarriage and was hospitalized for septicemia.

ALBION – Diane Shiffer has built an enormous following on social media with nearly 1 million people on both Instagram and TikTok. She uses the hashtag: “YourChubbyVintageNana.”

She shares videos about fashion from a bygone era and her life at home in Albion, often sipping coffee and watering her plants. She spreads messages of kindness and tries to make her huge crowd of followers feel loved.

Diane Shiffer today on TikTok thanked her social media friends for responding in a big way to a GoFundMe effort for a Medina family. Shiffer has about 1 million followers on both Instagram and TikTok.

This week Shiffer did something out of the norm. She asked her social media followers to donate to a family in Medina that suffered a tragic loss.

Shiffer, a retired teacher, has a close friendship with Kelsey Dreisbach, who helps care for Shiffer’s daughter who has Down syndrome and often takes her on fun activities.

Dreisbach and her husband John have two children. They were pregnant with a third child, but Kelsey had a miscarriage and then was hospitalized with septicemia.

Shiffer two days ago shared on Instagram and TikTok about the Dreisbach’s heartbreak and the serious health challenges for Kelsey. Shiffer set up a GoFundMe fundraising account with a goal of $10,000 to help ease the financial strain on the family with Kelsey sidelined from work and her husband needing to work less to help care for the family.

Within 24 hours the GoFundMe was over $90,000. This afternoon, it stands at $99,850 and Shiffer will be turning off the donations button.

The response has stunned Shiffer and the Dreisbach family.

“There will never be words quite sufficient enough to express our gratitude, but we’re going to try,” Kelsey and John wrote on GoFundMe. “From the bottom of our hearts, thank you to every single person who has commented, messaged, prayed, or donated. Your support has been life-changing for our family. Not only have you provided financial stability for us, but your kind words have helped us heal. For so many people to pour out love, kindness, and support to ‘strangers’ is nothing short of amazing. More than ever before, we have been shown we are not alone – and that is invaluable.”

Shiffer today went to social media to thank the many donors who contributed, many in amounts from $5 to $25.

Shiffer acknowledged she thought it would take a week or more to reach $10,000. But the GoFundMe quickly passed that goal.

“You have all done such a wonderful thing,” Shiffer said in a video on her social media. “I hope it warms your heart. You can go through the day today knowing what you did helped a precious family and changed their lives.”

Shiffer was recently at the White House in recognition in building up such a following and doing it with wholesome, loving messages. Shiffer has 965,700 TikTok followers and 926,000 on Instagram.

“We are so incredibly grateful to each and every one of you, so humbled and so proud of this incredible community… thousands and thousands of you joined together to support a dear woman and her precious family, and you’ve lifted the burden of financial stress off their shoulders,” Shiffer shared with her social media followers.

In a message to the Orleans Hub, Kelsey Dreisbach said the outpouring of support has been such an unexpected surprise.

“The money has literally changed our lives and allowed us to remove financial worries from the equation for the first time ever,” she said. “And the comments and messages from people all over the world have helped me heal more than I would have ever expected – so many people have made it very clear that we are not alone.”

4 candidates seek 2 spots on the Board of Education

ALBION – The school district once again won’t be increasing the tax levy. Albion’s proposed $42,320,666 budget for 2024-25 keeps the tax levy at $8,449,039. This is now the 16th time in the past 18 years that taxes have either stayed the same or decreased.

Albion’s budget is $323,436 under the allowable tax cap of $8,772,476.

“Our priority, first and foremost, is providing a well-rounded education for each child in our community,” Board of Education President Wayne Wadhams said in a budget message on the district website. “Due to our history of conservative financial planning, we will continue to propose a tax levy with a zero percent increase while remaining committed to the development and promotion of good character and qualities that future citizens must possess.”

The budget vote will be from noon to 8 p.m. on May 21 and will be held at the Hoag Library instead of the at the school district’s conference room. The district currently is working on construction projects and district superintendent Mickey Edwards said the shift to Hoag Library for the vote should “ensure a seamless voting process for the community.”

(The annual art show for the district will also be on display at Hoag Library. The FFA barbecue will remain at the high school so the food can be kept at the proper temperatures.)

School officials will discuss the budget and propositions during a hearing on May 14 at 6 p.m. in Albion High School’s LGI.

The total spending in the budget is $42,320,666, an increase of $505,819 or 1.2 percent. The 1.2 percent increase matches what the district could have in a contingency budget.

State aid remains the district’s biggest source of funding at $32,774,455, up from $32,473,385 in 2023-24. State aid accounts for 77.4 percent of the Albion budget.

Voters will also see a separate proposition to make bus purchases up to $650,000 from reserve funds, and a proposition also to establish a capital improvement reserve fund for up to $15 million.

There also is a proposition to collect $664,510 for Hoag Library, which is up 1.5 percent from the $654,100 in 2023-24.

There are two seats up for election. Long-time board member David Sidari isn’t seeking re-election. Linda Weller, a current member, is seeking another five-year term. She is joined on the ballot by Tim McMurray, Derek Reiner and Kelly Kirby.

ALBION – Hoag Library will have its annual meeting today at 7 p.m., and voters in the library service area of central Orleans will elect two people to be trustees.

There are three people running for two positions with four-year terms. Voting is from noon to 7 p.m. at the library.

Kevin Doherty and Jim Babcock, the incumbents, are back on the ballot, along with Carole Patterson, a former board member from 2009 to 2013.

Patterson is retired from The Village of Orleans. She was part fo the feasibility study with the Ivy Partners for the new Hoag Library before it was built in 2012. She remains invoIved with the Friends of Hoag Library.

“My vision for the future as part of the Hoag Library board is to support and address staff concerns, support and assist with new program ideas,” Patterson said in a candidate statement on the library website. “I would like to see a daytime book club for members of the community who are unable to attend evening sessions. Continue to support Friends of Hoag as outside support for library needs not included in annual budget. I feel the library is the cornerstone of Albion providing services for the entire community.”

Kevin Doherty was the board president when the new library was built. He owns a technology services company, Doherty Communications, and is a former member of the Board of Education.

Jim Babcock, a local contractor, also has been involved in many community efforts.

“I believe the library is a valuable asset to the community and with great stewardship it can continue to be,” Babcock said.

Photos by Tom Rivers

ALBION – The Albion Rotary Club welcomed Marlene Seielstad as a new member of the club today during its meeting at the Tavern of the Ridge. Club President Doug Farley, right, is pleased to have Seielstad in Rotary.

Seielstad is an associate broker with Snell Realtors. She is a former member of the Albion Board of Education and has been involved in many community organizations, including the Albion Music Boosters and local robotics team through the Cornell Cooperative Extension.

The Rotary Club also was visited today by former exchange student Aline Lyra and her son Joaquin Caparroz, who are from Brazil. Lyra was a student at Albion in 1999-2000 and stayed with host families, Chris and Pat Haines and Nancy and Ron Good.

Lyra now works as an orthodontist. Her son has been an exchange student at Southwestern High School, staying with host families in the Jamestown area.

Lyra said her sisters were also exchange students, one in Australia and the other in New Zealand.

Lyra’s family also has hosted several students, and she strongly supported her son spending this school year in Western New York.

“The Rotary exchange has been such a great part of our lives,” she said.

ALBION – The Albion and Gaines town boards, and the Albion Village Board met this evening at the Albion Village Office to redo their votes from April 24 when the three municipalities voted to form the Albion Joint Fire District.

The boards again voted in favor of the joint fire district. However, the vote this evening doesn’t name five fire commissioners. They were to serve from July 1 until an election in December.

The three boards are expected to appoint the temporary commissioners in the near future. The Albion and Gaines boards will each get two representatives with one from the village to be named by the Albion Village Board.

The five commissioners named on April 24 include Al Cheverie and Gary Mumford to represent the Town of Gaines. The Village of Albion had one representative, former village trustee David Buczek. The Town of Albion had two representatives, Chuck Nesbitt and Jeremy Babcock. Cheverie and Babcock are current members of the Albion Fire Department.

Joyce Riley, deputy mayor for the village, said the names were suggested by fire department leaders. Some community members want the boards to pick the representatives, Riley said.

“The people spoke and we listened,” she said after a 6-minute meeting at the Village Office.

The boards are discussing the process of appointing people, whether there will be applications from community members or recommendations from the fire department, or other ways.

There was some criticism in the community since the April 24 meeting that the village was only to have one representative, but more than one of the five initial appointees were village residents.

Richard Remley, the Albion town supervisor, said he isn’t committed to having the town’s two representatives both live outside the village in the town. Part of the village is in the town of Albion, and another part is in the town of Gaines.

“The quality of the person is more important to me than the residence,” Remley said after this evening’s meeting.

He would like to have some of the initial commissioners be familiar with the workings of as fire department, fire equipment and apparatus.

The Albion and Gaines boards vote this evening to form the joint fire district starts the 30-day clock to force a permissive referendum for residents who want to bring the issue to a public vote. Some residents have been vocal about their concern with a much bigger budget for fire protection, something Albion Fire Department officials say is needed whether it’s through a fire district or the current model.

The community has been getting fire protection from the Albion Fire Department. The towns of Albion and Gaines pay the village a fire protection contract for the service outside the village.

The new joint district will be its own taxing entity, with its own elected fire commissioners. It will replace the current setup where the Albion Fire Department is part of the Albion village budget, with the Albion Village Board serving as a commissioners overseeing the department and determining its funding.

The new joint fire protection district would likely have an annual budget of about $750,000 to $850,000. That is more than double the current $350,000 for the fire department.

That amount is much too low and doesn’t include any money for reserve funds to help pay for fire trucks and equipment, John Papponetti, the deputy fire chief, said during a public hearing on April 24 at the LGI in the high school.

With an $850,000 budget the tax rates for fire protection would change from the current 93 cents per $1,000 in Albion and 80 cents in Gaines to about $2.00 for the two towns and village, according to the presentation from Papponetti.

If the joint district stands – with or without a referendum – it would take effect on Jan. 1. That’s when it would start with its own budget, and the joint district would own the fire trucks and equipment. The village is keeping the fire hall on Platt Street and will lease the space to the fire district.

The first five commissioners are expected to serve about six months. If the joint fire district goes forward, there will be an election for five fire commissioners in December. In that first election, the candidate with the most votes gets a five-year term, then the fourth most gets four years, down to the candidate with the fifth-most votes getting a one-year term.

After that first election, there will be an election for just one position for a five-year term in the following years.

The three municipal boards this evening also voted to empower the joint fire district to have the power to acquire real property or easements without permission of the Albion Village Board, the Albion Town Board or the Gaines Town Board.

Provided photos

ALBION – Leo Gotte, left, and Graham Kirby crossed over from Cub Scouts to Boy Scouts on Monday evening with Troop 164 in Albion.

Both boys earned Cub Scouts’ highest honor, the Arrow of Light. Both boys were in Troop 164’s first kindergarten Lions den which started with a few dozen scouts. On Monday, they are 5th graders moving up. Covid took a hit to scouts’ participation. Leo and Graham were praised for sticking with Scouts when some of the activities were derailed from Covid.

This group photo shows Cub Scout Troop 164 and Boy Scout Troop 164 with Cub Scout leaders Ben Metcalf and Justin Kirby, and Boy Scout leaders Jeff Braley and Dan Flanagan. Leo and Graham both crossed the bridge to Boy Scouts.

ALBION – The Albion Village Board adopted a $8,194,333 village budget for 2024-25 on Thursday that raises the tax rate by $1.27 – from $19.13 to $20.40 per $1,000 of assessed property.

The tax levy, what the village will collect in property taxes, increased by 6.6 percent or by $194,340 – from $2,923,473 to $3,117,813.

This is the first time the village tax rate tops $20. Medina a year ago was the first village where the tax rate went over $20. Medina went through reassessments last year and the new assessments added $100 million to Medina’s tax base, allowing that village to drop the tax rate from $21.16 to $13.97 with its new budget for 2024-25.

Albion doesn’t have the new reassessments on the official rolls yet. That will likely happen next year.

For the 2024-25 budget. Albion’s tax base shrunk slightly by less than 0.1 percent or by $74,424 – from $152,867,932 to $152,793,508.

The preliminary numbers for 2025-26 show a growth in the village tax base by about 40 percent or $62 million to $214.8 million. But the Village Board has to wait until next year to have those numbers, which will be finalized after the grievance process if property owners challenge their new assessments.

The village budget for 2024-25 totals $8,194,333 with $4,701,848 in the general fund, $2,068,150 in the water fund, and $1,424,335 in the sewer fund.

UPDATE at 1:10 p.m.: Albion Mayor Angel Javier Jr. said he did not vote for the budget that exceeded the tax cap. He said the village is headed towards consolidation with the Town of Albion “as village taxes exceed the state-mandated cap.”

He said village taxpayers will continue to see more tax increases, and higher fees – including water, sewer and fire protection.

Company looks to add parking at site that used to be a doctor’s office

ALBION – The Orleans County Planning Board voted in favor of a request from Crosby’s to change the zoning of 210 South Main St. from residential-commercial to general commercial.

The Planning Board reviewed a referral from the Village of Albion during a meeting on Thursday, and the board recommended Albion approve the request from Crosby’s owner, Reid Petroleum of Lockport.

Crosby’s in early March had a house that used to be a doctor’s office knocked down at 210 South Main, next to the Crosby’s store at the southwest corner of routes 98 and 31. Crosby’s wants to add 10 more parking spaces to the now vacant land. The company also wants to have two new 20,000-gallon underground storage tanks, with those tanks partly on the lot next to Crosby’s.

The company could do the project under the current zoning but would prefer to have both sites be zoned general commercial.

John Pastore, director of Real Estate at Reid Petroleum, met with the Albion Village Board on April 10 and said the company also would like to eventually add four electric charging stations for vehicles in the future, and they would likely be the faster-charging level 3 units.

The plan for the now vacant land also includes an outdoor sitting area, expanded dumpster coral, 6-foot high fencing and landscaping.

Pastore said the land acquisition gives Crosby’s a chance for better traffic circulation at the Albion store, which he said is one of the company’s best-performing sites.