Photos by Tom Rivers

ALBION – Canvas prints from photographer Sharon Gavenda of Point Breeze are on display at the Marti’s On Main art gallery in Albion at 20 South Main St.

A new show featuring Gavenda, Judy Wenrich and Tom Rivers opened on Aug. 16. The artwork can be seen by calling Kim Martillotta-Muscarella, gallery owner, at (585) 590-9211.

This is the first show for Sharon Gavenda, a nurse. She has been honing her skills as a photographer the past 15 years. It started with a trip to Maine when she was awestruck by the landscapes.

“It was so beautiful that I found myself taking photos,” she said.

She has many images in the gallery from when she is on early morning jogs and captures the sunrise in the Point Breeze area.

Judy Wenrich of Kendall is pictured with some of her oil pastels of animals. Wenrich, a retired social worker, has been a featured artist at Marti’s for many years, and that often focused on paintings of horses. She has expanded her repertoire for the exhibit at Marti’s.

Wenrich has 13 pieces on display at Marti’s, including some whimsical captions. She likes to give the animals expressions.

“Everyone has their own style,” she said.

Photo by Kim Martillotta-Muscarella: Orleans Hub editor Tom Rivers also has about 25 photos in the exhibit. Here I am standing by one in downtown Albion after a fresh snowfall. Two in the back include a fire at a historic home in Holley, and a kayaker on Lake Ontario during a sunset.

These photos include a Black Lives Matter march in Medina, the “Believe” sign during swirling snow in Albion, a Santa during an Albion parade, Albion firefighters during a lighted parade last December, and two from the grease pole competition at the Orleans County 4-H Fair.

There are other local scenes in the exhibit and pictures of people who I miss seeing around town including Brennan Moody, Jonathan Doherty, Angela English and Al Capurso.

The next opening reception at Marti’s will be Sept. 20 from 6 to 9 p.m., featuring oil paintings by Tom Zangerle, and oil and watercolors by Sarah Hyatt.

Photos by Tom Rivers

KNOWLESVILLE – Zyann Pore sings “Praise” with other members of the Shiloh Youth Choir during today’s Gospel Fest at the Orleans County 4-H Fairgrounds.

About 500 people attended the event, which included the sale of 200 chicken barbecues dinners. Trellis Pore, pastor of the Shiloh Church in Albion, cooked the chicken dinners which were paired with corn casserole made by his mother, Brenda Gabrielson.

Proceeds from today’s event will go to a building expansion fund for the Shiloh Church.

The Shiloh Youth Choir sings “Lion” during the Gospel Fest.

The “Good News” band performed first, followed by the Shiloh “Littles” who are young children at the church. After the youth choir, the adult choir from Shiloh sang religious and uplifting music.

Trellis Pore, pastor of the church, preaches from the stage. He urged people to “let go and let God.” Pore said people need to get out of a religious routine and instead strive for a relationship with God.

E-YAH-Pah-Hah has 3 other concerts in September, October

Provided photo: E-YAH-Pah-Hah Wind Quintet (Town Crier) includes, from left: Susan Walders, flute; Darren Pully, oboe; Maggie Warren, horn; Kae Wilbert, bassoon; and Scott Horsington, clarinet.

ALBION – A quintet that started last year performing classical Native American music has four upcoming concerts, including 7:30 p.m. on Aug. 29 at the Albion Town Hall.

E-YAH-Pah-Hah, the “Town Crier,” will do a mini premiere of three of five movements of a new piece, “Postcards of Native America,” by Native American composer Dr. Charles Shadle, Choctaw, who teaches theory and composition at MIT.

Kae Wilbert, a retired Churchville-Chili music teacher, lives in Albion and is a leader in the group as well as a bassoon player. She is a descendant of the Oklahoma Cherokee.

The group started last year, performing for the first time at Camp Asbury in Perry, a United Methodist camp. The musicians wanted to share Native music with youth. That desire has spread to sharing the music with the community.

“People rarely hear Native American classical music,” she said.

The group rehearses at the Disciples United Methodist Church in Clarendon, where Wilbert is a member.

“I’ve always loved woodwind quartets. I wanted to keep playing,” she said.

Besides the concert on Aug. 29 in Albion, E-YAH-Pah-Hah’s performance schedule includes:

• Sept. 16 at 7:30 p.m. at College of Brockport Music Department
• Oct. 5 at 3 p.m. at Cobblestone Church in Gaines
• Oct. 27 at 3 p.m. with Daystar Dance Company, Seneca Art and Culture Center Auditorium at Ganondagan State Historic Site in Victor.

“The music is very rewarding,” Wilbert said. “The musicians are quite good and all very focused.”

Four of the musicians have college degrees in music, while the fifth member has a medical degree.

The Aug. 29 concert is also part of a classical music series at Albion that is funded with a grant from GO Art!

Other concerts in that series include the Geneseo Wind Quintet with faculty from SUNY Geneseo Music Department. They will be performing at the Albion Town Hall on Clarendon Road on Sept. 18 at 6:30 p.m.

The Music Educators Wind Ensemble will perform Dec. 12 at 7:30 p.m. at the Albion Middle School Auditorium.

Press Release, Orleans County Historical Association

ALBION – The final summer cemetery tour will be held this Sunday at Mt. Albion Cemetery.  The tour will begin at 6 p.m. in front of the chapel. The tour is approximately 0.7 miles in length on mostly flat surfaces. We will tour behind the chapel and the western section of Mt. Albion.

Retired Orleans County Historian Bill Lattin and Village of Albion Historian Sue Starkweather Miller will lead the tour sharing stories of community-minded people who made a positive difference in Albion.

“One of the stops on the tour will highlight professional animal painter Peter B. West and how a painting of his led me on a journey to learning about George D. Harris, a prolific builder and contractor,” Starkweather Miller said. “Many of us may have heard of his family members, Medal of Honor recipient Charles D. Harris and Lydia Harris, who died in the Main Street bridge collapse on September 28, 1859. But I never knew about George and his accomplishments in Albion. I think people will be interested in his story.”

Donna Strickland Rodden will also be highlighted on the tour. The chapel, built in 1875, was dedicated to her in 1997. Rodden was the first female mayor of Albion, serving from 1973-1983. Her influence and care for preserving local history has made a lasting impact on our community and Mt. Albion.

The summer series of tours is sponsored by the Orleans County Historical Association.  Please go to their website at www.orleanshistory.org for more information on upcoming events including monthly programs at the Gaines Basin Schoolhouse and a chicken barbecue fundraiser on Aug. 31.

Provided photo

ALBION – The appointed treasurer and five commissioners for the Albion Joint Fire District met on Tuesday for the Albion Joint Fire District.

Pictured from left include Victoria Tabor, the treasurer; and commissioners David Buczek, Al Cheverie, Craig Lane, Joe Martillotta and Chris Kinter.

The commissioners picked Cheverie, a former president of the Albion Fire Department, to serve as the group’s chairman. A secretary will be appointed by the commissioners at the next meeting.

The joint fire district was approved in a public referendum on Aug. 6 by voters in the towns of Albion and Gaines.

Buczek was appointed by the Albion Village Board, while Martillotta and Kinter were picked by the Albion Town Board, and Cheverie and Lane by the Gaines Town Board.

The group in the coming months will be working on the 2025 budget for the joint fire district. They also will be developing policies and procedures, and setting up banking and insurance for the district. The commissioners will meet the second and fourth Thursdays.

The five will serve until the end of this year. There will be an election in December for five commissioners in terms of 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 years, depending on the vote totals for each. The highest vote-getter gets the 5-year term and then the term length goes in descending order of votes. After the December election, the commissioner election should be just one position up for election each year.

Photos by Tom Rivers

ALBION – Highway 31 had Bullard Park rocking on Wednesday evening during the Village of Albion’s summer concert series.

The band performed on the amphitheater, and played ’90s music, contemporary country and some rock.

The band members include Rich Nolan of Gasport as lead singer, and the guitar trio of Aaron Clark of Holley, Clinton LaPorte of Le Roy, and Clinton’s dad Tim LaPorte Sr. of Batavia. Timmy LaPorte of Elba, Tim’s son and Clinton’s brother, is the drummer for the band.

The guitar trio includes, from left: Aaron Clark, Clinton LaPorte and Tim LaPorte Sr.

Timmy LaPorte pounds the skins as drummer.

Highway 31 always draws a good-size crowd when they perform in Albion.

The summer concert series closes out next Wednesday with Soul Street from the Buffalo area.

The series is funded with state arts money administered by the Genesee-Orleans Regional Arts Council.

Press Release, Albion Central School

ALBION – Albion Central School District will be offering free breakfast and lunch for all students throughout the 2024-25 academic year.

As part of the federal Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) program, each student grades PreK-12 will be offered a free breakfast and lunch every day.

“We are excited to announce that Albion Central School District will continue to offer all of our students two free meals a day,” said Mickey Edwards, superintendent of Albion Central School. “It’s crucial that our students enter the classroom ready to learn, and that begins with a nutritious breakfast. The more we can prepare them for success, the better their outcomes will be.”

In order to continue this wonderful program for our entire district, it is extremely important that families who meet the income eligibility guidelines complete the Household Income Eligibility Form.

Please return completed forms to:

• Mail: Albion CSD Re: CEP Form 324 East Avenue, Albion, NY 14411
• Fax: 585-589-2059
• Email: kmcgaffick@albionk12.org

We are excited to be able to provide this opportunity to our students and their families. Please contact Katie McGaffick at 585-589-2056 with any questions.

Press Release, Albion Police Chief Dave Mogle

ALBION – On behalf of the Village of Albion and the Albion Central School District, the Village of Albion Police Department would like to remind motorists that the start of the new school year is just over two weeks away, with staff returning to Albion Schools on Tuesday, September 3rd and students returning on Wednesday, September 4th.

As such, the Albion Police Department is asking motorists to take their time and use extra caution while driving through the Village of Albion, especially along Route 31 in front of the school district as there will be an increase in pedestrian and school bus traffic.

With funding from the Governor’s Traffic Safety Committee, the Albion Police Department will have extra patrols on for the start of the new school year to ensure the safety of our School District Staff and Students. We would like to remind motorists that the speed limit in the School Zone on Route 31 is 20 mph from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. on all school days.

We would also like to remind motorists of the crosswalk on State Route 31 at McKinstry Street, which is used heavily by our students as they go to and from school, especially between 7:15-7:45 a.m. and 2:15-2:45 p.m. Even more caution will need to be used during this time while passing the schools.

The Albion Police Department is excited to see the return of our students and with your help, we hope to have a fun and safe school year.

Charlie Nesbitt has scoured internet, estate sales for yearbooks, postcards, other Albion area artifacts

Photos by Tom Rivers: Charlie Nesbitt last week donated boxes of old Albion Chevron yearbooks, newspapers, postcards and other memorabilia from the Albion. Nesbitt has been collecting the items the past 25 years. He gave them to Hoag Library where they will be in the local history section. Pictured from left include Betty Sue Miller, Hoag Library director, Charlie Nesbitt, Vllage of Albion Historian Sue Starkweather Miller, County Historian Catherine Cooper and Dee Robinson, local history librarian.

ALBION – Charlie Nesbitt for the past 25 years kept up an intense hobby of collecting memorabilia from his beloved hometown.

Nesbitt, a retired state assemblyman, often searched eBay and other websites to see if there were postcards, old newspapers and other interesting items from Albion. He expanded that hunt to Barre, Gaines, Carlton, Waterport and Point Breeze.

He checked out estate sales, and bought old Chevron yearbooks from Albion, as well as the school literacy magazine. He has company reports from Liptons, Albion’s largest private employer until it closed in 1980, and the annual statements from Arnold Gregory Memorial Hospital.

Nesbitt filed protective sleeves with many postcards from the early 1900s, and throughout the past century, depictions of a vibrant downtown and a thriving community.

Nesbitt’s friends and others in the community heard he would eagerly accept their scrapbooks of newspaper clippings. Nesbitt knows many people, and he would gladly copy and share the clippings, which could include the team photo of the 1947 Albion football team.

But now Nesbitt is ready to share the massive collection. Last week he delivered about a dozen banker boxes full of Albion yearbooks and memorabilia. They were donated to the local history collection at Hoag Library. He was happily greeted by local history librarian Dee Robinson, and historians Susan Starkweather Miller and Catherine Cooper.

“It’s remarkable what we have here,” Starkweather Miller said about the collection.

Robinson said residents or former Albionites in the past have donated a few items to the collection, often a few letters or a book. Nesbitt by far has exceeded those contributions with the big trove of materials.

Charlie Nesbitt hunted down many old newspapers, including this copy of The Orleans Whig from July 11, 1827. The Whig was published every Wednesday in Gaines. “That’s a beauty,” Catherine Cooper, the county historian, said about the newspaper.

There are about 100 yearbooks donated by Nesbitt, going back to 1912. Those yearbooks plus what Hoag already had, should make for a complete collection, with duplicates. Those “extras” could be borrowed and taken out for people to comb through.

Robinson will work on cataloguing and organizing the materials.

“This is the largest collection that has ever been given by a citizen,” Robinson said.

Nesbitt said he wanted to share the materials with the community.

“I’ve collected it and someone should benefit from it,” he said. “Some of these treasures are so interesting.”

Cooper, the county historian, said the postcards includes quick remarks about life in the day. She enjoys seeing people reflections on their lives and what was going on in the community and world.

Nesbitt said he isn’t done gathering mementoes about the Albion area.

“It’s been fun,” he said. “I still look every day.”

County Historian Catherine Cooper, left, and local history librarian Dee Robinson look through the trove of items Charlie Nesbitt delivered to the library this past week.

The arch leading into Mount Albion Cemetery is featured here in a memento from the early 1900s.

The group shares a laugh over comments written in an old Chevron yearbook.

Photos by Tom Rivers

ALBION – About 75 people attended a tour on Sunday evening at the cemetery for the Orleans County Alms House on County House Road.

The event is part of the Sunday evening cemetery tours this month organized by the Orleans County Historical Association. The first tour on Aug. 4 featured the West Ridgeway Cemetery. The next tour at 6 p.m. will be at St. Mary’s in Medina followed by Mount Albion on Aug. 25.

Tim Archer, a retired teacher at Albion, speaks during Sunday’s evening highlighting a once-forgotten cemetery.

Archer was working as a service learning teacher at Albion in 2010 when his seventh-grade students became interested in the site. Bill Lattin, the county historian at the time, was speaking in Archer’s class about how there used to be the Alms or “Poor House” on County House Road from 1833 to 1960. The Alms House closed in 1960 when the county nursing home opened on Route 31 in Albion.

The Alms House was torn down and now the site is the Orleans County Emergency Management Office with a fire training tower.

Bill Lattin speaks during Sunday’s tour of the cemetery. In 2010, Lattin visited Tim Archer’s classes and Lattin mentioned there was a cemetery behind the former Alms House. At the time the site was overgrown and largely inaccessible.

Archer went on his own and found a headstone with a number on it. He then brought three students and they found 10 more head stones with numbers.

Archer and his class addressed the County Legislature about having the site cleared and cleaned up. The students researched the site and found old records with names of 250 people who died at the Alms House.

An interpretive panel was unveiled in 2019 with the names of 250 people who were buried in the cemetery. Some had headstones with numbers, and others were just buried with no marker.

Lattin praised Archer and the students for their concern and action in pushing to get the site cleared and to provide a more fitting final resting place for the residents.

“Tim is a great citizen, a great teacher and a lifetime friend,” Lattin said about Archer. “He did a great job cleaning up this mess. Tim you’ve put a great of your heart and soul into this.”

The reclaimed stones were reset at the cemetery in 2011. The project led by the Albion students garnered widespread media attention around Western New York. Archer said it was perhaps the most ambitious and most meaningful of all the service-learning projects during his career.

He spoke to the crowd on Sunday about the residents of the alms house, some whose stay was short-term for a few weeks while they “dried out” from intemperance.

Others were there for years, suffering from mental and physical disabilities. Some of the oldest records from the alms house were destroyed in a fire. But Archer has looked through an annual reports about the alms house, where staff lists why people needed to stay there.

Some of the reasons listed that caused people to be at the alms house: vagrant, homeless, “pain in the bones,” delinquent, paralysis, dropsy, consumption, syphilis, hernia, “feeble minded,” “bad business management,” senile, lunatic, opium habit, breast cancer, “peg leg,” “frozen hands,” skull wound, “one arm off,” cirrhosis of the liver, crushed foot by railroad car, fingers cut off by a buzz saw.

He saw 1,500 entries over decades for the “inmates.” They weren’t prisoners or in trouble with the law. But they were away from their home, or they didn’t have a home.

“These were real people with real lives that ended unceremoniously,” Archer said.

The cemetery is in the back behind the Emergency Management Office, surrounded by a corn field. When the cemetery was rededicated in 2011, 74 grave markers were reset.

The site is open to the public and continues to be maintained by Orleans County.

Scouts from Albion’s Troop 164 raised the flag at the cemetery during Sunday’s event.

ALBION – Tax bills in the Albion school district will soon be coming out and will show significantly lower tax rates for property owners in the towns of Albion and Gaines, which completed townwide reassessments earlier this year.

In Albion and Gaines, the tax rate dropped $4.25 per $1,000 of assessed property for the school while the library rate is down 32 cents. The rate is down from $14.69 to $10.44 per $1,000 in both towns.

The school district’s total taxable value is at $775,416,283, which is up 22.7 percent or by $143,199,243 from the $632,217,040 a year ago. That increase is driven by the changes in Albion and Gaines. The Town of Albion’s assessed value is up $92,793,967 – 39.3 percent, while Gaines is up $50,703,658 or 37.4 percent.

The tax levy remains at $8,449,039 for the school district. Albion hasn’t increased the school taxes in 16 of the past 18 years.

The school tax bills also include the bills for the Hoag Library. The library’s tax levy will be $664,510, up from $654,510 last year.

Albion, Gaines and Elba are all at full 100 percent equalization rates after completed their town-wide reassessments. Other towns have lower equalization rates set by the state which results in higher tax rates. That is done to try to have those property owners pay their fair share.

Ridgeway and Carlton are at 97 percent equalization rates, Kendall at 94 percent, Barre at 80 percent and Murray at 66 percent.

Here is a snapshot for each town in the school, with the past year in parentheses:

• Albion, assessed value – $329,042,669 ($236,248,702); tax rates: $10.44 school, 82 cents for library
• Barre, assessed value – $105,801,769 ($106,749,208); tax rates: $13.05 school, $1.03 for library
• Carlton, assessed value – $146,333,432 ($145,684,900); tax rates: $10.76 school, 85 cents for library
• Gaines, assessed value – $186,362,530 ($135,658,872); tax rates: $10.44 school, 82 cents for library
• Kendall, assessed value – $1,247,077 ($1,240,031); tax rates: $11.10 school, 87 cents for library
• Murray, assessed value – $5,977,846 ($5,989,786); tax rates: $15.81 school; $1.24 for library
• Ridgeway, assessed value – $252,759 ($251,914); tax rates: $10.76 school; 85 cents for library
• Elba, assessed value – $398,201 ($393,627); tax rates: $10.44 school, 82 cents for library

Site will add monument to 1859 bridge collapse victims, and bench and lamppost made of old steel from Main Street lift bridge

Photo by Tom Rivers: The park by the canal recently added the concrete planters with flowers. More elements are headed to the site.

ALBION – The small park along the Erie Canal across from the Albion Fire Hall has been referred to as Canal Park and Firemen’s Park over the years.

Now it has an official name,” Erie Canal Park.”

Village Clerk/Treasurer Tracy Van Skiver said the park has never been formally named. She and her staff combed through the village records.

Provided photo: Bill Schutt made a lamppost from old steel from the Main Street lift bridge.

The village plans to dedicate the park with a ceremony at noon on Sept. 28. During that event, a monument will also be unveiled to the 15 victims in the Sept. 28, 1859 bridge collapse. The Main Street bridge at the time gave out when 250 people crammed on the bridge to watch a wirewalker. The Albion Rotary Club is taking the lead in working with Brigden Memorials of Albion on the project.

The village also is installing two pieces made from old steel from the Main Street lift bridge which has been closed since November 2022 for a major rehabilitation.

A park bench is being made by village employees from some of the discarded steel from when the bridge was originally built in 1914.

The village also used a grant from GO Art! to pay artist Bill Schutt to make a lamppost from the old steel. The lamppost will provide another light at the park.

The village also has moved some of the concrete planters that were in the downtown to the park. They are on the back perimeter of the site.

The gazebo also will get new shingles and paint as Albion tries to create a more inviting spot for local residents and visitors on the canal. The Village Board said it is open to naming the gazebo in honor of someone and will take suggestions from the community.

The park includes a historical marker dedicated for a Revolutionary War hero, Marquis de Lafayette. The French military officer provided critical aid to George Washington in securing American independence. Lafayette traveled on the Erie Canal from Lockport to Rochester in June 1825 to great fanfare.

There also is an interpretive panel at the site about different facets of the Erie Canal in Albion.

The park is between Platt and Ingersoll on the south side of the canal.