Famed singer will join former band mates in Black Sheep, including Michael Bonafede of Albion

Michael Bonafede, back left, is shown with the Black Sheep band in this photo from the mid 1970s. He is standing next to Lou Gramm, who would go on to be lead singer for Foreigner, which sold over 80 million albums. Gramm will reunite with Bonafede and Black Sheep for a performance June 23 in Albion at the Pratt Theater, which is owned by Bonafede and his wife Judith Koehler.

ALBION – A new inductee into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame will be performing in Albion during a 2 p.m. concert on June 23.

Lou Gramm, the front man of the band Foreigner, will highlight a concert that will include his bandmates from Black Sheep. Gramm was with that group in the mid 1970s before joining Foreigner.

Michael Bonafede of Albion, owner of the Pratt Theater, played drums for Black Sheep. The band wrote its second album at Bonafede’s farm on Gaines Basin Road in Albion. Bonafede recently spotted an etching in concrete at his farm, where he ran Sports ’N Graphics for many years: “Black Sheep rehearsed here 1975.”

Bonafede recently called Gramm to let him know some of the Black Sheep band members would be performing some of their old songs in Albion.

Gramm jumped in and wanted to be part of the fun, and a chance to share the stage with Bonafede on drums, Don Mancuso on guitar and Larry Crozier on keyboard. Alona Kuhns and Luke Crozier (Larry’s son) will both play bass during the June 23 concert. The Black Sheep bass player, Bruce Turgon, is in California.

Not long after that phone call, Gramm and Foreigner were announced on April 21 as inductees into the 2024 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland.

Foreigner is shown in an announcement from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame that the band will be inducted as part of the Class of 2024.

Bonafede thought Gramm’s schedule might change with the Hall of Fame announcement. Gramm also is touring and performing full sets. But he is committed to the concert in Albion.

“Lou is crazy busy,” Bonafede said. “This is about an enduring friendship. He wants to play with his Black Sheep bandmates.”

The June 23 concert is shaping up to be a big event for the Pratt Theater, a venue on the third floor of an opera house. Bonafede and his wife Judith Koehler have worked to bring the site back into a showcase for live music.

Before Black Sheep hit the big time and opened for KISS, the Rochester-based group performed in Orleans County about 50 years ago – at Oak Orchard Lanes in Albion and Medina High School.

Bonafede remembers the Oak Orchard concert. The band was on plywood on the alleys, and the bowling alley ran out of alcohol halfway through the concert.

“The place was mobbed,” Bonafede said.

Black Sheep recorded two albums for Capital Records and shared the stage with Kiss, Aerosmith, REO Speedwagon, and Hall and Oates, performing in front of tens of thousands of people. Black Sheep broke up in 1976.

Erin Moody in sunglasses and other members of the Pratt Pit Band and Choir had the old opera house venue rocking on April 14 for a concert attended by 300 people.

The June 23 event is capped at 300 tickets at $50 apiece. Eventbrite tickets available online beginning June 1. Check PrattEventCenter.com on June 1 for online sales.

Before June 1, tickets are available in Albion at Digital Ink Arts (585-200-2400), Pretty Sweet Bakery (585-590-4201) and Rise & Grind (585-746-0464).

Bonafede wanted to give local residents a shot at the tickets first. He expects they will go fast once available online.

Black Sheep is planning to perform six songs: “Halfway Home,” “Encouraging words,” “Payin’ Yer Dues,” “No worry no pain,” “Stick around” and “Chain on me.”

There will be a lengthy set to start the concert with the Pratt Pit Band which includes many local musicians.

“I’m super excited this is happening in Albion,” Bonafede said today. “The circumstances have led to a Hall of Famer performing out here.”

Bonafede said many of the leading local performers will be able to share the stage with Lou Gramm, who sold about 80 million albums with Foreigner.

“The pit band is an important part of the concert,” Bonafede said. “I try to get local people. That’s the idea of the venue. It’s a local performance venue that is a unique asset for the community.”

Pam Wadhams will step into role for Bonnie Malakie at Community Action

Photo by Ginny Kropf: From left, Renee Hungerford, executive director of Community Action, and Bonnie Malakie, retiring director of Head Start’s Children and Youth Services, stand outside the Head Start office on east State Street in Albion with Pam Wadhams, who will replace Malakie when she retires June 30, and Ryan Lasal, recently hired as strategic director of children’s services and special projects.

ALBION – Community Action of Orleans and Genesee has announced some changes in its Head Start program.

Bonnie Malakie is retiring on June 30 after 24 years as Head Start’s director. Before stepping into the director’s position, Malakie spent eight years as a consultant for Head Start.

Filling the director’s position at Head Start will be Pam Wadhams, who has been associate director of the program.

Stepping into a new role is Ryan Lasal as strategic director of children’s services and special projects.

Hungerford explained the chain of command will be Wadhams reporting to Lasal and Lasal to Hungerford.

The Head Start program has been a vital part of Community Action’s services to the community since 1965, with Head Start for children aged 3 and 4 and Early Head Start for 18-month to 3-year-olds in Medina, Albion and Batavia, and universal pre-K in Kendall.

Early Head Start Childcare Partnership partners with day care facilities for infants and toddlers.

A childcare resource and referral program connects parents with daycare and subsidies.

“We also help people start their own daycare facilities,” Hungerford said.

In addition, there is a small home-based program with six slots available.

Currently, 173 children are served in Head Start, 58 in the Childcare Partnership and 38 in Early Head Start.

Head Start’s new leadership brings several decades of experience to their jobs. Lasal spent the last 10 years at CRFS.

“I found there has been an extremely solid foundation built here,” Lasal said. “This program serves a lot of kids and does extraordinary things in the community. I’m looking forward, along with Pam, to continuing to build on that foundation and move it into the future.”

Wadhams has worked more than 30 years with Head Start.

“I see us being a strong presence in the community and continuing to support families and their children,” she said. “We are in the process of expanding the pre-school program to a full day, something families want and need. I love being able to make a difference in the community I grew up in.”

“I am doing some restructuring of our children’s services to reinvigorate these programs and increase enrollment,” Hungerford said. “I aim to put new focus on our Head Start programs to ensure children are truly getting a head start and enter the public school systems fully prepared. We can do more with technology and innovation to set our students up for success.”

Malakie said she plans to spend the summer relaxing and doing more with her husband Larry.

“This will include volunteering,” she said. “I’m taking a new path and looking forward. I will continue to support Community Action. I will be leaving a piece of my heart here.”

She added that through the years, there has been one constant at Community Action, and that is change.

“But we’ve been able to keep up with required changes, expected changes and positive changes,” Malakie said.  “I’m leaving everything in good hands with a very dedicated and committed staff with strong leadership and two new directors. The difference we make in the lives of children and families every day is what has kept me here all these years.”

Photos by Tom Rivers

ALBION – Lucas Webb, 7, places an American flag on the grave of a veteran at Mount Albion Cemetery this morning. Lucas and other Cub Scouts in Pack 164 and Boy Scouts in Troop 164 placed about 2,000 flags today at Mount Albion and then at St. Joseph’s Cemetery.

These Scouts enjoyed the time together placing flags at Mount Albion. From left include Mason Patten, Peter Stritzinger, Owen Monaghan and Colton Durow.

The scouts in Albion have helped the local American Legion and VFW with the task before Memorial Day for many years.

Leo Gotte, 11, places flags by graves at St. Joseph’s Cemetery on Route 31 after the group finished at Mount Albion.

Colson Braley, 13, has helped with the flag placing for several years now. He is shown at St. Joseph’s Cemetery.

Lincoln Metcalf, 6, and his mother Melissa Metcalf helped set flags for veterans today. They are joined by their dog, Hazel. Lincoln’s dad Ben Metcalf is the cubmaster for Pack 164.

Matt Passarell, quarter master for the VFW, places a flag at St. Joseph’s. He said the VFW and American Legion purchased 2,400 flags to set at soldiers’ graves in central Orleans County. The veterans’ groups will place flags for veterans at other smaller cemeteries in central Orleans before Memorial Day on May 27.

The Legion and VFW invite the community to the Memorial Day parade at 10 a.m., starting on Main Street near Park Street. The procession then goes to the middle school where there will be a ceremony outside the school on the front lawn by the monument.

Dan Flanagan, the scoutmaster for Troop 164, looks for graves with veterans’ markers at Mount Albion. Flanagan has been an adult volunteer with the troop for 14 years. Seven of his children have been in scouting.

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.