Photos by Tom Rivers

ALBION – David Thom carries a wreath to be set at a grave for a veteran on Saturday during a Wreaths Across America ceremony. Mount Albion was included in Wreaths Across America for the first time.

Thom’s daughter, Jennifer Thom, coordinated the effort at Mount Albion. She is also the leader of Operation Honor, which purchased 100 of the wreaths. Other people purchased them for $17 each.

Wreaths has grown to 4,000 communities across the country, including in medina, Lyndonville and Holley.

In the photo with David Thom, he is carrying a wreath in honor of uniformed service members in U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Commissioned Officer Corps.

Other wreaths in the opening ceremony were set for the U.S. Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, U.S. Space Force, Coast Guard and Merchant Marines.

Many of the wreaths were set in the veterans’ section on the western side of the cemetery.

Richard Cox sets wreaths on veterans’ graves on a chilly Saturday. Cox also paid for 10 of the wreaths. He said he is a veteran and wanted to show appreciation for others who served in the military.

Jennifer Thom, leader of Operation Honor and coordinator of Wreaths Across America at Mount Albion, places a wreath at a veteran’s grave on Saturday. She urged the volunteers to say the veteran’s name when setting the wreath.

State Sen. Robert Ortt carries a wreath during the ceremony on Saturday. Ortt also was in Lyndonville earlier in the day for Wreaths Across America.

Mike Donahue is the bugler while Taps was played as part of the Honor Guard on Saturday during a ceremony for Wreaths Across America.

A wreath was also set at the Alms House Cemetery for Daniel Walterhouse, a Civil War veteran. Students in the Albion Middle School History Club placed that wreath at the cemetery on County House Road.

Photos by Tom Rivers

ALBION – Volunteers with the Royal Body Shop Outreach Ministries get chicken barbecue dinners ready in take-out containers on Saturday at the Masonic Lodge on Platt Street.

The church prepared 2,000 of the dinners. People started lining up at 11 a.m., about an hour before the meals were advertised to be available. By 3:30, all the dinners had been served, with volunteers delivering many to shut-ins in the community.

This the third straight year the Royal Body Shop served the 2,000 dinners for free, after a debut in 2021 with 1,000 chicken barbecues.

Pastor Al Wilson of the Royal Body Shop cooks potatoes and string beans with smoked turkey in the kitchen at the Masonic Lodge. He said a dedicated group of at least 20 worked on the big dinner.

“It’s a blessing when you have all this help,” Wilson said. “We just want to share the love of Jesus.”

Nora Bell-Owens keeps up a brisk pace in the kitchen.

Pam Parker and Anthony Artis were among the volunteers getting the food ready.

The Royal Body Shop also does an Easter egg hunt in Albion. There were 12,000 Easter eggs filled with candy during the March 30 egg hunt on the courthouse lawn.

Provided photo: Students from the Iroquois Job Corps helped cook the chickens and get the meals ready.

Hearth & Home wins first place among 26 floats in parade

Photos by Tom Rivers

ALBION – The Charles W. Howard Hometown Parade was capped with this float with Santa in a sleigh on a trailer with a band, Christmas trees and reindeer in flight.

A group of volunteers tried to create a float with the flair of the late Charles W. Howard, who ran a Santa school in Albion from 1937 until his death in 1966. Howard also was the Santa for the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and operated Christmas Park in Albion.

His granddaughter Jane Holland of Williamsville attended the parade and appreciated the community’s efforts to celebrate her grandfather.

The float with Santa and the reindeer pass by the Orleans County Courthouse on Main Street.

This sleigh created by Albion contractor Jim Babcock made its debut in the parade. It will be put near the bronze statue of Santa and the 24-foot-long Santa mural at Waterman Park on Main Street.

The sleigh was built in memory of Charles Bergeman, who was the grandson of Charles Howard. He passed away at age 64 on Oct. 31, 2023. His wife Carol of Lewiston attended the parade on Saturday.

Hearth & Home, a real estate business in Albion, won first place among the 26 floats in the parade.

Hearth & Home gets its float ready for the parade while in the staging area at the municipal lot by CRFS.

Bloom’s Flower Shop was picked for second place.

Wild Flour Deli was the third place winner in the parade.

The judges gave an honorable mention to the Orleans County Bicentennial Committee for its float celebrating the county’s upcoming 200^th anniversary in 2025.

The Bicentennial Committee has embraced an ox as a mascot to celebrate the 200^th. The ox on the trailer was painted by artist Stacey Kirby Steward.

Robyn Watts created this ox costume, which was worn by Cordelia Rivers in the parade. The ox gave many high fives along the parade route.

Mick Tower served as grand marshal for the parade. He rides in a truck with his son Ron. Mick worked for Charles Howard, building many of the rides and attractions at Christmas Park.

Cutaia Trucking in Fairport carried an inflatable Grinch in its lighted up truck.

Eye of Oden K9 Training from Kent brought several dogs with lighted up vests.

Sheryl Watts of Air Raising Events created a Christmas tree with ornaments all made out of balloons.

The Albion Fire Department also had a Grinch character walking in the parade and the fire truck was decorated in green lights.

The Lockstone event center had a float with a bride in a wedding dress.

A Grinch character with the Village of Albion Christmas float greets people along Main Street.

The Who Dats performed Christmas music from a trailer. From left include John Borrello, Todd Graham and Lonnie Froman.

The Hitmen Brass Band also performed in the parade.

Photo by Tom Rivers

ALBION – Aubrielle Barry, a member of the U14 NY Inferno travel softball team, is shown with leaders of the Elks Lodge in Albion this morning. Mike Jenks, the Exalted Ruler of the lodge, is at left and Richard Robb Sr., the Leading Knight and President of the Elks Riders, accepted toys and gifts donated by Barry’s softball team.

Barry plays shortstop and third base for the team that includes about a dozen girls around Western New York. The team and their families all donated to the toy drive that will go to kids in Orleans County.

The Elks will work with Frosty and Friends, a bikers’ charity based in Albion, to distribute the toys to local children.

Barry’s parents, Chris and Lisa Barry, are members of the Elks Lodge. Aubrielle’s grandfather, the late John Persia, was a long-time member of the Elks.

Provided photo

The NY Inferno U14 team is shown with some of the toys they donated. From left include Savannah Durham, Kristina Rivera, Charlotte Henderson, Elise McDuffie, Gabby Bender, Aubrey Schwimmer, Lyla Morse, Arnie Sturtevant and Aubrielle Barry. Missing from photo: Gabriella Boitschenko, Ava Wilson and Olivene Infante.

The team practices two or three times a week and plays in many tournaments. The next one will be an indoor tournament in Pittsburgh Dec. 21-22.

The NY Inferno have won 10 championships the past two years, and five runner-up titles.

Barry, a ninth-grader at Albion, played varsity softball for Albion as a seventh- and eighth-grader. She wants to play softball in college after Albion.

Albion Hometown Holiday includes many events throughout the day, capped by parade at 6 p.m.

Photo by Tom Rivers: The Royal Body Shop Outreach Ministries is shown in the kitchen of the Masonic Lodge on Dec. 9, 2023 when the church served 2,000 chicken barbecue dinners for free. Christina Ruffin, left, and John Hollenbeck are in the kitchen putting the chicken and macaroni salad in the take-out containers.

ALBION – A Hometown Holiday event on Saturday includes activities throughout the day in Albion, including a church serving 2,000 chicken barbecue dinners for free beginning at noon at the Masonic Lodge on Platt Street.

This is the third year the Royal Body Shop Outreach Ministries is serving the 2,000 dinners for free to the community.

Many of the businesses, the Village Hall and Hoag Library will be hosting activities for the community.

There will be a parade with lighted floats beginning at 6 p.m. on Route 31, leaving from the CRFS parking lot and then going down Main Street, turning on East State Street and ending at the parking lot by Dubby’s Tailgate on Platt Street.

The parade’s name has been changed from Santa’s Hometown Parade to the Charles W. Howard Hometown Parade. It honors Howard, who ran a Santa School in Albion from 1937 to 1966. He also operated Christmas Park beginning in the mid-1950s. That site attracted about 80,000 people a year.

The Albion Merchants Association is the lead organizer of Hometown Holiday. The schedule includes:

• 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. – Letters to Santa at Bloom’s Flower Shop
• 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. – Shopping with Misfit Toys at the Downtown Browsery
• 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. – Kids craft at Town and Country Quilt Shop
• 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. – Kids craft at Village Hall with Oak Orchard Canoe and Kayak
• 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. – Coffee and donuts at Village Hall with Albion Police Department
• 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. – Crafts, presents and cupcakes at Albion Free Methodist Church
• 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. – Cookie decorating at Pretty Sweet Bakery
• 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. – Ornament kits at Red Check
• 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. – Tea with Mrs. Claus at Hoag Library
• 12 p.m. until gone – Free chicken dinner from Royal Body Shop Outreach Ministries at Masonic Lodge
• 12 p.m. to 1 p.m. – Christmas caroling in the downtown
• 1 to 3 p.m. – Painting Rocks with “Albion Rocks” at Dubby’s Tailgate
• 2 to 4 p.m. – Concert by Music Makers at Pratt Opera House
• 3 to 4 p.m. – Fire side with Santa and kids crafts at Hearth & Home
• 4:30 to 6 p.m. – Hot chocolate and caroling at First Baptist Church
• 4 to 6 p.m. – Chicken and biscuit dinner by Albion Rotary Club at Presbyterian Church
• 6 p.m. – Charles W. Howard Parade (with Santa and Mrs. Claus after parade until 8 p.m. at Dubby’s Tailgate)

Photos by Tom Rivers

ALBION – There are 10 Christmas trees on the Orleabs County Courthouse lawn for the second year.

It’s part of an effort by a group of volunteers in the “Bring Christmas Back to Albion” committee. That group also spearheaded having 40 lampposts decorated for the holidays the past two years.

Lori Laine, one of the group’s members, said businesses or organizations are welcome to help decorate the trees on the courthouse lawn.

The Care Net Center of Greater Orleans decorated one of the trees.

Laine said people interested in decorating the trees are welcome to call her at (585) 738-1836.

ALBION – Voters elected five commissioners and a treasurer for the Albion Joint Fire District on Tuesday, and also gave approval to establish reserve funds for equipment, fire trucks and building repairs.

The district was formed in a public referendum in August with approval from voters in both the towns of Albion and Gaines. The fire district will be its own taxing entity. The fire department budget will move out of the village budget. The towns of Albion and Gaines also paid the village for fire protection but now will pay in separate taxes for the fire district starting in January.

The elected commissioners include Albert Cheverie, 104 votes; David Buczek, 103 votes; Kevin Sheehan, 93 votes; Craig Lane, 89 votes; and Chris Kinter, 81 votes.

The commissioners’ terms will be for 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 years, depending on the vote totals for each. Cheverie, the highest vote-getter, gets the 5-year term and then the term length goes in descending order of votes with Buczek at 4 years, Sheehan at 3 years, Lane at 2 years and Kinter at 1 year.

In the future, there should be just one position commissioner up for election each year.

Two people sought to be treasurer. Victoria Tabor, who is currently in the role, was elected with 91 votes to 46 for Kristen Marciszewski.

Cheverie has served as chairman of the commissioners since the group first met on Aug. 20. Buczek, Lane and Kinter also are commissioners, along with Joe Martillotta who didn’t seek election on Tuesday.

The commissioners have approved a $872,222 budget for the joint fire district, which  provides fire protection in Albion and Gaines. That more than doubles the previous budget for the fire department.

The department hasn’t had any reserves for new equipment and trucks. Residents approved establishing reserve accounts in a 112-24 vote.

The budget for 2025 puts $250,000 into a “Apparatus Repair & Replacement Reserve” and $50,000 into a “Building Repair & Replacement Reserve.”

Cheverie, the chairman of the commissioners, previously said the district needs to replace two fire trucks fairly soon. A new ladder truck to replace one that is 27 years old is expected to cost $2.2 million. A new fire engine to replace one 32 years old would likely have a purchase price of $1.1 million.

The commissioners expect to start working on securing a new ladder truck in 2025, a process that could take four to five years before the new truck is in Albion. Setting aside money ahead of time will reduce the bond payments needed in the future, Cheverie said.

The district also has $50,000 set aside for the fire hall for either repairs or a potential replacement. Cheverie said there are no plans to leave the building on Platt Street anytime soon.

Band and lead singer Lou Gramm performed in Albion this past June

Lou Gramm performs with some of his Black Sheep band mates in Albion during a concert at the Pratt Event Center in Albion in the former Pratt Opera House. Michael Bonafede, drummer for the band in the mid 1970s, played the drums again for the reunion concert in a venue he owns with his wife, Judith Koehler. Black Sheep will be inducted in the 2025 Class of the Rochester Music Hall of Fame on April 13. After Black Sheep, Gramm went on to international stardom as lead singer of Foreigner, selling more than 80 million albums.

ROCHESTER – A band that featured Michael Bonafede on drums about 50 years ago is going into the Rochester Music Hall of Fame.

That band also included Lou Grammatico as lead singer. After Black Sheep stopped performing in 1976, Grammatico became Lou Gramm in his new band, Foreigner. That band launched Gramm into stardom, selling more than 80 million albums.

Foreigner was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on Oct. 19 in Cleveland.

Gramm hasn’t forgotten his hometown on Rochester. And he hasn’t forgotten his Black Sheep bandmates. The group has performed in reunion concerts, including two concerts on June 23 in Albion at the Pratt Event Center.

The Rochester Music Hall of Fame on Monday announced Black Sheep as one of three inductees of the 2025 Class. The others include the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra and the Record Archive.

Black Sheep was a popular Rochester band in the 1970s, playing in high school gymnasiums for school dances and the Penny Arcade. The band was on a rapid trajectory, with two albums out by major record labels in 1975.

The band toured with Hall and Oates, Aerosmith and Kiss, and played with other big names. The band opened for Kiss in Boston, and was coming home and was in an accident on an icy road. The crash destroyed the band’s equipment, and they weren’t able to find a replacement in time to keep touring. That prematurely put an end to the band in 1976. Gramm would join Foreigner not long after with the support of his Black Sheep band mates.

Tony Gross, a board member for the Rochester Music Hall of Fame, noted Gramm was inducted in the local Hall of Fame in 2013. He will be the first two-time selection.

“We applaud Lou, we applaud the band and what they’ve done for the community,” Gross said during a news conference on Monday at the Record Archive, which is celebrating its 50^th anniversary in 2025.

Bonafede has been a champion of the arts in Albion. He served many years on the Albion Board of Education, including as president. The district has perennially been recognized with national awards for its music program.

He also has diligently brought back the opera house on the third floor of the Pratt building on Main Street, opening the stage to performers in the community and beyond. For many years he also served as chairman of the Strawberry Festival, which features many bands in the parade and at venues in the festival.

Black Sheep will get back together again. This time on April 13 during the Hall of Fame induction at the Eastman Theatre.

For more on the Rochester Music Hall of Fame, click here.

Some of the performers take a bow after the performance on June 23, featuring some of the Black Sheep band members. From left include Michael Bonafede, Alona Kuhns, Lou Gramm, Don Mancuso, Larry “Rose” Crozier and Luke Crozier.

Group has raised $31K so far for project

Photo by Tom Rivers: The Albion Betterment Committee would like to have a Santa House on this vacant lot next to the First Presbyterian Church of Albion. The group has been given permission from the Village Board to work on the project, with the design needing approval from village officials.

ALBION – The Albion Betterment Committee is trying to finalize a design for a 600 square foot Santa House on Main Street.

The building is tentatively eyed to be 20 by 30 feet with a peaked roof. It would host visits by Santa and be used for other community events, said Natasha Wasuck, a member of the Betterment Committee. She is also president of the Albion Merchants Association and owner of the Lockstone events venue.

The Albion Betterment Committee showed photos of these Santa Houses during a meeting on Saturday at Hoag Library, looking for ideas and feedback from the public.

The house is planned for a vacant lot next to the First Presbyterian Church, on the north side. The site could include other amenities, possibly benches or Adirondack chairs, as well as a gazebo.

A plan will be presented to the Village Board for its approval. The board gave the ABC permission to work on the project.

The Betterment Committee has $22,000 in donations, plus a $9,000 grant, putting the total at $31,000. Wasusk said the entire project could be about $50,000, depending on how many amenities are included with the site.

The ABC welcomes donations to the project. For information on how to donate, contact ABC director Joe Gehl at jgehl@rochester.rr.com or mail the Albion Betterment Committee c/o Joe Gehl at 14487 Baker Road, Kent, NY 14477. Or the ABC can be contacted through Facebook messenger. Click here to be directed to the ABC Facebook page.

The Betterment Committee held an open house on Saturday at Hoag Library to get feedback and ideas on how the building and site should look.

The inside of the building will include space to meet Santa, and also will house a Santa’s sleigh and an original Charles Howard Santa suit.

Wasuck said the group would like to have the new Santa House up in time for the Strawberry Festival in June.

The Betterment Committee has worked for several years trying to celebrate the community’s Santa legacy. Last year the ABC completed a bronze statue resembling Charles Howard in a Santa suit. Howard ran a Santa School in the community from 1937 until 1966, and also operated Christmas Park. The school continues in his name, now in Midland, Mich.

The Betterment Committee also led the effort to have part of Route 31 in Albion named in honor of Howard, who was the Santa in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade and also was featured in many prominent publications for his role teaching people to portray Santa.

The ABC also has put up “Believe” signs and welcome sign on Route 98 highlighting Albion as the home of Howard and the Santa School.

The Albion Betterment Committee is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Formed in 2004, its mission is to utilize Albion’s historic, environmental and human assets to improve the quality of life for residents of the area.

Photos by Tom Rivers: Frank Babcock holds about a dozen canes he made and gave to Assemblyman Steve Hawley to distribute to local veterans.

ALBION – Frank Babcock was in the Albion Walmart about two months when he saw a man walking with a cane. Babcock, 89, complimented the man, a fellow veteran, on the quality of the cane.

The man said the cane made a big difference for him, and he received it for free from Assemblyman Steve Hawley.

Babcock got to thinking that he could make canes to be given to local veterans. Babcock served in the Army from 1955-’56 and was based at Fort Hancock, N.J. Many know him locally for his long career with NAPA Auto Parts in Albion and Medina.

Babcock has made 24 canes since meeting the man in Walmart. On Saturday he handed off a dozen to Assemblyman Hawley, who met him at the American Legion in Albion. Hawley said he will make sure they get to veterans, perhaps at the NYS Veterans Home in Batavia, the National Cemetery in Pembroke or through the Patriot Trip that Hawley leads each September to monuments in the Washington, D.C. area.

Babcock made the canes from small trees in his son’s woods. The raw materials were cut off from part of the roots with a slight angle. The handles of the canes are the roots from the trees.

Babcock would sand down the small trees and put shellack on them, as well as stickers of American flags.

“Now I have to get some more blanks so I can make some more,” he said on Saturday.

Frank Babcock was joined by friends and family at the American Legion on Saturday. From left include son Steve Babcock, son Jim Babcock, Frank Babcock, Assemblyman Steve Hawley, grandson Jeremy Babcock, and Legion Commander Brad Rouse.