Photo by Tom Rivers

ALBION – The Lord’s House, a church in Waterport, concluded a meat raffle this afternoon with a drawing at Save-A-Lot in Albion.

Pastor Eddie English and his wife Rose are leaders of The Lord’s House in Waterport. They are joined at the drawing by their granddaughter Olivia Peterson and Dora Leader, the store manager.

Bob Collins won the shopping cart full of meat and Miriam Smith won the smaller box held by Olivia.

The tickets were $10 each. Pastor English thanked people for buying the tickets and supporting the church’s effort to acquire a stove, refrigerator, sink and other furnishings for a kitchen in the basement fellowship hall.

The church has a $10,000 fundraising goal for the project at 2038 Eagle Harbor Rd. The church last year was painted on the outside.

Pastor English would like to have the kitchen project done this winter.

For more information on the project, contact Rose English at (585) 331-7963.

Photo by Tom Rivers: McKenna Boyer and her mother Deb Boyer hold a commemorative wine glass that will be giving out to people who buy tickets for a March 11 wine-tasting event at the Cobblestone Welcome Center (Thompson-Kast Visitors Center). The Boyers are organizing the event for the Albion Rotary Club.

ALBION – A wine-tasting event on March 11 is intended to bring friends together during the last stretch of winter when people are fighting cabin fever, said Deb Boyer, one of the event organizers.

“Everybody has been cooped up and it’s a chance for people to mix and mingle,” said Boyer, who has been organizing the event with her daughter, McKenna, who is also in the Rotary Club.

The wine-tasting from 2 to 5 p.m. also will be a fundraiser for the Rotary Club to support causes in the community. The event will include wine from four wineries, hors d’oeuvres by Sourced Market & Eatery, music, basket raffles, 50/50 drawings and a chance to tour the Cobblestone Welcome Center (Thompson-Kast Visitors Center) at the intersection of routes 104 and 98.

That welcome center is a brick house from 1824. The museum acquired that site and will be putting on a new addition with bathrooms and a large meeting space.

The wine-tasting also will include artwork from the Marti’s on Main art gallery, led by Kim Martillotta Muscarella in Albion.

Tickets are $20 and are available through Rotary members, Boyer by texting (585) 507-6607 or by venoming @Albion-Rotary.

Boyer said the event is timed so people can try the wine-tasting and then visit a local restaurant. It also is scheduled between Medina’s Wine About Winter on Feb. 4 and the Albion Merchants Association’s Sip & Stroll on April 1 from 4 to 7 p.m.

Photos by Tom Rivers

ALBION – Stacey Kirby Steward created these bookmarks featuring some of her paintings at Hoag Library in Albion. They were given out for free on Friday during a public reception at the library celebrating her art projects at the Hoag.

Gary Simboli plays the piano in front of a stained-glass window designed by Kirby Steward as part of Friday’s reception and celebration. Bill Lattin paid for that project as a gift for when the new library opened on July 7, 2012.

Stacey Kirby Steward, left, of Spencerport speaks with her aunt Betty Kenyon at the art reception on Friday.

“I am absolutely amazed at her talent and that she shares it with all of us,” Kenyon said.

In June 2020, Kirby Steward completed the 23-foot-long mural in the Curtis Room. The library’s main meeting room displays the large painting of three swans soaring over the Albion countryside with the Gaines Basin Road bridge in the background.

The family of the late Marion Moore paid the artist fee for the mural of the swans in flight over Albion. Moore served as director of the Swan Library from 1961 to 1973.

In her latest project, Kirby Steward painted six paintings of different animals reading well-known books, including this fox reading The Fantastic Mr. Fox by Roald Dahl. The painting is mounted on the wall between two book shelves of popular new fiction books. The fox’s eyes look up from the page.

The artist showed the animals in their environment, reading the books for inspiration. A grant from the Genesee-Orleans Regional Arts Council (GO ART!) funded the project.

Betty Sue Miller, library director, said the six paintings have been a big hit with library patrons, and library would like to do a second set of paintings. Kirby Steward said she already has new ideas for more paintings. Miller said there will likely be an opportunity for library users to submit ideas, too.

People walk through the library, looking for the six new paintings which are mounted in not-so-obvious places.

This painting shows raccoons consulting a cookbook while making a concoction of soup. In another painting, a skunk reads Dale Carnegie’s self-improvement book, How to Win Friends and Influence People.

Provided photo

ALBION – These seventh-graders at Albion, Ayme Vallejo Morales (left) and Monica Thomas, hold a marble marker for the infant son Henry Austin Spencer and Carrie Spencer.

The baby hasn’t had a headstone and is buried at Mount Albion Cemetery at 508 Valley. Jason Zicari, the cemetery superintendent, will have the new headstone installed.

Students in a service-learning class taught by Tim Archer in the middle school led this effort. It ties into a booklet project they are working on about Mount Albion.

The seventh-graders in November had a historical marker installed on Chamberlain Street in honor of Henry A. Spencer, who was the first African-American student at the University of Rochester in 1885. The marker is by the childhood home of Spencer at Chamberlain St.

Spencer was a pall bearer for Frederick Douglass’s funeral, a member of Frederick Douglass Memorial Committee, and secretary for the NYS Assembly.

Photos by Tom Rivers

ALBION – Members of the Elks Riders Motorcycle Clubs in Albion and Brockport unload a truck this morning as part of a food distribution in Albion.

The pop-up food distribution was scheduled for Monday but was moved to this morning.

The motorcycle clubs stepped up as volunteers in this morning’s freezing cold after the change in schedule.

Gloria Sammons smiles while getting ready for the distribution. She helps every month at the events, where about 200 people typically receive bags and boxes of food at the village’s municipal parking lot at 165 Platt St.

The parking lot is nearly full with vehicles at about 8:30 this morning. The volunteers parked in front right while the people waiting to be served are in the back right of this photo.

The events in Albion are run by Community Action with food delivered by Foodlink in Rochester.

The schedule through June for Albion includes March 13, March 27, April 10, May 8 and June 12.

Photo by Tom Rivers: Thrive Foods, new owner of Freeze-Dry in Albion, is looking to invest $5 million in the site at 111 West Ave.

ALBION – The Orleans Economic Development Agency has approved a sales tax abatement for Thrive Foods, owner of the Freeze-Dry facility at 111 West Ave. in Albion.

The company will get about a $60,000 exemption on the sales tax for building materials and machinery, equipment, fixtures and furnishings that would cost an estimated $747,724.

The EDA board on Jan. 21 approved a sales tax exemption for up to $100,000.

Thrive Foods, the new owner of Freeze-Dry, is planning to spend $5 million at the site in the next two years in a renovation of the 250,000-square-foot building and equipment upgrade.

The company anticipates 45 new jobs after three years.

“This will generate new employment opportunities and attract highly skilled labor to the area,” company said in its EDA application

There are currently 59 workers at the site at an average annual pay of $47,386, with Thrive Foods expecting 29 new jobs in first year of renovation and expansion and 16 more in second year. The new positions would be at an average of $39,000 a year to start, according to the application to the EDA filed by Sebastian Nilsson, CEO of Thrive Foods.

Thrive Foods is planning to optimize existing dryer capacity and add new dryers to boost capacity. The project will increase efficiency and add new capabilities, improve the working environment and renovate interior/exterior of the building, the company said.

The projects at the facility include:

• renovations to the roof, interior offices, commercial plumbing and paving of parking lot
• increase refrigeration capacity to increase number of shifts and output
• upgrade equipment through improved maintenance plan
• add two additional freeze dryers to improve capacity

The EDA calculated the overall benefit to the county with the facility investments and new employee wages at $7,263,305. With the sales tax abatement at $59,818, the cost to benefit ratio is 17 to 1, according to the EDA.

The Orleans County Legislature also is seeking a $675,000 grant to assist with the expansion and upgrades at Freeze-Dry in Albion. The county is seeking that grant funding from the state Office of Community Renewal. The Orleans Land Restoration Corporation, which is under the EDA umbrella, is assisting the county with the application.

ALBION – A pop-up food distribution scheduled for Monday morning in Albion has been cancelled.

Katrina Chaffee, director of community services for Community Action, was called today by the food distributor. She expects it will be rescheduled in the future.

During the distributions about 200 people typically receive bags and boxes of food at the village’s municipal parking lot at 165 Platt St.

The events in Albion are run by Community Action with food delivered by Foodlink in Rochester.

The schedule through June for Albion includes March 13, March 27, April 10, May 8 and June 12. The events are scheduled to start at 8:30 although many of the vehicles are in the parking lot well before that.

Village officials open to exploring fire district to oversee fire protection for Albion, Gaines

Photo by Tom Rivers: The Albion Fire Department ladder truck was utilized on Jan. 29 for a chimney fire in Gaines at a house at the intersection of Route 279 and Route 104.

ALBION – The Village Board is mulling how to pay for two new fire trucks that together could be close to $3 million.

The Albion Fire Department has been strongly urging the village in recent years to prepare for replacing a ladder truck from 1996 and a pumper from 1992. Another pumper is 16 years old.

Former Fire Chief Harry Papponetti said current estimates for a new ladder truck are $1.7 million and $900,000 for a new pumper. And it could take three or four years for a new truck to get built because of a shortage of materials.

Papponetti and the fire department leaders have suggested a ladder truck with pumper capabilities and a new pumper. Those two truck would replace the ladder truck and the two current pumpers.

The fire department is funded by village taxpayers, with the towns of Albion and Gaines also paying a fire protection contract.

Deputy Mayor Joyce Riley said too much of the department’s budget is on village taxpayers. She would like to see the village pursue Papponetti’s suggestion of a fire district that would include the village and two towns. The contributions to department’s budget would be based on the tax base in each municipality.

Riley thinks it would be a fairer way to finance the department.

The Village Board would like to hear more on the pros and cons of the fire district. It would operate under oversight of elected fire commissioners, instead of the Village Board. The board of commissioners could be set up so each municipality has representation.

The Village Board is looking at the costs of financing the trucks through bonds, including what the annual debt payment would be depending on the duration of the bond and the amount.

Papponetti said the older fire trucks have diminishing value but increasing costs for repairs and maintenance. The ladder truck was recently out of commission for three weeks for a $22,000 engine repair. Papponetti estimated the 27-year-old truck is only worth about $30,000 now.

The cost of the fire trucks has escalated in the past generation. Papponetti said the ladder truck was $525,000 in 1996 and now would be three times that price or even more.

He sees as fire district as a way to expand the tax base in supporting the fire department, giving the volunteers the needed equipment to respond to fires and other emergencies.

Stacey Kirby Steward has completed several projects at library

Photos by Tom Rivers: Stacey Kirby Steward was up high on scaffolding in the Hoag Library on June 20, 2020, working on a mural of three swans flying over the countryside in Albion.

ALBION – Stacey Kirby Steward’s artwork has been a part of Hoag Library since it opened on July 7, 2012.

On Feb. 17 at 4:30 p.m., the library will host a reception to celebrate Steward’s artwork and give the public a chance to meet the artist, an Albion native who lives in Spencerport.

Stacey Kirby Steward designed a stained-glass window for the library with a swan.

Her first project was designing a stained-glass window featuring a swan, a gift to the new library from Bill Lattin. The window paid homage to the public library’s first 112 years as the Swan Library, in a  former mansion.

The library moved into the new 14,600-square-foot building just over a decade ago. The building is about 2.5 times the size of the former Swan site. It has lots of room for art, and Steward has filled some of those spaces.

In June 2020, she completed a 23-foot-long mural in the Curtis Room at Hoag Library. The library’s main meeting room displays the large painting of three swans soaring over the Albion countryside with the Gaines Basin Road bridge in the background.

The family of the late Marion Moore paid the artist fee for the mural of the swans in flight over Albion. Moore served as director of the Swan Library from 1961 to 1973.

Besides the three swans flying over the Erie Canal, the painting also highlights the farm fields, Lake Ontario and a cobblestone schoolhouse. Steward used a drone to get aerial views of Albion, looking down on the area near the Gaines Basin Road canal bridge.

In her latest project, Kirby painted six paintings of different animals reading well-known books. She showed the animals in their environment, reading the books for inspiration. There are raccoons consulting a cookbook while making a concoction of soup, for example. In another painting, a skunk reads Dale Carnegie’s self-improvement book, How to Win Friends and Influence People.

A grant from the Genesee-Orleans Regional Arts Council (GO ART!) funded the project.

Hoag Library executive director Betty Sue Miller, left, and Stacey Kirby Steward last week hold her painting of a beaver building a dam. The beaver consults “Cathedral” by David Macaulay. In this critically acclaimed book, Macaulay uses pen and ink drawings to show the construction of a great medieval cathedral, the imaginary Cathedral of Chutreaux. It is one of six new paintings created by Steward at the library.

Bronze statue honoring Charles Howard to be dedicated June 10

Photos by Tom Rivers: Santa and Mrs. Claus attended the June 2018 Strawberry Festival parade and greeted the crowd along Main Street.

ALBION – Organizers of the Albion Strawberry Festival announced the two-day event will be back June 9-10 with some changes due to the Main Street lift bridge being closed.

The parade route, which used to head north on Main Street over the bridge, will instead turn left on West Bank Street, said June Persia, chairwoman of the festival.

The organizers also are seeking the state Department of Transportation’s permission to close Main Street to traffic from Park Street to the bridge. A detour would be expected to send traffic down East Park Street to work their way over to the Ingersoll Street bridge for those headed north.

A statue of Santa, in clay form, was shown to the Albion Betterment Committee on April 23. The statue will be cast in bronze and is on schedule to be ready in time for the Strawberry Festival.

This year’s festival has a theme of “Here Comes Santa” to celebrate the unveiling on a new bronze statue in the likeness of Santa. It will be in Waterman Park, about a half block south of the canal.

Brian Porter, a sculptor from Pendleton, is creating the statue and it is on schedule to be ready in time for the festival. It will be dedicated on June 10 in honor of the late Charles W. Howard, who ran a world-famous Santa School in Albion from 1937 to 1966, and also operated Christmas Park.

Howard remains a revered figure among Santa impersonators. The Santa School is now in Midland, Mich. and still bears his name.

Volunteers are discussing ways to have more festival fun. Persia said a cornhole tournament on Main Street, near the closed off bridge, is one possibility. Organizers are looking for more activities that would be fun for adults, while keeping the children’s entertainment.

Persia has been helping to plan the festival for the past decade. She looks forward to the two-day event with live entertainment, a food court, arts and crafts vendors, a 5k/8k race, the parade and other activities. This will be the 35^th Strawberry Festival.

“I want to see the community come together,” she said about the festival. “I like to see people come into our village. We have a beautiful village.”

A team of volunteers is needed to plan and run the event. More volunteers are welcome Persia said. The planning committee meets twice monthly, alternating every two weeks from a morning meeting to an evening meeting.

The next meeting will be 6 p.m. on Feb. 15 at the Hoag Library. For more information, reach out to Persia at (585) 704-1994.

New turf football field among first projects, expected to be ready in fall

Photo by Tom Rivers: The end of the Albion football field is shown last week. The grass field will become turf in a project expected to be ready in time for the fall football season.

ALBION – The Board of Education on Monday evening unanimously approved eight construction bids totaling $19,300,000.

Another bid for $2.6 million is expected to be approved next month, bringing the total to $21.9 million.

That is well in budget and leaves a balance of $1,084,507 in contingencies, said Kevin Donaghue, executive vice president Campus Construction Management which is assisting the district in the bid preparation and oversight of the project.

School district residents on Dec. 14, 2021 approved the $26.69 million capital project that includes all three schools, as well as the bus garage, and new synthetic playing surfaces for football, soccer and softball.

After a design phase for the project and review and approval by the state Education Department, the project went out to bid to contractors. The bids were opened last week and on Monday the board gave its approval, with one more contract needing additional review.

“The big picture is the project is right on budget,” Donaghue told the Board of Education.

The bids accepted on Monday include:

• Site work – $6,295,082 by Diehl Development
• General Trades – $5,441,000 by Javen Construction
• Mechanical – $2,797,700 by T. Bell
• Plumbing – $1,636,300 by Blackmon Farrell
• Playground equipment – $257,027 by GameTime
• Scoreboards – $124,725 by Toth
• BMS (Building Management System) Controls – $339,068 by Day

Day is also the low bidder for access controls at $2,596,942 that is expected to be approved at next month’s meeting. That system will allow badges to lock and unlock doors, and can do a district-wide lockdown of all classroom doors.

Contractors will soon be a presence on campus with most of the work happening after school.

The first projects will upgrades to the district officer, with the district office staff moving to the E wing of the elementary school during the work at the district office.

Contractors also will be pushing to replace the grass field at the football stadium with turf. That effort is expected to start in April with a push to be done in time for the football season in late August-September.

The softball field and varsity soccer also will get turf fields. That will start this year but isn’t expected to be done until 2024. The varsity field is expected to be available this upcoming season, Donaghue said.

He went over the construction schedule during Monday’s board meeting. The schedule includes:

• Site Work – In 2023 the work includes the football field replacement, track resurfacing, multi-purpose field replacement (softball and soccer – starting June 1, 2023 and ending July 15, 2024), elementary school hot water service line, elementary school drop-off loop and sidewalks, elementary school playground fence replacement and high school hot water service line.

In 2024, the site work includes middle school hot water service line, tennis court replacement, middle school drop-off loop reconstruction, concrete sidewalk replacements, playground replacement at middle school, baseball field drainage improvements, JV softball field drainage improvements.

• Construction at elementary school – In 2023, district office renovation, classroom doors and plumbing fixtures at E wing (Nov. 6 to Dec. 1), classroom doors and plumbing fixtures at D wing (Dec. 11 to Jan. 5), crawl space plumbing and hot water heaters, EIFS replacement, carbon monoxide detectors/fire alarm, and electrical abatement and replacements.

In 2024, classroom doors and plumbing fixtures at C wing (Jan. 1 to Feb. 9), classroom doors and plumbing fixtures at B wing (Feb. 19 to March 15), classroom doors and plumbing fixtures at A wing (March 25 to April 19) and classroom doors and plumbing fixtures at G wing (April 29 to May 24), emergency generator replacement, doors/hardware/security enhancements, main office windows and fire shutter, and gymnasium folding partition replacement.

• Construction at middle school (basement) – In 2023, pool deck structural repairs, boiler room abatement and demolition, boiler room plumbing renovations, ad pool pumps.

In 2024, electrical room A/C and auditorium A/C.

• Construction at middle school (first floor) – In 2023, domestic hot water repairs, replace insulated window panels, gymnasium renovations, pool lighting and locker room renovation, replace ANSUL system, exhaust fan and relief air work, flooring abatement, flooring installation, carbon monoxide detectors and fire alarm, and electrical service component replacements.

In 2024, doors/hardware/security enhancements and auditorium AC.

• Construction at middle school (second floor) – In 2023, exhaust fan and relief air work, replace insulated window panels, flooring abatement, and flooring installation.

In 2024, convert lockers into storage rooms, electrical room A/C, auditorium A/C, and doors/hardware/security enhancements.

• Construction at middle school (third floor) – In 2023, exhaust fan and relief air work.

In 2024, doors/hardware/security enhancements.

• Construction at high school (first floor) – In 2023, library door reconstruction, window lintel replacements, domestic hot water heaters and carbon monoxide detectors and fire alarm.

In 2024, replace lockers (with wider units), doors/hardware/security upgrades, gym renovations and gym locker room renovations.

• Construction at high school (second floor) – In 2023, library door reconstruction, window lintel replacements, domestic hot water heaters, and carbon monoxide detectors and fire alarm.

In 2024, replace lockers, doors/hardware/security upgrades, gym renovations, gym locker room renovations, gym HVAC abatement and demo, gym HVAC installation.

Courtesy of Wolfpack Multisport: The medal for those completing the Wayne Burlison Colon Cancer Awareness 5K or half marathon on March 25 pays homage to the late Wayne Burlison, an elementary school music teacher at Albion who also enjoyed long distance running. Burlison passed away from colon cancer at age 36 on March 26, 2014.

ALBION – There are two big changes so far for the annual Wayne Burlison Colon Cancer Awareness 5K in Albion set for March 25.

This year there will be an option for a half marathon, and there will be medals for those who complete either course.

Bert Galloman, the race director, teased out the medals on social media last week. In the past, those who finished the race received shirts, hats and gloves.

Galloman wants to recognize the efforts of those who complete the courses, and pursue fitness goals during the winter.

“We are doing medals this year because you never know where someone is in their athletic journey,” Galloman said. “Each race is a way to celebrate their achievement and we want to help grow the community. We also love seeing the joy on athletes’ faces as they cross the finish line and get their medal around their necks – there is no better feeling at the finish.”

Galloman wanted to include the half marathon, a distance conquered several times by Burlison, a former Albion elementary school band teacher who passed away at age 36 from colon cancer on March 26, 2014.

Burlison promoted fitness in the community through a Run for God program that took people from the couch to a 5K in less than three months. He lost more than 150 pounds through exercise and better nutrition.

The 5k course starts on Clarendon Road near the elementary school and goes east on Route 31 to Mount Albion Cemetery. After running in the cemetery, participants come back out on 31 and head back to the elementary school parking lot.

The half marathon also starts ear the school but heads south and then east through some of the country roads on County House and Holley roads. Runners will come back along Route 31, and take a loop through the cemetery.

The medals includes different neck ribbons for those who complete the 5K and those that finish the much longer half marathon at 13.1 miles.

Galloman said the half marathon should provide motivation to keep people moving at longer distances during the winter. He also thinks it will be a nice kickoff to the running season with half marathons in Rochester in April and Buffalo in May.

Erin Smith, a triathlete from Albion, helped plan the half marathon course. It avoids the towpath, which can be muddy or snow laden in late March.

Smith thinks the timing in late March fulls a void in the racing calendar, especially for a longer distance. Lockport hosts a 10-mile race on Feb. 11 and there aren’t too many longer distance races after that before there are several in the spring.

“I’d like to see what we can pull in for the longer distance,” Smith said. “I love this community and I love running, and we’re able to mesh the two together. Hopefully this will inspire people to try to get out and try this half marathon.”

 Proceeds from the race have gone to a memorial scholarship for Albion at Albion Central School and also were used towards a walking trail at Bullard Park.

“It’s such a great cause,” Smith said. “Wayne was such a loved person and this was his most-loved distance.”

For more on the race, click here.

‘It’s just magical’ – library director Betty Sue Miller

Photos by Tom Rivers: This painting shows three raccoons working on a concoction while following a recipe in the popular cooking book, Joy of Cooking. It is mounted on the end of shelf with books in the Home and Family section. The cooking raccoons are one of six new paintings at Hoag Library created by Albion native Stacey Kirby Steward.

ALBION – Walk into Hoag Library and there is an eye-catching painting of a fox reading a book, The Fantastic Mr. Fox by Roald Dahl. It is mounted on the wall between two book shelves of popular new fiction books. The fox’s eyes look up from the page and make contact with the viewer.

Round the corner and there is another painting near the printer across from the tables of computers. That painting shows a skunk engrossed in Dale Carnegie’s self-improvement book, How to Win Friends and Influence People.

Stacey Kirby Steward, an Albion native who lives in Spencerport, created six paintings of animals engaged in reading. She thought of the books to pair with the animals, with some suggestions from former children’s librarian Theresa Gaylard.

A grant from the Genesee-Orleans Regional Arts Council (GO ART!) funded the project.

Hoag Library executive director Betty Sue Miller, left, and Stacey Kirby Steward hold her painting of a beaver building a dam. The beaver consults “Cathedral” by David Macaulay. In this critically acclaimed book, Macaulay uses pen and ink drawings to show the construction of a great medieval cathedral, the imaginary Cathedral of Chutreaux.

Kirby Steward shows a beaver making an impressive dam with gothic arches. This painting is now mounted over the sink in the children’s library room.

A fox reads The Fantastic Mr. Fox by Roald Dahl. This painting is the favorite for Betty Sue Miller, the library director. She likes the fox’s eyes.

Betty Sue Miller, the library director, said the paintings enliven the library, filling spots where you don’t expect to see artwork. They are very pleasant surprises, she said.

“It’s just magical,” Miller said. “Each book fits with the animal.”

Kirby Steward also created a 24-foot-long mural in the main meeting room of swans in flight over a farm field and the Erie Canal, with the Gaines basin Road canal bridge below.

She also design a stained-glass window for the library with a swan. That was a gift from Bill Lattin for when the library opened in July 2012.

Lattin assisted Kirby Steward in installing the paintings today. They were added to walls and book shelves. They are in unusual shapes, especially a 10-inch by 36-inch painting of a bald eagle in a pine tree, reading Frederick Douglass’s autobiography. That painting is next to the biographies near the computer lab.

A skunk seeks self-improvement and reads Dale Carnegie’s How to Win Friends and Influence People.

Kirby Steward said she enjoyed thinking of the scenes in the paintings, and how they could be used to add to the library experience at the Hoag.

She received very positive feedback from library users today while she and Lattin mounted them.

She likes that they are located in unexpected places.

“You walk around the corner and you’re surprised,” she said.

There will be a public reception in the near future to celebrate the new paintings. Kirby Steward and Miller also said more could be added in the future showing other animals reading books.

This painting of cardinal rebuilding a nest is at the end of one of the book shelves. It quotes lines from “Surviving” by Maya Angelou.

Where the winds of disappointment

dash my dream house to the ground

and anger, octopus-like wraps its tentacles around my soul

I just stop myself. I stop in my tracks

and look for one thing that can

help me.

A bald eagle reads the autobiography of Frederick Douglass. This painting is 10 inches by 36 inches and is by a shelf in the biography section.

Bill Lattin helped Kirby Steward install the paintings. Lattin said the library features many art pieces. Lattin, a former art teacher at Albion, is pleased to see the library partner with Kirby Steward for one-of-kind art.

Miller said she will submit the project to the American Library Association to highlight for other libraries.

“No other library has this this,” she said. “No other library has someone like Stacey.”