Presbyterian Church will host Wednesday gatherings for 5 weeks

Press Release, Albion Ministerium

ALBION – After a three-year hiatus, Lenten lunches will resume this Wednesday, as hosted by the Albion Ministerium. The gatherings will take place at noon each Wednesday in March at the Albion Presbyterian Church, 29 East State St.

Participating congregations will take turns providing a simple meal of soup, sandwich, and cookies, with beverages also provided. At each event, a pastor from the community will lead a devotional message, and musicians will lead three well-known hymns.

Anyone from the Albion area is welcome to attend. A free will offering will be collected and used to offset expenses for future Ministerium-sponsored events, including the Baccalaureate service for Albion High School graduates in June.

The 2023 schedule of Albion Lenten lunches and leaders is:

• March 1 – Pastor Sue Thaine and the Albion Presbyterian Church, with musician Marie Follett will accompanying the hymns: “What a Friend We Have in Jesus,” “His Eye is on the Sparrow,” and “Because He Lives.”
• March 8 – Pastor Marsha Rivers, with the Albion Baptist and Gaines Carlton Community churches, with musician Marie Follett will accompanying the hymns: “Great is Thy Faithfulness,” “I Need Thee Every Hour,” and “Wonderful Words of Life.”
• March 15 – Father Dick Csizmar and the Holy Family Parish, with musician Kay Marsh accompanying the hymns: “I Love to Tell the Story,” “Blessed Assurance,” and “Precious Lord, Take My Hand.”
• March 22 – Pastor Jim Heiler and the West Barre United Methodist Church, with musician Kay Marsh accompanying the hymns: “How Great Thou Art,” “The Old Rugged Cross,” and “Bind Us Together, Lord.”
• March 29 – Pastor Randy LeBaron and the Eagle Harbor United Methodist Church, with musicians Jim Heiler and Susan Boring accompanying the hymns: “Just a Closer Walk with Thee,” “Sing Hallelujah to the Lord,” and “Standin’ in the Need of Prayer.”

With questions about the Lenten lunches or Albion Ministerium activities, contact Pastor Marsha Rivers at (585) 355-7373.

ALBION – The owner of a storage business is planning three more buildings at the site on West Countyhouse Road which will add 138 more units.

David Hill has the Orleans County Planning Board’s support for the project. The board on Thursday recommended the Town of Albion approve the site plan and permit for the project.

Hill in October 2020 opened Orleans Storage with 107 units at three buildings on West Countyhouse Road in Albion, just east of Route 98at Orleans Self Storage. He expanded the site last year and is 77 percent full with 221 units.

He wants to get the new buildings done to meet the growing demand. Hill told the Planning Board he doesn’t anticipate doing another expansion after this one.

There are currently five storage buildings at the site. The new buildings will be 230 feet long. One will be 30 feet wide and the other two will be 25 feet wide. The three new buildings will add 138 more units.

“He’s been quite successful filling these spaces on his property,” said Dan Strong, Albion code enforcement officer and County Planning Board member. “We’ve never received a complaint about it.”

Hill said most of the customers are local residents. He said he appreciates the community support and the cooperation from the local governments.

In another decision, the Planning Board voted to support a permit and the site plan for farm labor housing in Kendall at 1561 Norway Rd.

Zingler Farms will convert an existing single-family residence into living space for farm workers.

Gates to Recovery says it would invest $1 million into improving site, add 90 to 100 jobs

Photo by Tom Rivers: The Clover Hill assisted living site at 355 South Main St. closed last March. It is listed for sale by Snell Realtors for $899,900.

ALBION – An organization that has been overseeing walk-in centers for people fighting addictions wants to operate a residential site in Albion at the former Clover Hill Adult Residence at 355 South Main St.

Randy Cimino, president of Gates to Recovery, said the organization is looking to invest $1 million in interior and exterior improvements to the property. It would like to operate a 35-bed residential treatment program with a focus on mental health.

Cimino, who said he is a recovering addict and is 15 years sober, said the mental health treatment is critical to breaking the cycle of addiction. He also said Gates to Recovery would offer longer supervision and treatment – from 4 to 18 months. He said most treatment programs are only a month – not enough time for many people to be successful in breaking their drug addictions.

“This is about saving lives,” Cimino said in a presentation to the Village Board this evening. “This village could be the one place where it all started, where we change rehabilitation.”

Mayor Angel Javier Jr. said Gates to Recovery hasn’t shown a proven record in running a rehab facility. He told the group the Village Board doesn’t support that use of the Clover Hill site, which is close to many residential properties.

He said he also doesn’t want to see the property become tax exempt, taking away about $30,000 in tax revenue for local governments. Javier said he also envisions the facility putting a strain on local police and ambulance services.

Cimino and Gates to Recovery representatives said they didn’t see the site putting a demand on local services. Cimino said there would be about 90 to 100 employees at the site, about 30 per eight-hour shift.

Cimino said the organization has the financial backing to run the program in the foreseeable future. He said the local governments could be paid any lost tax revenue. He urged the board to support the effort. If Gates to Recovery fails, Cimino said the community would get back an upgraded Clover Hill site with about $1 million in improvements.

“Give us a chance,” Cimino said. “I’m telling you we can do this.”

Deputy Mayor Joyce Riley said Albion already has two drug treatment sites in the community, plus two state prisons.

“We don’t want to be known as the drug rehab center of Western New York,” she said.

Riley said the village can’t stand in the way of Gates to Recovery purchasing the property, which is listed for sale at $899,900. But Gates will need “a certain amount of community buy-in, acceptance and tolerance” to succeed, Riley said.

The organization also will need to find a full staff of professionals to run the site, and Riley, a retired nursing supervisor, said there is a shortage of healthcare professionals.

Gates to Recovery reps said they have some key staff members ready to go, and relationships with colleges for work placements.

Cimino said Gates to Recovery sees the Albion location as ideal for the program. But he doesn’t want to move forward if the board and community are opposed to the effort.

He was joined at the meeting by recently retired Gates Police Chief James VanBrederode. He said the opioid crisis has caused over 100,000 fatal overdoses annually in the country, and numerous related burglaries, larcenies and crimes as people try to feed their addiction.

He said the longer-term residential program will make a big difference for those in the program, who are only there if they choose to be.

“This is a perfect facility for us,” Cimino said. “We could do a lot for your community. I know it works because it worked for me.”

Store receives donation of many new and gently-worn dresses

Photos by Ginny Kropf: An array of prom dresses are available at Community Action’s Main Street Store, and along with tips on makeup and accessories, will be free to any girl in Orleans County. Store manager Cassie Eagle, pictured, came up with the idea last year.

ALBION – Cassie Eagle, manager of Community Action’s Main Street Store, is a firm believer no girl should miss her senior prom because she can’t afford a dress.

Eagle was appointed manager of the store last year, and shortly after a large donation of prom dresses was received. Some are gently worn, but many others are brand new. They are all colors, sizes and styles.

Originally Eagle thought she would have a special sale and offer the dresses at a low cost, but then the idea hit her to offer them free, so every girl could have the opportunity to go her prom, regardless of their financial situation.

Cassie Eagle, manager of Community Action’s Main Street Store, shows some of the prom dresses which will be given free to girls in any Orleans County school.

After getting approval from her supervisors, Eagle contacted Albion school and the Orleans/Niagara BOCES. After much planning, they are on board with the idea.

On a designated day in May, High School Principal Jenn Ashbery will bring a cosmetology class from BOCES on a field trip to Albion High School. During the day, high school girls can come in and learn how to do simple updos and makeup from the cosmetology students. Students will be asked to bring their own makeup and hair supplies.

Later on the chosen day, Eagle will open the Main Street Store at 6 p.m. and invite girls from any Orleans County school to come and pick out a prom dress.

“We will be reminding them that after their prom they can donate the dresses back so we have them for next year,” Eagle said. “I plan to make this an annual event.”

The Main Street Store will also have shoes and handbags, along with hair styling items for sale at this time. Eagle is encouraging girls to pre-register for the event.

The store will be looking for volunteers to help the girls that night and anyone interested in helping can call 589-1430.

Eagle is also going to ask some of the students from BOCES to come in that night and help the girls. It is hoped those who are able will give tips to the BOCES stylists.

Eagle is hoping to solicit donations of makeup and hair products from local beauty shops, as well as monetary donations from any business who would like to support this event.

“Everyone so far is excited and ready to get this going,” Eagle said. “It is much bigger than anything I imagined when I first started it, so I am open to any help or ideas.”

Dresses are available in every color. Many are long gowns, some are mid length and others are minis. Sizes range from 1 to 23.

The exact date will be announced as soon as it is approved.

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.