By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 19 July 2023 at 4:39 pm
Photos by Tom Rivers
ALBION – Bullard Park was busy today for the annual carnival put on by the Village of Albion Recreation Program. For the second year the Albion Rec Program welcomed children from throughout the area.
There were five bounce houses brought by Best of Tymes Party Rentals.
John Grillo, the recreation director, estimated more than 500 children and their families attended the four-hour event.
Michelle Wiseman of Best of Tymes serves cotton candy. Best of Thymes also had popcorn, nachos and snow cones. They charged $5 per child for the food and for unlimited use of the bounce houses.
The Albion Masonic Lodge and the Royal Body Shop Outreach Ministries also helped the Recreation Department put on the event today at the park.
The splash pad at Bullard remains a big hit about a year after it opened.
These kids throw the football around at Bullard on a day with many different activities.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 19 July 2023 at 8:20 am
File photo by Tom Rivers: A firefighter in turnout gear and an air pack battles a fire on June 15, 2022 when a truck with more than 400 used tires caught on fire next to the Albion Walmart.
ALBION – The Albion Fire Department has 24 air packs and those units used by interior firefighters all reach their 10-year expiration date on Dec. 31.
The Village Board voted last week to replace the 24 units for $229,000. Each self-contained breathing apparatus includes two bottles per pack and a mask.
The village has applied for a federal Assistance to Firefighters Grant to cover the expense. Albion used funds from the AFG program before to purchase new air packs, said Fire Chief Jeremy Graham.
There is about a 24-week wait with receiving the air packs from when they are ordered. Graham said the new units should arrive just in time before the old ones must be replaced.
The village expects to hear whether it will receive AFG money in about two months. If Albion doesn’t receive the grant, the board said it could use money from the federal American Rescue Plan Act and also dip into the village’s reserve balance and fund balance.
Photo by Tom Rivers: Tim Archer, a retired middle school teacher at Albion, holds a flywheel from the lift bridge. The artifact will be on display in the school district. In back from left are Village Trustees Joyce Riley and Chris Barry, Mayor Angel Javier Jr. and Trustee Zack Burgess.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 18 July 2023 at 4:01 pm
ALBION – The school district was given a flywheel from the lift bridge that will be on display for students in the future.
Tim Archer, a recently retired middle school teacher, accepted the flywheel on behalf of the district at last week’s Village Board meeting. Archer is continuing in a part-time role at the district next school year. He has worked with village officials on many service-learning projects during his career.
He took a few students down to the construction site last month. The lift bridge from 1914 is undergoing a major rehabilitation with many of the steel pieces being replaced.
The state Department of Transportation and the contractor approved giving the flywheel to the school district. The old lead paint was stripped off and the piece was cleaned.
Archer said the district will discuss how to best display the flywheel.
The Albion and Brockport lift bridges are both being rehabbed as part of a $28.3 million project for the two sites.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 18 July 2023 at 11:06 am
ALBION – The Albion Police Department will be at the carnival at Bullard Park on Wednesday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., checking to make sure car seats are safely installed.
The Police Department has a limited number of car seats available for free. The public is welcome to stop and have a trained car seat technician make sure the seats are safely in place.
The Orleans County Sheriff’s Office is also doing a car seat check on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Orleans County Public Safety Building at 13925 Route 31 in Albion.
Bullard will also host Who Dats for concert in evening
Photo by Tom Rivers: About 350 children enjoyed the bounce houses, games and the splash pad at Bullard Park during the carnival on July 13, 2022. The event will be this Wednesday and is again open to kids from throughout the Orleans County.
By Ginny Kropf and Tom Rivers
ALBION – Bullard Park will host its annual summer carnival this Wednesday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Last year the event was opened to children from throughout Orleans County, not just Albion. About 350 kids attended last year.
Christina Nenni from Best of Tymes Party Rentals will be back with bounce houses. A $5 wrist band gets attendants in and includes free lunch for kids, provided by the Royal Body Shop Ministries and Albion’s Masonic Lodge.
Lunch for adults, which includes a hot dog or hamburger, French fries and a drink is $5. Lunch will be available from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
The event also includes kid’s activities, carnival games and music. Mike Seege will present “Say No to Bullying” Magic Show, which is free to all.
Best of Tymes will sell snow cones for $2 and popcorn, soda or water for $1 each. Lyncoln Bear and Buddies will be on site, as well.
The splash pad and playground will be open all day.
The Village of Albion concert series also will shift from the downtown to Bullard Park from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. with The Who Dats performing.
The concert is free to the public and will include food and alcohol vendors.
Photo by Tom Rivers: North Liberty Street in the Village of Albion has been milled and a new layer of asphalt will be added later this month.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 14 July 2023 at 12:43 pm
ALBION – Five streets in the Village of Albion have been milled and are scheduled to get a new layer of asphalt from July 24-26.
Jay Pahura, the village’s superintendent of the Department of Public Works, said Keeler Construction in Barre will have its paver in the village for those three days, paving Liberty Street (north and south), Crimson Drive, Goodrich Street, North Street and Clarendon Street.
Pahura said Ingersoll and East Bank streets are showing more wear and tear from the added traffic with the Main Street lift bridge closed. Those streets will likely get some patching but Pahura said the traffic demands while the bridge is closed makes it impossible to mill the streets and then repave them.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 14 July 2023 at 7:36 am
Photo by Tom Rivers
ALBION – The new Taco Bell is under construction at 118 West Ave. Contractors have been working on the project for about three months.
The new 2,600-foot restaurant is expected to open in mid-August, said Anne Podolak, a Village of Albion code enforcement officer. She updated the Village Board on the project during the board meeting on Wednesday evening.
Hospitality Syracuse is the developer for the project on vacant land owned by Landsman Development of Rochester.
The new Taco Bell will go next to McDonalds and across from Freeze-Dry Foods. Hospitality Syracuse will make about 40 percent of the 1.33-acre lot green space with grass. The company has removed a water tank in the back corner of the lot and is replacing chain-link fences with ones made of wood.
Photos by Tom Rivers: The Albion Visitor’s Center at 121 North Main St. is currently used as a office building and rented out to Assemblyman Steve Hawley, The Orleans Economic Development Agency and the Genesee-Orleans Ministry of Concern.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 13 July 2023 at 2:43 pm
ALBION – Village Board members were asked to consider whether the Albion Visitor’s Center would make a better village hall than the current village office at 35-37 East Bank St.
Deputy Mayor Joyce Riley thinks the visitor’s center may be a better building for the village office. The visitor’s center is at 121 North Main St. with more parking and is handicapped accessible with an elevator going to the second and third floors.
She made the suggestion during Wednesday’s Village Board meeting. She didn’t call for any quick action but asked the other board members to go to the Visitor’s Center and try to imagine the possibilities.
“Would it be good for the community (for the village office) to be on Main Street?” she asked. “It’s ADA complaint.”
Tracy VanSkiver, the village clerk-treasurer, said the Visitor’s Center currently makes the village some money, renting out space to Assemblyman Steve Hawley, the Orleans Economic Development Agency, Darlene Benton and the Genesee-Orleans Ministry of Concern. Those rents are about $4,000 a month.
The Village Office is currently located at 35-37 East Bank St., next to the police station on Platt Street.
If the village did move its village office to the Visitor’s Center, the current village office could be used by the Police Department. Police Chief David Mogle said the police department is cramped for space next door at 106 North Platt St.
For example, an interview room is used as an evidence room and for officers to take lunch breaks.
Mogle said the department would still like to keep its space at Platt Street where the interview room has cameras, there is a holding area, processing area and lockers. Having use of the village office would give the department more space for training and make it easier for the public to stop by. Right now there aren’t any public parking spots right next to the police station.
Mogle said the Visitor’s Center “looks like a village hall” as an anchor building in the downtown.
The village has owned the Visitor’s Center since 2002. It took over the 8,061-square-foot building that was in the midst of a big construction project. The former Greater Albion Chamber of Commerce was approved for a $585,000 grant from the federal Housing and Urban Development for the renovation. That grant didn’t cover all the costs and the village stepped in to finish the project.
The building from 1890 was in major disrepair before the Chamber and village took on the project.
The first floor of the Albion Visitor’s Center with Assemblyman Steve Hawley’s district office at left. The suite at right is currently vacant. An elevator provides handicapped accessibility to the second and third floors.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 13 July 2023 at 1:00 pm
‘They have been absolutely incredible.’ – Ben Curfman, pastor of North Point Chapel
Photo by Tom Rivers: Ted Newsome, a member of the Liberty Baptist Church at left on ladder, and Rick Bachorski, right of the North Point Chapel, work on a project in the kitchen at the North Point Chapel.
ALBION – A group of 20 people from a church in Mississippi raised $30,000 and traveled 1,200 miles to help a congregation in Albion this week.
The Liberty Baptist Church from Waynesboro, Mississippi has a team of people cleaning the North Point Chapel, finetuning the sound system and working on overhauling the kitchen so the church can prepare and serve meals in its fellowship hall.
Ted Newsome is a truck driver and farmer from the church in Mississippi. He and many of the other Liberty Baptist members took off work and used their vacation to make the trek to Albion. They rode in a bus, and also brought a truck and U-Haul with tools and supplies.
“We need serving as much as people need to be served,” Newsome said.
Liberty Baptist also has another group of 16 people from its church in New York City this week doing a service project at Hell’s Kitchen.
Phillip Gandy, the church’s pastor, said Liberty Baptist has been doing projects in many states for about 20 years now. Gandy was in Albion in February to check out the church and assess if Liberty Baptist could be helpful to North Point Chapel. Both churches are members of the Southern Baptist Convention.
Gandy believed Liberty Baptist could raise money and get the kitchen functioning again.
Liberty Baptist embraces the projects wanting to be of service to other churches and also welcoming the chance for Liberty Baptist members to work close together.
“This is the best team-building I know of for a church,” Gandy said about the mission trips.
Provided photo: This group from Liberty Baptist Church in Mississippi arrived in Albion on Tuesday evening and will be leaving Monday morning. They are shown outside the North Point Chapel at the former United Methodist Church at the corner of East State and Platt streets.
The Liberty group ranges in age from 13 to 78.
Newsome, one of the volunteers, said the Albion community has already shown the group kindness. Their first day on the job a neighbor brought over lasagna dinner. “It was delicious,” he said.
Ben Curfman has served as North Point Chapel pastor just over a year. He and his wife Rebekah and their six children relocated to Albion from the mountains of western North Carolina.
Curfman made other Southern Baptist churches aware the Albion site would welcome assistance with projects in a historic building, and also outreach to the community.
Besides working on the building, the group from Mississippi will team with North Point in offering a bounce house and serving cotton candy and popcorn on Saturday. Curfman expects more traffic that day due to the community yard sales in Albion.
Liberty Baptist also will be part of the praise band during the service on Sunday morning at 10:30.
Liberty Baptist brought materials to upgrade the kitchen, and even brought new appliances. Curfman said the church from Mississippi has been a blessing.
“They have been absolutely incredible,” he said.
North Point rented out a house in Waterport through Airbnb for some of the Liberty Baptist members, while others are staying with a North Point family.
Curfman said another church from North Carolina helped North Point in the spring by moving pews, reorganizing the sanctuary, and building a baptistry for people to be baptized.
North Point members also went on their own mission trip, traveling to Silver Creek in Chautauqua County for a day to help a church there get ready for a Vacation Bible School.
Curfman said he let the network of Southern Baptists churches know that North Point welcomes assistance with projects at the building and with community outreach. He said the response from out-of-state churches has left a strong impression on the North Point congregation.
‘It should be inspiring to people who can see there are people from all over the country who care about Albion,” Curfman said. “I just put the word out and explained our situation, that we want to be here a long time and be of service to the community. We’re blessed with this location in the heart of Albion.”
