Photos by Tom Rivers

KENDALL – Taylor Czeh, 6, of Kendall gets her face painted by Melissa Salatino on Saturday during the Kendall Community Scarecrow Festival at the Town Park.

The scarecrow fest has been an annual tradition since 2010. It drew several hundred people for many free activities on a sunny, warm fall day.

George Castaneda of Hamlin helps his son Sebastian, 4, paint a pumpkin. Panek Farm sin Albion donated about 200 pumpkins. Many businesses and sponsors donated to make the event free to the community.

Some of the decorated pumpkins are on display.

The scarecrow decorating contest was with a theme of “favorite outdoor activity.” There were nine entries. Some of the entries included scarecrows playing baseball, fishing, bow hunting, relaxing by the water and doing other activities.

There was also a station where people could build their own scarecrows.

The band Rebel’s Posse played country, southern rock and classic rock music at the gazebo.

Jeffrey Cook of Fairport carves a bear with a chainsaw. He owns Critters 3D, a chainsaw-carving business.

Emily Schmitt assists her son Barrett in the “Gun Smoke Shootout” activity where foam balls were fired at targets.

Becky Charland is the chair of the planning committee for the scarecrow festival. She is shown with a scarecrow with a bow hunting theme. Charland helped start the first scarecrow fest in 2010.

She praised the community for the support of the event and for the big turnout. Other committee members include Linda Kludt, Wendy Becker, Robin Schepler, Maggie Whelehan, Cheryl Werner, Candi Mael, Donna Dangler and Rene Cliff.

These kids enjoy pony rides.

There also was a wagon ride through town, including to the firehall where there was a farmer’s market with several vendors.

Provided photos

KENDALL – John Patt, a member of Troop 94 in Kendall, celebrates becoming an Eagle Scout during a ceremony on Monday.

Patt earned 51 merit badges. He also earned two Silver Palms, the highest of the three Palms available. One Silver Palm is for each additional merit badge above the required 21.

Patt took his Eagle Scout oath at a Court of Honor at the pavilion he built for his Eagle Scout project by the Erie Canal in the Holley Canal Park.

He plans on staying active with his Troop and Scouting so he can share his experiences and knowledge with the younger boys.

Many Eagle Scouts were in attendance to support Patt as he joined the exclusive rank. He also was joined by many family, friends, community members and current and former scouts.

Photos by Tom Rivers

KENDALL – Jack L. Hall of Brockport waves to the crowd while he drives a 1953 Massey-Harris tractor during Friday’s Kendall Firemen’s Carnival parade.

Hall also participated in the Hilton parade on Thursday. “I have antique tractors and I enjoy showing them,” he said.

Betty Wilson is celebrated as Kendall’s most senior resident at age 102. She gave enthusiastic greetings to the crowd.

She is also known as “Grandma Buttons” and the “Peanut Butterball Queen.”

The Alexander Firemen’s Band makes its way down Kendall Road in Friday night’s Kendall Firemen’s Carnival parade.

People were lined up on both sides of the street for the parade.

A member of the Alexander band focuses on his music while marching and playing the trombone.

A Kendall fire truck makes its way down the parade route. Many children eagerly looked for candy to be tossed their way.

These members of Lone Oak Stables in Kendall ride horses in Friday night’s Kendall Firemen’s Carnival parade.

This boy keeps a smile despite being on the cleanup crew following the horses.

Hamlin firefighters ride on old Ward LaFrance fire truck in the parade.

La’Ron Singletary, a former Rochester police chief, marched in the parade. He is running for Congress as a Republican in a newly drawn 25^th Congressional District.

Assemblyman Steve Hawley tosses small frisbees to kids along the parade route.

Raymond McMillion and firefighters in the Murray Joint Fire District make a dignified procession in the parade.

The Gates Police Pipe & Drum Band performed in the parade.

Warren Kruger, the Kendall highway superintendent, rides in his 1929 Ford pickup.

Kendall Town Councilwoman Margaret Lynn Szozda gets a ride in a 1959 Thunderbird with former Town Supervisor Jack Gilman.

Today’s schedule at the carnival includes a corn hole tournament starting at noon, lawn mower pulls at noon, a ride matinee from 1 to 4 p.m. and 6 to 10 p.m., a chicken barbecue at 4 p.m., the community band at 5 p.m., music by Highway 31 at 9 p.m., fireworks at dusk and a $1,500 giveaway after the fireworks. (There is also a car cruise in from 4 to 7 p.m. with best of show award and door prizes for cruise participants.)

Photos by Tom Rivers

KENDALL – The Kendall Firemen’s Carnival returned today for another three-day run of fun. The top photo shows people riding the Super Trooper, one of several classic midway rides. They are set up at the Kendall Fire Department’s grounds on Kendall Road behind the fire hall.

The annual carnival is a big fundraiser for the fire department with proceeds paying the department’s bills, including buying EMS equipment and materials for the ambulance and other expenses.

“we look forward to it every year,” said Kendall Fire Chief Dan Schultz. “We appreciating the community spending their money and supporting us.”

A big group of volunteers, including many from outside the fire department, put on the annual event.

Vinnie D’Agostino, center, tries a ring toss game. He was joined by several of his teammates on Kendall’s U15 baseball team. They won their game before heading to the carnival.

Kaylynn Villane, 7, of Brockport rides the Sky Fighter, a ride that resembles an old fighter plane.

Julie Kludt, right and Stephanie Holland make waffles that would be covered in powered sugar. Kludt has been working in the booth for at least 20 years.

“We can’t keep up with them,” she said about the waffle demand. “We go through a lot of batter.”

Troy Legault, 16, of Brockport, left, and Gabe Loran of Kendall serve up an order of a dozen steamed clams. Troy’s mother is a teacher at Kendall. Gabe is an incoming high school senior working on his community service for the school.

Kendall has 1,200 dozen of the steamed clams ready for the carnival.

The Who Dats performed tonight at the carnival. John Borello plays the guitar at left and Lonnie Froman is the lead singer. Other band members include Alona Kuhns on guitar, Ed Hilfiker on guitar and Alex DeSmit on drums.

Alex DeSmit performs with the Who Dats.

Friday’s schedule is highlighted by a parade at 7 p.m., a ride matinee from 6 to 10 p.m. and the band 7th Heaven from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m.

Saturday’s schedule includes a corn hole tournament starting at noon, lawn mower pulls at noon, a ride matinee from 1 to 4 p.m. and 6 to 10 p.m., a chicken barbecue at 4 p.m., the community band at 5 p.m., music by Highway 31 at 9 p.m., fireworks at dusk and a $1,500 giveaway after the fireworks. (There is also a car cruise in from 4 to 7 p.m. with best of show award and door prizes for cruise participants.)

Photos courtesy of Kendall Lions Club

HAMLIN – Soon-to-graduate Kendall seniors were retaed to breakfast on Friday at the Hamlin VFW.

The annual tradition by the Lions used to be held at The Village inn. With that restaurant now closed, the breakfast moved to the Hamlin VFW.

Kendall Lion Tony Cammarata served as MC for the morning. He is shown with Chet Fery of Brockport, a retired school administrator known as “The Bread Man.” Fery baked a loaf of bread for each student and shared a message about the importance of kindness. Fery shared about 100 loaves of bread, enough for the students and other guests.

About 60 Kendall seniors attended the breakfast. The event returned last year after being cancelled in 2020 due to Covid restrictions.

The breakfast buffet was catered by The Farmers Table Restaurant in Hamlin.  Pictured from left include Zina Cappotelli, Lora Partyka and Jeff Partyka from The Farmers Table.

The Senior Recognition Banquet at The Hamlin VFW was hosted by VFW President Willie Weir and Event Planner Patty Urquhart.

Provided photo

KENDALL – Kendall Lions Club member Gary Crawford presents a check for $6,000 to Kendall Central School. He is giving the check to Nick Picardo, the district superintendent.

The money is from the proceeds of a chicken barbecue. The funds will assist students to more fully participate in special events and activities at both school buildings, covering costs for students in financial stress. The money could be used for field trips and any other area deemed appropriate by the district.

Picardo and Chris Nasella, the district’s business administrator, attended the Lions Club meeting to go over Kendall’s proposed budget which will be voted on by residents on May 17.

Photos courtesy of Kevin Watson, Kendall Middle School principal

A group of about 50 Kendall eighth-graders, teachers and chaperones have been visiting Gettysburg and Washington, DC.

The group is shown in the top photo in front of the Lincoln Memorial.

The class departed by bus on Tuesday morning in the return of the eighth-grade trip. The outing was cancelled in 2020 and 2021 due to Covid restrictions and concerns. The trip was reduced from four days and two overnights to three days and overnight stays.

Kendall students applaud and give a standing ovation for a veteran who was on the Honor Flight on Wednesday, visiting memorials in the nation’s capital.

Kendall students high five this veteran. The Honor Flight included 86 veterans from the Vietnam War, one from World War II and two women who served as Rosie the Riveters, working in manufacturing plants.

The Kendall students on Wednesday night visited the memorial for Martin Luther King Jr., the famed civil rights leader.

The students also saw the Supreme Court, White House, Capitol, Jefferson Memorial, World War I Memorial and other national landmarks in Washington, DC. Today the group is headed to Arlington National Cemetery.

The students visited the Civil War battlefield sites at Gettysburg, including Little Round Top on a rocky hill. This is the spot where Union soldiers pushed back an assault by Confederate troops on July 2, 1863, the second day of the Battle of Gettysburg.

Kevin Watson, the Kendall Middle School principal, said he is grateful the middle school trips have resumed after being cancelled the previous two years.

Next week, Kendall seventh graders will take a day-long trip to Howe Caverns followed by a tour of Albany and the Governor’s Building. The fifth grade team also has brought back its annual trip to Old Fort Niagara.

Photos and information from Kendall Lions Club

KENDALL – The Kendall Lions Club picked up trash along the roadsides on Saturday for the annual Environmental Cleanup Day.

The top photo shows Lion Club member Steve Giverson in the foreground and Lion President Gary Crawford in the background on the right.

Lion Club members and other residents met at the town highway department and received a safety vest, trash bags and a route for area roadways to clean. They collected 3 cubic yards of trash. Lion Eric Maxon chaired the event for the Lions.

Community member Lisa Zittel joined Kendall Lion Jim Rayburn in the trash pickup.

Kendall Lions distributed trees to fourth-grade students on Monday. Lion Club President Gary Crawford, left, and Lion Mike Cusimano speak to the students as part of an Earth Day celebration.

Each student was presented with a tree for planting. Trees were donated by Flower City Tree.

The Lions Club has been participating in the 4th grade Foresters program for over 12 years.

Crawford and Cusimano shared that one of Lions International global areas of service is the environment. Sharing trees with the students is one of the club’s ways to improve our environment.

The presentation of trees enhances the ecology lessons and activities done in the classroom. The Lions Club look forward to the students’ notes sharing their plans for the trees.

Photos by Ginny Kropf: Michael Clark saws a board under the watchful eye of his father, Jason Clark, on Saturday morning. Jason and other helpers, including a crane operator, an electrician and several other workers were recruited by Michael to help him complete his Eagle Scout project.

KNOWLESVILLE – Michael Clark, 17, has had two favorite activities since he was a small boy – Scouting and 4-H.

Michael, a son of Jason and Christina Clark of Kendall and a senior at Kendall High School, started as a Cub Scout at the age of 5 and joined 4-H when he was 7. So when it was time to work on a project for his Eagle Scout badge, Michael knew just what he wanted to do – build a 24’ by 40’ pavilion next to the rabbit and poultry barn.

Michael Clark poses on a ladder leading up to the roof of the pavilion family and friends helped him build on Saturday at the Orleans County 4-H Fairgrounds. A member of Troop 94 in Kendall, Michael’s project will fulfill his requirements to become an Eagle Scout. The project will serve two of his favorite activities – Scouting and 4-H.

Last fall he attended a meeting at the fairgrounds and presented his idea to the property committee and fair board, said Robert Batt, director of Cornell Cooperative Extension.

“Michael used to show rabbits in the tent we had to put up every year,” Batt said. “This pavilion will save us the time and trouble of putting up a tent, and it won’t blow away. The tent was never a good thing.”

Batt said about 50 exhibitors are involved in the pavilion, which is used for rabbits and poultry, so this permanent structure will be a great addition to the fairgrounds for years to come.

Michael then had to raise the money for materials. Initially, the estimate was $10,000, but with increasing prices, it was closer to $12,000. In the end, with Stockham Lumber in Holley giving him materials at cost, donation of the 6 x 6s and Keeler Construction donating the stone, his final cost was back to $10,000. He is currently about $3,000 short, which will pay for the metal roof.

“This was a difficult time to raise $11,000, with rising costs and Covid,” Jason Clark said.

On Saturday morning, Michael’s dad and other helpers dug the holes for the poles and completed building the frame and trusses. One volunteer was Mike Markel, who works in construction and had his boys in Scouts.

Michael’s project will not only fulfill his Eagle Scout requirements, but will give back to his 4-H family, he said.

His goal was to have the pavilion completed by the beginning of June, but they got it nearly completed on Saturday and planned to return to finish it up Sunday, except for the tin roof, which will be done professionally.

KENDALL – The Board of Education and school administrators have put together a $19,822,921 budget for 2022-23 that doesn’t increase taxes.

The budget goes before voters on May 17 with a public hearing on at 6:30 p.m. on May 4 at the Kendall Junior-Senior High School Library.

The budget keeps the tax levy at $4,964,656. The budget decreases spending by $157,808 to $19,822,921.

There will be four propositions on the ballot on May 17. The budget is proposition one.

Proposition two is to spend up to $250,000 from a Transportation Bus Reserve Fund to replace transportation vehicles of the district.

Proposition three establish a Capital Reserve Fund for up to $5 million for a future capital project.

Proposition four is electing a member to the Board of Education for a five-year term. Current board member Lisa Levett, who is the board president, is running unopposed.

Photo by Tom Rivers: This photo from May 2017 shows sandbags stacked by the shoreline in Kendall.

Press Release, International Joint Commission

The International Joint Commission released for public comment the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Adaptive Management Committee’s (GLAM Committee) report “ Expedited Review of Plan 2014, Phase 1: Informing Plan 2014 Deviation Decisions Under Extreme Conditions.”

Comments can be submitted online until Monday, April 18.

The IJC directed the GLAM Committee to conduct the Expedited Review of Plan 2014, the plan for regulating Lake Ontario outflows, in response to public concerns over Plan 2014 following the extreme wet conditions that caused record floods in 2017 and in 2019. The purpose of this two-phased review is to investigate possible improvements that could be made to Lake Ontario outflow regulation activities.

The GLAM Committee has concluded Phase 1 of the Expedited Review of Plan 2014 which focused on providing additional information to help inform the critical decisions made by the IJC’s International Lake Ontario-St. Lawrence River Board (ILOSLRB) to best manage Lake Ontario outflows under extreme conditions.

Phase 1 also focused on collecting and analyzing data on high-water impacts on interests, including but not limited to shoreline homes, marinas and commercial shippers. This research led to creation of a decision support tool that informs the Board about the real-world impacts of its decisions and provides insight into how different deviations would perform under various future water supply conditions.

Phase 2 of the Expedited Review will look at how Plan 2014 addresses extreme high and low water levels and explore possible adjustments to the regulation plan. Currently underway, Phase 2 is tentatively scheduled to conclude in late 2024.

The GLAM Committee’s report on the Phase 1 of the Expedited Review of Plan 2014 is available for public comment until Monday, April 18, 2022.

The feedback received during the public comment period will be considered by the IJC and will inform its own findings that will be submitted to the governments of Canada and the United States.