Photos by Tom Rivers

LYNDONVILLE – The former Crosby-Whipple building has been demolished and removed at 30 North Main St. in Lyndonville to make way for a new Dollar General.

These photos show the site on Friday evening. The new store will be next to Johnson Creek. The project includes a retaining wall next to the waterway.

The site will become a 7,600-square-foot Dollar General with 29 parking spaces. The Broadway Group in Huntsville, Alabama is the developer for the project. The 7,600-square-foot store is the smallest model offered by Dollar General. Most of the Dollar Generals are more than 9,000 square feet. The parcel of land on Main Street doesn’t give enough room for the larger size store.

The store will have 8 to 10 employees and offer convenience for Lyndonville shoppers, the Broadway Group told village officials back in March. Dollar General has another store 3.75 miles away at the corner of routes 63 and 104 in Ridgeway.

Market will be open Fridays through October at former Pennysaver site

Photos by Tom Rivers

LYNDONVILLE – Friday was opening day for the new Lyndonville Farm & Artisan Market on South Main Street at the site of the former Pennysaver buiding, which was demolished in March after the roof collapsed due to heavy snow and ice on Feb. 22.

Robert Smith, right, is owner of the property and Deborah Loke, left, is the market manager. She also will be a vendor selling products made with laser-cut wood.

“We want Lyndonville to be a destination and not a pass-through,” Loke said.

There were seven vendors for opening day of the market, which was from 4 to 8 p.m. There are three more vendors signed up and more are welcome, Loke said.

Smith said the loss of the Pennysaver building prompted him to look for other ways to utilize the site. A farmers and artisan market emerged as a great fit for the community, he said. There is room for 18 vendor booths in 10 by 10-foot locations, with space for three food trucks on the east end of the lot.

“It’s created a different set of opportunities,” Smith said at the market on Friday evening.

He would like to see an outdoor café with the space as well. He is renovating two buildings next door and is hopeful one of those buildings will be a café with “grab-and-go breakfasts.”

This sign on Main Street directs people to the new market at the corner of South Main and Eagle streets.

The Webber Building, which is two doors down, is being renovated into retail space on the first floor and hotel rooms upstairs. Work starts Monday to put in the air-conditioning and heating system, with electric starting in September, and then the insulation and drywall. Smith expects that site to open the first quarter of 2022.

There is interest in the two buildings, Smith said, including from an insurance agent and for a collaborative kitchen with demonstrations.

He is pleased with the variety of the vendors at the new market, with coffee and other beverages, produce, books, pizza, kettle corn and an array of artisan creations.

He sees the market serving the Lyndonville community and also tapping into the group headed to the lake on Friday.

James Roberts, owner of Big Bulbs Garlic & Produce Farm in Medina, holds an onion he was selling Friday. Roberts, 36, was making his farm market debut. He has also sold his onions, garlic and other produce at flea markets.

He was pleased with the crowd on Friday. There were about 100 people who stopped by.

Katherine Diegelman of Lyndonville holds her daughter Willa. Diegelman sells products through Usborne Books & More. She sells books for children from birth through the teen years.

“I’ve done pretty well tonight,” she said about the sales at the market. “I like to do events that are local and get these awesome books into homes.”

Press Release, Lyndonville Central School

LYNDONVILLE – Kindergarten and Pre-K registration remains open at Lyndonville Central School

There is still time to register your child for kindergarten or pre-kindergarten for the 2021-2022 school year. If you are a resident of the Lyndonville School District and your child will be 3, 4 or 5 by December 1, 2021, they are eligible to enroll. Space is limited but openings are available for all age groups.

The Lyndonville School District will continue to have full day classes for kindergarten with breakfast, lunch and transportation available for those outside the Village. The five-day-a week PreK program engages students in planned educational activities, play and rest time. Breakfast and lunch are provided, and a new PreK playground was recently installed.

Please call or email the school at (585) 765-3122 or esmith@lcsdk12.org. You will need to provide your name, address, child’s name and child’s date of birth. More information can be found by clicking here.

LYNDONVILLE – The Lyndonville community is welcome to attend an ecumenical service at 4 p.m. on Aug. 14 at the Lyndonville Presbyterian Church, 107 North Main St.

“Many in the village are feeling grief from several years of sadness that has befallen this community,” said Martha Mitchell, pastor of the Lyndonville Presbyterian Church. “We have lost too many to accidents and natural causes.”

Many residents have lost loved ones due to Covid-19, she said.

“Covid also made many elderly or people who live alone feel a real sense of sadness because they were, in fact, even more lonely,” Mitchell said. “Some have lost jobs or have struggled with the effects of having to cope with remote learning for their kids. For whatever reason, the last two years have taken a toll on peoples’ mental health.”

Mitchell will be joined in leading the service by the Rev. Craig Rhodenizer from St. John’s Lutheran Church and Pastor Olga Gonzalez from Lyndonville United Methodist Church.

“It will be non-denominational and just a lovely way to bring everyone together, give them a time to share their grief and to restore hope,” Mitchell said.

The 4 p.m. service also will include information about purchasing a memorial brick at the Yates Community Library as part of a memorial garden at the library.

Photos courtesy of Kathaline Woodruff

LYNDONVILLE – The band Blue Sky performs Monday evening outside the Yates Community Library at the library’s new back patio.

The library is hosting several concerts this summer on Monday evenings. The concerts receive some state arts funding through the Genesee-Orleans Regional Arts Council.

Blue Sky kept the crowd entertained on Monday evening.

The concerts begin at 6:30 p.m. The schedule the rest of the summer includes:

• Aug. 9 – Eagle Creek
• Aug. 16 – Mr. Mustard
• Aug. 23 – Laces Out
• Aug. 30 – Barker Community Band.

The public is welcome to bring a lawn chair or blanket, even a dinner picnic for the events.

Celtic Spirit performed on the lawn behind the library on July 26. The pipe band mixes traditional bagpipe music with various modern instruments, in its own unique arrangements.

The Old Hippies performed on July 19.

The library at 5 p.m. on Aug. 9 also is hosting a book discussion led by Anne Smiley about the three-volume graphic memoir, March, which is about the late Congressman John Lewis and his experiences as a leader in the Civil Rights movement.

The library’s book club, “Renegade Readers,” is reading March and will be participating in the discussion.

LYNDONVILLE – The Lyndonville community will be putting up banners of local soldiers next year, with the portraits on utility poles from just before Memorial Day to just after Veterans Day.

Lyndonville joins a growing list of communities to embrace the banners of Hometown Heroes. Holley, Medina and Albion have them, and many other communities around the state do as well.

Valerie D. Wells, a Lyndonville native, is coordinating the effort in Lyndonville. She said American flags will stay on much of Main Street. She expects some of the Hometown Heroes will be part on Main Street and also be included on Maple Avenue, Willowbrook Drive and Lake Avenue.

The banners will cost $200 each, and that includes hardware so they can be attached to the utility poles. The Lyndonville Area Foundation will set up an account for the funds, Wells said.

“The Lyndonville community should feel great pride in honoring our veterans in this noble way for many years to come,” she said.

The banners are expected to be up for three years and then will be given to the family. They will be in a different location each of the three years, Wells said.

For more information on how to purchase a banner for next year, contact Wells at (585) 339-8500 or by email at vwells022@gmail.com.

LYNDONVILLE – The Orleans County Planning Board is recommending the Village of Lyndonville approve the site plan for a new farm and artisan market in Lyndonville at 29 South Main St.

Robert Smith, owner of the property, wants to have the market on Fridays, from 4 to 9 p.m. The market will be on the now vacant site where the Pennysaver stood.

That structure had its roof collapse on Feb. 22 from heavy snow and ice. The building from 1899 also had suffered deterioration with its support beams. The building was knocked down in March.

Smith, a Lyndonville native who now lives in Palm Springs in California, used Zoom video conferencing to attend Thursday’s Orleans County Planning Board meeting. He is redeveloping other Main Street buildings.

With the former Pennysaver site, he said there will be room for up to 18 vendor booths in 10 by 10-foot locations, with space for three food trucks on the east end of the lot. He will provide electric hookups for the food trucks, as well as port-a-potties on the 4,000-square-foot site.

He wants to make the market available on Fridays from Memorial Day to October.

“We think this is a good opportunity to bring people into the village,” Smith said. “On Friday night people are headed to the lake. This will be a chance for them to pick up provisions and a meal.”

Lyndonville students also are expected to provide entertainment on some of the market days.

The County Planning Board encouraged the Village Planning Board to seek more information on whether the booths will be set up and taken down weekly, or if they will be permitted structures. The board should also see if there is a parking plan for the vendors’ vehicles and the market visitors, county planning officials said.

ALBION — The Orleans County Planning Board will meet at 7 p.m. on Thursday and among the proposals will be a farm and artisan market in Lyndonville at 29 South Main St., the former site of the Pennysaver.

The structure had its roof collapse on Feb. 22 from heavy snow and ice. The building from 1899 also had suffered deterioration with its support beams. The building was knocked down in March and the site is now vacant.

In other referrals for the Planning Board on July 22:

• Request for site plan review in Albion for a proposed 9,000-square-foot addition to an existing manufacturing facility at 4015 Oak Orchard Rd.

• Request for site plan review and a special use permit in Kendall for a 5 mega-watt solar farm at 1771 West Kendall Rd.

• Request for site plan review and a special use permit in Ridgeway for a recreational pond under 1 acre at 2901 County Line Rd.

• Request for permit and site plan review for another recreational pond under 1 acre at 3117 Knowlesville Rd.

• Request for site plan review in Ridgeway for 73-foot diameter by 32-foot high tank storage for chemical bulk storage at 3956 Allis Rd.

Contributed photos

LYNDONVILLE – Demolition has begun to take down the Crosby-Whipple building at 30 North Main St. in Lyndonville.

These photos are from behind the Main Street site, with the sided part of the building close to Curley’s Bar.

The site will become a 7,600-square-foot Dollar General with 29 parking spaces. The Broadway Group in Huntsville, Alabama is the developer for the project.

The 7,600-square-foot store is the smallest model offered by Dollar General. Most of the Dollar Generals are more than 9,000 square feet. The parcel of land on Main Street doesn’t give enough room for the larger size store.

Gerald ‘Bud’ Hamann, whose remains were recently identified in Philippines, survived 60-mile Bataan Death March, succumbed to dysentery

Photos by Tom Rivers: The portrait of Gerald “Bud” Hamann is positioned near his grave spot at Lynhaven Cemetery during a service today for him. His remains were recently identified in a mass grave in the Philippines. Honor Guard members from Orleans County are in the background.

LYNDONVILLE – Nearly 79 years after his death in a Japanese prisoner of war camp, Gerald “Bud” Hamann was given a service at Lynhaven Cemetery today.

Hamann survived the arduous Bataan Death March over 60 miles on foot, and then a 25-mile ride standing up in a boxcar packed with fellow soldiers who were prisoners. When he finally made it to the prisoner of war camp at Cabanatuan, Hamann would die from dysentery on July 25, 1942.

He was thrown in a mass grave with over a 100 other soldiers. His remains were positively identified after a niece, Kathy Kage, submitted DNA through ancestry.com.

Scott Goetze, a member of the American Legion in Lyndonville, presents an American flag to Mary Francis, niece of Gerald “Bud” Hamann. Francis traveled from Montana for the service today in honor of her uncle.  Family also attended from Seattle, Minnesota, South Carolina, Texas, Florida and Fort Drum near Watertown in northern New York.

Today, with his family from many states gathered in Lyndonville, Hamann was praised and mourned for his life.

“We are here to celebrate a life of heroism,” said State Assemblyman Steve Hawley.

Hamann and his American regiment helped the Filipino people and then was subjected to “one of history’s most horrific wartime occurrences,” Hawley said.

An estimated 500 to 650 American troops died in the Bataan Death March, when they were denied food, given little water and often beaten or killed with bayonets if they fell out of line or for no reason at all. Filipino troop deaths totaled 5,000 to 18,000 in the march.

Assemblyman Steve Hawley said the Hamann led “a life of heroism.”

After the march, the survivors were packed into sweltering railroad boxcars and taken another 25 miles to a prisoner of war camp. Hamann survived that. At the camp, however, he was the 29^th man to die on July 25, 1942 due to illness, and the 1,187th prisoner to perish.

His death was recorded by a fellow soldier on the backside of a label from a can of condensed milk. Hamann’s fellow soldier wrote he died at 7 p.m. at Cabanatuan on July 25, 1942. He died in barracks # 4, in POW Camp # 1, Cabanatuan.

“How do we know that?” said Matthew Atkins, a chaplain with the 10^thMountain Division at Fort Drum. “Because these heroic men loved one another enough to record it. Because of them, despite their conditions, despite the cruelty, despite the inhumanity, they would not be abased. Each one mattered. Each life sacred. Each brother, inestimably valuable.”

Hamann and his regiment were lacking in food, ammunition and weaponry. After Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, crippling the U.S. Pacific operations on Dec. 7, 1941, Japan then turned to the Philippines.

Matthew Atkins, a chaplain with the 10th Mountain Division at Fort Drum, speaks at the service today for Gerald Hamann. The soldiers with Hamann on the Bataan Death March cared for each other in the face of brutal inhumanity, Atkins said.

The overmatched U.S. and Filipino forces would hold off the Japanese for nearly four months until surrendering on April 9, 1942.

Those four months altered the Japanese timetable in the war, and that extended time made a difference for the Allies who would emerge victorious, said Atkins.

But April 9, 1942, the day of the surrender, may have been “the most brutal time for any soldier every wearing the American uniform,” he said.

The soldiers, already starving and weakened, would be subjected to “unthinkable brutality.”

Early enlister

Hamann enlisted in New York National Guard on Jan. 17, 1938, when he wasn’t quite 18. He asked to be released from National Guard early so he could enlist in Active Duty with Army.

He was stationed 14 months in Hawaii and then was sent to the Philippines, arriving in Manilla in April 1941. It didn’t seem too dangerous of an assignment, Atkins said.

Gerald Hamann’s grave stone notes he is the “beloved brother of Geraldine Kage.”

But then Pearl Harbor was attacked on Dec. 7, 1941, and 10 hours later the Japanese would attack U.S. military installations in the Philippines. Hamann and the 31st Infantry Division were suddenly in an active combat zone.

Hamann had a twin sister at home, Geraldine. She was married to Herman Kage, who was fighting Germans in Europe.

When a telegram arrived from the War Department, she couldn’t bear to open it, not knowing if it was the worst news about her husband or brother.

Hamann’s grave stone at Lynhaven notes he was the brother of Geraldine.

His remains haven’t been released yet. His family said they are grateful for the military’s efforts to identify and honor him.

Atkins said the U.S. military is committed to trying to identify as many soldiers as possible, and to bring them home.

He noted that Hamann comes from a family where at least eight members have served in the military since World War I. He comes from the town with “a statistically huge veteran population.”

Hamann may not have died in “a blaze of glory” but he and the other soldiers in the Bataan Death March and the POW camps showed each other love while suffering “day after day, mile after mile, indignity upon indignity,” Atkins said.

“We are horrified, and our sense of humanity wounded by the misery that CPL Hamann and so many others endured,” Atkins said. “And we are astounded by their character. These were men of honor, who fought valiantly with next to nothing, endured unspeakable conditions.”

“They lived the most arguably difficult days with principle. In their suffering, they did not surrender their souls.”

Family members attend the service at Lynhaven Cemetery today. The Honor Guard does a 21-gun salute for Hamann. Bogan & Tuttle Funeral Homes assisted the family in arranging the service.

‘Among the finest men this country has ever produced’

Hamann and the soldiers on the march, later in the railroad boxcars and then in the POW camps would share bread crumbs and rice, and care for each other.

Atkins quoted lines from America the Beautiful:

“O beautiful for heroes proved in liberating strife,

Who more than self, their country loved

And mercy, more than life.”

“Perhaps no collective in American history has embodied that verse more than the soldiers from Bataan,” Atkins said.

The service today for Hamann is “a day of sorrowful remembrance, and grateful thanksgiving.”

Hamann died nearly 79 years ago.

“Many of you still mourn over what might have been – the life Gerald should have lived,” Atkins said. “There is no way we can know what might have been in Gerald’s life – and we are left to judge the whole by its quality of humanity in sacrifice as opposed to its quantity of days. By that standard, CPL Gerald Hamann was among the finest men this country has ever produced.”

Mary Francis, niece of Hamann, thanked the Honor Guard, American Legion members, speakers and others for their presence today at the service.

“Thank you for acknowledging the sacrifice of my mother’s brother,” Francis said.

Preston Kage, a relative from Minnesota, plays Taps during the service today at Lynhaven.

Gary Befus, leader of the Honor Guard, presents the family with three spent shell casings that represent service, honor and duty.

Steve Goodrich, American Legion commander in Lyndonville, presents an American flag to Kathy Kage, one of Hamann’s nieces, today at the family home on Church Street. Goodrich presented the flag after the service at the cemetery. Kage submitted DNA that provided a match to her uncle’s remains in the Philippines.

Lyndonville native survived Bataan Death March, but died from dysentery in POW camp

LYNDONVILLE – The family for the late Gerald Hamann and the local veterans’ community will have a service for the World War II soldier on Tuesday morning, more than 75 years after his death.

Hamann survived the Bataan Death March but would then die of dysentery at a prisoner of war camp. He was buried in a mass grave with at least 100 other soldiers.

His remains were never positively identified until recently when his niece, Kathy Kage, submitted DNA into the ancestry.com database. Kage, a Lyndonville native who now lives in Texas, was contacted by the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA), which is tasked with identifying and repatriating the remains of fallen US service members.

Hamann was positively identified from Kage’s DNA file. Kage and other family members for Hamann will be giving him a funeral service at Lynhaven Cemetery at 9:30 a.m. on Tuesday.

“It is quite significant that they can bring these men home,” said Steve Goodrich, commander of the Houseman-Tanner American Legion Post in Lyndonville.

Photos by Tom Rivers

LYNDONVILLE – A tree is a silhouette in front of the Lyndonville school while multiple fireworks lit up the sky during a fireworks show on Sunday night

The Lyndonville Lions Club hires Young Explosives for the show, and it is one of the biggest displays in Western New York.

Last year’s fireworks show was cancelled due to ovid-19 restrictions on social gatherings. This year the restrictions were lifted with rising vaccination rates and declining Covid cases.

Fireworks are reflected in the water at the Johnson Creek pond in front of the school on Sunday night during a 40-minute fireworks show.

The fireworks explode in the sky with the steeple of the Lyndonville United Methodist Church in the foreground.

Food vendors were busy in the school parking lot, including this one serving funnel cakes.

Fireworks are launched from the back of the school property near the softball field.

The top of the Presbyterian Church is shown with fireworks going off in the background.

Henry Symmons, 13, of Albion twirls a sparkler before the fireworks show.

Fireworks are reflected in the back of a truck parked on the school campus near the baseball field.

Another photo shows the reflection in the water at Johnson Creek. That spot near the backyard of the Yates Community Library is a popular place to watch the fireworks.

Photos by Tom Rivers

LYNDONVILLE – Hannah Pollard and her nephew Hayden Woodroe are pictured at the Lyndonville school grounds today for the arts & crafts show. Pollard organized the crafts show with help from her nephew. She is also a vendor, selling products from her business, Catherine Street Quilts.

There are about 40 craft vendors at the show today, which is part of the Fourth of July celebration in Lyndonville.

There is a big crowd of people back in Lyndonville today to celebrate the Fourth. Last year’s holiday celebration organized by the Lyndonville Lions Club was cancelled for the first time in 46 years due to the Covid-19 restrictions.

Some highlights later today include The Who Dats performing from 7 p.m. until the start of the fireworks show at 10 p.m. by Young Explosives. The school grounds will be open for the fireworks show.

Jason Smith, a member of the Lions Club and Lyndonville school district superintendent, grills hot dogs for the Lions Club booth.

The Lions Club is grateful to be hosting the festival again today. Most of the activities are back with the notable exception of the parade.

“It’s absolutely wonderful,” Bruce Schmidt, Lions Club president, said about the return of the festival. “It’s great to see people come out and participate.”

Jeff Johnson of the Lions Club raises the American flag with Dylan Kage of the Honor Guard to start the Fourth of the July celebration in Lyndonville. (Click here to see a video of the flag-raising.)

Keystone Club Police Pipes & Drums head to the flag pole for the flag-raising ceremony. The group also played a concert at noon.

Bob Burtwell (center) and Scott Goetze, members of the Honor Guard and American Legion in Lyndonville, stand at attention during the flag-raising ceremony.

There are several new vendors in the arts and crafts show, with many people taking up hobbies during the pandemic and turning them into small businesses.

Lisa and her husband Kelly Liston are show at their display as part of HateCuddler Craftworks. Mrs. Liston started making home-made candles and soap with all-natural ingredients. The products have been popular and the Listons have been selling them at local farmers’ markets.

“We started the business in our house and it has just exploded,” said Mrs. Liston.

She makes the products in several different scents.

Deanna Papp of Lyndonville is selling creations made with recycled horseshoes by her husband, Al Papp. Deanna Papp and Judy Larkin paint the horseshoe artwork.

Mr. Papp, owner of a welding company, has been making the horseshoe creation for about four years. He makes animals , flowers, pumpkins with a beagle the most popular one.

Mrs. Papp said this is their first show of the season after all of them cancelled last year due to Covid restrictions.

“I love it now that you can get out and see people,” she said.

Michelle Higgins cooks the potatoes for the chicken barbecue dinners. Bill Jurinich is in back. The Lions Club sold all 500 of those dinners with chicken, baked beans and salt potatoes.

The Lions Club prepared 300 pounds of potatoes for the dinners.

Photos courtesy of Orleans County Sheriff’s Office: Deputy Jason Barnum, school resource officer at Lyndonville, stressed the importance of safe driving for students.

Press Release, Orleans County Sheriff Chris Bourke

LYNDONVILLE – Orleans County Sheriff’s School Resource Deputy Jason Barnum finished up a great 2020-2021 year at the Lyndonville School District.

In the last few weeks of the school year, Deputy Barnum provided information and guidance to High School students with learners’ permits and driver’s licenses. Deputy Barnum emphasized the importance of safe driving and not using drugs or alcohol beverages before getting behind the wheel of a motor vehicle.

Deputy Barnum brought the Sheriff’s Office Driving Simulator System and pedal cars to the school. These systems allow drivers to wear goggles that simulate being under the influence of various intoxicating substances and see the problems they cause for operators.

Students drove the pedal cars through a course with the goggles on.

Retiring technology teacher Jeff Gress tries the driving simulator.

The Orleans County Sheriff’s Office would like to wish all students in the county a safe summer vacation.

Veterans will lead opening ceremony, indoor seating will be available for chicken barbecue

File photo by Tom Rivers: The Who Dats, shown performing on July 4, 2019, will be back this Sunday outside the school, playing for the crowd before the fireworks.

Press Release, Lyndonville Lions Club

LYNDONVILLE – With the further lifting of Covid-related restrictions, the Lyndonville Lions Club wishes to inform everyone of the final updates for this year’s 4th of July festivities in Lyndonville.

While there will be no Main Street Parade for this year, the Houseman-Tanner American Legion Color Guard will perform an opening ceremony on the front lawn at Lyndonville Central School beginning at 11 a.m. The annual Arts and Crafts show and the Lions hot dog fundraising tent also open at 11 a.m.

While previously announced as drive-thru/take-out only, the annual Lions chicken barbecue dinners will now be served in the Lyndonville Central Schools cafeteria where indoor seating and restrooms will also be available. Chicken dinners begin serving at 1 p.m. until sold out. Dinner tickets are still available at M&T Bank Lyndonville, Orleans Ford and Hartway Motors in Medina, at the door or from any Lions Club member. Tickets are $12 each.

Afternoon entertainment begins at noon with the Gates Keystone Club Police Pipes & Drums followed by the Mark Time Marchers at 1 p.m. and the Lyndonville Central School Jazz Band at 2pm.  Various vendors will also be providing great food and refreshments all day long and into the evening and the Who Dats will be performing from 7 p.m. until the start of the evening fireworks show.

The fireworks display – the largest in the region – begins at 10 p.m. and the school grounds are now open to everyone for viewing the spectacular fireworks show. Even though the school grounds will be open, the display will still be “high shots” this year. The rain date for the fireworks is July 5th at 10 p.m. The Lyndonville Lions wish everyone a safe and fun holiday and look forward to seeing you all in Lyndonville on the Fourth!