Courtesy of Cobblestone Suites: The proposed 58-room hotel in Medina will look similar to this Cobblestone Suites hotel in Pennsylvania.

MEDINA – Developers of a proposed 58-room hotel on Maple Ridge Road are looking at a late spring to summer ground-breaking on the project.

The new Cobblestone Inn and Suites hotel will be on Maple Ridge Road, next to Pride Pak and almost across the street from Genesee Community College.

Cobblestone said the project will be $6,750,000, which includes paying the EDA $50,000 for 5 acres of land. The hotel owner estimated it would create 12 full-time jobs when its open with an average salary of $29,000. The project will create 275 construction jobs.

The 3-story hotel would be Cobblestone’s first project in New York. It will be the first chain hotel in the county and is expected to keep more visitors in the county for overnight stays, boosting occupancy and sales taxes. The occupancy tax is used to promote tourism in the county.

The Orleans Economic Development Agency on Friday approved a $250,000 loan to Medina Hospitality LLC for furniture, equipment and fixtures for the project. The Orleans EDA approved the loan through its Orleans Revolving Loan Fund. That fund is being phased out and this will likely be the last loan through the program.

BriMark Builders has been working on the project in Medina for a few years. It secured Planning Board approval from the Village of Medina and Orleans County in 2017. BriMark is based in Neenah, Wisc.

Cobblestone Inn and Suites has built about 80 hotels with most of them in small towns, typically working with investors in the host community. An investor from Pennsylvania is leading the effort to build the project in Medina.

The project includes 65 parking spots, an access drive, outdoor patio, sidewalks, dumpster enclosure, and an optional future gravel truck parking area.

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Photo courtesy of Medina Marching Band

VICTOR – Medina’s varsity winter guard team is shown competing Saturday in Victor. Medina came in second with 65.60, which was behind Corning Painted Post with 65.96.

Victor hosted its 20th annual winter guard show and all 3 of Medina’s guards competed.  Winter guard is a hybrid performance art form that combines elements of music, dance and military-like precision marching.  Winter guard came into existence 30 years agond is an international sport.

In the Novice class Medina took 1st place (no numerical scores). In the RA class, Medina came in 2nd with 57.10, bested by Eastridge with 58.35.

In other classes Victor came in 1st in Cadets with 55.56; Geneseo in Senior class with 45.70;  Batavia 1st in A1 with 64.70; Gates-Chili in Independent A with 71.25; Victor in Scholastic Open with 72.0;  Lancaster in Independent Open with 68.40; and the Brigadiers in Independent World with 74.20. (The ARC of Yates performed in exhibition and it was obvious how much this group of adults put their hearts into performing.)

Medina’s next competition is Feb 16 at East Syracuse Minoa. Medina’s home show is March 9.

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Joe Sidari is the son of Medina mayor

Michelle and Joe Sidari will be featured on House Hunters tonight at 10 as they look for their home in the Rochester area.

A Medina native and his wife will be featured on the “House Hunters” show tonight at 10. Joe and Michelle Sidari look at three houses before making their choice.

The couple shares their journey in whittling down debt to be in a position to buy a house.

The couple met at St. John Fisher College, where Joe played football. They both graduated in 2009. Joe is a business teacher at the Ganada school district. His wife sells Mary Kay cosmetic products.

They have been married since 2010.

Joe is the son of Medina Mayor Mike Sidari and his wife Brenda.

“They’re very busy and they have a lot of fun together,” Mike Sidari said. “I can’t wait to go to the viewing party to watch it.”

The mayor said he watched some of the taping of the show. He was told for every 500 minutes of footage, only 5 minutes will be aired. The TV crew was with Joe and Michelle for five days.

The HGTV show is on Spectrum Cable Channel 56 and Channel 44 in Medina.

House Hunters promotes the episode by saying: “First-time buyers are on the hunt for a home in Rochester, New York. She’s looking for a place with a home office near the city but he’s hoping for a big backyard and a little privacy farther out. Most of all, this young couple just needs more room to start their family.”

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Photos courtesy of Medina Marching Band

BATAVIA – Medina’s Varsity Winter Guard is shown performing Saturday in Batavia. Medina took first place in Scholastic A with 61.10. followed by Corning in 2nd with 60.73, and Orchard Park in 3rd with 54.60.

In other classes Victor took 1st place in Cadets with 52.15; in A1  Batavia was 1st with 57.63; in Independent A the Ventures wth63.09. In Scholastic Open Orchard Park was the only competitor and Lancaster was the sole competitor in Independent Open.  Scores were not available for either of these two guards.

In the RA class Medina’s Jr. Varsity took 2nd place with a score of 56.99, bested by Lancaster with 58.02.

In the Novice class Medina took 1st place, with Hinsdale in second. There are no numeral scores in this class.

Medina took all three of the school guards to this show in Batavia, which included guard units from Western NY and Canada.

The winter guard program is a component of the Marching Band Program under the direction of Jim Steele. Diana Baker is the director for all three guard units and is assisted by Anna Oakes, both Medina alumni. There is camaraderie among the students in all three guards, helping each other with props, costumes, techniques and moral support.

Medina will compete in Victor this Saturday. Medina’s home show is March 9.

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Provided photos courtesy of John Dieter, Cubmaster of Pack 35

MEDINA – Scouts from Troop & Pack 35 celebrated Scout Sunday at Holy Trinity Church this morning at the 11 a.m. Mass. Scout Sunday’s purpose is to recognize the contributions of young people and adults to Scouting. The Scouts are sitting listening to Father Dan Fawls give a homily.

After Mass the Scouts from Pack 35 held their annual pinewood derby at Holy Trinity’s Parish Hall. Each den held race heats to decide fastest car in each den, then the winners went on to race for the fastest car in the Pack.

Sam Gray took 4th, Joe Reese placed 3rd, Anthony Reese placed 2nd, and Stephen Gobeli took 1st place for the entire Pack.

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Photos by Ginny Kropf

MEDINA – The Wine About Winter event in downtown Medina on Saturday was a sellout with 850 participants, including Dorothy Casey, Robin Wehling and Carol Bellack of Medina and Tami Siffringer of Lyndonville, who enjoy a sample of wine in The Book Shoppe in Medina.

They not only enjoy the wine tasting, but do a little shopping along the way, while taking a chance to win prizes at many of the 28 participating businesses.

Sue Phillips, owner of The Book Shoppe, holds a tray of peanuts which she offered participants at Wine About Winter. At left is clerk Erica Caldwell. Phillips said the event gets people into the stores and is good for business.

Heather and Bob Brockman of Wilson, right, buy their Chinese auction tickets from volunteers at Wine About Winter. This is the couple’s first time at the event. They learned about it while shopping in Medina during the Christmas season.

Scott Barber hands out maps of the stores participating in Wine About Winter to Kelly Stahl of Medina and Laurie Kurdziel. This is Stahl’s fifth year attending the event, which she said is always a good time.

Joey Robinson passes out wine glasses to Melissa Hansler and Tracey Hendrick. They like everything about Wine About Winter, especially because it gives them the chance to walk around Medina.

Sarah Fisher hands out wrist bands to participants in Medina’s 11th Wine in Winter on Saturday. At right, Cindy Robinson, president of the Medina Business Association, and Kathy Blackburn, president of the Orleans County Chamber of Commerce, register the 850 who bought tickets.

Lines stretched down half a block in Medina during VIP registration at Wine in Winter on Saturday.

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Photos by Tom Rivers

MEDINA – Katelyn Spierdowis of Albion plays the clarinet with the senior high band during this afternoon’s All-County Music Festival at Medina High School.

There were about 75 students in the band from Albion, Holley, Kendall, Lyndonville and Medina. The band wasn’t able to have a rehearsal on Friday when Medina closed school, but the students and conductor Bill Tiberio still performed four songs today.

The junior high chorus and elementary band also performed. There were nearly 300 students involved in the All-County Music Festival, which is organized by the Orleans County Music Educators’ Association.

The band is pictured from back stage during the performance today at a packed Medina High School Auditorium.

Bill Tiberio led the high school band as guest conductor. He has worked as a music teacher for 35 years, including 31 years at Fairport High School. The band played “Concert Variations” by Claude Smith, “Rest” by Frank Ticheli, “On the Banks” by Matt Conaway, and “Undertow” by John Mackey.

The boys in the junior high chorus sing a “South African Suite” by Henry H. Leck. The group was directed by Christina Reisdorf, a music teacher at Transit Middle School in the Williamsville Central School District.

The chorus also sang “Seize the Day,” “Nine Hundred Miles, Traditional American Folk Song” and “Rhythm of Life.”

Kelly Follman, an Orleans County resident and Rochester City School District teacher, conducted the elementary band. They performed “Bugs” by David Shaffer, “Celtic Air and Dance No. 2” by Michael Sweeney, and “Thunder” by Paul Murtha.

The elementary band started practice at 8:30 and worked diligently to be ready for the 2 p.m. concert.

Kelly Follman served as guest conductor of the elementary band with about 80 students at the All-County Music Festival.

Isaac Coppini, a tuba player from Albion, performs with the senior high band.

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MEDINA – The Medina school district will be closed on Friday for the third straight day as bitter cold persists.

Mark Kruzynski, the district superintendent, said Medina will close “due to the wind chill advisory and the amount of walkers that we have.”

The forecast calls for the temperature to only be 3 degrees at 8 a.m., 6 degrees at 10 a.m. and 10 degrees at noon.

The All County Festival will go on as scheduled for Saturday at Medina. All students participating will need to report to the high school at 8:30 a.m. on Saturday.

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