Photos courtesy of Medina Mustang Band Boosters
MEDINA – The Medina Marching Band played in Newfane’s Bicentennial Parade on Saturday.
The band played music and marched down Main Street for the Niagara County town’s 200th anniversary celebration.
Provided photos: (Left) Nick Joy of the Medina Police Department speaks during Friday’s graduation of the Niagara County Law Enforcement Academy. Joy served as president of the 82nd Basic Class. (Right) Tanner Ferris of the Medina PD is congratulated for completing the six-month program.
MEDINA – Two Medina police officers on Friday graduated from a six-month police academy.
Nick Joy and Tanner Ferris were among 21 graduates in the 82nd Basic Class of the Niagara County Law Enforcement Academy.
The new graduates, Nick Joy at left and Tanner Ferris at right, are pictured with Medina Police Chief Todd Draper.
The two officers were hired by Medina in February. Now that they have completed the six-month academy at Niagara County Community College, they will do field training with the Medina PD.
The graduates represented law enforcement agencies The two officers will take a six-month police academy starting Monday at Niagara County Community College then they do field training with the Medina PD.
At the academy students completed classroom instruction, physical training, defensive tactics and firearms training.
Besides Medina, the graduates include officers and deputies from the Niagara County Sheriff’s Office, Niagara Falls Police Department, North Tonawanda and Lockport police departments, and Genesee County Sheriff’s Office.
Joy has been a trainer and co-owner of the Hustl House gym in Albion and Medina. Ferris is a 2017 Albion graduate with a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from SUNY Brockport. He was working for Keeler Construction.
Photo by Tom Rivers
MEDINA – Eager eaters go through the service line and fill their plates with vegetables from Pudgie’s Veggies and burgers from RLW Cattle Co.
The Gallagher on Route 63 hosted the event on Thursday evening where 200 meals were served in an event promoted as “burgers and brews.”
It was a fast sell-out in a collaboration among RLW, Pudgie’s, the Gallagher, Hilltop Restaurant in Lockport and The Coffeepot Café in Medina.
The Coffeepot owners, Dan and Hans Rosentreter, provided the buns for the burgers. Hilltop catered the event, preparing the food.
Patrick Woodworth shucks corn inside the Gallagher while his wife Rachel Woodworth greets people. Harris Farms in Gasport provided the corn roaster and some manpower to cook the corn.
The Woodworths started a retail beef store on Swett Road in Lyndonville this past spring for RLW Cattle Co. Patrick is a fifth-generation beef farmer. He also grows apples and grains.
“This is to support local businesses,” Patrick said about the event. “We all have something to offer.”
There were 200 tickets at $35 each. Besides the food served at the Gallagher, everyone received a pound of beef to take home.
“People are being so positive about it,” Rachel said. “It’s like a farm-to-table dinner.”
Pudgie’s Veggies owner Pudgie Bale and partner Debbie Fuller were happy to see so many people enjoying the food.
Pudgie’s provided potatoes, corn on the cob, cucumbers and tomatoes.
Bale also made it known he is planning to retire from growing vegetables after this year. He has grown vegetables for 25 years. He also worked as a heavy equipment operator and bartender. Bale said he wants more time to enjoy life, especially time with his grandchildren. He has been working 6 a.m. to 11 p.m.
“I just can’t do it anymore,” said Bale, who is 68. “I’m crawling into the house at night.”
Pudgie’s supplies eight restaurants with vegetables, and has stands outside his home on Route 63 near Boxwood Cemetery and by Lake’s Wine and Spirits at the corner of Salt Works Road and Park Avenue. Budgie’s also has a stand on Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at RLW on Swett Road.
Bale said his goal was to provide top-tier produce.
“We built this business on quality,” he said.
Tony Conrad, executive chef and owner of Hilltop Restaurant in Lockport, grills burgers outside The Gallagher. Conrad and his team of employees prepared the meals for Thursday’s dinner.
The event also included music from the Dave Stoll Band in Lyndonville.
The apple crisp were made from apples from Sandy Knoll Farms, owned by Patrick Woodworth in Lyndonville. These apples came out of storage from last year’s crop. Sandy Knoll was hit hard by a hail storm on Aug. 11.
Everett Bruning busses tables during the event. His parents, Jenna and Martin Bruning, opened The Gallagher in 2016. The site hosts about 50 weddings a year, and also is used for other parties and events.
Lane Woodworth gives one of the dinner guests a bag with a frozen pound of beef to take home.
The Woodworth, Conrad and Bruning families and Pudgie’s Veggies leaders pose for a photo outside the Gallagher.
From left in front include Morgan Woodworth and Megan Fargale (from Hilltop Restaurant).
Back row includes Lane, Patrick, Rachel and Nathan Woodworth; Tony and Crystal Conrad; Debbie Fuller and Pudgie Bale; Sylvia, Aubrey, Everett, Martin and Jenna Bruning.
File photo by Tom Rivers: Terry Buchwald, an Elvis Presley impersonator, arrives in downtown Medina on a motorcycle during the Super Cruise on Sept. 5, 2018. A section of Main Street was blocked off for the car show.
MEDINA – After a summer of changes for Medina’s decades-old cruise-ins, the 28th annual event will end for this season next Wednesday with Super Cruise on Main Street, featuring Terry Buchwald as Elvis.
After David Green announced he was giving up heading up the cruise-ins, real estate developer Rollin Hellner and Medina businessman Tom Snyder decided to take it over and move it from the canal basin to the parking lot of the Senior Center on West Avenue.
Attendance which often reached 100 in the canal basin, dipped to the 40s or less at the Senior Center. Many of the car owners preferred the shade and proximity to the water in the basin.
Photo by Ginny Kropf: Terry Buchwald is a nimble Elvis impersonator on the stage.
Now, Hellner has announced another change for Super Cruise. Cruisers will be charged $10 to park their vehicles on Main Street. In exchange, Hellner said there will be official judges on site and trophies will be awarded for Best of Show, Best Car, Best Truck, Best Performance Vehicle, Judges’ Choice and Most Unique.
Super Cruises in the past have attracted 300 or more vehicles, and Hellner said he expects 200 to 250 next week. Drivers are advised they will have to enter Main Street on Route 63 from the North, where a station will be set up to check cars in, two at a time.
Cars are asked not to arrive prior to 4 p.m. Official start time for the show is 5:30, with Buchwald performing from 6 to 8 p.m.
Regular door prizes will be awarded and the 50/50 drawing will still take place.
Although Hellner said the weather looks great for Wednesday, the rain date will be Sept. 4.
Photos by Ginny Kropf: (Left) Nicole Tuohey, left, holds a frosted elephant cookie, while her mother Mary Lou Tuohey holds a string of “elephant chains” Nicole has made. Every time a customer buys a cutout elephant cookie at Case-Nic Cookies, Nicole adds a link to the chain, with the goal of stringing them the entire block of Main Street. All money raised benefits the Alzheimer’s Association. (Right) Lisa Robinson gets instructions from Mary Lou Tuohey at Case-Nic Cookies on how to fill out a basket raffle form to support the upcoming Alzheimer’s walk on Sept. 7.
MEDINA – Supporting the Alzheimer’s Association is a tradition near and dear to the family of Nicole Tuohey and her parents.
Nicole’s maternal grandparents both died from Alzheimer’s, her Grandpa Bradley at age 65 and her Grandma Bradley at age 89.
With the help of her mom, Mary Lou Tuohey, Nicole makes sure the public is kept aware of the disease and the toll it takes.
A poster in Case-Nic Cookies, the store run by Mary Lou on Main Street, lists Nicole’s “NOT” Fun Facts of a loved one having Alzheimer’s.
Some of her memories are, “Grandpa couldn’t remember he had a wife, four children and six grandchildren. Grandpa wore diapers, had to be fed and couldn’t dress himself. And Grandpa never got to know me.”
Nicole has the same memories of her grandma. “She couldn’t remember her husband died of Alzheimer’s. She couldn’t remember how to sew, play golf, read books or do crafts. Gramma spoke ‘gibberish’, wore diapers and had to be fed. Gramma had a doll named Andrew that she held and cuddled, just like she did to me.”
Now Nicole has one last “NOT” for fun question.
“Since Gramma and Grandpa Bradley both had Alzheimer’s Disease, do you think my Mom will get it?”
On Sept. 7, many members of Nicole’s family will participate in the Walk to End Alzheimer’s, while others will be helping with events at State Street Park and Case-Nic Cookies.
Since opening her store, Mary Lou has allowed non-profits to use her store windows for basket raffle fundraisers. During the Covid pandemic, when customers didn’t come in the store, Mary Lou devised a system where customers could pick up a form in the doorway, mark their choice of baskets, leave the money for the tickets in an envelope and drop it in the mail slot.
This month, the basket raffle is for the benefit of the Alzheimer’s Association, and the drawing will take place after the Walk to End Alzheimer’s on Sept. 7.
The walk starts at 10 a.m. in State Street Park, goes along the canal, back down Main Street and East Center Street back to the park.
Mary Lou and her family first participated in the walk in the early 1990s, when it was at Art Park in Lewiston. Then it moved to Albion for a few years, before coming to Medina.
In the earlier years, regulations prevented the basket raffle from taking place at the site of the actual walk, but this year the raffle will be allowed to take place after the walk in State Street Park.
Activities in the park will also include kids’ games, a bounce house, pizza for sale and free frosted elephant cookies.
The cookies were an idea of Mary Lou’s, who sells them in her store for $1, with the money going to the Alzheimer’s Association. The elephant symbolizes memory – an elephant who never forgets, and a person stricken with Alzheimer’s who never remembers. Nicole makes links out of construction paper, and for each elephant cookie sold, she adds a link to her chain. Her goal every year is to have enough to stretch them the length of the main block of Main Street.
Nicole urges everyone to support the Walk to End Alzheimer’s, whether by walking, donating a basket, supporting the basket raffle or buying an elephant cookie.
(Left) These kids learn at the Iroquois Wildlife Preserve. (Right) The library hosted a teen escape room in one of the 45 programs this summer at Lee-Whedon.
Photos and information courtesy of Lee-Whedon Memorial Library
MEDINA – Library users had a fun-filled summer this year, said Kristine Mostyn, library director.
“Offering 45 programs over 6 weeks, we had 1,337 people learn how to make Nautical Knots, watch a movie with us, or learn about photography,” she said. “We visited the Iroquois Wildlife Preserve, created a Natural History Museum, sampled new recipes,
studied nature, and marveled at the stars. As part of the Library Adventure Map contest, we had over 175 visitors from other NIOGA libraries.”
One program helped educate children about the stars.
Storytime at the library was well attended.
“To say we traveled far and wide, through time and space seems appropriate,” Mostyn said. “We had a fantastic time learning and teaching alongside each and every one of you that attended. Thank you for a wonderful summer. Watch for more fun with Lee-Whedon to come in the fall.”
Some artifacts were on display for one of the programs where a natural history museum was created.
Photos by Tom Rivers
MEDINA – Shawn Ramsey, owner of Canalside Tattoo, celebrated the opening of Canalside’s new location on Sunday, which was also Canalside’s annual “Caturday” fundraiser for the Cat by Cat, Inc. organization in Medina.
Canalside had 13 tattoo artists and other body piercers, as well as 150 gift baskets as part of the fundraiser that raised about $24,000. That is up from $18,000 last year and $10,000 in 2022.
Ramsey purchased the building at 627 West Ave. that was last used by AJ’s Play Date. Ramsey turned the site into the “Fantasy Factory” giving tattoo artists their own partitioned space, providing more privacy.
C.J. Cruickshank, one of the tattoo artists at Canalside, works on a raccoon tattoo for Olivia Miller on Sunday during Caturday under one of the ring lights that provides a more subtle, overhead light. The 13 artists were all booked for at least eight tattoos at $100 each with the proceeds going to Cat by Cat.
Cruickshank said she likes the new atmosphere and work space at Canalside tattoo.
“It is still an open vibe but we all have our own personalized space,” Cruickshank said.
Ramsey opened Canalside in 2015 in a small storefront on East Center Street. In 2017, he moved to Main Street at the former Curvin’s News, tripling his space from the first location. He then expanded next door on Main Street in 2020, giving him 3,500 square feet.
The West Avenue building is a chance for Ramsey to own the building and put in partitions, an office space, a gaming room for Ramsey and staff. There also is more display room for Canalside merchandise and to showcase local work from artists and crafters. The Fantasy Factory also has a gym/workout room for Canalside staff, as well as a kitchen and break room.
Canalside opened in the Fantasy Factory on Aug. 9.
Another tattoo artist, David Jednat of Buffalo, praised Ramsey for the layout and look of the new space.
“You can tell he put a lot of thought and time in it,” Jednat said. “This will work really well for the people. Most tattoo shops are really crowded.”
Besides donating his service son Sunday, Jednat agreed to eat a hot dog for each tattoo he did. He was up to seven by 5 p.m., with more to go. (The Boy Scouts were selling hot dogs as part of the Caturday event.)
C.J. Cruickshank works on the new tattoo for Olivia Miller. Miller said it was her sixth tattoo. She was happy to get the tattoo and have the proceeds go to Cat by Cat. She said her family has benefitted from Cat by Cat and she wanted to give back to the organization.
Caturday is a big fundraiser for Cat by Cat, which locally is run by Shannon Blount.
Cat by Cat seeks to humanely “TNVR” cats through targeted trapping. Cat by Cat focuses on a TNVR model – Trap, Neuter, Vaccinate and Return.
The Medina team cares for about 150 cats a year. Feral or community cats are an “overwhelming” problem in Medina and Orleans County, Blount said.
The money from “Caturday” goes towards neutering, medications, vaccinations, food and cat litter, and other supplies.
There were six cats up for adoption at Canalside, including “Chocolate Chip,” a 12 week old kitten.
There were 150 baskets up for raffle at Caturday. The basket raffle raised $7,000 of the Caturday total. Ramsey said body piercing netted over $1500 and tattoos raised nearly $15,000.
Photos by Ginny Kropf: Rob Robinson, a busker, strolls the canal basin singing songs of the Erie Canal as the crew of the Seneca Chief prepares it for visitors this afternoon. The replica of the ship which opened the Erie Canal 199 years ago was back in Medina on its return to Buffalo from Rochester.
MEDINA – The Seneca Chief, the boat which opened the Erie Canal in 1825 with Governor Dewitt Clinton, continued to attract visitors in the canal basin this afternoon and evening, on its return to Buffalo after traveling to Rochester.
More than 320 people visited the boat last Monday during its first stop in Monday, said Kathy Blackburn, a member of Medina’s Tourism Committee.
Replicating Monday’s visit, the Seneca Chief was open for tourists, staff was on hand to talk about the boat and Medina and Orleans County Tourism agencies had an informational tent.
Local busker Rob Robinson strolled the grounds, playing his guitar and singing songs of the Erie Canal and old favorites.
“This is pretty cool,” he said of the Seneca Chief’s visit. “People need to know how history used to be. The canal carried hundreds, even thousands of boats up and down this canal, filled with barrels of apples and grain.’
Medina Mayor Marguerite Sherman talks to her in-laws, John and Sally Sherman, near the interpretive panels describing the Seneca Chief’s history.
Roger Allen was the master boat builder with Greg Dudley. Allen said he has been building wooden boats for museums since 1978, but this was the most amazing project he ever worked on.
“The reason it is so amazing to me is the size of the boat,” Allen said. “This is not a common occurrence in the United States any more. Only two of us were paid staff, and I point out the woodwork to visitors, because it was all done by volunteers.”
He explained the research which went into the project before they started building the boat.
“The Seneca Chief was a line boat we discovered in the original records,” Allen said. “It is 73 feet by 12 ½ feet.”
He explained a line boat is a specific type of boat which carries cargo and also has a passengers’ cabin. It would have carried lumber, wheat, apples or any goods manufactured or grown in the area, maybe even Medina sandstone, he said.
“A lot of early newspapers reported Dewitt Clinton got aboard a packet boat,” Allen said. “That is not true. A packet boat carried mail and passengers, not cargo.”
(Left) Sally Sherman of Buffalo, mother-in-law of Medina Mayor Marguerite Sherman, examines a display of tools which would have been used to build a boat like the Seneca Chief. There was a plane, auger, a lipped adze and a maul (the large club near the front). (Right) Master boat builder Roger Allen, right, chats with John Sherman, father-in-law of Medina Mayor Marguerite Sherman, as they stand in the front of the Seneca Chief. Sherman lives only 10 minutes from where the Seneca Chief was built in Buffalo and came to see the finished boat. They stand by the tiller, which was made from a piece of wood pulled from the Flight of Five Locks in Lockport.
Allen went on to say the boat is not yet finished. They still have to finish the crew’s quarters in the stern of the boat and the passengers’ cabin in the front.
Allen said Governor Clinton did a lot of promoting of the canal and he could have opened the cargo doors and shown people the tons of cargo, showcasing the many goods which could be carried on the canal.
This trip down the canal to Rochester and back is a sea trial for the Seneca Chief’s voyage next year, commemorating the 200th anniversary of the canal. The 2025 World Canals Conference will take place in Buffalo from Sept. 21 to 25, followed by the Seneca Chief’s departure from Buffalo and arrival in New York City on Oct. 26.
After departing from Medina about 8 a.m. Saturday, the Seneca Chief will return to Buffalo, where the crew’s quarters and passengers’ cabin will be finished by mid-October. Then the boat will be returned to Lockport’s Flight of Five Locks, where it will spend the winter.
Photos by Tom Rivers
MEDINA – Lyla Page, the back field conductor, helps direct the Medina field band on Thursday evening during a preview show for parents at Vets Park. Some of the students leaders wore capes during the preview show.
Mackenzie McGrath, the drum major, is on an elevated platform on the other side.
The band has about 90 students and did the preview show during band camp which went from about noon to 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday, with today’s camp from noon to 4 p.m.
The band does a run-through of this year’s show, “Reflections.” The band camp is usually held in a parking lot at the high school, but that area is under construction this summer. The camp instead was held at Vets Park.
These band members keep their focus on their music and the right steps during the preview show.
The season starts on Sept. 14 in Hilton. Medina hosts the “Fall Festival of Bands” on Sept. 21. The season concludes on Oct. 27 with the championships in Syracuse.
River Jones plays the trumpet in the band.
Matt Jaeger, the band director, praised the students for working hard all week, including in the heat.
The band has 14 seniors this year, up from six last year. The band is continuing to rebuild after the Covid pandemic knocked down the numbers.
Here are some more photos from the preview show.
Photos by Ginny Kropf: In left front is Cheryl Nages of Sidney, sitting across from her mother Nicki Fredericks of Medina. They are visiting Fredericks’ brother Fulton Rogers, at right. From left rear, Barb Carroll and her sister-in-law Pat Vader, executive assistant at OCH, visit with Barb’s mother-in-law and Pat’s mother, Barbara Carroll.
MEDINA – Sunshine and warm weather created a perfect day for the annual picnic of Orleans Community Health’s North Wing this afternoon.
Activities director Adrienne Belson was in charge of arranging the picnic, which featured a buffet meal and music by David Stockton, a guitarist, flutist, percussionist and singer.
“Adrienne does a wonderful job,” said Rebecca Mannella, director of nursing in the North Wing.
Rebecca Mannella, standing, director of nursing in Orleans Community Health’s North Wing, talks with residents and families during the annual picnic. From left are Rindy Punch, a 20-year resident of the North Wing; Mary Siedlecki, Sue Monell and her husband, Jack Monell, a resident since November.
Twenty-five of the North Wing’s residents were able to come outside and enjoy the picnic with family members, which included a buffet meal of macaroni and cheese, baked beans, seasonal vegetable salad, fruit bowl, watermelon and hot dogs and hamburgers cooked on the grill by Marquis Hammonds, who has been a cook at the hospital for 16 years.
The hospital has been treating North Wing residents to a summer picnic for more than 15 years, Mannella said.
“I look forward to the picnic every year,” said Rindy Punch, a North Wing resident for 20 years. “It’s a chance to get outside.”
Marquis Hammonds, a cook at Orleans Community Health, grills hot dogs and hamburgers for the North Wing picnic on Thursday.
Punch and Mary Siedlecki of Medina enjoyed each other’s company, sharing things they have in common. Siedlecki’s husband Richard and Punch’s dad “Pook” Bielak grew up together in the Polish section of Medina.
Also at their table was Sue Monell, visiting her husband Jack, who transferred to North Wing last fall.
A table away, Fulton Rogers’ sister Nicki Fredericks of Medina and niece Cheryl Nages of Sidney were his guests for a picnic supper.
The evening activities concluded with musical entertainment by David Stockton, who sings and plays guitar, flute and percussion.
A large tent in the parking lot accommodates 25 residents of Orleans Community Health’s North Wing and their guests at the annual picnic this afternoon.
