Photos courtesy of Mary Fellios: (Left) Part of the towpath is shown between Medina and Middleport, similar to the walk planned on Saturday, as part of the Medina Triennial. (Right) Mary Miss is the founding director of City as Living laboratory. She will lead a conversation at the Triennial Hub’s headquarters after Saturday’s walk.

MEDINA – The Medina Triennial, which has focused on local exhibits by world-renown artists, will take a new path this weekend with a walk along the Erie Canal Towpath.

Presented by City as Living Laboratory, or CALL, and artist Mary Miss, the program invites participants to experience the historic towpath as a “living laboratory,” shaped by ecology, infrastructure, labor and community.

Participants must register in advance by logging on to the Triennial’s website at www.medinatriennial.org. They will meet at 10 a.m. at the Medina Triennial Hub at 346 Main St. for orientation, coffee and light refreshments. At 10:15 a.m., complimentary shuttles will transport the group to Middleport, where the walk will begin.

From approximately 10:30 a.m. until 12:45 p.m., the group will travel slowly along 4.7 miles of the Erie Canalway Trail, pausing for guided observations and discussions with the walk leaders. Participants should bring water, a hat and wear comfortable shoes.

Rather than follow a conventional guided tour format, participants will encounter a series of stops, questions and conversations led by artists and environmental specialists. These include pioneering environmental artist Mary Miss, curator and arts leader Olivia Georgia, University at Buffalo environmental scholars Nick Henshue and Sanford Geffner and Western New York landscape designer Zuzanna Drozdz.

Henshue will contribute expertise in soil, restoration, earthworms and urban ecology, while Geffner will offer perspectives on natural history, environmental education and the regional landscape. Drozdz will discuss approaches to landscape design that bring together biodiversity, nourishment, beauty and community, according to Kari Conte, co-creative director of the Triennial.

The event connects the Erie Canal’s 200-year history with current questions about environmental responsibility, Conte explained.

 “The canal and its towpath are not simple historic landmarks – they are forms of public infrastructure that require continuing care,” Conte said.

The walk will conclude in Medina near the Floating Garden in the Canal Basin. Participants will then return to the Triennial Hub for a complimentary lunch. The day will close with a presentation by Mary Miss and Olivia Georgia, followed by a group conversation in which participants and walk leaders can share observations and reflect on the canal corridor together.

Canalside Tattoo has now raised more than $100K in 5 years for Cat by Cat Inc.

Photos by Tom Rivers

MEDINA – Dawn Dyson, left, of Middleport gets a Buffalo Bills tattoo on Sunday by Melissa Freebern as part of the Caturday fundraiser at Canalside Tattoo in Medina.

The fifth annual event raised just over $30,000, topping the $29,000 from last year. In five years, Caturday has now raised over $100,000 for the Medina team of Cat by Cat Inc.

The organization is trying to rein in the feral or community cat problem in Orleans County. Cat by Cat seeks to humanely “TNVR” cats through targeted trapping. Cat by Cat focuses on a TNVR model – Trap, Neuter, Vaccinate and Return.

Dawn Dyson, 58, got her first tattoo 11 years ago. She said a Buffalo Bills tattoo has been on her list.

Freebern traveled from lake George to be part of Caturday where 14 tattoo artists donated their time and talent. The tattoos were $100 each and the artists did about 100 altogether.

Ellen Blanc, front left, and Kim Desantis greeted people at the gift basket auction where 180 baskets were available.

Shannon Blount, leader of the local Cat by Cat, thanked the community for donating so many quality baskets. She also appreciated the big crowd of people that bought tickets for the gift baskets.

Shannon Blount checks in on some cats that were available for adoption.

The fundraiser will pay for veterinarian costs, cat food, litter and other supplies.

Cat by Cat’s Medina team last year was able to TNVR 150 cats in the community. The organization took in 130 cats and adopted out 90 cats last year.

So far this year Cat by Cat has taken in 107 cats and adopted out 56, Blount said.

“The need is great but the resources are scarce,” she said.

The local group has about 10 volunteers who drive cats to vet’s appointments in Blasdell and Hamburg for spay and neutering services, which is done at a discount. There also is a network of about 10 foster homes for the cats while they are waiting to be adopted.

Shawn Ramsey, owner of Canalside Tattoo, puts a Buffalo Bills tattoo on Marissa Stanley of Gasport. She went to her first Bills game on Saturday, a preseason win over the Carolina Panthers, 29-14, which was the first home game in the new Highmark Stadium.

Stanley said she adopted a cat “Opie” through Cat by Cat. She wanted to support the organization at the fundraiser and also get a new tattoo.

Ramsey and five of the Canalside tattoo artists were joined by eight visiting tattoo artists for Caturday. The 14 in total was up from the 13 last year.

Ramsey said he appreciated the big response from the community to support Cat by Cat.

Shannon Blount and Shawn Ramsey, who are engaged, turned Canalside Tattoo into a festive atmosphere for Sunday’s fundraiser.

MEDINA – New York Lottery is reporting that a winning $50,000 Powerball ticket was sold at the Crosby’s in Medina for Wednesday night’s drawing.

It was one of five third-prize-winning tickets were sold for the Aug. 12 Powerball drawing. Besides the Medina ticket, there were three purchased at 1619 SRS in Brooklyn and one at Millenium Smoke and News in Manhattan.

All five winners were worth $50,000.

The winning numbers for the Powerball game are drawn from a field of one to 69. The red Power Ball is drawn from a separate field of one to 26. The Powerball drawing is televised every Monday, Wednesday and Saturday at 10:59 p.m.

Photos by Tom Rivers

MEDINA – Brandon Brown is sworn in as a new sergeant for the Medina Police Department on Monday evening. His wife Diana Brown holds the Bible while he takes the oath of office.

Brown joined the Medina PD in Feb. 25, 2025. Before that he worked about two years for the Le Roy Police Department.

Diana Brown pins the chevrons on her husband’s collar after a swearing-in ceremony on Monday evening. Medina Mayor Debbie Padoleski is in back.

Sgt. Brown, an Albion graduate, said he enjoys working with the Medina community and is excited to be part of the leadership working to rebuild the Medina Police Department. The Medina PD is currently at about half strength after several officers left to join other nearby higher-paying departments.

The Medina PD has been without a new contract for more than three years and is in arbitration.

Brown said the police department and Village Board support training for the officers and want them to forge strong relationships in the community. He cited a recent outing at the YMCA where he and other officers played dodgeball against YMCA staff.

“Medina is a like a hometown to me,” he said about the community policing efforts. “I’m happy here. The communication is positive with the board.”

Photos by Tom Rivers

MEDINA – Village Historian Todd Bensley led a tour of Boxwood Cemetery in Medina on Sunday evening for about 30 people. The group is shown near the grave for Robert H. Newell who ran a high-end shirt business in Medina on West Center Street. The business at one time had 100 employees on three floors.

The tour was part of a series of cemetery tours on Sunday evenings in a fundraiser for the Orleans County Historical Association. The tours starts at 6 p.m.

Upcoming tours include:

• August 16 – Beechwood Cemetery, Kendall with Dave Gaudiso, Lydia Richardson and Former Orleans County Historian Bill Lattin (1523 W. Kendall Road & Woodchuck Alley, Kendall)
• August 23 – Otter Creek Cemetery with Town of Gaines Historian Adrienne Kirby (13252 Ridge Road, Gaines)
• August 30 – Mt. Albion Cemetery with former Orleans County Historian Bill Lattin and Village of Albion Historian Sue Starkweather Miller (Rt. 31, Albion, NY 14411)

Bensley and the group at Boxwood stop by the monument for the L’Hommedieu family. It marks the resting place for former New York State Senator Irving L’Hommedieu and family members. L’Hommedieu as state senator originated the idea of registering cars.

This monument is in the “white bronze” style with a distinctive blue-gray color. It has a high resistance to moss and lichen growth.

The group is by the Skinner monument for LeRoy Skinner who served in the Spanish-American War and was a commanding officer in World War I, Bensley said. Skinner was one of the first people to own an automobile in medina, and helped start the Medina Automobile Club.

The tour went on the top of the cemetery. Boxwood opened in 1850 on a hill north of the village of Medina. A year earlier, David Card expressed a dying wish to be buried on the hill. It was the inspiration for Boxwood Cemetery, which now has about 5,000 burials.

A Revolutionary War solider is buried at Boxwood. Daniel Samson is buried on the hill. The gravestone is in pieces. He is the only known Revolutionary War soldier at Boxwood.

Bensley highlighted Edmund Fuller who served three years in the War of 1812. He was from Massachusetts and was headed west to claim land in Illinois. But Fuller stopped in Medina while traveling along the Erie Canal.

He liked the community and stayed, and several generations of the Fuller family have since been contributors to Medina.

Photos from Hart House: These screen shots from a  video show the new retractable roof in the courtyard for the Hart House at 115 West Center St. in Medina. Roll-A-Cover, International from Bethany, Connecticut manufactured and installed the retractable roof. Watson Construction Group in Albion did all the steel work and the roof around the skylight.

MEDINA – An outdoor courtyard in Medina has a feature that will be sure to wow the community. A new retractable roof has been installed in the courtyard by the Hart House at 115 West Center St.

This 1,500-square-foot space is being turned into an event center to accommodate 80 to 120 people. The new skylight is 22 by 45 feet. It can open up and retract on nice weather days and slide shut during the cold or rainy weather.

It will allow the space to be used year-round, said Andrew Meier, owner of the site with his partner Richard Sarrero.

The courtyard is a new venture for Meier and  Sarrero and will be called the Atria. They also own and run the Hart House hotel, Factory Espresso at Hart (serving espresso, breakfast and lunch) and the Shirt Factory, which serves coffee and cocktails. The businesses are part of the historic Newell building, which Meier acquired in 2005. His law practice with David Schubel is on the second floor of the building, which was built in 1876. Robert H. Newell operated a high-end shirt business at the site for many decades.

Photo by Tom Rivers: The team from Roll-A-Cover in Connecticut checks the new roof on Thursday after it was installed by crane earlier in the week.

The courtyard gives the site a new venture and energy, with year-round available for weddings, graduation and birthday parties, retirement celebrations, performances, concerts and other events.

The space was used for concerts when it was the “BeeGarten” about a decade ago in space that actually was the boiler room for the shirt factory.

The courtyard project also includes new cementitious siding with battens, new windows, doors and masonry to complement the existing brick.

Watson Construction Group of Albion served as general contractor and did all the steel work and the roof around the skylight. Watson will be assisting with the interior work as well. The total cost of the project is about $1 million.

The courtyard at Hart House is one of eight projects in Medina approved for funding as part of the $4.5 million NY Forward grant in Medina. The state approved the projects last year and the Hart House was awarded $500,000 from the $4.5 million total.

Meier said he expects the Atria will be ready by the end of the year and is accepting bookings for 2027.

The new retractable roof took four months to manufacture in Bethany, CT, and each bay weighs about 1,200 pounds.

The retractable skylight is one of 4,000 enclosures worldwide, Meier said.

“Medina has our first retractable roof event space similar to the several hundred located on rooftops in NYC, Chicago, London, Dallas, California and others worldwide,” he posted on social media. “Pinch us. Our glass retractable roof arrived this week and it’s all too surreal – every step has been exciting as this space unfolds, but this is just another level. We can’t wait to watch people dance under the stars.”

Photos by Ginny Kropf: (Left) Roland Martin, seated, sits with his daughter Margaret and son Bill during a recent reception at the First Presbyterian Church of Medina in honor of his 100th birthday Aug. 9. (Right) Roland Martin will celebrate his 100th birthday on Sunday with family, including granddaughter Sarah Hanssen and great-granddaughter Lainey, pictured here.

MEDINA – Roland Martin never thought much about getting old. He just took one day at a time he said at a reception last Sunday at the First Presbyterian Church to celebrate his 100th birthday.  Looking much younger than his years, he greeted well-wishers at the church, where he is a lifetime member.

A son of the late Charles and Ethel Martin, Roland was born in the family home on Martin Road, along with three brothers and a sister.

“In winter, we were born downstairs where it was warmer, but in summer births took place upstairs,” Roland said.

Roland married the former Alice Knights and together they raised two children, son Bill and daughter Margaret. Roland is the fourth generation of Martin family farmers, and today son Bill is the fifth generation, grandson Ben is the sixth generation and Ben’s son will be the seventh.

Roland attended Medina High School, but got permission to quit during the last semester of his senior year to join the Army.

“We were on our way from the Philippines to Japan, and if that bomb hadn’t been dropped, I would probably not be here today,” Roland said.

He remembers driving their Model T down the country roads before they were paved and working the fields behind a team of horses.

He never got tangled up with computers, he said.

He contributes his longevity to good healthy living, keeping busy and having family.

Roland lives alone and does his own cooking, which he learned by cooking for 30 in his platoon in the Army.

Until recently, he kept busy in his woodworking shop.

“He still mows his lawn and has a garden,” daughter Margaret Martin said.

Roland has three grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren. He will celebrate his birthday at a gathering with family on Sunday.

(Left) Trudi Schwert of Medina, a member of the First Presbyterian Church, gets a hug from Roland Martin, during a reception at church in honor of his 100th birthday. (Right) Longtime member of the First Presbyterian Church of Medina, John Williams, greets Roland Martin of Medina.

File photo by Tom Rivers

MEDINA – A cemetery tour on on Aug. 27, 2023 at Boxwood Cemetery in Medina included a stop by the grave of May Howard, a survivor of the Titanic sinking on April 15, 1912.

Howard was 27 when she was on the maiden voyage of the Titanic. Howard, a native of England, was headed to visit her brother in Toronto and then her sister in Albion. She traveled as a third-class passenger and secured a spot on a life boat. May lived locally until she died at age 68 in 1958. About 1,500 passengers died after the Titanic hit an ice berg. Howard was one of about 700 survivors.

Village of Medina Historian Todd Bensley will lead another tour of Boxwood this Sunday beginning at 6 p.m.

Boxwood Cemetery opened in 1850. About 5,000 people have been buried at the site north of the village on North Gravel Road (Route 63).

Sunday is the second of the Orleans County Historical Association’s tour of cemeteries on Sunday evenings in August.

County Historian Catherine Cooper led the first tour this past Sunday at the Maple Ridge Cemetery in Shelby. Nearly 40 people attended that tour.

Other tours after Boxwood include:

• August 16 – Beechwood Cemetery, Kendall with Dave Gaudiso, Lydia Richardson and Former Orleans County Historian Bill Lattin (1523 W. Kendall Road & Woodchuck Alley, Kendall)
• August 23 – Otter Creek Cemetery with Town of Gaines Adrienne Kirby (13252 Ridge Road, Gaines)
• August 30 – Mt. Albion Cemetery with Former Orleans County Historian Bill Lattin and Village of Albion Historian Sue Starkweather Miller (Rt. 31, Telegraph Rd, Albion, NY 14411)

Jane Jin Kaisen will give a presentation at 4 p.m. on Saturday in Medina.

MEDINA – The Medina Triennial is in its final month at 10 locations throughout the village.

A highlighted event this weekend is a screening and conversation with artist Jane Jin Kaisen and Toronto-based curator Noa Bronstein at 4 p.m. Saturday at the Triennial Hub headquarters on North Main Street.

Jane Jin Kaisen is an internationally known artist who will discuss her work directly with local audiences. The event demonstrates how the Medina Triennial connects a village along the Erie Canal with artists and histories from around the world.

Kaisen’s attention to memory and changing landscapes may resonate in Medina, where historic buildings and infrastructure are being given new cultural uses. The film’s questions about abandoned architecture, historical memory and the future of communities have relevance beyond Jeju Island.

Jeju Island in Korea is famous for its volcanic landscape, beautiful beaches and distinct cultural heritage, designated as a UNESCO World Heritage site and Global Geopark.

The artist will share what drew her to the abandoned resort as a setting for her three films. She will explain how Burial of This Order, Dokkaebi and Sorrow Waters This Land speak to one another. Burial of This Order will be shown at the Hub, while the other two are running continuously at Mustang City, the former Medina High School.

Jane Jin Kaisen was born on Jeju Island in 1980 and is based in Copenhagen. She is interested in histories that have been excluded from official accounts. She represented Korea at the 8th Venice Biennale – the highest honor for an artist. It’s like winning an Olympic gold medal for your country, according to Triennial’s co-curator Karin Laansoo.

Bronstein is a writer and curator who has led two Canadian artist-tun organizations – Gallery 44 Centre for contemporary Photography and Gallery TPW. She has organized exhibitions and programs at institutions throughout Canada. Her work has appeared in numerous artists’ publications and she is currently assistant director of the Art Museum at the University of Toronto.

Federico Rosario, community engagement and programs coordinator at the Medina Triennial, is looking forward to a good crowd on Saturday. He said attendance at programs to date has been very well attended as word spreads. The Triennial was a front-page feature on last week’s Sunday edition of the Buffalo Evening News.

The Medina Triennial continues on Thursdays to Sundays through Sept. 7.

Grosh performs for about 900 people at State Street Park

Photos by Tom Rivers

MEDINA – Grosh performed for about 900 people spread out at State Street Park on Thursday evening to conclude this season’s Blue Thursdays concert series.

The first three concerts were cancelled due to weather, but the final three shows proved to be crowd pleasers with performances on July 16 by The Pat Harrington Trio, J͏u͏l͏y͏ ͏2͏3͏ ͏by the Eric Weinholtz Band and Thursday by Grosh.

Megan Brown is the lead singer for the band from Buffalo.

Grace Lougen plays the guitar for the band.

Grosh initially was a duo with Grace Lougen and Josh English on drums, but it quickly evolved into a high-energy quartet that also includes Megan Brown on vocals and Dylan Hund on bass.