Press Release, Friends of Boxwood

Provided photo: The Beach Mausoleum is shown at last year’s Boxwood at Night.

MEDINA – The Friends of Boxwood Cemetery in Medina will once again present, “Boxwood at Night: See the Cemetery in a New Light.”

The event will take place Sept. 30. Tickets cost $15 and there will be two time slots – 7 to 8 p.m. and 8 to 9 p.m.

“The time slots are when you can enter. Once you are checked in, you are welcome to stay until the event ends at 9:30 p.m.,” said event co-chair Nicole Bensley. “Guests will stroll through the cemetery at their own pace in a relaxing, family-friendly atmosphere.”

The event receives some funding through the Genesee-Orleans Regional Arts Council, which Bensley said will make Boxwood at Night bigger and better this year.

“We included more musicians, artists, and performers and have been working with a professional lighting designer to really enhance the experience,” she said.

Tickets are limited to the first 300 people and there will be no admission tickets sold at the event. Tickets are available during business hours at the English Rose Tea Shoppe and Thistle Ridge Décor and Gifts – both places are on Main Street in Medina.

Tickets will also be available at the Canal Village Farmers Market in Medina on Sept. 23. As an added convenience, you may also purchase tickets using a credit card by going online by clicking here.

“Last year’s event raised enough money to pay for the restoration of the stained-glass window in the chapel,” said Robby Klino, president of the Friends of Boxwood Cemetery. “We are hoping that this year’s event will give us enough money to complete the remodeling of the chapel’s interior.”

Raffle tickets will also be available to purchase at the Farmers Market booth and again at the event. Concessions and glow-in-the-dark accessories will be available for purchase at the event.

This project is made possible with funds from the Statewide Community Regrant Program, a regrant program of the New York State Council on the Arts with support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature and administered by GO ART!

Photos by Tom Rivers

MEDINA – A group walks along the Erie Canal in Medina on Saturday during the Walk to End Alzheimer’s. There were 139 participants from 33 teams who raised $21,163 for the Western New York Chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association. The course started and ended at State Street Park.

The course included some fun activities, including limbo. Alexis Stinson, 10, of Albion was able to bend backwards and walk under the bar which was held by Amanda Nobrega, vice president of programs for the Alzheimer’s Association in WNY.

This trio walks through bubbles that were set up along the course.

Emily Kroll uses chalk to write a message on the one-way street to the Canal Basin. She is joined by brother Caleb and their mother Amy Kroll of Lyndonville. They participated in honor of the kids’ great-grandmother.

Many messages were written on the pavement for loved ones who were stricken with Alzheimer’s.

Nicole Tuohey is shown with some of the links she sold to support the Alzheimer’s Association. She raised $2,003 at about noon on Saturday, with more funds expected. She was selling the links from her mother Mary Lou Tuohey’s store, Case-Nic Cookies.

The walkers passed under the Glenside Avenue bridge. The annual walk in Orleans County to support people and families battling Alzheimer’s disease was moved up a month to increase the chances for better weather.

Photos by Tom Rivers

MEDINA – Medina varsity cheerleaders and their coaches did a car wash today outside the high school as a fundraiser. Pictured from left include Ahlyssha Miller, Paisley Pasnik and Mahri Harmer-Owen.

Mahri Harmer-Owen gives the car’s bumper and grille a cleaning.

The Medina cheerleading squad includes eight members. Christina Reddy is the group’s head coach. She said the funds from the car wash will help assist the team in the upcoming season, which includes home varsity football games and the Niagara-Orleans Game Day competition at Wilson on Oct. 17.

Cheerleading is considered an official sport. Reddy said the cheerleaders support the football team and work to get the crowd involved and energized.

Some of the funds may be used to help the cheerleaders with the cost of cheer shoes, socks and bows for their hair.

Rachel Domaracki, one of the cheerleading coaches, joined the cheerleaders in washing this Ultra car.

The car washes were $5.

Photos by Tom Rivers

MEDINA – John McCarthy, right, and Scott Grimm spent several hours today painting the Santa House at Rotary Park. They did the green first in the morning and were doing the white trim around noon, with the tan siding and red door to follow.

They two volunteered for the task after being asked. The said the Santa House will be looking good for the Christmas season, including the Parade of Lights and the Olde Tyme Christmas celebration on Nov. 26.

Scott Grimm paints near the top peak of the Santa House.

The Santa House is a focal point of Rotary Park at the corner of Main and East Center streets.

Photos by Ginny Kropf: Cars are on display at Medina’s Canal Basin. A volunteer is needed to lead the weekly summer cruise nights.

MEDINA – A tradition of nearly 30 years in Medina may come to an end, with Dave Green’s announcement he is retiring as organizer of Medina’s Friday night cruise-ins in the canal basin.

“It’s time somebody else does it,” Green said. “I hurt my leg and it’s hard to walk anymore.”

Green has been involved in the summer cruise nights since they began nearly 30 years ago, when he, Donna Mruczek and Donna Bushover headed the Friday night events.

Dave Green is shown here with Donna Bushover during a Super Cruise in one of the early years of cruise nights in Medina. Former Medina resident Donna Mruczek also was a dedicated volunteer in the weekly events.

Also retiring is DJ Hank Nevins, who has provided music for most of those years.

United Way has been the sponsor of the cruise-ins for many years, and interim director Nyla Gaylord said she hopes someone will step up to take them over.

The cruise-ins have been a popular event all the years, for car owners and the community. Green said drivers brought their vehicles from all over Western New York, including Amherst, Batavia, Niagara Falls, Clarence, Akron, Rochester and the Southern Tier. Regular Friday nights drew 80 to 100 vehicles, while the final Super Cruise on Main Street often brought 300.

The cruise-ins always featured 50-50 drawings, which netted a donation to United Way, as well as the winner.

This year’s profits were lower, as the event was canceled four times because of rain.

It had become a tradition for the cruise-in to move to the 4-H Fairgrounds on the Friday of fair week, and on Main Street for the final cruise on the third Wednesday of August, featuring Elvis impersonator Terry Buchwald.

Green said he couldn’t have done what he did all those years without the help of several dedicated volunteer helpers. Rick and Rita Soule, Nick and Karen Adams, Gerard and Carrie Wittmyer, Brad Shelp, Vera Wetherbee and Terry and Liz Gallo were on hand every week to help with checking in cars and selling 50/50 tickets.

A big thanks also is due to the Medina Police Department, DPW and downtown businesses for their support.

Green said he feared the event would eventually die a “natural death,” as many of the car owners are getting elderly.

The job as organizer involves soliciting donations from Medina businesses, many of whom have been regular supporters of cruise nights. Donations pay for prizes for vehicle owners and the DJ.

It is hoped an individual (individuals) or an organization will step up to take charge of keeping the cruise night tradition alive. Green has said he will work with anyone who takes it over.

United Way extends its heartfelt thanks to Green for all the years he has given up his Friday nights, and many more hours, to lead the car shows.

Besides a new organizer, the events could also use a local DJ to play music for a couple of hours.

Photo by Tom Rivers: Terry Buchwald, an Elvis Presley impersonator for more than 30 years, arrives in downtown Medina on a motorcycle (with a license plate, “ELVIS”) during the Super Cruise on Aug. 28, 2019. Buchwald performed for two hours on a stage. About 250 to 300 cars are featured in the Super Cruise, with part of Main Street blocked off to traffic for the event.

MEDINA – The Local Planning Committee that is identifying $4.5 million in projects to submit to the state to bolster downtown Medina will have a workshop on Sept. 13 to get input from the public.

The committee will have an interactive workshop at 6 p.m. in the school district board room at 1 Mustang Drive. The committee wants to see how community members would spend the $4.5 million.

Medina was awarded the grant in February through the NY Forward program. Medina has a committee to finalize projects that will go to the state for final approval. The funding should become available next year after the projects get a final OK from the state.

The workshop on Sept. 13 will include a short review of the projects being considered for funding. Attendees will then participate in an interactive exercise where they will spend $4.5 million on the projects they believe would have the most impact in downtown Medina.

For more information on the program in Medina, click here.

Photos by Tom Rivers

MEDINA – The Village of Medina Department of Public Works has cleared paths in the woods by Gulf Street Park as the village works on a 9-hole disc golf course.

Medina is working with the Orleans County YMCA to develop the course in a project funded by a grant from the Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. Foundation. Albion did a similar project at Bullard Park.

The Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. Foundation gave the YMCA $20,000 to $24,000 to develop the projects with tee boxes, signs and baskets that are mounted in small concrete foundations – 8 inches wide by 20 inches deep.

Medina is using a skid steer with a forestry head to carve a path in the woods, mulching brush and small trees. Here the machine is by the roadside where it was clearing some of the trees and brush.

Jason Watts, Medina DPW superintendent, said the new course should eb ready this fall with many of the holes in the woods and some out in the open.

The DPW has been working the project the past two weeks.

“I think it will be a big addition to the community,” watts told the Village Board on Monday about the new course.

Mayor Mike Sidari said he walked through the woods to see the progress.

“I was quite impressed,” he said.

In other action at Monday’s board meeting:

• The board approved allowing Medina’s cross country team to use Boxwood Cemetery to races on Sept. 19 and Oct. 3.

• The board also approved a Hometown Wellness 5-kilometer run and walk event on Oct. 21. The curse will include the canal towpath, canal basin and some village streets. The police department is expected to assist with traffic control during the race that starts at 9 a.m.

• Approved selling the body armor of retired Police Chief Chad Kenward back to the chief for $500. The item was declared surplus. The body armor is specifically sized for the retired chief, is out of warranty and doesn’t have a market, board members said. The armor is about 5 years old.

• Approved John McQuay as a call man for the Medina Fire Department. He is the fourth call man on the department’s roster.

• Fire Chief Matt Jackson said the inter-transfer hospital transfers are up 27 percent from Jan. 1 to Aug. 28, compared to the same time period in 2022. He said the closing of the hospital in Lockport is part of the reason for more trips from Medina Memorial to other larger hospitals.

“It hasn’t impacted operations,” Jackson told the board. “It’s just a lot more round trips.”