Photos by Kim Pritt
KNOWLESVILLE – Several craft and collectibles vendors are at the Orleans County 4-H Fairgrounds today for a show to give people an early start on decorating their home for the holidays and finding presents for friends and family.

The show started on Friday and continues today from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Lori Laine, left, and Cheryl Boyer are at a table that promotes being an organ donor.

The show is inside the Trolley Building at the fairgrounds on Route 31 in Knowlesville.

Photos by Tom Rivers
RIDGEWAY – This culvert pipe with a 4-foot diameter will be set in a trench being dug today on Mill Road in Ridgeway.

The Town of Ridgeway Highway Department cut a 7-foot-deep chuck out of Mill Road so the department could replace a rotting culvert. Tim Feldman is in the excavator and Pat Kelly is holding the measuring stick.

The culvert pipe needs to be set at a 180-degree angle, or perfectly flat, to allow for the water to drain easily, Ridgeway highway workers said. The culvert directs water under the road from Johnson Creek.

Ridgeway highway workers started the project this morning and expect to have it done today. In addition to Feldman and Kelly, highway worker John Olinger, right, is pictured at the scene late this morning. The culvert is just east of Murdock Road.

Photos by Tom Rivers
KNOWLESVILLE – The signs by Route 31 in Knowlesville say the bridge is closed. (This photo is actually on Knowlesville Road, just north of the canal.)

Motorists on Route 31 might assume the culprit for the closed bridge is the century-old lift bridge.

That historic span remains open. But just north of the lift bridge, Keeler Construction of Barre is replacing two culverts.

County Highway Superintendent said the project should be complete in early November, “depending on weather.”

The county approved Keeler as the low bidder for the project for $430,199.

A neighbor near the construction work told me he was grateful to have less traffic on the road.

Photos by Tom Rivers

RIDGEWAY – Occasionally people will stop at Homer McPherson’s home on Horan Road and ask if he wants to give up the carriage step and two hitching posts in the front yard.

McPherson, shown sitting on his front porch, gives them a resounding no.

When construction crews were installing water lines along the road a few years ago, McPherson worried the equipment might bang into a hitching post and break it. So he insisted the contractors pay extra attention to the relics from more than a century ago.

McPherson enjoys sitting on his porch and taking in the scene on the front yard at 3587 Horan Rd. The property was owned by his late wife Ruth’s family. McPherson said the hitching posts are in their original spots.

“I don’t know how deep they are, but they’ve never moved,” he said.

Another Ridgeway family has a little garden with flowers by their hitching post at 3608 Knowlesville Rd., not too far south of the Erie Canal.

Brenda Busch moved to the house in 2004. She is delighted to have the hitching post out front by the road.

“I love it,” she said. “I wouldn’t mind going back to those days.”

Busch, third from left, is pictured with family members, including Norman Karcher Sr., Marilyn Karcher, and Busch’s son Michael.

Photos by Tom Rivers

MEDINA – A member of the Pyromancy Fire Performance Troupein Buffalo performs with fire before a big crowd on saturday night at Leonard Oakes Estate Winery.

Leonard Oakes held its annual Steampunk Festival and more than 1,200 people turned out, many in futuristic costumes with a Victorian theme.

The festival featured fire artists, belly dancers, a Frank Sinatra crooner, bands, hoop dancers, and a self-described “circus freak performer” who chewed glass and snapped a mouse trap on his tongue.

The event was a celebration of the release of the winery’s new steampunk hard cider.

Some of the costumed revelers chat at the winery on Route 104.

Maria Rola, a hoop dancer from Buffalo, is pictured with Arlowe Price, a self-described fourth-generation “circus freak performer” from Buffalo.

Price chewed broken glass, set a mouse trap on his tongue, and performed other outrageous stunts during the Steampunk Festival. He let people staple dollars on his skin and throw darts at his back.

Price was a little bloodied from some of his stunts. Here he set a mouse trap on his tongue.

Price has been a regular performer at the festival and has watched it grow from a few hundred people to more than 1,000.

“I brag about this event all summer,” Price said. “It’s a wildy growing festival. People enjoy the music and the Steampunk Cider.”

Many locals attended the event in futuristic costumes, including Albion residents Leanne Serrato, left, and Peggy Barringer.

This group includes Tammy Menz, left, her sister Lynne Menz and Terri Wood.

The band, Monkey Wrench Revolt from Cortland, performed on an outdoor stage at Leonard Oakes. The band includes, from left: Nate Francisco on mandolin, Ted Andrejko on bass, and Tom George on guitar.

Abel Zavitz, 16, of Medina sang two songs for the big crowd including “Come fly with me” by Frank Sinatra and “Everybody loves somebody” by Dean Martin.

A hoop dancer has a glowing hoop at the festival.

Members of Troupe Nisaa, a dance group based in Batavia, perform at the Steampunk Festival.

The fire artists from Pyromancy proved popular with the crowd.

Leonard Oakes promotes the event as “A Festival of Bizarre Proportions.”