ALBION — The Orleans County Consolidated Agricultural District is growing by 115.66 acres.

The County Legislature last week held a public hearing on the additions for the countywide district. The Legislature then approved the acreage for the Ag District.

The changes go for a final OK in Albany by the State Department of Agriculture and Markets. That is expected in September or October.

The additions include:

• 4.10 acres on Greenman Road in the Town of Yates, which are owned by Sandy Knoll Farms

• 44.10 acres on Gray Road in the Town of Barre, owned by the Barre Sportsmen’s Club

• 0.86 acre on Gaines Waterport Road in Gaines, owned by Robin L. Root

• 54.80 acres on Gaines Waterport Road in Gaines, owned by Robin L. Root

• 11.80 acres on Horan Road in Ridgeway, owned by Timothy D. Marker.

File photo by Tom Rivers: The top of the Holley water tank on Route 237 is shown in this photo from Sept. 2, 2017.

HOLLEY – The Village of Holley won the 2018 Western Region Tap Water Taste Contest on Saturday at the City of Rochester Public Market.

Holley finished first, followed by the City of Rochester in second, Village of Albion in third, City of Jamestown in fourth, and Village of Arcade in fifth.

Holley advances to the State Finals which will be held Aug. 30 at the State Fair in Syracuse.

Last year the Village of Lyndonville won the state title for best-tasting water.

ALBION – A company in Barre has the Orleans County Planning Board’s support to expand an office building and also to establish a new gravel mine.

Patricia Keeler of Keeler Construction is proposing an addition that would approximately double the office space at 13159 West Lee Rd. Keeler also is looking to start a small gravel mine, extracting less than 1,000 tons a year, which avoids the necessity of a state mining permit through the Department of Environmental Conservation. Keeler says it will remove less than one truckload of gravel each week.

The Orleans County Planning Board recommended on Thursday that Town of Barre officials approve the site plan and issue a special use permit for the project. County planners said the scale of the mining operation would have no significant impact on the surrounding area.

In other action at the Planning Board meeting:

• Planners recommended the Town of Shelby approve the site plan and issue a special use permit for a motor vehicle repair shop at 4244 West Avenue Extension in a General Business District. Allan Kepner is proposing to relocate his motor vehicle repair shop from 3879 Bates Rd. to the site at West Avenue Ext.

• The Planning Board also recommended the Town of Yates approve the site plan and issue a special use permit for new farm labor housing at 11781 Platten Rd., which is in a Residential/Agricultural District.

Patrick Woodworth of Sandy Knoll Farms is proposing to build a 3,982-square-foot boarding house for seasonal farmworkers.

Photos by Tom Rivers

KNOWLESVILLE – Zack Welker lets auctioneer Robert Bannister know a bidder has the price going up for a rabbit raised by Brian Shaw of Kent.

The 4-H Animal Meat Auction on Saturday included winning bids totaling $17,096, including $135 for Brian’s rabbit.

There were 21 rabbits, 2 poultry, 2 beef steer, 5 goats and 12 pigs in the auction.

Some of the animals were donated back and resold to benefit the 4-H program. Those sales totaled $1,096.

Logan Gerling, 9, of Lyndonville participated in his first market auction. His rabbit sold for $160.

Meagan Hardner of Lyndonville raised the grand champion poultry, which sold for $140.

Western New York Energy was the biggest bidder at the auction, paying $2,856 or $2.10 a pound for a 1,360-pound steer raised by Carter Kuipers, 10, of Byron. Tim Winters, CEO of Western New York Energy, is pictured with Carter after buying the animal in the auction.

LYNDONVILLE – The Village of Lyndonville Planning Board has approved the site plan to turn vacant Main Street structures into a café, a six-room hotel and retail shops.

The Planning Board voted on July 18 to approve the site plan for the project, which is headed by Robert Smith, a Lyndonville native who works as a financial advisor in California.

He has plans to restore a c.1899 historic block on Main Street. He owns about 18,000 square feet of space in buildings that used to be a restaurant, super market, ice cream shop and other thriving businesses.

But the sites are vacant now and many of the windows are boarded up.

This rendering by Wolfe Architecture in Honeoye Falls shows the changes planned for the Webber building at 15 South Main St.

Smith will replace windows so they aren’t mismatched, and make other façade improvements, including new steps and doors. The project is in line with the Western Orleans Comprehensive Plan’s goal of renovating downtown storefronts consistent with historic character, planners said.

Smith lives in Palm Springs, Calif. He returns to Lyndonville to see family. On a visit about a year to see his mother he noticed the boarded up section of Main Street. He is tackling the project to help his hometown. He also thinks the project will be a financial success.

Photos by Tom Rivers

ALBION – Contractors have been busy the past three months working on an addition to the County Administration Building.

These photos taken this afternoon show progress with the $10 million project that will add 23,000 square feet to the complex on Route 31.

Construction is expected to take about 15 months until the building is ready for about 50 employees from the Health Department, Board of Elections, information technology department and the County Legislature’s office and staff.

The new space will include a meeting room for the Legislature with about 60 seats. The current Legislative chambers has about 30 seats and is one of the smallest municipal meeting rooms in the county.

The building will be connected to the current Administration Building with the addition on the south side. There are currently about 125 people working out of the building for the Department of Social Services, Office for the Aging, Job Development, Tourism, Planning and Development, Department of Motor Vehicles, and Personnel.

A temporary traffic light helps with the traffic flow through the construction zone.

Holdsworth Klimowski Construction of Victor is the general contractor for the project.

Fair finale also included top small animal showmen

John Gabalski of Byron was crowned king of the Orleans County 4-H Fair.

Nicole Mrzywka of Holley was chosen as the fair queen on Saturday.

Photos courtesy of Ralf J. Kurzowski

KNOWLESVILLE – The last day of the Orleans County 4-H Fair on Saturday included the crowning of the king and queen of the fair.

John Gabalski, 17, of Byron was named the king. He is active in the Orleans County Rabbit Raisers and Outback Orleans 4-H Clubs, and is also a member of Orleans County 4-H Senior Council.

Nicole Mrzywka, 17, of Holley shows many different animals and qualified for the grand master showmen competitions for both small and large animals. She was the reserve champ for the larger animals.

A member of the Orleans County 4-H Heelers Dog Club, last February she received national attention when she traveled to New York City to compete in the Westminster Dog Show with her English springer spaniel.

Saturday also included the top six showmen in small animals for the grand master showman competition. Pictured from left include: Grace Gregoire, reserve champ; Audrey Pask, grand master showman; Jacques Gregoire, Amelia Sidonio, Kaitlyn Johnson and Nicole Mrzywka.

Audrey Pask and Jacques Gregoire qualified for the competition, representing poultry; Amelia Sidonio and Grace Gregoire, representing rabbits; and Kaitlyn Johnson and Nicole Mrzywka, representing dogs.

Kaitlyn Johnson of Basom shows a dog during the event.

Grace Gregoire of Murray shows a rabbit.

Provided photo from Orleans/Niagara BOCES – Back row: (left to right): CBP Officer Dave Ambrosia, K9 Kay, Hunter Hering, Madison Zastrocky, teacher Steve Browning, Dawandrick Murrell, Jaden Pocock, Claire Williams, Dylan Marx, Roosevelt Mitchell, Gianna Williams, Brooklyn Garrow, teacher Bill Leggett and CBP Officer Kenny Allore.  Front row: Andrew Ollis, Antonio Riveria, Tim Murrell, Javier Rivera, Aidan Richardson, Breanne Dremmur and Hanna Heintz.

Press Release, Orleans/Niagara BOCES

MEDINA – For the past several years, teachers at the Orleans Career and Technical Education Center and their guest speakers have been partnering with the Liberty Partnerships Program to make a difference in some students’ lives. The students come from Batavia, Brockport, LeRoy and Medina school districts.

The Liberty Partnerships Program is a career and job readiness, drop-out prevention program for students grades 5 through 12 in public and non-public schools. The program looks for partnerships that will remove the barriers which prevent many young people from graduating high school and encourage them to pursue higher education or vocational training.

At the Orleans/Niagara BOCES center this summer, three programs were offered to the students over the course of a week: Cosmetology, Electricity/Electronics and Security and Law Enforcement.

Teachers Steve Browning (Security and Law Enforcement), Anne Carnahan (Cosmetology) and Bill Leggett (Electricity/Electronics) taught the students various skills and brought in guest speakers to talk about their careers, answer questions and give the students words of advice.

“I love the fact that you can see their interest spark,” said Mrs. Carnahan. “We have a lot of talks on safety and sanitation and we do demonstrations and then they tell me they went home and braided their mom’s hair because they learned that in class and they love it. It’s giving them self-confidence and another reason to come back and do it again and find out some new things. At the end of the day they all come and give me a hug and say thank you because they learned something. I feel like they are getting a lot out of this.”

Mr. Leggett, the Electricity and Electronics teacher, said he already has students that say that when they are in 11th grade, they are coming to these classes.

“It is a chance to get away from home and put some tools in their hands, which almost none of them have done,” he said. “It shows them that they can fix things and build things instead of just sitting on their cellphones. My big thing in my class is that they get something they can take home and that they can show their parents. They say, ‘Look what I built’ and they are so proud of it. We are also giving them a little bit of science and some math as well. They are going to leave my class with soldering skills. Maybe it’s a chance for them to come to BOCES and make a life for themselves. I have a few of them that could come into my program and do great.”

In the Security and Law Enforcement class, Customs and Border Protection Officers, Kenny Allore and Dave Ambroisa, came with their detector K9 Kay to give a demonstration on how they search for humans and drugs at the Canadian border. The students loved interacting with the K9 and getting an up close look at a potential career choice.

“It is really good for the kids to see what professions are out there,” said Mr. Browning.  “Some of them have considered careers in cosmetology, electricity and security and law and some have not. If you don’t know what a profession is about, how do you make an opinion about it? It is good for the students to come in and try new things and see new things and get their wheels upstairs turning. I think it is good to give them a goal to shoot for. I am hoping for some of them, seeing say a K9 handler might make that lightbulb go off and say, ‘I would like to do that’.”

During his visit to the class, Officer Allore also spoke very candidly with the students of growing up as an at-risk youth himself.

“I was raised by a single mother and I had friends who were not really on a good path and were engaging in some bad behavior,” Allore said. “I could have easily followed them down that path and had a completely different life.”

He credits coming to BOCES for helping him make better decisions.

“I was originally thinking of taking the Electricity program and the Security and Law Enforcement teacher at the time, Mr. Ed Grabowski, approached me and said that he saw something in me that he thought his class would be a good fit for me,” Allore said.

He credited Mr. Grabowski for acting as a mentor and making himself available – in and out of class.

“Taking the program really helped me overcome the challenges I had, to get to where I am at in life,” Allore said. “I really hope I demonstrated to the students that who and where you are today doesn’t define you or where they will be tomorrow or the next day. It is possible to break a negative cycle.”

Courtesy of Albion High School Alumni Foundation

Photos courtesy of Kim Pritt: Ron LaGamba presents the Nancy Elaine LaGamba Scholarship to Caleb Pettit.

ALBION – The Albion High School Alumni Foundation takes great pride in making a difference for a lifetime for the Albion Central School District community – alumni, students, teachers, and friends. The main focus of the Foundation is a Scholarship Program that continues to grow and benefit more students each and every year.

Each year at the Class Night celebration, the Foundation presents scholarships to graduating seniors who meet the criteria of each specific scholarship. These awards provide financial assistance so that our bright young scholars may continue their educational goals and be successful in their future endeavors.

The Foundation presented 54 scholarships for $88,000 during the recent Class Night.

The funding for the scholarships is made possible through memberships and gifts from AHS Alumni, as well as individuals or organizations that contact the Foundation to establish a scholarship. The Foundation manages the funds and awards the scholarships annually during the Class Night event, along with other scholarships that are awarded that evening.

And, our scholarship list continues to grow! In 2018, the Foundation added five new scholarships to its portfolio, bringing the total scholarships managed by the Foundation to 36.

Congratulations to all scholarship recipients…..your achievements make us proud!

Here are the results:

• Albion High School Alumni Foundation Scholarships. This year’s winners are Victor Benjovsky, Hailey Bader, Kaitlin Zwifka, and Emma Fox.
• Paul R. Haines Memorial Scholarship. This year’s recipient is Sara Hillman.
• Smith Foundation Challenge. This year’s recipients are Megan Leight and Samuel Slick.
• Saint-Gobain Technical Fabrics Scholarship. This year’s recipient is Elisabeth Baker.
• Elizabeth Balcom Smith Scholarship. This year’s recipient is Allison Graham.
• Golden Performance Award. This year’s recipient is Taylor Walczak.
• Jim and Susie Fraser Health Careers Scholarship. This year’s recipient is Gricelda Maldonado.
• Dr. Lee Minier Science Scholarship. This year’s recipient is Nathan Fearby.
• Albion Alumni Foundation Performing Arts Scholarship. This year’s recipient is Miranda Smith.
• Coach Richard Diminuco Scholarship for Athletic Excellence. This year’s recipient is Natalie DiCureia.
• Harry W. Salchak Science Scholarship. This year’s recipient is Noah Wadhams.
• A.B. “Dick” Eddy “Service Above Self” Scholarship. This year’s recipient is Hailey Bader.
• The Nancy Elaine LaGamba Scholarship. This year’s recipient is Caleb Pettit.
• The Dr. Paul Mahany Family Scholarships. This year’s recipients are Cassandra Serafin, Emily Caldwell, Gricelda Maldonado and Jasmine Bellines.
• Hoag Scholarships. This year’s recipients are Tyler Kast and Richard Daniels.
  

  Emma Fox, center, and Kaitlin Zwifka receive Alumni Foundation Scholarships from Board Member Steve Hicks.

• Panek Family Farm Agriculture Scholarship. This year’s recipient is Rylie Lear.
• The Rex & Marilyn Horton Scholarship. This year’s recipient is Nathan Fearby.
• The Wayne A. Burlison Memorial Scholarships. This year’s recipients are Mykailah Roberts, Victor Benjovsky and Noah Wadhams.
• Glassner Family Scholarship. This year’s recipient is Jennifer Santiago Garcia.
• John Panek Memorial Scholarship. This year’s recipient is Justin Robinson.
• Ronald L. Sodoma Memorial Scholarship. This year’s recipient is Riley Seielstad.
• Masonic Renovation Lodge # 97 Scholarship. This year’s recipient is Samantha Hollenbeck.
• Edward B. Archbald Memorial Scholarship. This year’s recipient is Riley Seielstad.
• David R. Long Agricultural Scholarship. This year’s recipient is Justin Robinson.
• D’Andrea Family Scholarship. This year’s recipient is Rylie Lear.
• Brandon Bruski Memorial Scholarship. This year’s recipients are Emma Lonnen and Miranda Smith.
• The Ralph and Pearl Poelma Good Neighbor / Community Service Scholarships. This year’s recipients are Caleb Pettit and Justin Robinson.
• The Jake and Anna Vreeburg Scholarships. This year’s recipients are Noah Goudreau – College, and Andrew Moore – Vocational School.
• The Inge Hume Elementary Education Scholarship. This year’s recipient is Allison Graham.
• The Robert P. Van Deusen Memorial Scholarship. This year’s recipient is Samantha Hollenbeck.
• The Moore Family Scholarship Fund. This year’s recipient is Jamelis Mateo.
• Kelly J. Fairchild Memorial Scholarship. This year’s recipient is Jasmine Ballines.
• The Sherman Awards. This year’s recipients are Noah Wadhams: Moses Sherman Award, and Riley Seielstad: Margaret Sherman Award.
• The Benjamin Dennis Kirby Memorial Scholarships. This year’s recipients are Hunter Albright and Victor Benjovsky.
• The Scott Whittier Memorial Scholarships. This year’s recipients are Elisabeth Baker, Caitlynn Snook, Preston Flugel and Noah Goudreau.
• Country Lane Veterinary Scholarship. This year’s recipient is Elida Rodriguez.

Again, the Albion HS Alumni Foundation congratulates all scholarship recipients and wishes the best of luck, happiness, and success in all future endeavors!

Alec Sherman presents the Albion Alumni Foundation Performing Arts Scholarship to Miranda Smith.

Provided photo: Tony Piedimonte of Holley took this photo while attending the promotion ceremony for Joseph “Joey” Lestorti on July 20 in Washington, D.C. Lestorti said it is an “extreme honor” to be promoted brigadier general.

A Holley native is the new leader of several hundred Reservist soldiers at Fort Dix in New Jersey.

Joseph “Joey” Lestorti was promoted to brigadier general on July 20 during a ceremony in Washington, D.C. He will lead the 78th Training Division at Fort Dix. The appointment is for three years.

The 1987 Holley graduate has served as a commissioned officer for 26 years. Lestorti started his career in 1992 as a second lieutenant infantry officer after completing the ROTC program at SUNY Brockport.

He has served on active duty in the 10th Mountain Division and the 82nd Airborne Division. He has been deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan, and held numerous Army Reserve postings.

Lestorti, in a phone interview last week, said growing up in Holley and Upstate New York provided a strong foundation for his career.

“We’re from a hearty part of the world,” he said. “It gave me a whole value set. I’m proud to represent Upstate New York.”

Lestorti works as a supervisory special agent with the State Department, assigned to anti-terrorism assistance. He said the State Department “has been extremely supportive” in his role leading the Reservist soldiers.

“It’s an extreme honor having been nominated by the Army and confirmed by the Senate,” he said. “This has been a very humbling experience and it’s a huge honor. I plan on doing the best that I can in command.”

Event on Aug. 18 also needs to move post-race party from Bullard Park

ALBION – Organizers of the Metro 10 race are doing some last-minute scrambling to modify the course and relocate a post-race party after being notified by the state Department of Transportation that the course cannot include Route 31.

The DOT will soon have the road torn up for milling in Albion. The first 2 miles of the 10-mile race go on Route 31 from Bullard Park to Old Telegraph Road, just before the Orleans County Public Safety Building by the former Apollo Restaurant.

The last half-mile also goes on Route 31 after runners turn off Butts Road and head to the finish at Bullard.

The DOT notified race organizer Thom Jennings on Tuesday the state considers Route 31 would be unsafe for runners while the road is under construction. The Metro 10 on Aug. 18 also includes a 10-mile biking race for the first time. There is also a 5-mile running option.

Jennings has worked with Albion Police Chief Roland Nenni to look at alternative routes. The plan for now is to start and end the race in downtown Albion with a post-race party including music, beer and food on a closed off East Bank Street.

There are 320 participants signed up for the event so far. They compete for either Rochester or Buffalo. The metro with the most points earned form participants is awarded the Metro Cup. Rochester has won the title the first three years.

Jennings said he needs more community volunteers to be at intersections and crossing points to direct runners and cyclists. There may be confusion at different spots with the new course, especially where the 10-mile course and 5-mile intersect and veer in different directions.

The Metro 10 could also use volunteers to direct people to parking in the downtown area. To reach Jennings, send him an email at thom@metro10race.com.

“We need bodies,” he said today. “We need people to stand at intersections and direct people.”

He also is having more signs made with directional arrows to guide people along the course.

The 10-mile route for Aug. 18 is tentatively planned to start in the downtown and head north on Route 98 to Watt Farms, where runners go through an orchard and come out on Bacon Road. (Cyclists have a slightly different route that doesn’t include the orchard.) From Bacon Road, participants head east to Brown Road and then south to Densmore Street in the village. Then they go east on Densmore to Zig Zag Road to Densmore Road outside the village. The course then goes south to the towpath along the Erie Canal. Participants then go west on the towpath to Brown Street. There they get off the towpath, head north on Brown Street and turn left on Linwood Avenue. Then it’s another left on Ingersoll Street with a finish at East Bank Street by the Village Hall.

A course certifier is expected to be out in about a week to verify the distances.

The race starts at 8 a.m. Most of the participants should be done by 10 a.m. Jennings encouraged residents to be out on the course to cheer on the runners and cyclists.

Provided photo: Leah Sheelar of Medina is pictured with Orleans Career and Technical Education Center Principal Dr. Michael Weyrauch.

Press Release, Orleans/Niagara BOCES

MEDINA – Congratulations to Leah Sheelar, a welding student at the Orleans Career and Technical Education Center, who took home a $500 scholarship from ACTEA (Association of Career and Technical Education Administrators).

Leah is one of six in New York State who received the Thomas Olivo Leadership Award. Mr. Olivo was the New York State Education Department’s Director of Vocational Education in 1966 when SkillsUSA (then known as VICA) was established.

Photos by Tom Rivers

KNOWLESVILLE – Saturday was the 4-H Animal Meat Market at the Orleans County 4-H Fair, featuring quality 4-H-raised meat animals, including beef, hogs, lambs, goats, rabbits and poultry.

Zach Welker looks for bids for a pig raised by Zachary Neal of Albion.

Joan Gabalski, 14, of Byron smiles as the bids climb for her rabbit. It sold for $140 to Hurd Orchards.

Her brother John, 17, had the highest bid for a rabbit at $350. Herman Weber of HLW Acres paid that price for one, while Gabalski sold a second rabbit for $200 to David Piedmonte of Holley.

John sent hand-written letters recently to both Weber and Piedmonte, encouraging them to attend the auction and thanking them for their support last year.

Piedmonte said he wanted to support a 4-H’er and reward the efforts in raising and caring for an animal.

Melissa Robinson of Albion raised this 178-pound pig that sold for $3.50 a pound or $623 to Lamb Farms of Oakfield.

Robert Bannister, a former Orleans County 4-Her, served as auctioneer. He is joined in the auctioneer’s booth by Skip Lear and his wife Gloria Lear.

Andy Beach gives an enthusiastic affirmation of a bid for a rabbit raised by Grace Gregoire of Murray. Joe Sidonio paid $105 for the rabbit. Sidonio’s daughter Amelia is the in the rabbit program through 4-H.

Some of the rabbit raisers talk before the auction. There were 21 meat rabbits in the auction, the most popular animal.

Carter Kuipers, 10, of Byron leads the grand champion steer in the ring. Western New York Energy paid $2.10 a pound or $2,856 for the 1,360-pound animal.

Lillian Mathes of Barre has an 87-pound lamb that sold for $174 to Ed Roggen, a meatpacker from Basom.

Lisa Beam of Waterport has a 185-pig in the auction that sold for $2 a pound or $370 to Kast Farms in Albion.

Nicole Mrzywka of Holley has the grand champion lamb which sold for $3 a pound or $258 to Ed Roggen.

Rylie Lear of Waterport is pictured with Kurt Dudley of Hu-Lane Farms in Albion. Hu-Lane paid $1.85 a pound or $2,025.75 for the reserve champion steer.

Hugh Dudley, one of Hu-Lane’s partners, said the farm wants to support the 4-H program, where the kids put in numerous hours raising the animals, and then incur expenses to show the livestock at the fair. The buyers all paid well above the market price for the animals.

“You want to give the kids an incentive to keep doing what they’re doing,” Dudley said. “The kids have a lot of time with them.”

Rylie Lear and other 4-H’ers displayed signs thanking buyers from last year’s auction.

Photos by Tom Rivers

KNOWLESVILLE – The Greasy Maniacs team makes it to the top of the Greased Pole during the championship round of the competition on Saturday.

Joe Mientkiewicz of Medina is the top man for the Maniacs, followed by Tim Quatro of Monroe County, Jake Jablonski of Kendall and Aaron Darie of Rochester.

The Maniacs climbed the 20-foot-high pole in 38.74 seconds. That was good for second place.

The Troll Diggers won the title for the third straight year, reaching the top in 19.83 seconds. The Troll Diggers include many members from the Hamlin area. They have been among the top teams the past five years.

Andrew Jones with white on head and black shirt is the top man. He is ready to make the final climb. Isaiah Jenks is in red and is standing on Jeff Ebel.

Breaking 20 seconds and winning the title multiple times puts the Troll Diggers in exclusive Greased Pole company with recent elite teams such as the Grease Grapplers and Grease Monkeys. The contest has been a popular tradition at the fair for more than 40 years.

This team, the Lyndonville Hicks, made it close to the top but didn’t quite get there. The Greased Pole championships at 10:30 p.m. capped the week-long Orleans County 4-H Fair.

Darrel Smith, top, and Nate Ralph are making progress for the Lyndonville Hicks. Smith is in town visiting from Mississippi. He had never tried the Greased Pole before. He watched it Friday when both teams were unable to climb the pole. Smith said it’s a difficult challenge, and a lot of fun.

“It was awesome,” he said.

Only two teams were able to climb the pole all week. Several others tried, but were unsuccessful.

The Lyndonville Hicks, with Matt Hungerford in orange, formed a base at the bottom of the pole. The team almost made it all the way up.

The Greasy Maniacs climbed the pole twice Saturday, first in the qualifying round and then in the championship.

State Assemblyman Steve Hawley addressed a crowd of several hundred people. He thanked them for supporting the fair. Hawley also took a turn in the lift and greased the pole for one of the teams.

Photos by Tom Rivers

GAINES – A new wooden sign for Beardsley Creek on Route 104 in Gaines was unveiled today. The sign is by the home of Robert Bruning. He has lived there for 40 years. The house was built in the 1830s by John Anderson, a Revolutionary War soldier who is buried at Gaines Cemetery, behind the Gaines Congregational Church on Route 104.

Orleans County Historian Matt Ballard removes the cover for the sign.

Local dignitaries were present for the sign’s dedication. This group includes, from left: Jim Bonafini, president of the Cobblestone Society & Museum and maker of the sign; Assemblyman Steve Hawley; Gaines Town Historian Adrienne Kirby; Al Capurso, president of the Orleans County Historical Association and coordinator of the sign effort; Orleans County Historian Matt Ballard; homeowner Robert Bruning; and Lynne Johnson, chairwoman of the Orleans County Legislature.

Al Capurso addresses the crowd at the sign dedication. The sign is located west of Route 98, and east of Eagle Harbor Road. This is third sign for the creeks near the historic district in Gaines. Capurso wanted to recognize the Beardsley Creek’s importance, especially to pioneer residents. He also wanted to highlight the historic area of Ridge Road with the signs at Proctor Brook, Gilbert Creek and now Beardsley Creek.

Proctor Brook passes through the Cobblestone Museum. Gilbert Creek is next to the Gaines Carlton Community Church, east of Route 98.

Beardsley Creek passes through a culvert under Ridge Road.

Capurso, a former Gaines town historian, believed the creek was named for the Levi Beardsley family who settled in Carlton in 1827. Born in Connecticut in 1777, Mr. Beardsley died on his homestead in 1867 at age 90.

But additional research showed there was an earlier Beardsley in the area. Elizabeth Hoffman, the Carlton town historian, tipped Ballard off that Selah Beardsley was the first Beardsley in the area.

Ballard learned that Selah Beardsley was one of eight men who signed a contract with the Holland Land Purchase in September 1810. The eight men from Massachusetts shared their labor and resources in acquiring land and settling in Carlton.

Adrienne Kirby, the town historian, said the sign highlights an important local resource.

Capurso said today that Selah Beardsley was the original Beardsley in the area.

“It shows you that history is always revealing itself,” he said.

Adrienne Kirby, the Gaines town historian, said the new sign is important in highlighting a local resource that is unique to Gaines.

“I am very pleased to participate in the unveiling of this sign, which has two messages for the world — Beardsley Creek runs through here, and This Place Matters!” she said.

“We live in an age where efficiency and convenience are prized above all else,” she said. “This attitude has led to a homogenization of the landscape. Strip malls and housing tracts all look the same no matter what state of the union you are in. In the face of this, local history cries, ‘This Place Matters.’ Local history values the individual and uniqueness of our communities. We celebrate the accomplishments of those who came before us. We cherish what’s one of kind. Local history reminds us of what we have done, that we might be either inspired or forewarned to do better in the future.”

Many of the town roads are named for early residents who cleared roads, built homes and established churches and businesses.

“It is because we enjoy the fruits of others’ labors that local history matters,” Kirby said. “As for Beardsley Creek, every single child who has lived on this creek over the past 200 years has climbed the willow trees that grace its banks, tried catching the minnows that show up in early summer, and observed the snails that reside here.”