batavia

Recently, we were all vaccinated against coronavirus and off to finally visit our grandchildren. How wonderful to finally see them in person. On our first night together, we were talking about what they were doing to have fun.

The conversation turned into what we did for fun at their age. 

A typical day in the '60s would be playing kickball with our homemade bases and arguing about who was out. In the afternoon, we would go to the end of our street, where there was a swampy area, and we would try to float on our makeshift raft.

At night we sleep outside in a tent or at a neighbor's house on their back porch. We actually caught fireflies and put them in a jar.

We would ride bikes when the park was open and spend afternoons at the community "New Pool." We would go over to our neighbor's for her Kool-Aid popsicles.

The highlight of the summer would be a block party. If you notice, none of these activities cost any money, just our imagination and the participation of neighborhood kids. I guess you could call those our playdates.

If we fought with a neighbor kid, which happened often, the moms and dads never got involved. It was a life skill to learn how to get along.  

The other part of growing up, and the most important part, was your family. My memories are going to church and being separated from my brother, so we didn't fight in church. As we entered the pew, our dad would give us a tiny pinch just to remind us to behave in church.

We were usually late because getting eight family members ready for church was an event.   

We took a memorable trip to Florida when I was in fifth grade in our station wagon. My parents in the front, with my youngest brother in the middle, I was in the middle seat with my grandmother, and my other two brothers were in the backward seat. My sisters were too little to travel.

The trip only took four days to get to Florida. It included bathroom stops about every hour. It was like one of those movies about a crazy vacation adventure.  

Family holidays were so important with grandma, all the aunts, uncles and cousins with a food table that would feed 100!  

So now that I'm in my 70s, my memories seem to mean more to me. When I'm with my siblings, we love to talk about growing up and sharing our stories.  

One Christmas, when we were over at mom and dad's, and our children were running around, our mom gave us each a photo album filled with pictures of each of us growing up. I can't express how much those albums meant to all of us. She captured our childhood with photos and her love.  

Now I've turned into my parents -- telling my grandchildren what it was like when I was growing up.

My dad's favorite story to tell was about how he had to walk miles to school and home for lunch in all weather conditions. We live in the house he grew up in, and walking from our house to Ross Street wasn't that far, but he sure loved to tell that story, and we never got tired of listening to it.

Growing up in the '60s, a tablet was something we wrote on, a screen was on a black-and-white TV, and our phone was attached to the wall.

If you were lucky and had a Kodak Instamatic camera, it would have a little tower on it where you would put a flashcube to take a picture. It would take a week for the photos to develop.

So, I have lived through my childhood of the '60s, our daughters' in the '80s, and our grandchildren's in the 2000s.

I hope they have memories that they will cherish growing up during their time and the same for my grandchildren.

Yes, times have and will always change, but I hope everyone can still hold on to those memories of growing up.

I think we baby boomers have the best memories!

If you are fortunate to have your parents, ask them to tell their story, write it down or tape it. You will never regret their memories.

Always feel free to share your memories with me.

Photos of the Peca family, courtesy of Anne Marie Starowitz (née Anne Marie Peca).

Top, Anne Marie with her dad and two of her brothers - and two cameras!

Below, the nuclear Peca family all dressed up.

Bottom, the extended Peca clan, each member looking sharp.

The First Presbyterian Church of Batavia held its first-ever Easter Egg Hunt today.

An officer is dispatched to the Walmart parking lot for a report of a dog locked inside a Dodge Caravan for more than an hour.

The vehicle is parked in the last five rows "near the tree line."

It's 47 degrees outside.

Friends of the family burned out of its home on Maple Street in Batavia on Tuesday held a fundraiser for them today -- photos with the Easter Bunny in the Gazabo next to the Oatka Creek in Le Roy. 

The event was organized by Jenna Read and Ally Scofield.

With Easter Bunny are Lilly, 7 months, and Addison, 11 months.

The GoFundMe campaign for the family, organized by Scofield, has raised more than $7,000 (with a new goal of $9,000).

Press release:

Batavia Police are looking to identify the driver in an accident that occurred at the intersection of Liberty Street at Ellicott Street on Friday Night (April 2) at approximately 11:08 p.m.

The vehicle is described as a white Chevy or GMC model 1500 with a light bar on the front grill and a black toolbox in the truck bed.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Officer Freeman at (585) 345-6350.

UPDATED April 5: "Batavia Police would like to thank the community for their assistance locating the driver and subsequent victim of a hit and run accident that occurred this weekend. The victim's vehicle was confirmed to be a GMC Sierra."

For a few small businesses, COVID-19 has meant the end of the line. The owners just weren't able to outlast coronavirus pandemic restrictions and people staying home. For Christine and Cassandra Wroblewski, a mother and daughter team (Cassandra pictured), the lack of income options after losing their jobs meant it was time to start a business.

Together, they've opened the Junk Drawer at 238 Ellicott St. Batavia.

"I bought my first pallet (of merchandise) and flipped it and made double my money (selling on eBay)," Christine said. "Then I bought another one. Then my house began to look like a hoarder's.  (Cassandra) wasn't working so I was like, 'You want to open a store?' and this place was available. This was all because of COVID."

Cassandra agrees, starting their own business together seemed like the obvious thing to do.

"Everything was just cluttering her house up and she's like, 'Hey, open up the store!' Cassandra said. "I'm like, 'OK, it's better than being at home.' "

The store specializes in selling remainders -- items that were overstock for some other store and are available wholesale at very low prices.  

A customer in the store yesterday afternoon who was loading up her basket on shampoos, soaps and lotions, said the Junk Drawer has become her place to go because the prices are so much lower than other discount stores in the city. 

Cassandra is an artist and a crafter, so items she and her mother-in-law crochet along with her paintings are also for sale in the store.

"We have beauty products; we have toys; we have anything you can imagine and our inventory is always changing," Cassandra said.

Press release:

The Holland Land Office Museum will be hosting its next Trivia Night at the Museum on Thursday, April 8^th at 7 p.m. In honor of his birthday, the topic will be life and works of William Shakespeare.

You can either join us in person at the museum or via Zoom. Our in-person audience will be limited to 12 people, and masks and social distancing will be required.

The Holland Land Office Musuem welcomes James Black on Wednesday, April 14^th at 7 p.m. for its next edition of its Guest Speaker Series. The presentation will be on edged weapons of the Civil War from both the Union and Confederate armies.

The presentation will be available via Facebook Live and in person to a small group of up to 12 people to come to watch on our big screen. All those in attendance must wear masks and follow social distancing protocols.

If you would like to attend in either event person, please contact the museum by phone at (585) 343-4727 to preregister. If you would like to come in person we are asking for a donation in place of the regular admission.

Please visit the museum’s Facebook page or website, www.hollandlandoffice.com, for more details, and for links to attend the April 8 Zoom event on Shakespeare.

National restaurant chain Chipotle, founded in Denver in 1993, has its eye on Towne Center at Batavia for a new location according to a special use permit application filed on its behalf by COR Development Company, owners of the plaza.

The building is the former location Metro Mattress in the same structure as Game Stop and Five Guys.

If approved, the location would be modified to include a drive-thru and outdoor seating.

Chipotle, with more than 2,000 locations nationwide, specializes in Mexican-style cuisine and especially known for its build-your-own burrito bar. 

The application for a special use permit and site plan review will be heard this month by the County Planning Board before being sent to the Town of Batavia Planning Board.

Neither COR nor Chipotle, at least so far, have filed an application with Genesee County Economic Development Center for any tax abatements.

Melissa Sacheli spotted the Easter Bunny hopping through Batavia yesterday at the corner of Bank Street and North Street.

There's a change of plans for Batavia football on Friday night, with the Blue Devils getting a guaranteed win, making the team, 3-0, because of a Geneva forfeit.

Head Coach Brennan Briggs said Geneva will be unable to field enough players for the game.

So, Batavia will play Burgard, a team from Buffalo, at 6:30 at Van Detta Stadium.  

The game does not count as part of the regular season but, Briggs said, "it gives the kids a chance to play."

Press release:

The Batavia Police Department has been assisting the Batavia City Fire Department in the investigation of the fire at 37 Maple St. that occurred on March 30 at approximately 10:38 a.m. The investigation has currently shown that the individual who had stopped at the residence to pick up refrigerators did not have anything to do with the fire’s origin. The fire is still under investigation and no further details will be released at this time. 

The community is pulling together, rallying around a family of six that was burned out of their home at 37 Maple St., Batavia, yesterday morning.

There are a few donation and fundraising efforts that have started since news of the fire hit local news home pages yesterday.

A new store, the Junk Drawer, at 238 Ellicott St., is accepting item donations for the family, and Ally Scofield has set up a GoFundMe page for the family.  

Items that can be dropped off at the Junk Drawer include clothing items for boys age 3- to 6-months and age 10 to 12. Size 14 and 16 women's pants, 2x-3x women's shirts, men's 32 and 34 pants, women's 12-15 pants, and women's large shirts. They also need personal items such as shampoo, soap, etc.

The GoFundMe campaign has set a goal of raising $5,000 and has already exceeded $3,000.

The family had lived at the residence for three years but did not have renter's insurance. They lost seven pets and all of their personal belongings and household items.

Top photo: City Fire Chief Stefano Napolitano comforts Bentley Sherman, who lived at the residence with his mother and grandmother.

A family lost all personal belongings as well as three dogs and six cats in a house fire this morning at 37 Maple St., Batavia.

The cause of the fire is under investigation.

"A neighbor said a fire and I was going, just 20 different things going on, I didn't know what was going on," said Marlene Hartford about the start of the fire.  

She lived at the house, she said, with her daughter, son-in-law (who wasn't home at the time), and two grandchildren.  

Hartford said the family, which had lived on Maple Street for three years, did not have renter's insurance. Chief Stefano Napolitano said Red Cross will provide temporary shelter, clothing and food.

Press release:

At 10:38 a.m. on March 30, the City of Batavia Fire Department was dispatched to a reported structure fire located at 37 Maple St. The first arriving fire units were on scene at 10:40 a.m.

Upon arrival, firefighters found heavy fire involvement on the southeast corner of the home, extending from the first floor to the attic. Responding crews made an aggressive, coordinated exterior and interior attack and were able to confine and contain the fire to the interior of the home. The situation was called under control by on-scene fire command at 11:21 a.m.

Due to the intensity of the fire, the home received significant heat damage throughout, along with smoke and water damage. Additionally, three dogs and six cats perished in the fire. 

At this time the City of Batavia’s Fire Investigation team with assistance from the City of Batavia Police Department’s Detective Bureau is investigating the fire to determine the origin and cause.

City fire was assisted at the scene by Mercy EMS, City of Batavia Police Department’s road patrol and Detective Bureau, City of Batavia Bureau of Inspection, Bureau of Maintenance and Water Department, along with the Town of Batavia and Darien fire departments, with additional support provided by the Genesee County Emergency Dispatch, National Fuel and National Grid.

(Initial Post)

City Fire Chief Stefano Napolitano comforts Bentley Sherman, who lived at the residence with his mother and grandmother.

An accident with injuries is reported at East Main Street and Clinton Street in the city. Police and firefighters are en route along with Mercy medics. It is blocking the roadway.

UPDATE 4:33 p.m.: The exact address is 548 E. Main St. Two vehicles are involved.

UPDATE 4:42 p.m.: A black Buick SUV was parked on the south side of East Main Street and the driver pulled out to make a U-turn and did not see an oncoming black Pontiac sedan and the two vehicles clipped fenders -- driver's side front fender to passenger side front fender. Injuries are minor. Sgt. Mitch Cowen at the scene said he's not sure either driver will require transport to the hospital.