The former Dipson Theater's sign on Main Street, Batavia, was updated today with the sign for the renamed theater: Batavia Showtime. Downtown businessman Ken Mistler purchased the theater earlier this month and is planning several renovations.
Two cars hit head on shortly after 1:15 p.m. at Main and Bank streets. Both drivers appeared a little shaken up but not seriously injured.
Batavia PD, city fire and Mercy EMS were on scene quickly and the intersection was cleared by 1:45 p.m.
Downtown Batavia needs a theater, according to local businessman Ken Mistler, and when Dipson announced that its Batavia location needed to be sold or it would close, Mistler stepped in and bought it.
Now comes the hard work and expense of upgrading the two-screen movie house, and Mistler wants to know what moviegoers want from their local theater.
His number one question right now, he said, is what will bring people to Batavia Showtime?
Consultants for the City of Batavia reported last summer that some $31 million from Genesee County residents is spent annually in Buffalo and Rochester for entertainment and dining.
"I want to get them to bring some of that money back to Batavia," Mistler said. "I want to give them a reason to stay here."
First order of business is to start showing first-run films. He's also going to invest a substantial amount of money -- he doesn't know how much it will cost yet -- into upgrading to a digital projection system and dropping 35mm film. He also plans interior renovations and changes, but he's taking it one step at a time, he said.
Mistler owns City Slickers Restaurant and he said a downtown theater is important to the restaurant businesses downtown, not just his own.
People still like to go out for dinner and a movie, and if there is no movie theater in Batavia, people looking for a full evening of entertainment will just go elsewhere.
With local ownership, Mistler said, he thinks he can breathe new life into the former Dipson.
There are plenty of ideas for Mistler to look at for his theater, which could include special movie nights, special events for children, a small stage for comedians or small bands -- all of that -- Mistler said -- is on the table for discussion.
"It wasn't that this was a bad place, but the owners lived far away," Mistler said. "It was hard for them to watch and maintain it with the other theaters they had. I’m going to be on hand and we can do things the other owners wanted to do but couldn’t do because they weren’t here."
The theater remains open seven days a week as Mistler takes over management and begins making changes.
He said among his promotional ideas is to offer a package of a dinner from City Slickers and theater tickets. He said he would love to meet with any local restaurant owners who want to do the same thing or have other promotional ideas to tie the theater more closely with dining downtown.
"I need the feedback from the people," Mistler said. "I need to know what they want. I really do."
On Facebook: Batavia Showtime.
Batavia is getting a little dusting of heavy, wet snow tonight. It starting coming down just after midnight.
About 50 downtown business owners and managers gathered this morning in the community center of City Church to learn more about the activities of the Business Improvement District.
Part of the goal of the program was to encourage more people to volunteer on BID committees.
Committees are:
Marchese unveiled a new mission statement and vision statement for the BID.
Mission Statement:
The Batavia Business Improvement District promotes and enhances the unique experience of shopping, working, and living in downtown Batavia.
Community begins downtown!
Vision Statement:
More Feet Downtown!
This photo is actually from yesterday afternoon: City workers Kevin Hamilton and Shawn McAlister were working downtown, replacing the banners on light poles.
Press release:
This past weekend (Dec 7-8), the Downtown Batavia Business Improvement District (BID), hosted the 2nd Annual Taste of the Holidays. Friday evening’s event included the official lighting of the Christmas tree, caroling, music by Rich Conroy, tastings from local restaurants, horse & wagon rides, and a scavenger hunt to lead people to the downtown businesses.
Eleven local restaurants handed out samples under a tent located on historic Jackson Street. Over 500 people attended the Friday event with great success. Saturday’s afternoon event also included the scavenger hunt, but was geared toward families & children with music by Bart & Kevin. Area businesses and local organizations had holiday activities for children under the tent including crafts, face painting, free hot cocoa by Coffee Culture, and much more.
The always popular McMahon School of Irish Dance kicked up their heels for the event as well as Jason the Juggler. The YWCA sponsored a gingerbread house contest. Approximately 300 families turned out for the Saturday event. The major sponsors for the Taste of the Holidays were Müller Quaker and Alpina Foods, Batavia’s new yogurt companies. Alpina Foods even handed out free yogurt samples during the weekend event.
The Batavia Business Improvement District also took the opportunity to find out the wish lists of area residents. Their table’s activity not only included a station to write to Santa Claus, but also a station to send a letter to the BID saying, “I wish Batavia…”
The letters included straight-forward answers such as “a bakery, lower taxes, or less congested traffic on Main Street.” But the children’s comments were far more imaginative including, “fireworks, no more snowstorms, a play place, and a popcorn place.”
The winner of this year’s Downtown Batavia Scavenger Hunt is Peyton Woeller, age 6, of Batavia. Peyton attended the Saturday children’s day activities for Taste of the Holidays and completed the scavenger hunt with his mother and twin sister. Peyton won a $100 gift BID certificate after visiting participating businesses and determining what day of Christmas each business represented.
Peyton’s reaction to winning “definitely rang with Christmas spirit,” said BID Director Don Burkel. “Peyton shared his gift certificate with his twin sister without hesitation. He knew immediately he wanted to go to Adam Miller Toy & Bike.”
The owner of Floral Fantasies, Sherry Balvo, also agreed the event was great for the community. She went above and beyond as a scavenger hunt participant by giving out gift bags with ornaments.
The Batavia Business Improvement District (BID) will be planning their yearly events after the New Year’s. Anyone who would like to volunteer for events or be part of the planning process are encouraged to contact the BID office at 585-344-0900 or email dburkel@downtownbataviany.com. Be sure to like the Downtown Batavia Business Improvement District on Facebook so you can keep in touch with future events.
The first night of Taste of the Holidays in Downtown Batavia had hundreds of people turn out to sample food from local restaurants and visit downtown merchants.
The event continues from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., Saturday, with Jason the Juggler, music by Bart & Kevin, and horse and wagon rides.
There's a new game shop in town and if the owner -- Bruce Reynolds, of Elba -- looks familiar it's because he's been in the retail entertainment business in Batavia before.
Reynolds is the former owner of CD Splash, which he closed five years ago when he had an opportunity to open a game shop in Warsaw.
"That business is doing really well and I always wanted to get back here," Reynolds said.
Gamezilla is located at 214 E. Main St. and the large space will give Reynolds plenty of room to stock up on video games, movies, music and other retail items as well as have space for a game room, sodas and candy.
Reynolds said he wants to create an atmosphere where gamers feel comfortable just hanging out, and regular tournaments are part of the plan.
"Competitive gamers always like to show off how good they are," Reynolds said.
Most avid gamers are 13 to 19 years old, but there are plenty of gamers in their 20s, 30s and 40s, and Reynolds said his inventory will carry the kind of variety all ages like to play.
He's still stocking up the store, but he said the inventory at Gamezilla is always evolving.
"We're always buying. We're always selling. We're always trading," Reynolds said. "You never come in and see the same thing every time."
The store will be open six days a week for 10 hours and on Sundays from 1 to 6 p.m.
The extra hours and the store's central location, Reynolds said, will be a competitive advantage, and he said Gamezilla offers the highest trade-in value for games.
"We offer friendly, honest service and we treat people nice," he said.
The Christmas displays in the former Carr's building won this year's Downtown Batavia Holiday Window Display Contest, the BID announced today.
The windows were sponsored by Next Level Fitness & City Slickers.
Honorable mentions went to Valle Jewelers, Adam Miller Toy & Bicycle, The Spa at Artemis, Genesee Patrons, and Charles Men’s Shop.
This year’s judges were City Manager Jason Molino, GO ART! Director Kelly Kiebala and Diana Wyrwa, director of the Richmond Memorial Library.
The winner of the contest will receive $200 in cash.
Local artist Brandi Bruggman was at Coffee Culture on Court Street this evening painting the windows of the coffeehouse with snowmen, snow-covered trees and wreathes for the holidays.
Batavia enjoyed perfect weather Saturday for the third-annual Wine Walk as 500 wine lovers strolled through downtown to more than 20 businesses serving a variety of wines for tasting. Merchants also offered finger foods and a couple of shops featured live music.
If you're unable to view the slide show below, click here. To purchase prints of the photos, click here.
A year or so ago when the Rathod family opened Salsa & Curry on Jackson Street, Downtown Batavia, they offered only a few Indian dishes along with a full menu of Mexican food items.
With no Indian restaurants in Genesee County, the Rathods weren't sure how the unique cuisine would be received.
It turns out, it was received very well.
After closing for a few weeks while the family traveled to India for a wedding and then did some minor remodeling, Salsa & Curry reopened a week ago with a daily buffet of Indian food, more Indian food items on the printed menu and slightly fewer Mexican food items.
While Indian food has a reputation for being spicy -- and WNYers have a reputation for not liking spicy food -- not all Indian dishes are spicy, or need to be prepared with a hot flavor.
The buffet features only mild items.
What the Rathods have learned, however, is some kick has its place.
"We were actually surprised -- a majority of people like it spicy," said Sonny Rathod, who is managing the restaurant with his brothers Raveen, Nick, sister Anupa Hirani and her husband Peter.
Customers who don't want to partake of the milder buffet can order spicy alternatives prepared immediately in the kitchen and over the past week that's exactly what a lot of customers have requested, Sonny said.
Meanwhile, in a couple of weeks the restaurant will have a liquor license and will be able to serve domestic, Mexican and Indian beer as well as margaritas.
The restaurant is open Monday through Friday 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., Saturday until 10 p.m. and Sunday, Noon to 7 p.m.
Ken Mistler has placed a very large flag on the former Carr's building in Downtown Batavia as a 9/11 remembrance.
Brian and Beth Kemp along with Beth's brother Mike Barnard were on Ellicott Street this morning do a little volunteer clean-up work. Other BID members had helped earlier with clean up on Main Street. Beth said the effort is part of getting downtown ready for Saturday's Wine Walk.
Well, it looks like it was a beautiful day in Batavia for Summer in the City, judging by these pictures from Steve Ognibene.
More pictures after the jump (click on the headline):
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Photo below from Tim Walton, Pink Gorilla T-Shirts.
Starting at 7:30 a.m., Saturday, the streets of Downtown Batavia, will start closing so vendors, classic car owners, food stands and musicians can start setting up for Summer in the City.
Main Street will be closed in both directions from Court Street to Liberty Street. Court, Jackson, Center and Bank streets will all be closed.
For a map of closures and locations of Summer in the City attractions, click here (pdf). For more detail on closures, click here (pdf).
Hundreds of bikers converged on Downtown Batavia today for the 2nd Annual WNY Round Up Rally.
At one point, just about the entire length of the south side of Main Street was lined with parked Harleys (mostly), Triumphs, Ducatis and Suzukis.
The bars and restaurants were full and of course there were vendors to visit and live music in Jackson Square.
The rally continues on Sunday.
If you're unable to view the slide show below, click here. To purchase prints of these pictures, click here.
The WNY Round Up Rally got off to a soggy start, but it is under way.
By tomorrow, thousands of bikers with bright, shiny Harleys and Triumphs, and maybe an Indian or two, are expected to fill the streets of Downtown Batavia.
There's only a 30-percent chance of rain, so perhaps we'll have a nice weekend for the round up.
At least it should be clear enough at times for all of us to make our way to Main and Jackson.
Bottom photo: You could win this sculpture and help contribute to canine health at the same time.
City Slickers welcomes everyone for a weekend full of events and drink specials!
Friday:
Country/ Southern rock DJ from 7 p.m. to close.
Meet the Labatt Blue girls from 10 p.m. to midnight and the Sweet Revenge girls from 11 p.m. to 1 a.m.
Saturday:
Hot Dog Cup 2012- "Batavia's largest hot dog eating contest"- To enter call City Slickers at 345-6788 or stop in before the event to register. $10 to enter and the winner will receive their name on the Hot Dog Cup and a free 1 year Next Level Fitness Membership. The contest is at 1 p.m.
Meet the Bud Light girls from 2 to 4 p.m., then meet the Labatt Blue girls from 4 to 6 p.m. and Sailor Jerry's girls from 9 to 11 p.m.
Country/ Southern rock DJ from noon-close.
Enjoy 16 oz. cans of Budweiser, Bud Light, Labatt Blue and Labatt Blue Light for just $3 all weekend long! Tent is up and the patio is open!
(...and don't forget, every Wednesday from 8 to 11 p.m. is karaoke!)
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