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Photos by Nick Seratta.

For the second year in a row, Oakfield hosted its own Box Car Derby on Saturday, this time using Bennett Avenue as the track.

The event was organized by the recently formed Oakfield Box Car Derby Association.

Here are the racing results:

Sport Division (Ages 7-10yrs) : 

• 1st - August Rindell
• 2nd - Eli Pamer
• 3rd - Brynn Shildwaster 

Super Stock Division (Ages 11-13yrs) : 

• 1st - Cody Pangrazio (winner 2nd year in a row) 
• 2nd - Forrest Franklin
• 3rd - Lincoln Puls 

First-place winners in both divisions won: 

• The Sue D’Alba Memorial Trophy
• $100 cash (courtesy of RKK Construction and Smith’s Outdoors)
• 1 free Large pizza per month for one year (courtesy of Santino’s Pizza) 
• An Oakfield Box Car Derby Association t-shirt (courtesy of XO, Sassy Parties) 

Second and third-place winners also received a trophy, and all participants received a gift card for 1 free ice cream (courtesy of Blondie’s Sip n’ Dip). 

Photos by Howard Owens.

Press Release:

Batavia Downs Gaming & Hotel has announced that on Friday, December 6, Marsha McWilson will return to Batavia Downs as she performs her yearly Christmas Concert.  

Marsha brings a high energy show that features Christmas Classics and other favorites. She and the other performers have entertained concert goers for many years inside the Park Place Room. Doors are at 6:30 p.m. with music beginning at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $15 and concert go-ers will receive $10 in Free Play.

Tickets for this event are available at www.BataviaConcerts.com.  The Hotel Deal for this event is live at this time and links can be found on Facebook or  https://www.bataviadownsgaming.com/hotel-deals/.

The Batavian awarded the grand prize in its eagle drawing contest at the Genesee County Fair to Dylan Rendon, 15, from Batavia.

Dylan received his new Harley-Benton, Les Paul-style eclectic guitar during BB Dang's set at the fair on Friday evening. He started playing guitar six months ago and said the new guitar is an upgrade on his first guitar.

The contest ran from opening day to Thursday, when The Batavian's staff selected its favorite drawings from entrants who were 17 years old and young and then randomly selected the winner from among those best drawings.

The Batavian conducts eagle drawing contests with guitars as prizes to help promote music appreciation among the community's youth.

Joshua Budzinack, 18, of Batavia, is the winner in the adult category of The Batavian's eagle drawing contest.

Voting in the People's Choice Award, which gives visitors to the Media Center Booth in the Exhibition Hall at the fair a chance to pick one of their favorite drawings among the 20 drawings selected by staff.  Voting continues until 3 p.m. on Saturday.

Friday's musical entertainment at the Genesee County Fair was the Rochester-based band BB Dang.

Photos by Debra Reilly

Photos by Debra Reilly

The Bacon Brothers, touring in support of their fifth studio album, Ballad of the Brothers, stopped at Batavia Downs on Friday night.

Brothers Kevin Bacon, famed actor, and Michael Bacon, an Emmy-winning songwriter, formed their duo 30 years ago.

Their sound is solidly Americana, and their songwriting has earned them a strong fanbase.

Previously: Bacon Brothers celebrate 30 years of music with new album and upcoming tour

Photos by Nick Serrata.

Lorie Longhany’s mind was on personal business that Sunday afternoon six days ago when a history-making decision was making news. Then she got a phone call from the county’s Board of Elections deputy commissioner.

“She told me that President Biden bowed out. And as soon as it happened, even before I could get on Twitter or Google anything I had already decided in my head, it’s got to be Kamala Harris, I don’t care what anybody says, I’m backing Kamala Harris. And so I guess I was thinking the way most everybody else was,” Longhany said during an interview with The Batavian. “I felt strongly about Joe Biden, and I feel even more strongly about Kamala Harris, I’m excited.”

Longhany will get that chance since, in December, she was nominated as a delegate for New York State’s 24th Congressional District to the Democratic National Convention. She didn’t apply for the role, but was recognized for her years of service and involvement to the party.  

This won’t be her first rodeo, so to speak, as Longhany, Genesee County’s Democrat election commissioner, was also a delegate for former President Barack Obama at the Charlotte, NC, convention for his second term and was on the ballot for the 2016 presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. 

She didn't make it that time.

“I got beat. Not by a lot. I got beat because they pick a female, male, female, male, and the male got in, and I didn’t get in,” she said. But I went to that one, too. That was in Philadelphia. I went just as a Hillary supporter.”

This one has so far been somewhat different, however, since Harris hasn’t actually run for the position and has been preliminarily nominated on a Zoom call.

“I’ve had mixed feelings about it because I really think that Joe Biden has been the most consequential president, maybe not of my lifetime, but a good part of my lifetime. He's accomplished so much. And most of it is just not even recognized by people,” she said. I look around Genesee County, and there's a lot going on. And maybe none of it has to do with some of Biden’s, with the infrastructure bill and the Chips and Science Act, but I have a good idea that some of it does. I think he's made a lot of good things happen in four short years.”

Although she’s a big Pete Buttigieg fan, Longhany also believes that Harris, as a former attorney general and prosecutor in a major city, brings a lot to the table.

“I like her a lot; I’m very energized by this candidacy right now. And even though I love Joe Biden and I think the world of him, and I think he’s the most compassionate man that I’ve ever seen in public office, I didn’t have this kind of energy. I wasn’t that excited about going to Chicago. I’m excited to go to Chicago now,” she said. “I think she carried a lot of Biden’s good stuff with her. She’s a woman, or she’s a woman of color; it’s that we’re ready for this. And we don’t have to sugarcoat it anymore. I think she can bring so much to the table.” 

The first Monday she’s in Chicago, there's an early delegate breakfast meeting, and that week, she rolls through a convention that she will be “learning as I go,” she said. 

“I don’t know the process for this; it's different from the last two,” she said. Because I am a pledged delegate to Joe Biden, I think he has to release all the delegates because it’s huge. Well, I’m not going to guess; it’s just, I’m gonna play it as it goes.”

She hasn’t landed on who she thinks Harris should pick as her vice president, but the right names have been bandied about: Josh Shapiro from Pennsylvania, Mark Kelly from Arizona, Gretchen Whitmer from Michigan, and maybe even  Buttigieg will get some consideration — any of them would be a good choice, Longhany said.  

She said she would definitely strap in for a debate between Harris, the Republican contender, whoever Harris picks for a V.P. and the newly announced J.D. Vance. She has cringed at the level that political discourse has sunk to lately.

“We shouldn’t be doing this to each other,” she said. "I don’t like the tone, the tenure, or the rhetoric—I don’t like any of it.”

She will be packing for a week-long convention in mid-August, with the event wrapping up with what members hope is a final nomination for Harris. There might not be a world wrestling icon up on stage as there was for the Republican convention, Longhany said, but there might be Carole King, James Taylor, and — who knows — Taylor Swift and her Swifties, perhaps? coming out in solidarity against recent politically charged comments about single, childless “cat ladies.” 

New York’s 307-member delegation includes 268 pledged delegates who are eligible to vote on the first ballot at the convention. If Harris wins at least 1,976 votes in that first round, she would win the Democratic presidential nomination outright. 

According to cityandstateny.com, an unofficial survey of delegates by the Associated Press found that Harris had the support of at least 1,640 pledged delegates, not including New York’s delegation, prior to the vote. With the support of New York’s 268 pledged delegates, Harris had the support of at least 1,908 delegates – putting her fewer than 100 delegates away from securing the nomination in the first round of voting. 

Shortly after the New York vote, California’s delegation held its own vote, and its more than 400 delegates unanimously pledged to support Harris. That put her well over the 1,976-vote threshold needed to secure the nomination, cityandstate.com stated.

There were so many delegates crammed onto the Zoom call that only four or five faces could be seen at once, Longhany said. As far as she could tell, that vote was unanimous for Harris.

If Harris somehow fails to reach 1,976 votes in the first round at the convention, then New York’s other 39 delegates would come into place. They are “automatic” delegates, also known as “superdelegates,” who can only vote if no candidate gets enough support the first time around.

Longhany is a former Democratic County Committee Chair and currently serves as one of two Genesee County election commissioners. Both major parties are represented at the Board of Elections. The Republican commissioner is Richard Siebert.

As election commissioner, Longhany wants folks to know that she’s careful to leave politics at the doorstep when she enters the Board of Elections office. It's her job to ensure that everyone’s vote counts no matter what side of the aisle they’re on and who they’re voting for. 

“I don’t want people to worry about elections in Genesee County, that everybody can vote easily,” she said. “I want people to trust that I care about this job, even if they’re not voting who I want them to vote for … when I’m in the office, there’s no politics in that office.”

Photos by Howard Owens.

Press Release:

The Elba Betterment Committee is coming up on week 4 of our summer concerts in our beautiful Village Park. Up next on August 1, is the Batavia Swing Band. A professional 17 piece jazz/swing band, they will be bringing us everything from standard jazz and swing tunes to more modern and contemporary sounds.

We love our local musicians, and we know you will too. And perhaps there will be dancing!

The fun begins with food and beverages from Agatina’s Italian Restaurant, More Than A Mouthful, Ice Cream and Chill and Circle B Winery starting at 5:30 p.m. with the music starting at 6:30 p.m. 

The 50/50 Raffle that night will help to provide a scholarship to Go Art’s Creative Art Camp to help support underprivileged children who may not be able to afford it.

All concerts are made possible with funds from the Statewide Community Regrant Program, a regrant program of the NYS Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the NYS Legislature and administered by GO Art.

As always, we are collecting non perishable food and hygiene items and selling raffle tickets for your chance to win up to $5000. This is gonna be such a fun time – you know you gotta be there!

Budd was a standardbred whose original destiny was to become a racehorse. At two years old, he didn’t make the required time and instead became a working horse. He ended up as a driver for an Amish family for the next 18 years.

He click-clacked his way for more than 100,000 miles over those years, and when it became evident that Budd could no longer perform his daily tasks due to old age, his family didn’t really want to send him to auction. Lucky for Budd, his family came across the Cherry Hill Farm Sanctuary business cards that President Pamela Harmon had scattered throughout nearby harness shops and community centers.

“We received a call this spring from a family looking to place a 21-year-old standardbred that had been their daily driver for 18 years. Budd was a part of their daily lives, and they wanted him to have a chance to retire in pasture," Harmon said to The Batavian. "As a tattooed standardbred, we were able to look up Budd’s history and found that he was born and trained here in Corfu, NY, before making his way to be a buggy horse. Budd, along with his original pasture mate at the Amish farm, is now retired at Cherry Hill Farm Sanctuary.”

Obviously, a much less traumatic and far more humane way to — quite literally — put Budd out to pasture to loll about and enjoy his remaining days as reward for many hard years of work, his new caretakers believe. 

There are 60 acres for him to forage and practice “being a horse” with his fellow kind, go for walks with Cherry Hill volunteers, get bathed and groomed and receive the special treatment he deserves.

Cherry Hill officially became a nonprofit in 2022, with the primary purpose of helping senior equines live out their lives in peaceful and healthy comfort after serving their work lives and having no other place to go except to auction, where they are sold for meat.

More than 100,000 horses in the United States are shipped off to Canada and Mexico each year for their meat, and the journey is often “pure agony” for these animals, according to the organization’s mission statement. That’s why Cherry Hill supports horses that are overcoming immense odds such as blindness and starvation by providing a haven for them to live out the rest of their lives in a compassionate, loving and dignified existence. 

Delilah is another such case, only she brings with her a twofer, having been studded before being deemed no longer serving her purpose on an Amish farm. And the Morgan mare, in all of her glistening black-coated glory in the Corfu sunshine, is ready to give birth any day now, Harmon said. 

“She’s over 20, and she’s partially blind. We actually took her in only three months ago. She was already bred sometime in the summer to a Belgian, which is a draft horse, and she’s a lot smaller, so there’s a lot of concerns that she’s not going to be able to deliver appropriately. We’re kind of in this full watch right now,” Harmon said. “We took her on mostly because of the fact that she’s older, and there’s a good chance that she’s gonna have some complications, rightfully so because of her age and because of the size of the stud that she was bred to.”

As with any noble cause, it takes money — a hefty $2,000 per month winter feed bill for the grain necessary to feed senior equines with either poor teeth or no teeth, plus the other costs for shelter and medical care, such as with Delilah, who “our goal was to make sure that she had the proper health care during the end of her pregnancy and that we could see it through to make sure that she stays healthy,” Harmon said.

Cherry Hill has 20 rescue equines, plus several goats and two cows. The nonprofit takes on many draft horses that were once used on Amish farms, and they drive up the feed bills, Harmon said. 

That’s why Cherry Hill is throwing its first big fundraiser, a Cornhole and Basket Raffle, from noon to 4 p.m. Aug. 11 at Lancaster Elks Lodge, 33 Legion Parkway, Lancaster. There will be at least 100 theme baskets and gift certificates for various local businesses, plus a 50/50, food for purchase, cash bar and a DJ. Winners need not be present at time of drawing.

The cost is $25 for participants of the corn hole tournament, and they are asked to arrive at 11:30 a.m. Use the Scoreholio app or call/text 716-901-3445 to register. 
 

This summer, Jason Aldean is doing what he’s done nearly every year around this time since he arrived on the country music scene in 2005. He’s going on tour, headlining amphitheater shows across the country.

To hear him tell it, getting out on the road and onto concert stages never gets old.

“That’s always kind of been my favorite part, the live touring and being on the road and playing music,” Aldean said in a phone interview. “I’m not really a studio rat guy. I’m not a guy that just loves going in the studio and stays in there all the time. When we go cut an album, I want to get in there, get it done, knock it out and then I want to go tour.”

That’s not to say Aldean has been neglecting the music-making side of his career. In fact, he’s been particularly prolific over the past five-plus years, releasing more than 70 songs over the course of five albums – the most recent of which was last year’s “Highway Desperado.”

Beyond being efficient with his time in the studio, one thing that probably has helped enable Aldean to release so much music lately is he’s relied on outside songwriters for nearly all of his most recent material – which means Aldean hasn’t had to set aside time for songwriting. 

That, however, changed somewhat with “Highway Desperado,” as Aldean co-wrote three of the album’s songs.

“I got back in the writer’s chair for this album,” Aldean said. “It still is a part of what I do. I can do it. I don’t love it, and I don’t know how to say it. Sitting in a room for me for hours at a time trying to come up with something is torture. I’m just not good at that. I don’t like to feel like I’m closed in in an office. I have to kind of approach it in a different way. So for this album, I kind of wanted to get back into that a little bit and I found a way that kind of works for me a little bit.”

Aldean credited two of his band members, Kurt Allison (guitar) and Tully Kennedy (bass), with spurring him to write with them for “Highway Desperado,” and the two band members have credits on the majority of the songs on the album, including its controversial lead single, “Try That in a Small Town.”

The song decries senseless big-city crime, but was widely criticized as an anti-Black Lives Matter song that celebrates a brand of vigilante justice where townspeople take care of their own.

Aldean has defended “Try That in a Small Town,” saying in a statement the song wasn’t meant to deal with race and was a tribute to communities that come together to support each other in times of trouble. Aldean also commented on the song in this interview.

“‘Try That in a Small Town,” it’s just one of those things that I felt like was something I wanted to say. Like most everybody, I watch the news every night and see what’s going on in our world, and it’s crazy and insane, and it’s just not something I can still wrap my head around,” Aldean said. “You get a song like this that comes along and it says everything you want to say, and it’s like man, I want to cut that and I want to get it out as soon as possible.”

The fuss over “Try That in a Small Town” has eased now, but despite that, it became Aldean’s first song to top “Billboard” magazine’s all-genre Hot 100 singles chart. It also topped the country singles chart.

Having a song top the country charts has become a regular occurrence for Aldean, who splashed onto the scene with a 2005 self-titled debut album that turned out a No. 1 single, “Why,” and two top 10 songs, “Hicktown” and “Amarillo Sky.” He’s gone on to pile up nearly 30 No. 1 songs over his career.

Aldean views “Highway Desperado” as traveling down a similar musical path as his other albums, with several musical genres working their way into a mix of hefty rock-tinged songs and sturdy, melodic ballads.

“I think at this point, when you listen to any of the albums I’ve done, my sound and what I do is just what I do,” he said. “There’s going to be some rock and roll influence in there, obviously a lot of country music influence, some pop and hip-hop-type stuff. It’s what I’ve done kind of my whole career.”

Aldean can’t fit all of his hits into his shows anymore, but he puts a good deal of effort into crafting a crowd-pleasing selection of songs.

“Every year, I really sit down and try to come up with a set list that I feel like is cool, that people are going to get their money’s worth when they come to a show and try to figure out a way to play some of the things that everybody knows from year’s past, and also some songs that we’ve done recently,” he said. “It’s a little tricky sometimes.”

Jason Aldean performs at Darien Lake Amphitheater on Thursday, August 1 at 7:30 p.m.

Thursday was a bittersweet day for 4-H members at the Genesee County Fair because it featured the market animal auction—a successful fundraiser and culmination of so much hard work but also perhaps some unforgiving emotional investment.

There’s Chase Zuber of Byron, who raised Big Papi, named after his favorite Red Sox baseball player, David Ortiz, and “watched him grow from the soil” from a cute piglet to an enormous 288-pound oinker. 

And Kaidan Hofheins of Batavia, there with her grown bovine, who she had just shown on Sunday and placed sixth overall, doing “pretty good,” she said. 

“His name's Miko. I raised him at our house, actually. Usually, we all raise them on the fourth-generation farm back on Grandpa's, but I had a calf born at our house, so Grandpa let me use him this year. So it's been a little different,” she said just before the auction started at the Batavia fairgrounds. “But it's been really good. I've been able to bring him out to some other shows. I actually did really well. It's certainly an honor. I mean, to be in this program. It's taught me a lot. But it is a hard night; it's also one of my favorite nights, seeing how everyone just kind of comes together to support each other and the community we have. 

“But I mean, it's hard knowing I've raised him since a calf. So it's hard to say goodbye and to let go,” she said. “But we were always taught it's a circle of life. It's okay. So it's hard, but it's good. It teaches you a lot of valuable lessons. So I'm really grateful for this program and everything I've learned.”

Tim Call, a longtime member of the farming community and owner of Empire Tractor in Batavia, has also been a supporter of 4-H and has participated in the auction. He has bid on animals that he shares with his company employees, he said. 

This is an important program for what it teaches the kids beyond the basics of care, Call said.

“Teaching them how to grow, how to raise animals, how to understand economics, you know, you’ve got to pay, you get the money, you’ve got to pay for it all, and hopefully there's something there at the end. And you have to go out and market it, because you'll see, there are some kids, for a cow or a steer they'll get two bucks, other kids will get 10 bucks (per pound). Well, the guy that did 10 bucks went out and marketed it better; they asked more people to buy their animal as part of their learning process,” he said. “And when they see other people getting more money, the next year, they know how to go out and try to ask people to buy them.”

Some 4-Hers have regulars, such as Todd Jantzi, who comes to the auction to bid on his neighbor’s livestock to support her, he said.

“She has a great spirit and is a hardworking young lady,” Jantzi said. “It’s a great aspect of growing up in life being responsible for your animals, that those animals are needing her. And it just creates a tremendous amount of responsibility at a young age."

He appreciates the 4-H program, he said, and seeing the kids reap the benefits of hands-on labor and experiencing success from their efforts.

“It brings a warm feeling to my heart,” he said. “You like to see the smile on the kids and the reward for their hard work over the last, say, six months. So it’s a neat process.” 

There were 227 animals in Thursday's auction. A sheet of Auction Terms & Conditions explains how it works, from how animals are sold—goats, lambs, steers, and hogs are sold whole, live by the pound versus market chickens and rabbits are sold in lots of two, with the chickens already processed and frozen—to pricing, making payment, selecting a processor, transporting the animal, and where proceeds go. 

All but a 5% commission to Cornell Cooperative Extension for auction and program expenses goes back to the youth participants for their own programs. 

Although the 4-H program focuses on caring for and showing animals, other aspects are involved, such as public speaking and marketing, said Cooperative Extension Executive Director Jocelyn Sikorski.

“It’s learning how to work as an individual, building a skill set on how to care for something, right? Learning how to make money and how to sell your product, they have to go through public speaking. There are many different layers of education with 4-H when it comes to youth development; it really hits on almost all of them,” she said. “And it’s cumulative throughout the course of the programs … so truly, this is our culminating event for most of the kids unless they go on to compete at State Fair.”

There are several other non-animal programs in 4-H, including Family and Consumer Sciences and Junior Master Gardener Club, she said.

“So there’s all different life lessons on whether it’s maintaining an animal for the health of the animal and for the betterment of the animal, to how to plant and grow your own food and how to make your own food, how to do all of those things are built through 4-H,” she said.  

Playing a set of classic rock and country hits, the Rochester-based band Another Vice entertained fairgoers on Thursday evening at the Genesee County Fair.

Photos by Howard Owens.

The Midway was the Genesee County Fair's popular entertainment destination on Thursday, with families enjoying perfect fair weather for rides and games.

To view or purchase photos, click here.

Joshua Budzinack, 18, of Batavia, is the winner in the adult category of The Batavian's eagle drawing contest at the Genesee County Fair.

Budzinack won a $100 gift certificate to Red Osier Landmark Restaurant in Stafford. He was selected randomly from among the staff's favorite drawings.

The winner of the 17-and-under contest will be announced on Friday during the BB Dang concert.

Meanwhile, voting in the People's Choice contest is open.  The prize is a ukulele.

Press Release:

Catholic Charities is gearing up for the new school year with its annual Socks and Undergarment Drive to benefit school-age kids and teenagers in grades Pre-K through 12th in need throughout Genesee, Orleans and Wyoming counties.

“Just like notebooks and pencils, growing children also need new socks and underwear for the upcoming school year,” said Kate DiSalvo, tri-county district director, Catholic Charities. “We understand that back to school supplies and clothing can be an added financial burden for many families in our community, which is why this annual drive is so important.”

Donations of new, unopened packages of socks and underwear are being accepted from Aug. 1 – 31 at the following Catholic Charities offices:

• 25 Liberty St., Suite 7, Batavia
• 243 South Main St., Business Office Suite, Albion
• 6470 Route 20A, Perry

All colors and sizes from children to adult are needed. The donated items will be distributed to community members later this summer.

Additional information about Catholic Charities’ services can be found at ccwny.org/services.

It was a busy day at the Genesee County Fair on Wednesday and there are plenty of activities for the whole family at the fair on Thursday, including the midway opening at 4 p.m., the 4-H livestock auction at 6 p.m., and the exhibit hall open all day.

Today, members of The Batavian's Early Access Program have a coupon for free entry to the fair, courtesy of The Batavian.

Also, stop by the Media Center (The Batavian/WBTA) to enter The Batavian's eagle drawing contest before 3 p.m. We are giving away a guitar to the 17-and-under winner (a random selection from among the best drawings) and a $100 gift card to the adult winner.  After 3 p.m. through Saturday, voting for the people's choice award begins.

Photos by Kristin Smith.

The 100-Lap Enduro was held at the Genesee County Speedway on Wednesday at the Genesee County Fair.

The race pits drivers and their near-scrap-yard vehicles against each other and their ability to just make it through all 100 laps without breaking down.

We don't have information on who won.

The Demolition Derby is at 7 p.m. on Friday.

Photos by Debra Reilly.

CLARIFICATION: Only the Jell-O side is being painted on Saturday.

The iconic Jell-O/Mail Pouch Barn on Asbury Road in Le Roy will get a fresh coat of paint on the old advertising signs on Saturday by John Doemling, who originally painted the signs on the barn in 2013.

The public is invited to stop by to watch Doemling bring back the vibrancy of the signs, which have faded over the years. 

The barn was built in 1820.

Jell-0, as many know, was founded in Le Roy in 1897.

Up until 1992, the Mail Pouch chewing tobacco company of West Virginia maintained signs on 20,000 barns in 22 states around the country, paying a small fee to farmers to advertise their product on the side of barns.  The big benefit for farmers was getting a regular coat of paint on the entire barn for free, which helped maintain and preserve it.

Federal government regulation, the Highway Beatification Act, curtailed barn advertising, but historic landmarks, such as Mail Pouch Barns, were exempt.