batavia's original

Another fall day in Batavia, NY, USA...

Photos and information submitted by Kathy Ferrara.

Batavia's Original and the Kiwanis Club of Batavia held their second annual Halloween Parade on Sunday.

Their trek through wind and rain from Dan's Tire to the pizzeria at Harvester Avenue and East Main Street was rewarded with food, games, a magician, a costume contest and prizes. Of course there was plenty of candy!

Judges were Batavia City Council President Eugene Jankowski Jr., Genesee County Sheriff William Sheron Jr., city fire Capt. Greg Ireland and city fire's EMS Program coordinator Tom Douglas.

Kindred spirits, wild and woolly...

A gruesome twosome...

Fishing...sorta...

The morbid wedding party...

It was magical...or was it?

Spiderman was a boy once, with regular folks and a little sis -- it was enough to make him want to climb the walls...

Submitted photo and press release:

Once again Batavia’s Original is teaming up with the Kiwanis Club of Batavia to host the Kids Halloween Parade on Sunday, Oct. 27^th.

This is the second year that Kiwanis has partnered with Batavia’s Original on this fun, free family event.

The parade starts in front of Dan’s Tire & Auto, behind the Downtown mall, and ends at Batavia’s Original. The parade starts at 1 p.m., so kids should start lining up around 12:45.

The parade is rain or shine, so kids should dress appropriately.

When the parade concludes at Batavia’s Original, there will be music and games for the kids, along with a costume judging contest with prizes for best costumes.

The parade route is as follows:

1. Start at Dan's Tire (48 Batavia City Centre)
2. Right onto Washington Avenue
3. Left onto Ross Street
4. Right onto East Avenue
5. Right onto Vine Street
6. Left onto Fisher Park
7. Right onto Elm Street
8. Cross over Main Street
9. Left into Batavia's Original Pizzeria at East Main and Harvester Avenue

Photo from left: Frank Ciaccia, Gary Maha, Chuck Flynn, Batavia's Original owner Kathy Ferrara, Pete Guppenberger and Lawrence Friedman.

In this episode of Batavia's Best Businesses, Nici has a problem. Macy gets a great gig out of town and leaves Nici holding the bag for planning Zander's birthday party. Kathy Ferrara at Batavia's Original solves the problem.

Batavia's Best Businesses is a joint promotional production for Genesee County businesses by The Batavian and WBTA. To find out how to promote your business in this web video series, contact Lorne or Jim at WBTA.

For the third straight year some members of the Batavia's Original staff, led by manager Tom Scott, and with the help of Bailee Welker, delivered pizzas on Christmas Day to those emergency responders who worked on the holiday, helping to keep the community safe while the rest of us enjoy the day with our families.

"We’ve been doing this because we felt it was the least we could do for the people serving and working throughout our community while not being able to spend their holidays at home with family," Scott said.

Photos by Marc Tillery.

Batavia's Original Pizzeria hosted fun and games yesterday afternoon following the Halloween Parade in Batavia. Several children along with parents, grandparents started walking from Dan's Tire and Auto down side streets in the cool wet weather to the pizzeria.

In addition to Batavia's Original, the event was sponsored by Kiwanis Club of Batavia and Roanoke Apple Farms.

A costume contest was judged by City Church members and Assemblyman Stephen Hawley. Music was entertained by DJ Tom Mazerbo. There were various prizes for the costume contest along with pizza and cider.

People are lining up to buy a bit of Pontillo's history -- the custom-made, red, white and green booth seats that were first installed in the restaurant 30 years ago.

Batavia's Original owner Kathy Ferrara announced her plans to sell the booth seats and she immediately received several requests from would-be purchasers. She hasn't made any commitments yet. She's waiting for the replacement booths, which will be all black, to come in next week.

"I didn’t realize it would be such a big deal to people," Ferrara said.

A number of people expressed concern that she was selling Sam and Betty's booth, the one they always sat in, but it's not for sale and will stay in the restaurant, she said.

She's only selling the ones in the larger dining room. She said she remembers when that dining room opened. She had just started working as a server for Pontillo's and the new booths were installed before even the rest of the trim of the room was completed.

Press release:

Batavia’s Original Pizzeria and the Kiwanis Club of Batavia are thrilled to announce they have partnered together to bring back the Kids' Halloween Parade.

The parade is going to be held on Sunday, Oct. 28^th, starting at 1 p.m. The lineup will begin in front of Dan’s Tire & Auto at City Centre Mall. Kids should arrive a little early to get their place in line.

The parade route will end at Batavia’s Original parking lot where there will be a variety of games and snacks for kids, live music, and prizes given for the best costumes.

The Kiwanis Club and Batavia’s Original are excited to bring back this free family friendly event to the community!  The event is going to take place rain or shine so please dress appropriately.

Call 343-3303 for additional details or questions.

Kids' Halloween Parade Route:

Starting in front of Dan’s Tire & Auto (on the backside of City Centre Mall) the kids will go straight until they reach Washington Avenue, where they will take a right. The parade route will follow along Washington Avenue and then take a left onto Ross Street and a quick right onto East Avenue.  From East Avenue the kids will take a right onto Vine Street, then a left onto Chase Park, followed by a right onto Elm Street.  The route crosses Main Street and takes a left into the Batavia’s Original pizzeria parking lot.

Photo provided by WBTA.

Thirty years ago, Kathy Ferrara walked into Pontillo's thinking she was just taking a job to help her get through college at GCC.

She never left.

Today she is the owner of the successor to Pontillo's, Batavia's Original.

On Wednesday, she celebrated that 30th anniversary with friends, customers and employees.

"I loved it from day one," Ferrara said. "I look back and I wouldn’t have changed any of it. It was a great environment. I made lots of friends through customers, employees, hundreds of friendships."

Now, she says, she's just doing what she was taught by the Pontillos to do -- take care of employees and serve the community.

"I have pride and it’s humbling, both at the same time — to carry on the tradition of hiring students, college students and high school students, and watching them come through and seeing them make friendships here, just like I had when I was starting out."

Head Coach Jim Fazio (far left) with Assistant Coach Mark Janes (far right) along with members of Batavia High School Girls Softball Team receive a check for $1,000 from owner Kathy Ferrara yesterday afternoon at Batavia's Original Pizzeria, Batavia. 

The girls did a great job promoting this event and in honor of International Womans Day on March 8th, Ferrara said she decided to match their fundraising efforts.

"I believe empowering women is important in our community and these young ladies represent a strong future, so I wanted to help them raise funds towards their trip," she said.

The team has been fundaising since December when they saw an opportunity to play ball in Myrtle Beach, S.C., and add games to their schedule in warmer weather.