The City of Batavia Fire Department will be flushing/testing fire hydrants on Tuesday (5/30), Wednesday (5/31), and Thursday (6/1) from approximately 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the general area of North of Main Street and East of Bank Street. Homes and businesses nearby will be affected.
These tests may result in temporary discoloration of water in that area. As in the past, please do not attempt to wash any clothing if your water appears discolored. If you do experience a discoloration of your water, run cold water for about 5 minutes or until clear.
This annual testing is essential to maintain the communities class III Insurance Services Office (ISO) public protection classification and to assure that fire hydrants are operating efficiently for fire protection purposes.
Along with maintaining the fire rating, the test monitors the health of the city's water system, identifies weak areas in the system, and removes material that settles in the water lines. Checking each hydrant improves fire department personnel's knowledge of the hydrant locations.
If you have any questions or should notice a hydrant in need of repair, please contact the fire department at 585-345-6375.
Here is a link to all of the photos taken by Howard Owens, where you may purchase prints, including a number of unpublished photos. If you are a member of Early Access Pass, send Howard an email at howard@thebatavian.com and request a high-resolution copy of any photo for free. Please specify as best you can exactly which photo you wish to receive in full resolution. If you're not yet a member of Early Access Pass, join now and then make your request.
The County's war dead, along with local veterans who served during past conflicts and died during the past year, were honored in a ceremony today at the War Memorial at St. Jerome's, located at Bank and Washington in Batavia. For each service member who passed away in the previous year, a flag was placed at the base of the War Memorial.
Residents from throughout Western New York gathered in Pembroke on Sunday to honor the nation's fallen heroes in a ceremony at the WNY National Cemetery.
The Memorial Day parade in Batavia is set to begin at 9:30 a.m. Monday, beginning at East Town Plaza. A previous time of 9:45 a.m was provided to The Batavian, and City Councilman Bob Bialkowski wants to make sure that anyone intending to participate in the parade should show up at 9:30 a.m. This is to ensure that it doesn't conflict with other ceremonies scheduled that day.
The parade is to travel west along Main Street and end at Alva Place.
Flags hung in Downtown Batavia in honor of Memorial Day. Photo by Howard Owens.
Tomorrow, Memorial Day, is the day our nation honors the men and women who sacrificed their lives to help secure and protect our rights to individual liberty, to hold our own beliefs and define our own lives.
Here's a reminder of ceremonies and events taking place in Genesee County for Memorial Day:
7 a.m. – Vietnam Veterans Memorial at Genesee County Park, sponsored by the Vietnam Veterans of America Chapter 193.
8 a.m. – Williams Park (Batavia) W.W.I Memorial. This memorial honors the 35 Batavians who gave their lives in WORLD WAR I.
8:30 a.m. - Batavia VA, at the main flagpole, sponsored by the VAMC.
8:45 a.m. (approx.) - NYS Veterans Home, at the main flagpole, sponsored by the NYS Veterans Home.
9:30 a.m. – Veterans Plot on Harvester Avenue. This memorial honors all war dead of all wars in Elmwood and St. Joseph’s Cemeteries.
10 a.m. - Upton Monument. This monument honors the dead of the Civil War, and all wars since.
10:30 a.m. – UMMC Jerome Center. This is the site of the Genesee County War Memorial, honoring all war dead from Genesee County.
Town ceremonies and parades:
ALEXANDER: Ceremony to take place at the Alexander Village Cemetery (a.k.a. Railroad Avenue Cemetery) at 11 a.m.
BATAVIA:Parade starts at 9:30 a.m., beginning at the East Town Plaza, traveling west along Main Street and ending at Alva Place.
BERGEN: Ceremony to take place at Hickory Park at 9:30 a.m.
BYRON: Ceremony to take place at Byron Cemetery at 11 a.m.
CORFU:Parade at 12 p.m. from Corfu Fire Hall on Route 33 to the Intermediate School on Route 77. Ceremony immediately following the parade.
ELBA: Ceremony at Maple Lawn Cemetery at 10 a.m.
LEROY:Parade at 10:30 a.m. from the American Legion to Trigon Park with a ceremony at Trigon Park at 11 a.m. immediately following the parade.
It was a sunny, windless morning when Jason Smith took his morning run through DeWitt Recreation Area, and he captured this photo of a glassy lake in the park.
The City of Batavia Police Department is currently investigating a serious motorcycle vs. passenger vehicle accident that occurred May 26, 2023 on West Main Street at the Tops Supermarket intersection.
The motorcycle, operated by Gregory Vigiano (age 34), of Batavia, was eastbound on West Main Street at the Tops intersection when a passenger vehicle being operated by Rebecca Santiago (age 32), of Stafford, made an illegal left turn colliding with the motorcycle.
The victim sustained serious injuries and was transported to Strong Hospital in Rochester via Mercy Flight and is currently listed in guarded/critical condition. The driver of the passenger vehicle was ticketed for making an illegal left turn and operating with a suspended drivers license. The accident remains under investigation and anyone with information is asked to contact Officer Sam Freeman at (585) 345-6350 or submit a tip at www.bataviapolice.org.
To help a friend with a project, I needed to head out to Oakfield to take some landscape photos, and Friday evening seemed like perfect weather for such an excursion.
To help a friend with a project, I needed to head out to Morganville in Stafford to take some landscape photos, and Friday evening seemed like perfect weather for such an excursion. I also stopped by the Stafford Country Club.
The Rev. Tom Tharp planting roma tomato plants in the community garden at Emmanuel Baptist Church in Batavia. Photo by Joanne Beck.
As Memorial Day weekend was creeping closer on Friday, Rev. Tom Tharp was already getting his fill of fresh air and sunshine.
No, he wasn’t prepping the grill for a weekend barbecue or mowing the grass to host picnic guests. Rather, Tharp, leader of Emmanuel Baptist Church in Batavia, was up to his elbows in coconut chips, mixing them with water to combine with soil for garden plots behind the Oak Street church.
What prompted the church to build its own community garden? “We were building it because they were housing all of the homeless population in the town of these two hotels over here. But then that didn't really work out. The hotels were condemned and shut down … but we still thought that there was a need, that the community is nearby the neighborhood, especially down Gateway, Noonan, etc., Oak Street, that people might want to partake of growing their own food,” Tharp said. “And we might meet some of the additional costs that are coming up, over and over, at the grocery stores. It's not like we can provide eggs, though. But the good thing, the price of those has gone down.”
Rev. Tom Tharp dispenses water from a 1,000 gallon water tank at the garden to mix with coconut chips. Photo by Joanne Beck.
Thanks to a grant and donations of goods and volunteer time, there are 20 garden plots, soil for planting, a 1,000-gallon water tank, donated by Norton Dairy, assorted vegetable seeds, and tools for people to use. The garden is protected by a locked fence, and anyone who buys a plot will receive a key for 24/7 access.
There wasn’t going to be a charge for those that filled a garden plot themselves. However, no one showed up Friday to do that, Tharp said, so he was spending his Friday filling the boxes and testing his own green thumb abilities (he claimed not to have any) by putting in roma tomato plants for a couple of his wife’s plots.
Photo by Joanne Beck.
People have so far reserved 11 plots, which means that nine remain available for purchase. They are $20 each. Everything is included, such as seeds for tomatoes, cucumbers, squash, peas, different kinds of peppers and other veggies, water, soil and a periodic lesson on gardening how-tos.
“At least you'd be able to get enough for a family, if you have the means of, you know, freezing the stuff and then keeping it for a while. I am not a natural gardener. So I don't know exactly how much we'll get out of this," he said. "We have some people from the church coming out who are going to be planting, and some people in the church who are just donating plants from their gardens to put in. And if we have stuff that doesn't get used, it will go to a local food pantry."
Photo by Joanne Beck.
There’s certainly plenty of space for the garden, with about six acres behind the church. Parishioners — church membership is about 45 people — at one point wanted to revamp the softball field so they could begin a softball league during COVID.
The church received a grant, and there was interest, but, because it was COVID — they couldn’t get any contractors to do the work, Tharp said. So they had to return the grant and moved on to another project. “It would have been nice,” he said. “We’ve got the space, and we want to use it.”
For now, though, there is the community garden, and anyone may participate.
“If you have even the slightest bit of green thumb, you can come out and pretty much grow your own vegetables for free here,” Tharp said. "We've got everything that you need to get started. And we'd love to have you."
For more information, or to reserve your plot, call 585-343-4905.
Mary Tucker, center, gets rid of some old papers during the annual Brighton Securities Shred Day Friday in downtown Batavia as staff Samantha Walker and Sal Fasciano help out. Photo by Joanne Beck.
Mary Tucker was packed and ready to leave her house with some important items Friday.
She had some 2017 pay stubs and insurance documents in a box. Just as she was heading out, her husband asked if she could grab some of his paperwork and take that as well.
“I said that I was all ready to go. I told him no,” Tucker said at the annual Shred Day event downtown. “This is wonderful.”
Hosted by Brighton Securities, this was the 12th yearly event to take in people’s old documents and securely shred them to eliminate any opportunities for identity theft.
There were about a dozen Brighton Securities employees helping to unload boxes and bags of papers — taxes, junk mail, receipts, personal and professional documents deemed obsolete by folks, you name it — and feed them into the shredding truck.
There was even a video camera and screen so that people could view their items being shredded in the moment to know that stuff is actually gone.
What began as a courtesy to customers that first year has blossomed into a free yearly event for a busy line of vehicles, branch manager Steve Hicks said. The event was scheduled from noon to 2 p.m.
“It has grown every year,” he said, as staff members encouraged visitors to grab a bottle of water on their way out. “And now people are so concerned with security, and cybersecurity. It has been nonstop. They started coming at 11:40, and we may even extend it an hour or two.”
The sign of success for Mary Tucker and staff members Samantha Walker and Sal Fasciano during Shred Day: an empty box. Photo by Joanne Beck.
Mike McCartan and Kourtney Kunichika are keeping the logo but revising the name of Islands to Hawaiian BBQ for their food truck business, expected to launch toward the end of June. Photo by Joanne Beck.
Move over Islands Hawaiian Grill, a new name, concept and slightly revised menu will be truckin’ into town within the next month or so, owner Kourtney Kunichika says.
She and business partner Mike McCartan plan to unveil the Islands Hawaiian BBQ food truck by the end of June or early July in Genesee County, with other eventual stops to be in Erie and Monroe counties. The grill's last day will be June 10.
“What I would like people to come away with is an authentic taste of Hawaiian comfort food. Japanese comfort food. And then the fusion of Hawaiian and Japanese comfort food into something that you can walk away with easy. Or take away easy. Street food, that's what I would like,” McCartan of West Seneca said during an interview Friday with The Batavian. “It has to be quality. It does. That's the most important thing. I would like people to walk up, look, maybe (they’re) a little bit uneasy. But hopefully, there's a big wide opening smile to draw people in. Just give us a try. Give it a try. You'll like it.”
Given the positive reception that the brick-and-mortar restaurant has received in Batavia, Kunichika is confident that people are open to trying new cuisines and will enjoy a taste of the islands once they do give it a try.
She and McCartan are counting on that willingness to transfer to the food truck concept, which will be a quicker-paced lunch experience for items such as a hot chicken sandwich or a shrimp po’boy, a lunch of white rice and mac salad plate, kalua pork and cabbage, Hawaiian bbq short ribs, fish tacos or a big island burger.
Islands Grill opened in August 2019, and it found success at Batavia City Centre on Main Street with an outdoor patio and a regular customer base, Kunichika said. One “bittersweet” aspect of closing the doors will be “I feel like I let my customers down,” she said.
“Because there's a lot of customers, you know, we have a lot of regular customers,” she said. “And we want to be able to offer them the island-style food, and show that we really appreciate and acknowledge that they've been very positive and just definitely built relationships with them and friendships that we want to maintain, and see how they're doing and be able to serve them as well.”
She recently notified her staff of 10 to 15 employees that June 10 will be the site’s last day. Regular business hours for the restaurant will be from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. June 9 and 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. June 10.
Kunichika and McCartan hope to have the food truck wrapped in its new logo and on display in front of the restaurant for a special Pride weekend and trial run event from 10 p.m. to midnight on June 9.
As they’re learning — McCartan especially, since his role is the administrator and taking care of county health department and state permits -- is that paperwork can be a time-consuming process. Fingers crossed, they’d like to be serving out of the truck that evening.
McCartan has been a patron of Islands Grill over the last several months, he said, and he and Kunichika struck up a friendship and have been kicking around ideas for some time now. Add to that the arrival of Ryann, Kourtney and her wife Cait’s daughter, and raising a family has added to the stress of restaurant hours and responsibilities, Kourtney said.
“It’s hard not owning the building. And I'm realizing parking is kind of tough in this location. But more so, it's me kind of just now having a family — we have a daughter. She was born almost a year ago now,” she said. “So I think for me, it's just, I'm looking for something with a little more flexibility while being able to still serve the food I really enjoy, and I want to bring to people still in Genesee County, but also Rochester and Buffalo, I'm hoping to be able to serve them as well.”
Anyone with Islands Grill gift certificates may use them at the food truck or redeem them for cash at the restaurant. Food truck hours and dates will be posted online, and the business partners would like to book entire days, versus a few hours at a time, in Genesee County. If any businesses have a parking lot or space for them to set up for a time period, they want to hear from you at islandshawaiianbbq@gmail.com.
This business can even go year-round, McCartan said, and bust through the winter doldrums.
“Say, it’s February, and everyone’s sick of the snow, and you want to have a little get-together, we’ll cater it,” he said. “And we’ll bring a luau to wherever.”
Property owner Ken Mistler said that he has no one going into the restaurant location, which had previously been Larry's Steakhouse. If anyone is interested in a turnkey restaurant, contact Mistler at nys1@me.com.
