1. The Greater Baldwinsville Community Farmers’ Market held its 2019 season at Baldwin Canal Square in the village of Baldwinsville. Previously, the market had taken place at Abbott Farms and VFW Post No. 153.
2. BTG’s production included celebrity guest spellers Brandon Roth from CNY Central’s “Today in Central New York” team, Ted Long of 93Q’s Ted and Amy in the Morning and Glenn “Gomez” Adams of TK99’s Gomez and Lisa in the Morning.
3. Ryan Micho received a Certificate of Excellence from The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards and the Wegmans Health and Wellness Award from the CNY Young and Amazing Award for his work in co-founding the Bee Full food pantry at Baker High School.
4. Michael Spicer took over Cedarvale Maple Syrup Co. from former owner Karl Wiles. The 265-acre operation, which Wiles founded in 1977, is located just outside of Marcellus.
5. Timber Banks announced that it planned to begin construction on a new clubhouse in the fall of 2019 with an expected completion in the spring of 2020.
6. The Van Buren Town Board appointed Wendy Van Der Water to the seat vacated by Councilor Rick Zaccaria.
7. Van Der Water previously served on the Van Buren Town Board from 2004 to 2007.
8. Brolex Properties is building 172 homes on the Seneca Golf Club in Van Buren.
9. The boys lacrosse Bees beat West Genesee in the sectional final and ultimately reached the state semifinals before falling to Fairport in overtime.
10. Robin Mack opened Sweet Dream Candy Shoppe near the Four Corners. She has worked as a nurse at St. Joseph’s Health for 20 years.
11. c., e. and f. Brian Dingle received 1,107 votes, Denise Falso received 1,085 votes and incumbent Joan Reeves received 890 votes. Candidates Burrill Wells, Sally Dayger and incumbents Victor Jenkins and Steve Schweitzer were not elected to the BOE.
12. Savacool was invited to the Major League Baseball Pipeline Development League in June. At the end of the summer, he pitched with Team USA in the Under-18 World Cup in South Korea, helping the U.S. side reach the championship game.
13. Gina Tonello and Alyssa Burmeister, founders of Stop the Shaming, were invited to speak to federal and state lawmakers about the need for medically accurate, nonjudgmental LGBTQ-inclusive sex education. Tonello was invited to Capitol Hill on June 10 by the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States (SIECUS) and both Burmeister and Tonello participated in the National Institute for Reproductive Health’s Repro Freedom Day of Action in Albany on June 11.
14. Gary and Sharon Slate, owners of the 83-acre Clover Hill Farm in Van Buren, have agreed to donate their land to the New York Agricultural Land Trust, a nonprofit organization with the mission to conserve working farmland. This organization works with landowners that are interested in preserving their land for the next generation. The land can change hands, but it must remain undeveloped.
15. Community volunteers built playgrounds at Elden and McNamara.
16. The Onondaga County Board of Elections partnered with KNOWiNK and Dominion Voting Systems to convert all 179 of Onondaga County’s polling places and its six early voting sites to electronic poll books. The cost of the conversion was estimated to be between $750,000 and $1 million. It is entirely grant-funded, with money coming from the Localities and Capital Grants approved in the 2019-2020 New York state budget and money saved from the BOE’s Shoebox Grant.
17. The spray park opened in Lysander Town Park on Aug. 16. More than 1,000 people attended.
18. The Bees shut out Liverpool 3-0 in the championship game. Ultimately, B’ville lost to Shenendehowa 3-1 in the regional finals with a berth in the state final four at stake.
19. Bob Wicks was elected Lysander town supervisor in November, receiving 2,949 votes, according to election night results. Democratic challenger Kevin Rode received 1,649 votes. Incumbent Joe Saraceni, a Republican who ran on the Independence line, received 1,543 votes. (Claude Sykes is the Van Buren town supervisor.)
20. Rosie Snowdon became an honorary member of the BPD on Nov. 25. Chief Mike Lefancheck said she is “stationed” at Upstate Golisano Children’s Hospital, where she is undergoing treatment for rhabdomyosarcoma.
