This month, Seneca Federal Savings and Loan Association, celebrating 85 years of service locally, will change its name to Seneca Savings.

The old hometown bank has locations at 105 Second St. in Liverpool, 201 N. Main St. in North Syracuse and another one in Baldwinsville.

Seneca Savings

Seneca Savings CEO Joseph Vitale thinks the shorter, snappier new name “demonstrates a forward-thinking banking association dedicated to delivering a positive customer experience and an array of new products and services.”

The enhanced services include telephone banking; statement savings which can include ATM access; commercial statement savings; eStatements; an updated online banking platform with expanded bill pay; a home equity line of credit with no closing costs; home equity loans and a wide array of commercial lending and depository products.

The name change has been in the works for about a year, Vitale said. “Many of our ‘strategies’ are in process,” the CEO said, “and the more modern, shortened name depicts the image of innovation that is currently taking place.”

I imagine they’ll be changing their website’s URL, too, but for now you can find Seneca Savings at senecafederal.com/.

Solvay Bank

On the other hand, some financial institutions think keeping the same name shows stability.

Banners fly at Solvay Bank, for instance, proclaiming “97 years, one name.” Solvay Bank actually brags about its resistance to change. It’s as though they’re making fun of all those other banks that get bought out by bigger outfits and have to change their name even though their depositors remain the same. So it goes…

Willow Museum

On June 19 at the library, one of the village’s oldest residents, Ken Hurst, who turns 95 on July 5, discussed his family’s involvement in Liverpool’s willow-weaving industry that thrived here from the mid-19th century until about 1929. Not only did he recall the painstaking process of basket-making, Ken also reflected on old-time village characters such as mailman Pete “Jug o’ Rum” Prouty, the Jewish shoemaker Meyer Meyers, music teacher Bob Woods and boatmaker Adam Wagner.

Feel like chewing the fat about the good ol’ days? You can visit with Ken Hurst every Sunday this summer at The Liverpool Willow Museum on the ground of the Gleason Mansion, 314 Second St. The museum is open from 2 to 4 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays through Sept. 6, and Ken greets visitors there on Sunday afternoons. The Historical Association of Greater Liverpool could use a few more volunteers at the museum. Contact Village Historian Dorianne Elitharp Gutierrez at 451-7091 or [email protected].

Darien Lake-bound

When I was an altar boy a half-century ago at St. Joseph’s Roman Catholic Church, we never took any field trips.

No, I spent most of my time being berated by Father (Louis) Waters and scolded by the pastor, Father (Paul) Hemmer. My worse sin: turning on too many lights before Mass. Father Hemmer was a real skinflint!

Nowadays, however it really pays off to be a young altar server. St. Joe’s and Immaculate Heart of Mary churches plan a July 29 trip to Darien Lake for altar servers and youth. Every Sunday night, the parish Youth Group bags Panera Bread leftovers for St. Mary’s Food Pantry, so those kids surely deserve a day in the sun.

Youth Group coordinator Diane Pare is always looking for new altar servers, students in grades four and above. If interested in serving, or if you’d like to help ouyt with the Panera project, drop Diane an email at [email protected].

The Boogieman R.I.P.

Dave Corcoran was a character. A pianist who often entertained street crowds playing an antique upright from the back of his pickup truck, he became known across Central New York as “The Boogieman.”

With his shocking white freak flag whipping in the wind and his equally pale goatee dripping with sweat, The Boogieman pounded that old piano like a maniac. He was part Jerry Lee Lewis and part Pinetop Perkins.

He also played some guitar and once boasted to late-night radio talk show host Joey Reynolds that he could play two guitars at once. When Joey relayed that boast to guitar genius Les Paul, the Boogieman went into overdrive to prove it. He devised a double-lap-style guitar and successfully — if awkwardly — picked out a rhythm and a lead line simultaneously to create something akin to music.

He drove down to the Big Apple to meet Les Paul at the Iridium club, where it was likely established that piano was Dave’s real forte.

Dave “The Boogieman” Corcoran, who lived in North Syracuse, died June 14. He was 59.