VILLAGE OF FAYETTEVILLE – The Fayetteville Village Board has plans in the works for additions to Canal Landing Park and the replacement of the village’s memory tree.
As it stands, the impending sixth phase of the Canal Landing improvements will incorporate $300,000 in grant funding, counting the assistance of $125,000 made possible by Assemblyman Al Stirpe.
The project will include a new kayak launch as well as the construction of a paved extension road and a parking area containing about 10 spots near the baseball fields. There will also be a stone dust trail and a steel truss pedestrian bridge with cast-in-place concrete walls alongside the Feeder Canal.
As for Fayetteville’s now-dying memory tree, Mayor Mark Olson said the intention is to take down the seasonally illuminated evergreen located next to the fire station on East Genesee Street. A new one set to be paid for by the family of Donna and Henry McIntosh would then be planted down the road on the grounds of the Fayetteville Senior Center, which helps to organize the annual lighting of the tree.
Every year, community members honor the memories of their loved ones by purchasing light bulbs to string around the tree at the beginning of the holiday season. The proceeds then go toward the senior center.
“To me, it just symbolizes Fayetteville,” Olson said of the tradition initiated by local resident Doris Baldwin in 1979. “It’s about the memory of our loved ones and our community and our way of paying respect to them.”
He said a brick area and benches around the new tree would better allow family members to reflect on time spent with their lost relatives and friends.
In other news
• A public hearing scheduled for around 6 p.m. on Monday, June 13 will concern potential improvements to the senior center cottage. A hearing on the adoption of the NYStretch Energy Code will also be held.
• The village’s Memorial Day parade will begin at 9 a.m. on Monday, May 30.
• The board passed a proclamation designating June as gay pride month for the village. A corresponding ceremony will take place at 9 a.m. on Wednesday, June 1 in front of the village hall at 425 E. Genesee St.
