VILLAGE OF FAYETTEVILLE – The Fayetteville Village Board went over a schedule for the summer and intended village improvements at its May 22 meeting.
The village board’s summer meeting schedule will stick to a once-a-month format, with meeting dates set for June 19, July 17 and Aug. 21.
Surrounding those dates will also be various community events, such as the village’s Symphoria concert and its Jazz Fest tentatively scheduled for Saturday, July 8 and Wednesday, July 19 respectively.
Fayetteville is also holding three Party in the Plaza events along Brooklea Drive and Limestone Plaza on the Thursday evenings of June 22, July 20 and Aug. 17. For the June party the musical guest is expected to be Dave Hanlon and Funky Jazz Band, while July’s will have Los Blancos and August’s will bring in Dave Novak.
For the first time in 20 years according to Mayor Mark Olson, the village will be hosting movie nights in the park this summer as a joint effort of the village board, the village’s recreation commission and the Greater Manlius Chamber of Commerce. Including the presence of multiple food trucks, those events in Beard Park are tentatively scheduled for July 12, Aug. 2 and Aug. 23, but it’s not yet known what films will be shown through the projector.
Movie presentations in the village started again last year at the Fayetteville Senior Center on East Genesee Street, but it was decided to give Beard Park a try as the venue this year.
“It’ll be nice for people to get in the park and enjoy a nice evening out to watch a great movie,” Olson said. “I think it’s important we’re trying to continue these things to make the residents’ quality of life better.”
Olson said there are also talks with the senior center to host musical jam sessions on its back porch and fundraisers similar to Doug’s Fish Fry’s serving of to-go dinners on the property.
To close out the summer, the annual Fayetteville Festival will be taking place on Sept. 16 as it stands.
Mentioning various improvements in the community, the village board additionally spoke about the new banners going in around Fayetteville that replaced the “dated and faded” banners that previously lined its streets. Some of the new white banners with blue lettering welcome people into the village, and others specifically make clear that people are entering parts of Fayetteville like the historic district. Additionally, the military banners in the village were changed out to reflect the establishment of the United States Space Force as the country’s newest service branch.
Like the village’s installation of improved videoconferencing technology, the new banners were secured with American Rescue Plan funding received by the municipality.
Portions of that funding will also be used to repaint the flagpole in Veterans Park this week ahead of Memorial Day.

In other news
The village board continued its public hearing on cannabis retail on May 22.
The board, however, is waiting for the Syracuse-Onondaga County Planning Agency to check over the ramifications of the village’s drafted local law relating to the retail facilities before the legislation is enacted.
Though she said it could be an aspect requiring more discussion if tough to accomplish, Trustee Jane Rice proposed scaling down the minimum distance between cannabis dispensaries and local schools and residentially zoned areas from 500 feet to somewhere around 300 feet as long as that reduction can be allowed in the village under New York State guidelines.
Comparing the dispensaries to liquor stores apart from the odors in the air that result, Rice said such a reduction in feet would allow more opportunities to set up shop since a decent amount of Fayetteville’s commercially zoned areas are directly next to residential areas.
Rice and Trustee Mark Matt further brought up potential restrictions like the prohibiting of cannabis products in window displays or advertising geared toward individuals who are underage.