Youngstown shares joys of season

Lewiston Porter Sentinel, December 16, 2006

The Youngstown Presbyterian Youth Group provided a Living Nativity, which featured Smudgie, the very friendly donkey, carrying Mary (Bridget Weber) around the park. The youth group braved the cold in costume to remind the community of the true meaning of Christmas.

It was a wonderful Holiday in the Village in Youngstown on Saturday, Dec. 9, as about 300 people came to Falkner Park to share in the joys of the season.

Mayor Neil Riordan donned the red suit and made a jolly Santa, reading to the children and hearing each of their wishes. Elves from Youngstown Recreation (Tina and Karalyn Oddy) gave each child a small gift. Children from the Youngstown Nursery School entertained the crowd with carols.

Dan and Julie Hardiman, owner/operators of Tim Horton’s, Lewiston-Queenston Bridge location, personally delivered hot chocolate and baked goods to the event. The cocoa was a welcome treat as the day, though sunny, was very chilly.

The Christmas Tree Showcase featured 15 live trees (Frasier Fir and Colorado Blue Spruce) decorated for the event.

•The Brownie Tree featured handmade ornaments by Charlee Clark and the girls in Troop 145.

•The Youngstown Free Library Tree offered laminated bookmarks to be taken as gifts from the Library and its Friends.

•The Youngstown Nursery School made beautiful ornaments and colorful bags of popcorn and candy-cane reindeer for children to take home.

•The Youngstown Lions Club hung glasses and lens to remind the community of its work.

•Hand strung popcorn and cranberries by Darcy Tower Paeplow and her niece, Sarah Andres, highlighted the Youngstown Motel Tree, and then was placed throughout the bushes in Falkner Park to feed the birds. The trees will be planted in the spring and grow into Youngstown’s own Festival of Trees.

The trees, sold to the Showcase at cost and delivered by Faery’s Nursery, were sponsored and decorated by: The Youngstown Motel, The Dory, Youngstown Nursery School, Youngstown Garden Club, Youngstown Free Library, Friends of the Youngstown Free Library, Youngstown Lions Club, Dan and Lucy Wilson Realty, Town of Porter Historical Society, RCR Yachts, Brownie Troop 145, Brownie Troop 131, Niagara Family Medicine, Tisdale and Coykendall Attorneys at Law, and the families of Ken and Nancy Gruelich, Dr. Jerry and Claudia Andres, Chris and Jodee Riordan, Joseph and Charlee Clark and Mayor Neil and Dotty Riordan. The Youngstown Presbyterian Youth Group provided a Living Nativity, which featured Smudgie, the very friendly donkey, carrying Mary (Bridget Weber) around the park. Youth Director Carla Mackenna said she could not thank her kids and Smudgie’s owner, Joy, enough for their participation: Smudgie and Joy walked over, and the youth braved the cold in costume to remind the community of the true meaning of Christmas. Ann Johnston of Youngstown took first place in the Christmas Cookie Contest with her Cream Cheese Cookies. Seven entrants were judged by a panel of experts, which included Village Board member Tony Collard, Youngstown Baptist Church members Loretta Gibbs and Don Whitton and a children’s panel of Mountain Carroll and Sarah Wright and her brother, Christopher.

Michael Riordan decorates a Christmas tree, part of the Christmas Tree Showcase, which featured 15 live trees from Faery’s Nursery. They were decorated for the event by various organizations in Youngstown.

Second Place was awarded to Marge McCollum for her Noel Wreaths; third place, to Laura Pazamickas for her Italian Fig Cookies, a cookie so labor intensive she reports she only makes every other season. Patricia Scaletta’s Chocolate Italian Cookies and Donna Jeffs’ Holiday Heath Bar Cookies each earned an honorable mention, as did Ann Johnston’s grandson, Donald Allender. Marge Stratton’s cookies were a delight, and she has shared several recipes to be included in the upcoming “Holiday in the Village” cookbook.

The wire tree was lit in the center of Falkner Park, to the delight of all, to end the Falkner Park event. The celebration then continued to the Youngstown Presbyterian Church Fellowship Hall, where a Community Holiday Potluck Dinner welcomed more than 150 people. “We had to bring out more tables to hold all the dishes!” reports Jodee Riordan, event organizer. In addition to the incredible array of homemade dishes, diners enjoyed the Youngstown Village Diner’s famous Oriental Chicken Salad and trays of pizza from both Brennan’s Irish Pub and Main Street Pizzeria.

The event finished on a high note with the standing-room-only Holiday Concert featuring the combined vocal and hand bell choirs of Lewiston and Youngstown Presbyterian churches, under the direction of Claudia Andres and Robert Hull. Tom and Phyllis Huisgen of Youngstown Presbyterian hosted refreshments following the concert. Andres, who helped organize all the Holiday in the Village events, then performed at The Ontario House with husband Jerry and their new trio, Tenacious 3. “Her energy and devotion to this community is absolutely incredible, “ said Riordan of her co-organizer (the two women have 10 children between them, ages 1-21).

The Holiday in the Village was wonderful gift to the community of Youngstown, and promises to grow even more festive next year.