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DECEMBER 13, 2019
VOLUME 4 ISSUE 50
CAR. TR. MKTG MAIL US POSTAGE PAID PERMIT NO. 244 BRADFORD, PA
L I L V E G SP RIN TIMES
The official newspaper of the Town of Concord, and the Village of Springville. Serving Springville, the surrounding communities and Springville-Griffith Institute Central Schools
By Deb Everts
Morton makes holiday appearances with new baby reindeer, Comet
Every year during the Christmas season, a man tours Western New York with his reindeer. Some may guess it’s St. Nicholas in a miniature sleigh pulled by eight tiny reindeer but, in this case, it’s Mike Morton. Morton, who owns Sun-Dance-Kids Farm in Conewango Valley, has added a new reindeer to his collection of animals. Sixmonth-old Comet arrived at his new home on Morton’s farm Nov. 10, and he’s already at work. “One of his first gigs was at the Santa Parade, in Falconer, Nov. 23. He was absolutely awesome with the crowd and he loved the people,” Morton said. “I worked with him for about a week and got him used to everything. He didn’t mind the fire trucks going by and the other vehicles. He’s very laid back and
very inquisitive. He just loves to be petted and all the attention he gets from everybody.” Morton said it can be difficult to find a reindeer for purchase. He said some of his first reindeer came out of Michigan and a few were purchased in the Adirondacks. This time, he ended up going all the way to a zoo in Minnesota where he found baby Comet. “I rode all the way home from Minnesota with him in the back of my van. I played with him and petted him, so he got all kinds of attention. By the time we got home, I knew he was going to be good with people,” he said. “For traveling and being away from his mother and the rest of his original herd, it was impressive to see him settle in and be comfortable with it all so quickly.” PEOPLE ASK Morton a lot of questions about
Photo by Deb Everts Comet, a 6-month-old reindeer, is the newest addition to Mike Morton’s business at Sun-Dance-Kids Farm in Conewango Valley. The baby reindeer is making holiday appearances at events all over the area.
reindeer, especially children. He said a little girl recently asked him how reindeer fly. His response was, “Their hair is hollow and it fills up with hot air so, just like a hot air balloon, they rise up in the air and can fly.” Because Comet is already so good with people and so cute, Morton thinks his reindeer companion will do the bulk of holiday appearances with him this year. “He’s got the cuteness right down and he’s so sweet that I’ll probably use him right along unless he gets tired,” he said. “I don’t see that happening because it didn’t phase him working all day at Falconer and Fredonia, or at the three-day Christmas in Ellicottville event. He’s so wellbehaved and so good about everything.” Morton said caribou are the closest thing to wild
reindeer and reindeer are basically a subspecies of caribou. He said reindeer are native to Lapland, which is in the northern part of Finland, Sweden, Norway and Russia. There are only about 5,000 reindeer in North America. Just like domestic cattle, reindeer are called bulls, cows and calves. Morton said no special license is required to raise reindeer. They are a domestic animal like a cow, sheep or goat. “A reindeer averages from 340-360 pounds and they live to be about 20 years old,” he said. “Both males and females have antlers and lose them every year. Reindeer start getting their antlers within 12 hours of birth and Comet already has a good start on his set.” According to enature. com, female reindeer retain their antlers from one spring until the next, while mature See Comet page 2
Sittin’ with Santa
SGI’s Russell, Hecht, Schlemmer win events at Fredonia
Photo by Jaime Dickinson Springville’s Emily Shlemmer strides over a hurdle during an indoor track meet on Saturday at SUNY Fredonia.
FREDONIA — Springville’s Brett Russell, Jared Hecht, Emily Schlemmer and three relay teams all won an event in the E-F Meet at SUNY Fredonia on Saturday. Schlemmer led the SGI girls team by winning the 300-meter dash (:46.01) and placed third in the 55 hurdles (:10.38). She also was part of the winning 800 relay team (Janay Ghani, Evelyn Smith, Sydney Wittmer,
Schlemmer) with a time of 2:02. Springville’s 1,600 relay of Jaime Dickinson, Janay Ghani, Sonya Krezmien and Evelyn Smith won with a time of 4:42. Krezmien was second with in the 1,500 at 5:10. Earning fourth-place finishes were Jaime Dickenson in the 600 (1:56), Janay Ghani in the 55 (:07.99) and Evelyn Smith in the 300 (:47.2). Leading the SGI boys,
Russell won the 3,200 at 10:07 and Hecht won the 1,600 in 4:39. Also in the 3,200, Zach Peterman was second (10:22) and Mike Evans was fifth (11:08)). Charles DiGangi was third in the 300 (:40.7). Russell, Hecht, Peterman and Evans won the 3,200 relay with a time of 9:01. Nathan Cudney, DiGangi, Noah Greene and Will Guilmain were third in the 800 relay at 1:48.8.
Photo by Alex Simmons A young boy visits with Santa in his sleigh during the Concord Historical Society’s annual Concord Country Christmas last Saturday, Dec. 7 at the Concord Mercantile/Heritage Building.
A Look Back: The Life of Jack Yellen By Jolene Hawkins
Looking back to the year 1892, in Poland, Abram and Bessie Yellen welcomed their firstborn child, Jack Selig Yellen. When Jack was 5 years old, the family emigrated to Buffalo and settled on William Street. Abram, Jack’s father worked odd jobs until he was able to save up enough money and opened his clothing store on Seneca
Street. As a youngster, Jack enjoyed writing rhymes and singing in the choir, but not playing any instrument. The first tune he wrote was in 1907, while a sophomore at high school. The school principal had a contest going for a new school song, Yellen crafted his song, titled “You’ll Have to Come to Old Central High,” sang to the tune of “You’ll Have to Wait Till my Ship Comes In,” and won the contest. What did he win, well, the principal lifted his suspensions for his chronic tardiness! Jack sold his first song when he was 15, a basic song called “My Schoolday
Sweet Heart.” Jack’s friend, Willie Finkelstein, talked his father into loaning them $30, and with that money, they printed 500 copies and sold them at the five and ten cent store. A local publisher bought this tune for $100. After high school, Jack when to the University of Michigan and sold his lyrics for extra money. He worked with George Cobb to write songs and sold them to publishers for $5 each. In 1913, he graduated with honors and returned to Buffalo. He secured a job reporting for the Buffalo Courier, and on the side, Jack and George continued to create songs. In 1915, Jack Yellen met a singer named Elizabeth Murray, who liked the song that he and Cobb
wrote called “All Aboard for Dixie.” Murray sang the song in High Jinks, a musical farce, and it was there the song was noticed by one of the nation’s largest publishing houses, Jerome H. Remick & Co. He paid $25,000 for the song. As World War I raged in Europe, Jack enlisted in the Army, but he was still in training when the fighting ceased. A singer he knew, Marion Healy, introduced him to Abe Olman, who was stationed at the Curtiss aircraft plant. Together they wrote, “Down by the O-hi-O.” The song spread and was popular and earned Jack Yellen his first $10,000 paycheck. This song was sung by some great vaudeville folks like
Al Jolson, Belle Baker and Sophia Tucker. Jack went on to write one of her most popular songs she sang, “My Yiddish Momme,” which was dedicated to
Yellen’s mother Bessie, a song to honored his Orthodox Jewish heritage. IN 1920, on See A Look Back page 3