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MARCH 2-8, 2018 VOLUME 3 ISSUE 9
Your Hometown Newspaper
The official newspaper of the Town of Concord, serving Springville, the surrounding communities and Springville-Griffith Institute Central Schools
Griffis Sculpture Park Hosts Moonlight Snowshoe Fundraiser By Alicia Dziak
Upcoming Events March 17 Cordelian Club Dance March 17-18 and March 24-25 New York State Maple Weekends
If you live in Springville, chances are you’ve experienced Griffis Sculpture Park, and if you haven’t, you should add it to your bucket list! While the park is a popular destination in the warmer months, it’s only open this time of year for special events. A truly memorable evening awaits at the annual Moonlight Snowshoe Tour on Saturday, March 3 from 5 to 8 p.m. The $50 ticket prices includes snowshoe rental (donated by Ellicottville’s City Garage), piping hot chili, cookies and snacks, a moonlit snowshoe tour and live music. If Mother Nature
Diver Going to States Track Athletes Going to States Ski Racing
of the Ashford Hollow Foundation, who operates Griffis Sculpture Park. “Our guides, including Mark Griffis, tell some fantastic stories along the way of how
the sculptures were created.” Some of the path will also be lit with lights from Doug Sitler at Night Lights HQ, who stages the Night Lights See Griffis page 12
BOLO Acquires Former Colden Country Store
PAGES 10-11 Sports schedule
decides against snow, the hike and other events will go on as planned, just without the snowshoes. All funds raised from the event will go toward general operations of the park and trail maintenance. “We will do two tours. One will be a novice snowshoe tour and will go from the gate house, smooth walks, to the pond and upper hill. The second tour will be for more experienced snowshoers and will include all of the above as well as hiking to the upper hill where our annual concerts are held including a view of the tower!” explained Nila Griffis, executive director
By Rich Place
The Bread of Life Outreach (BOLO) Center has obtained the former Colden Country Store — located right at the town’s main intersection — and hopes to bring new life to one of Colden’s historic
“Our plans are being formulated,” she said. “We have an outline. It will be a new and different retail establishment to support the programs of Bread of Life Outreach Center.” BOLO acquired the building as a donation, Thoman said, and declined to provide the individual’s name. “The person who made it possible wants to be anonymous,” she said. “It just happened in a very whimsical way, but that’s all I can really say about thrift shop in 2009 and has landmark buildings. since become a community that. It was gifted.” The building, located Thoman said the center for a wide range of at the corner of Route country store closed activities, has not announced 240 and Heath Road, is about fi ve years ago and specific intentions for the right down the hill from the response from the BOLO’s primary location on building, but executive director Pat Thoman said the public about acquiring the Supervisor Avenue. building, most notably group has “lots of exciting The organization, which plans.” began as a food pantry and See BOLO page 7
A LOOK BACK
Springville Canning Factory By Jolene Hawkins
Did you know that at one time, Springville had a large canning factory? In May of 1879, there was a proposal of creating a canning factory and by August of the same year, there was an ad in the paper wanting 25 women or girls to work at the place. By 1887, 300 or more people were working at the factory— men, women and children. Corn, tomatoes, beans and apples were being canned and they had a machine that could make cans—10,000 a day! By 1890, they were making contracts with those who wished to raise peas for the canning factory for a season: $20-40 per acre,
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clear, take your choice in picking or threshing. In the fall of 1893, they did the “first four” at the Springville Canning Factory, which meant they labeled 750 cases of corn (24 cans per case) inside 10 hours. That was two days of work in one! In 1895, arrangements had been made with the Rider Medicine Company of Buffalo, where they were manufacturing the remedies for the AVOE company, and put them upon the market as fast as the Rider people could advertise and sell them. The remedies consisted of a blood purifier and a cough medicine and were made up of the very best formulas known.
By 1931, 52 years after they started in Springville, they ended the year with 85,000 cases. Through it all, what was needed were farms to grow the food, and the Rumfola brothers, Charles, Joseph and Louis, ran one of the largest ones. They successfully grew nearly 500 tons of beans in one season for the canning factory in Springville. They made use of every labor saving farm tool they could find, and had a motto of “Each for all and all for each.” In 1931, they had several areas they worked—180 acres at
their home, 327 acres on a farm on Waverly Street, 35 acres on Vaughan Street, with 110 other small acres around the area. They had 300 acres in beans alone, creating 390 tons of beans! All of the beans were hand picked, creating jobs for 350 pickers, all ages of men, women and children. Some lived in quarters on the farm. Besides beans being grown, they also grew corn, oats, potatoes, pickling cucumbers, varieties of fruit trees and 40 acres of raspberries! The canning
factory had expanded their canning products to include strawberries, blackberries, pears and pumpkins, along with the vegetables that they were known for. It continued to be open and run until the mid 1950s, giving jobs to many people, from farmers to the people who harvested the fruits and vegetables on to the factory, where the cans and labels were made. Workers were needed for everything from filling the cans and sealing them, to transporting the cans to the railroad cars, towns and stores.
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