APRIL
9 2021
Jones Memorial Hospital building project slated for this summer
Photo by Kathryn Ross When the 2020 Great Wellsville Balloon Rally weekend event was canceled due to the coronavirus, some area balloonists took it upon themselves to keep the spirit of the Rally alive by launching from a site south of the village during that July weekend. The event in canceled for 2021 as well. Photo provided Looking over a map of the Johnson Cemetery in Wellsville (from left) are Joseph Hanss, lead architect of an improvement and expansion project of Jones Memorial Hospital; Jim Helms, chief financial officer of Jones; and Dennis White, local director of the American Legion Riders. The cemetery is adjacent to the hospital, and part of its land is being used for increased parking for JMH
Pandemic grounds Wellsville Balloon Rally once again BY KATHRYN ROSS WELLSVILLE — After being grounded in 2020, the Great Wellsville Balloon Rally committee announced that the Rally will again not take place this summer due to the coronavirus pandemic. Earlier in the year, committee Chairman Brad Thompson had said the Rally committee wouldn’t make a decision until sometime in April. The decision to cancel the Rally for another year came over the weekend with a Facebook message: “As we said last year, the safety of all who attend or Rally has to be our first priority, and with the pandemic still lingering, we feel that it would be irresponsible to produce an event that involves such a mass gathering,” Thompson wrote. “This decision has been
very difficult to make, and we make this announcement with heavy hearts, but we have officially decided to cancel our Rally again this year. “Our decision to cancel was induced in part by the fact that the Department of Health has no clear rules about mass gatherings for this summer,” he wrote. The event, held the third weekend in July, sees thousands of people crowded shoulder to shoulder into Lagoon Field for each of its four launches, making social distancing difficult. In his message, Thompson pointed out, “Proof of a negative Covid test from 3 days prior to attending, and/or proof of receiving the COVID vaccine are required for smaller events this summer, so we have to assume that this would also be required at our event. It
would be impossible to adhere to those regulations with the number of spectators that usually attends our Rally. We just want everyone to stay safe and healthy and feel that we are doing our part to help end this dreadful virus.” The Rally is a nonadmission event with no one single point of entry. Throughout the day it can be accessed at three different sites. While the Rally was canceled in 2020, some area balloonists launched their mini rally. Meeting at first at Lagoon Field, where heavy fog hampered lifting off, the balloonists moved south to where the owner of Trout Run Campground had made the athletic field available. A small number of spectators watched several balloons launch and head
south. Whether or not the mini-launch happens this year will be determined by weather and individual pilots. The Great Wellsville Balloon Rally draws thousands of tourists and balloonists from Canada to Florida and brings revenue into the community. Thompson said the annual event takes months of planning, notification to balloonists and vendors, solicitation of sponsors and the organization of the committee. The Saturday prior to the Rally there is a parade and, during the Rally, Main Street hosts a food, games, crafts and vendors’ street festival. For those who like to see colorful orbs floating there may be hope for such a sight this year, Thompson said.
Balloon continued on................page 5
BY KATHRYN ROSS WELLSVILLE — This summer changes are coming to the original façade of Jones Memorial Hospital. Jones is celebrating its 100th anniversary in a much-subdued way because of COVID-19 restrictions, yet it is going to be making some big changes that are not so subtle. This summer the façade of the hospital building, completed in the early 1950s and facing downtown, will be growing up. Jim Helms, chief financial officer of JMH, said there is going to be a vertical expansion, meaning the building is going up rather than across the front. “You’ll still be able to see the old façade,” he said. A little vague on the actual height and width of the construction, Helms said that on April 12 there
will be a presentation on the project to the village board at a location yet to be decided. Helms did say the vertical expansion project will make room for a physician clinic space on a third floor. He explained that in the 1992 building project, support needed for expansion to a third floor were put in place, allowing for the new third floor to be inline with the current third floor. “Nothing will change on the first floor,” he said. But that isn’t all that is happening in the project that will get started this summer once COVID-19 protocols allow. In addition to the vertical expansion, the current operating room suite will be renovated, bringing all four operating rooms and the procedural rooms up to the same stan-
Jones continued on..................page 5
Cuba • Wellsville Special Orders Call:
Visit Us At: www.giantfoodmart.com
Wellsville: 593-Deli (3354) Cuba: 968-Beef (2333) Sale Starts April 11-17, 2021
Bone In Pork
Best Yet
French Fries or Potatoes
Shoulder Butt Steaks
Assorted Varieties
SAVE UP TO $2.51 lb.
1
SAVE UP TO $2.01
48 lb.
Red or Green
Grapes
98
¢
28-32 oz.
Perry’s
Ice Cream Novelties Assorted Varieties
SAVE UP TO $2.01 lb.
1
98 lb.
SAVE UP TO $10.76 on 4
10
4/ 6 ct.
Beef Loin
Porterhouse or T-Bone Steak
SAVE UP TO $6.11 lb.
7
88 lb.
Sahlen’s Premium Deli Sliced
Smokehouse Ham
SAVE UP TO $2.11 lb.
6
88 lb.