NOVEMBER 22 - NOVEMBER 28, 2019
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VOLUME 4 ISSUE 47
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
Dains retires as Concord highway superintendent after 24 years By Kellen M. Quigley
After 24 years with the town of Concord highway department, Highway Superintendent Dennis Danis has retired. “I started in 1995 as a motor equipment operator for a few years and then went into the superintendent’s position,” Dains said during the town board’s Nov. 14 meeting. “Over those 24 years, the progress we’ve made on town-owned roads is because of you as a board funding my department” Dains said the employees in the highway department have done a phenomenal job. “We’re out there in the worst conditions, day or night,” he said. Being a highway superintendent isn’t a 9-to-5 job, Danis explained, nor is it a 40 hours a week job. He
said it’s seven days a week, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. “For those 24 years, on top of being a superintendent also being the fire chief for 20 of those years, I’d like to thank my wife Dawnmarie for standing beside me all these years and letting me do this, both sides of this,” he said. Dains recalled joining the fire department because if he needed help, he would want someone to help him. He said this is his 43rd year in the fire department. “Over the years, Dawnmarie has put up with a lot. Not going to Christmas, not going to Thanksgiving, not going here, not going there,” he said. “I love you very much, and I thank you for standing by me.” During his time as superintendent, Dains said
he’s worked with a lot of town boards and they’ve been great to work with. Even if they don’t agree on everything, he said they make it work. “The feeling I have is that when we make it work, even if we disagree, the residents are the ones who benefit, on the roads, on their mowing and everything else,” he said. Dains said he always had a policy that if a resident called him, he would ask if they were home and if he could come out to address the issue. If they weren’t home, he would ask when they would be and go then. “It might have been after working hours, but I’ll go see them,” he said. Over the years, Dains said there had been two major FEMA issues and the boards have worked hand-in-hand with him
Celebrate Very Merry Springville this weekend and next By Kellen M. Quigley Fans of Springville’s former Very Merry Main Street are in for a treat this year, as the annual holiday tradition will be held not once but on two consecutive Saturdays beginning this weekend. The newly revitalized Very Merry Springville will continue the tradition of shopping at local stores in Springville for the Christmas season on Nov. 23 and 30, but will also include plenty of new activities this year. “We have over 45 businesses and vendors involved,” said Debbie Hintz, executive director of the Springville Area Chamber of Commerce. “It will be one of the largest we’ve had with that many businesses and vendors involved, so that will be exciting.” From 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on both Saturdays, Hintz said there will be Santa, elves, cookies and hot chocolate, ornament decorating and other activities inside the
chamber office at the Lucy Bensley Center, which will be transformed into Santa’s Workshop and Elf Central. “It’s going to be very cool, you have to stop in and see this,” she said. “We will have elves that will elf names and their own hashtags, so they’ll be out in the streets and in businesses getting their pictures taken with different folks. Then those pictures will be streamed back here to Elf Central here so people can come in and see the pictures or access them online.” Also inside the chamber office, Hintz said they will be making a paper chain that people can put their names or a picture on strips of paper. Those strips will be laminated and then strung together as a community chain that will be hung on the Christmas tree during the lighting ceremony at noon on Nov. 23. “I think making it an event will pique interest in bringing people into the town so then the businesses can benefit from that,” she
said. New this year, the Springville Chamber now heading up the event, Hintz said, after a longtime group that used to run it is no longer doing it. There’s also a name change. It’s not Very Merry Main Street, but Very Merry Springville because it’s the Springville Area Chamber of Commerce. “I thought it would be a great place for the chamber to jump in and do something to build up the Springville area businesses,” she said. “We’re trying to build a Springville area-wide event based around the holidays.” As part of the event, the chamber will have stamp cards for participants to visit some of the local businesses and vendors to stamp. At the end of the day, enter that filled-out card at the chamber and you’ll be eligible for a drawing for a $250 prize. A gift basket will also be given to a runner-up. Also planned for the weekends are carolers See Very Merry page 3
Photo by Kellen M. Quigley Longtime Highway Superintendent Dennis Dains (right) is retiring from the town of Concord after 24 years. Filling the Highway Superintendent position will be Barry Edwards (left), a longtime employee of the highway department.
getting reimbursement from FEMA. “I can’t say enough about the board all the years I’ve been here.” Dains said he’s also thankful for all the support from town residents and all the employees in the department and the town
overall. “I hope things move progressively forward and better in the years to come,” he added. “I want to thank all (the board) and past board members. I really appreciate it and I thoroughly enjoyed it.”
Town Supervisor Clyde Drake said Dains retiring was something he knew was a possibility, but was hoping it wasn’t going to happen in his time as town supervisor. “He certainly deserves See Superintendent page 3
Springville Village Board appoints new DPW superintendent
Photo by Kellen M. Quigley Duane Boberg (left) was named the new Superintendent of Public Works in the village of Springville at the village Board of Trustees meeting Monday. Shown congratulating Boberg is Mayor Bill Krebs.
By Kellen M. Quigley Duane Boberg was appointed the new village of Springville Superintendent of Public Works Monday at the regular village Board of Trustees meeting. “He has been a longtime resident and a long-time
employee of the village of Springville,” Mayor Bill Krebs said of Boberg. Boberg had the top score in the Civil Service test for the position, which Krebs said the village has to go to when interviewing for the position. “He works in our water
division, so he knows an awful lot about all the pipes underground, so we’re very fortunate and very happy with his qualifications in that area,” the mayor said. Additionally, Krebs said Boberg has been the union steward for many years, See DPW page 2
A Look Back: The History of Thanksgiving By Jolene Hawkins
Looking back to how and when do events get started and you will find that, yes, the Pilgrims did celebrate a harvest festival with the food that they raised and harvested. It may not have been a turkey and all the fixings we know today, but in 1623, in Virginia, duck and goose could
certainly have been on the menu, along with corn, squash, pumpkins and homemade bread. I have read where these celebrations could last up to three days! The ContinentalConfederation Congress issued several proclamations from 1774 to 1789, for “National Days of Prayers, Humiliation and Thanksgivings.” On Oct. 3, 1789, George Washington made a proclamation and created the first Thanksgiving Day designated by the
national government of the United States of America. He recommended and assigned the day of Thursday the 26th to be the day. On Jan. 1, 1795, Washington proclaimed Thanksgiving Day to be observed on Thursday, Feb. 19. President John Adams declared Thanksgivings in 1789 and 1799. President Thomas Jefferson was a deist and did not declare any Thanksgiving days during his presidency. President James Madison renewed the tradition in 1814 in response to resolutions of Congress, at the close of the War of 1812.
Madison declared the holiday twice in 1815, but neither date was celebrated in 1816. An annual Thanksgiving Day was appointed by the Governor of New York in 1817. By 1858, proclamations appointing a day of Thanksgiving were issued by the governors of 25 states and two territories. In 1861, President Abraham Lincoln ordered government departments closed for the local day of Thanksgiving. At that time, each state had its own scheduled day they celebrated a day of Thanksgiving. In October of 1863,
Lincoln declared that the last Thursday of November be “a day of Thanksgiving” — this was during the two years of the war which there did not seem to be an end and the death of his 11-year-old son Willie. The first national holiday was kind of a lackluster, but by
1864, the idea had begun to catch on. It was during 1864 that 400,000 pounds of ham and turkey with all the trimmings were delivered along with fruits and cakes to the troops. In 1939, President Franklin D. Roosevelt See A Look Back page 3