Tioga Downs Kicked Off the 2025 Racing Season
Liveharnessracingreturnedforthe20thseasononMay3
Nichols, NY – Tioga Downs Casino Resort opened for live racing this year on its customary date of Kentucky Derby Day, Saturday, May 3. This year’s season provides a total of 61 live race dates and plenty of promotions.
Opening day featured live harness races, with first post at 5:00 pm. Racing starved patrons enjoyed the biggest day in Thoroughbred racing
Kentucky Derby Day coupled with the return of the live horse races for the first time since last fall.
Tioga Downs also offers fireworks nights, a mascot day, “corntastic weekend,” giveaways, and great food specials throughout the season. For more information about the 2025 racing season and promotions, please visit: www.TiogaDowns.com
Lions Mobile Food Pantry
The Foodbank Of the Southern Tier and the Apalachin Lions will hold a mobile food pantry on Wednesday May 28th from 10 to 11 am. At St Margaret Mary’s Church at 1110 Pennsylvania Ave. Apalachin. Pre registration is required.
Registration is Tuesday May 27th at 8:30 am until full ( current limit of 125 registrations) If you register please attend. To register call 2-11 or on line at: www.foodbankst.org/cfd. This is a “Walk-Up Pantry” please bring a cart or bag to carryfood!
Memorial Day - May 26
The Village of Owego’s Memorial Day Parade will be held on Monday, May 26. The parade will form on Temple Street, and will start at 10:00 am. The parade route will in-
clude North Avenue, Main Street, and Front Street, and will end at Courthouse Square where the traditional Service of Remembrance will take place at the Veterans Memorial.
Lightning Strike
Rocks the Towns of Little Meadows and Warren Center
By: Jill Darling
Tom and Kristie Hunsinger survey the damaged tree that splintered across the lawn. Their two vehicles were hidden under branches that came down. An upstairs window of their home broke when a piece of tree flew through it.
“It sounded like a bomb went off!” said Pat Russell of Maple St, Little Meadows. She and her daughter Carrie were relaxing in recliners when the loud explosion shook their home and caused items on shelves to fly off.
“The den lit up like a red ball of fire!" she said. They tried to calm their Golden Retriever, Brody, then looked around the house, but didn’t notice anything. Then they looked out the dining room window to see that one of their massive pine tree was a mangled mess on the ground. The tree was struck by a large bolt of lightning, causing the tree to crack from its top down to its roots and splintering it into multiple pieces strewn across the lawn.
Next door neighbors, Tom and Kristie Hunsinger, experienced the same thing house shaking and things falling off shelves. They looked outside to see that their pickup truck and mini van were encased in tree limbs.
An upstairs front window was broken and an electrical wire had detached from the peak of the house. Penelec’s truck came an hour later blocking the road briefly to reattach the electrical wire.
The next morning their neighbor, Dave King, stopped by to access the damage and pointing out his truck window, said that he had planted
those trees as a kid with his dad, Andy King, along with previous home owner, Bob Beeman. Dave King figured the row of trees had to be 70-years old.
Whitetail’s Bar & Grill owner, Jeff Kuhr, stopped to look at the destruction. “Holy Hell!” he said. When asked if he heard the explosion, he quipped, “the whole town heard it! Everyone’s asking, ‘how far did you jump?’”
Kuhr lives on Cemetery Road across a large field from the property. He said the strike lit up the entire field with whitish blue light.
The National Weather Service says it was a rare positive lightning strike conducting positive charge from the clouds to the ground. Positive lightning strikes make up only about five percent of lightning strikes according the weather service.
Not only did the townspeople of Little Meadows hear the explosive sound, but three miles away, Pete Darling, of Warren Center was jolted by it and said, “It was the loudest sonic boom-like sound I’ve heard in my life!” The noise rattled the Darling’s Siberian Husky, Kodak, and he ran around to the back of the house to be let into the basement, which is his refuge during loud storms, Darling said
MORE PHOTOS PAGE 6 & 7
Tractor Supply Store coming to Owego
On May 2, 2024 the Town of Owego approved the construction of a new Tractor Supply Co. to be built on Route 434 between Storage Rentals of America and Aramark Uniform Services. Construction has just begun at the end of April this year.
Some Observations from the Hill
It was 119 years ago, in 1906, Herbert Holland Brown, aka “Hub” was born.
Grandpa Brown was remarkable. His wife, Agnes Victoria Mahar Brown was equally amazing. Together, they lived the life that HH Hub Brown wrote about in the Tioga Press titled, “Some Observations from the Hill”.
He typed his stories on an old IBM typewriter and eventually began typing on an electric typewriter.
He was always telling stories and writing valuable snip-its of his reflections during his 104 years on this earth. At Christmas time he would handwrite and eventually type a personal Christmas card to members of his family and dear friends. I am pretty sure he started writing them before the first frost to be able to mail them out for Christmas.
He has passed and we hope to continue to pass on all of his stories as, “Some Observations from the Hill” and in a joint family effort, create “Some More Observations from the Hill” as our tribute to our family farm.
We hope you enjoy!
The Website is under final edits: https://thehubregenfarm.com/ Next Month: Upcoming Stories
“The New Stories from “The Hub” “Mothers the women of the Hill”
“Some More Observations in the Hill” The “Entertainer” and “Growth Spirit” Twins, Thomas, Oh Tommy, Fireflies, Song of the frogs, Dog / God, Baptism, The Bible, The fork, the fat, & the frying pan, Warm Cookies, Freezer Labels Butter, Games in the Dark The Night Sky and the Road between Farms, The Trip to Town (Polka Dotted Hats, Cousins and the Feed Mill)
The morning routine, Hay Mow “Tan your hide”, Billy’s Barn Native Plants & Pollinators Regenerative Agriculture
Below the radar of not so good ideas The Gift of Books, Oh Sassafras, Massey, In his pocket, a jackknife “The Hub”, Begin Again, Ideas of Why, The Ask, the Prayer, the Wait Ag, Filling his shoes Last Words, All the Best! Norine Castle
Owego Skate Park Opens
The Tioga County Chamber of Commerce, in proud partnership with the Village of Owego, celebrated the grand opening & ribbon cutting of the brand-new skate park in Marvin Park on Friday, April 18, 2025.
The skate park also honors the memory of Ryan Roofner, a passionate skater whose spirit and love for the sport helped inspire the vision for this space.
Photo By:Sebby S. Truesdail Dance Station & Express and Dancewear Ribbon Cutting
The spotlight is on Owego as Tioga County Chamber hosted the Ribbon Cutting for two exciting new businesses prepare to take center stage! Saturday, April 19, was the Grand Opening and Rib-
bon Cutting Celebration of The Dance Station and Express Dancewear located at 963 Glen Mary Drive, Owego, NY
HAPPY MOTHER’S
