2014 Silver ADDY Award Winner
VOLUME 3 ISSUE 2
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THE OFFICIAL NEWSPAPER OF THE VILLAGE OF ELLICOTTVILLE AND THE TOWNS OF ELLICOTTVILLE, GREAT VALLEY AND MANSFIELD, NEW YORK
www.EllicottvilleTimes.com facebook/theEllicottvilleTimes
MARCH 21 - 27, 2014
Your Hometown Newspaper Serving Ellicottville, Great Valley, Little Valley, Mansfield, Olean, Salamanca, Springville and Surrounding Communities By Alicia Dziak
When the snow starts to melt, it can only mean one thing — that spring in Ellicottville is almost here. While people around here might be sad to see winter come to a close, the warmer temps and sunnier days equate to lots of fun on the slopes and around town. Hit the Slopes While You Still Can There’s still lots of fun to be had at Holiday Valley and HoliMont in the last couple weeks of the season. Head to Holiday Valley this Saturday, March 22 for the annual Pond Skimming event, where participants skim across an ice water filled pond, decked out in costumes. The fun begins at 1 p.m., and spectators are welcome.
Calendar of Events
5 Spring ‘Must-Do’ Activities Pond Skimming, Maple Sweets, Hiking, Whitewater Rafting & Bluegrass Heralds of Spring
March 20-23 Acrobag Jump Holiday Valley March 22 HoliMont Club Championship March 22 Pond Skimming Party Holiday Valley Mar 22-23 & 29-30 Maple Weekends WNY Mar 23 Northwind Super G Holiday Valley Mar 28 Pond Skimming at HoliMont April 5-6 Little Valley VFD Spring Sportsmen’s Show Little Valley
Spectators line the makeshift pond at the bottom of Yodeler to watch the fun!
April 11-13 Enchanted Mountain Music Festival Holiday Valley April 11-13 Greater Olean Area Home Show May 17-18 Routes to Art Tamarack Lodge
© 2014 Keystone Designers Inc.
The Acrobag Jump will also be available this Friday, Saturday and Sunday for some high-flying adventure with a soft landing. See more details on this weekend’s events at Holiday Valley on page 6. Over at HoliMont, the slopes are open to the public Monday through Friday. Go on a Friday and end your work week with a Dina’s fish fry in the main lodge, running from 6–8:30 p.m. Friday evenings. Discover Something Sweet March 22-23 and March 29See ‘Must Do’ Activities page 8
June 6-8 Cycling Weekend Holiday Valley June 7 Relay for Life Ellicottville Central School June 14 Mudslide Obstacle Trail Run Holiday Valley
Make Local Trails Real Ellicottville Town Board Free Fireworks Show • New Evidence Room — Vote and Buy Art Kudos for Police Department Holiday Valley Vying for Bell Grant, EVGV Trail Benefits from Art Opening
By Eva Potter
How can you support Ellicottville’s mountain biking and recreation trails? It’s easy — all you have to do is go online and vote. Then come to
“Spruceline”, by Sean Huntington Open House March 29-30 to benefit EVGV Trail at Sean Huntington and Patricia Eckstrom Art Studio in Ellicottville
the gallery and studio Open House at the Town Center to buy beautiful, original artwork.
HV Mountain Bike Trails Holiday Valley Resort has been chosen as one of 12 national finalists to potentially receive funding for a mountain biking trail project through a Bell Built Grant. Bell Helmets is offering up to $100,000 in technical assistance grants. The money would be split between three winning finalists, one each from the West Coast, Central Region and East Coast. There are a total of four finalists in each region. The Western New York Mountain Biking Association (WNYMBA) applied for the Bell Built grant to help build additional singletrack trails at Holiday Valley. If Holiday Valley is awarded the grant, IMBA’s (International Mountain Biking Association) Trail Solutions team would assist in planning, design and construction, along See Local Trails page 8
ECS Odyssey of the Mind Teams Headed to States
By Jann Wiswall
Town Supervisor John Burrell opened the Town of Ellicottville board meeting on Wednesday, March 19 by sharing a letter of commendation he wrote to own police officer Kelly Bigos, who responded to a 911 call from Hoagie’s restaurant, where employees reported a grease fire on the grill. Officer
ECS Prepares for Spring Activities, Testing By Jann Wiswall
Ellicottville Central School’s board of education met Tuesday, March 17, to review and act on a number of agenda items. First on the agenda was a presentation from seniors Phillip Kurtis and Noah
Elementary and Middle Teams Prepare for Binghamton By Jann Wiswall
Division II Team Front Row: Megan Stuve Back L-R: Madison Kilby, Allison Calarco, Hannah DeChane, Sammi Van Wicklin and Abbey DeChane.
It was an exciting day in Wellsville on Saturday, March 15 when two of Ellicottville Central Schools’ Odyssey of the Mind (OM) teams impressed the regional OM competition judges enough to send them on to the state competition. A Division I (elementary) team, coached by Caitlin Keller with assistance from 12th graders Izzy Brown and McKenzie Robinson (both members of last year’s high school team that went all the way to the World Competition), created a presentation that solved a problem called “The Stackable Structure.” This problem required teams to “design and build a structure made up of separate components See Odyssey of the Mind page 2
Bigos was on the scene three the entire police department to four minutes before the fire for its excellent work over department and used her fire Mardi Gras weekend came extinguisher to put out the from Chamber of Commerce flames. Burrell noted that once Executive Director Brian the fire department arrived, McFadden, chamber board Bigos continued to keep the member Kathy Pritchard and fire scene safe and secure. Village of Ellicottville board “This is truly ‘community members. policing’ at its best,” Burrell Town board member Ken wrote. Hinman added that he has Another letter commending See Ellicottville Town Board page 8
Butler representing two high school Envirothon Teams. The teams will be competing for a chance to move on to the state competition by making oral presentations on organic farming before a panel of judges. The regional competition is scheduled to
take place at Allegany State Park April 22-23. Ellicottville teams took second place in the competition last year, and Kurtis and Butler, who asked for the board’s permission to stay at ASP overnight on April 22, See ECS Board page 10
CCIDA Sets Hearings
$3.4M Holiday Valley Updates Community Bank $6M Facilities By Jann Wiswall
The board of the Cattaraugus County Industrial Development Agency gave preliminary approval on the applications for sale leasebacks from Community Bank, NA, and Win Sum Ski Corp., the owner of Holiday Valley Resort, at its meeting on Tuesday, March 18. Public hearings will be scheduled for both projects
(date and time to be announced on the CCIDA website, www. cattcoida.com). Community Bank has purchased 10 acres of a 17acre parcel owned by Saint Bonaventure University on State Route 417 in the Town of Allegany and plans to construct a 25,000 sq. ft., back office banking center that will house the bank’s mortgage processing
unit. In addition, the company is upgrading and renovating its office facilities located at 201 North Union St. in Olean. The total cost of both projects is estimated to be $6 million. In its application to the CCIDA, the bank is asking for a 10-year PILOT (Payment in Lieu of Taxes) property tax exemption on the Route See CCIDA Hearings page 10