Briefs: Apple Fest, Fiber Fest, promotions, more

Ithaca’s annual Apple Festival returns this weekend

Downtown Ithaca’s Apple Harvest Festival, the region’s biggest celebration of the year in honor of the fall apple harvest, is happening this weekend.

Tompkins Community Bank presents this annual family-friendly community tradition Sept. 30 through Oct. 2, from 12 to 6 p.m. on Friday and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday on and around the Commons pedestrian mall.

As part of the Apple Harvest Festival’s 40th year, guests will have the opportunity to enjoy a variety of fresh local foods, craft ciders, handmade crafts created by local and regional makers, the extremely popular apple cider donuts and an assortment of homemade baked goods. Plus, carnival-style games and rides and, of course, an abundance of New York state’s tastiest apples will be part of the celebration.

Live performances are also part of this tradition. Throughout Saturday and Sunday, attendees will get to enjoy a full lineup of entertainment, including live music and other types of performance groups will take place at The Bernie Milton Pavilion on the Commons.

“Our Apple Harvest Festival is our largest event of the year and the longest-running fall harvest celebration in the region,” said Scott Rougeau, special events director for the Downtown Ithaca Alliance. “Last year’s festival drew about 75,000 people. We look forward to welcoming the large crowds and seeing them enjoy the delicious fall-inspired foods and regionally produced ciders, shopping at the craft show and at local businesses and enjoying the live entertainment. This is one celebration people don’t want to miss.”

Downtown Ithaca’s 40th annual Apple Harvest Festival presented by Tompkins Community Bank is also supported by Maguire, Hyundai, Subaru, Genesis and Ithaca Marriott Downtown on the Commons. For more information about the Apple Harvest Festival, including parking details, visit downtownithaca.com and the Apple Harvest Festival Facebook event page, tinyurl.com/2me7znqx.

 

Village of Freeville hosts Mini Fiber Festival

Fiber farmers and artisans from around the area converged at the Freeville Farmers Market Sept. 25 for the return of Freeville’s annual Mini Fiber Festival. The event featured wool and fiber from local and regional farms and handmade and mill-made finished products with state wool and fiber.

Festival goers enjoyed handspun yarn, spinning fiber, wool batting, whole fleeces, sheep skins, wool socks, hand-knitted and hand-woven goods, felted items, hand-dyed items, hats, wearable garments, blankets and household items, along with spinning demos, fiber processing demos and tools, information about fiber types and uses and more.

There were also some special guests in attendance, including a couple different breeds of sheep and angora rabbits to pet and learn about.

Live music was provided by Crown City Brass and a couple other local favorites.

In addition to the Freeville Farmers Market’s usual lineup, the Mini Fiber Festival’s lineup added Otter Lake Farm & Fiber, Broad Strides Farm, Fleece & Thank Ewe Fiber Worx, Crooked Creek Sheep and Wool (pictured), GLF Woolens, Oswego FiberWorks, Ace Acre Alpacas, Mary Miller, Laughing Winds Farm, Patricia’s Felted Hats. Rocky Top Farm Creations, Hawk Hill Farm and Ellis Hollow Farm.

The Freeville Parent Teacher Association also had baked goods on sale.

For more information, visit freevillefarmersmarket.org/2022fiberfest. For our coverage of last year’s Mini Fiber Festival, visit tinyurl.com/2ezep3dn.

 

TCAT announces promotions in various departments

TCAT recently announced the promotions of four staff members who bring an array of skills and talents to the agency’s day-to-day operations, planning, information technology and financial departments.

Dameon T. Allen (pictured) has been named TCAT’s new operations manager, effective in August. Allen was first hired at TCAT in 2018 as a bus operator. He was promoted in 2019 to transit supervisor, during which time he expanded his supervisory skills, completed intensive training and earned transit certifications. Previously, Allen honed his management, public safety and customer service skills while employed at local businesses and the Cornell Police Department.

As TCAT’s operations manager, Allen is responsible for daily operations and for providing support to transit supervisors, dispatchers, bus operators, bus handlers and the passenger amenities supervisor. Allen also oversees training and skill development, employee relations and ensures operational compliance with state and federal rules and regulations.

Erik Amos, who served as TCAT’s service and operations analyst since January, has been promoted to service development manager, also effective in August. Amos was the finance director of Greenstar Food Co+op for five years and, prior to that, a point-of-sale coordinator for a food cooperative in Austin, Texas. A longtime transit rider and advocate, Amos has earned a master’s degree in geography (urban planning) from SUNY Binghamton and a bachelor’s degree in sociology from the University of Oregon.

In his new position, Amos is responsible for overall system design to include long-range service guided by TCAT’s most recent Transportation Development Plan (TDP). As a best practice, most transit agencies undergo a TDP approximately every decade for an improved system design, but with implementation dependent upon financial and human resources.

Curt Parrish, who has served as TCAT’s facility and vehicle maintenance supervisor since 2019, was promoted to procurement coordinator this past spring. Parrish, a state-certified motor vehicle inspector, has worked for regional companies as both a manager/technician and engineering technician, which involved oversight in purchasing processes. Parrish served both in the U.S. Army and trained with the

U.S. Navy, with a work history involving signal collection/identification and cryptoanalysis. He earned near-perfect scores in aptitude tests at the U.S. Naval Technical Center in Pensacola, Florida.

Parrish is responsible for overseeing TCAT’s procurement process to include bid development, maintaining standards and procedures for the purchase of supplies, equipment and services.

Gian Fountain was promoted to TCAT’s information technology manager earlier this year after serving as information technology (IT) administrator and specialist since 2019. Fountain previously earned a bachelor of science degree in information technology with honors from SUNY Canton. He previously worked as an IT engineer for a national company where he coordinated networks at offices across the country.

Fountain is responsible for the management and oversight of TCAT’s IT department, which includes coordinating, planning and overseeing the operations of TCAT’s technological infrastructure, cybersecurity, user training and support and more.

For more information about TCAT, visit tcatbus.com or call (607) 277-RIDE.

 

United Way launches 2022-23 fundraising campaign

United Way of Tompkins County (UWTC) kicked off its 22-23 Community Campaign Sept. 23 at the Livermore Memorial Building in downtown Ithaca. At the event, a fundraising goal of $1.8 million was announced. The United Way staff was joined by many community volunteers, leaders and donors to celebrate the start of the new campaign with the theme “Better United” (shown above).

This year’s campaign is led by co-chairs Deb Mohlenhoff (center left) and Ducson Nguyen (center right), who unveiled the goal thermometer, which reflects that 15% of the total goal has already been raised. The two are ready to work with UWTC and the community to reach their target.

Nguyen shared the value of donating through United Way.

“United Way has a huge role in our community,” he said. “We have talented, dedicated volunteers who assess the needs of the community and deploy resources where needed. Tompkins County has a lot of nonprofit agencies, and it is hard to distinguish which ones are most effective. Our volunteers do a great job of sorting that out for the donor.”

Mohlenhoff added, “One of the reasons I’m so excited to be co-chairing this campaign is because what I heard was really needed was cultivation of new networks and new friendships and new partnerships. We have an incredible, long-standing donor base with United Way that are always going to be there for us and have been just wonderful. But there are lots of new community members and new faces and new people that we could bring to the table with new skills and abilities.”

Gifts made through the United Way of Tompkins County’s annual campaign support “grant funds, programs, designated nonprofits, or administrative costs based on the donor’s preferences,” said Interim CEO Gail Belokur.

“Our Community Care Fund supports initiatives including hunger and food security, housing, child care, mental health, health, overcoming addictions and abuse, workforce development and crisis intervention, in partnership with around 40 local nonprofits. All UWTC funded programs must meet diversity, equity and inclusion standards,” Belokur said.

Community members can visit uwtc.org/give, email campaign@uwtc.org or call (607) 500-GIVE to submit gifts or pledges. Businesses and organizations can also hold a campaign in their network by contacting UWTC. The progress of UWTC’s campaign can be seen on the thermometer posted on the porch of UWTC offices, located at 313 N. Aurora St. in Ithaca.

 

Sciencenter gets new look, new exhibits

Over the past few months, the Sciencenter has undergone some exciting changes, from design changes in the museum to brand-new exhibits and the revitalization of older exhibits.

When visitors walk into the Sciencenter, they’re now greeted with fun pops of color from the new bright blue and green walls.

In addition to bright new colors, there are two new indoor murals at the Sciencenter, painted by local artist Molly Reagan. The first mural is an abstract piece in the museum entry area and is the backdrop of the Sciencenter’s new Airways Maze exhibit (shown above). The second mural is located in the back of the Sciencenter’s Watergates Gallery and is a depiction of a rover on Mars. This mural is the backdrop for the new Mars Rover exhibit.

The museum is also in the process of adding new wayfinding signage throughout the Sciencenter. This bright new signage will make it easier for guests to find their way around the museum. The Sciencenter collaborated with the Finger Lakes Independence Center to ensure that the signage would help to create a more accessible space for all visitors.

In addition to cosmetic changes, the Sciencenter’s Exhibits Team has created new experiences for museum guests. Out on the Science Playground, guests will find a new bubble exhibit. In this exhibit, guests can use tubes of air and mist to build bubbles.

Inside the museum, the Sciencenter Exhibits Team took a favorite exhibit, Watergates, and revitalized it. The changes to this exhibit allow for a more engaging, accessible and educational interaction, where guests can use a duck elevator to send a rubber duck down a flume and then place gates in the flume to observe water flow phenomena. A new magnet wall is also featured in this gallery space. This is an interactive wall where guests can use blowers, magnetic tubes and ramps to engineer a pathway or loop for a ping pong ball.

There’s also a new Build Space at the museum. The space, specifically designated for engineering projects, allows guests to use their imaginations to build creations from various materials. This area gives children a place to get creative, problem solve and conceptualize their ideas. Guests can build big with PVC pipes, build strong structures and test them on the Shake Table, or grab a friend and build together with wooden planks.

Another new exhibit recently came to life in the Sciencenter’s entryway. Airways Maze allows guests to watch what happens when they send scarves through a 15-foot air tube maze. This impressive exhibit engages guests as they learn about gravity and air.

When asked about all of the changes at the museum, Sciencenter Director of Exhibits and Facilities Adrienne Testa said, “We spent a long time observing visitors, consulting with partners and building prototypes for these exhibits. It’s gratifying to see people notice the changes in the museum and engage in new ways!”

All of these changes were made possible in part by grants and sponsorship from Tompkins County Tourism Program, BorgWarner, Institute of Museum and Library Services, Legacy Foundation of Tompkins County, J.M. McDonald Foundation and Tompkins Community Bank.

Learn more at sciencenter.org.

 

Ithaca resident’s recent book recounts time in West Africa

Ann Hales, Ph.D., is a psychiatric nurse practitioner living in Ithaca, and she’s celebrating the recent release of her first published book, “Beyond the Road to Sinyea.”

The book is a memoir of the two years that Hales lived in Liberia, West Africa, from 1981 to 1983, serving as a Peace Corps volunteer.

Below is a synopsis of the memoir according to a description on the back of the book:

“When a young woman strides into her dream adventure as a Peace Corps Volunteer, she gets more than she bargained for — the experience transforms her life. As a nursing instructor in Liberia, West Africa, in the early 1980s, she witnesses gut-wrenching life circumstances of the Liberian people and their systems of education and health care. While living in a traditional village, she discovers that her neighbors believe she has magical powers, encounters the ‘devil’ from the Secret Bush Society and finds ‘family’ when she least expected to do so.

“This deeply personal memoir is filled with stories of West African life as seen firsthand through the eyes of a person who wanted to make a difference in the world. The author revisits her younger self with compassion and curiosity, conveying to readers an understanding of culture clash and the helplessness anyone might feel when dropped into an unfamiliar world that is both painful and exotic. Frankly sharing her mistakes and confusions — some funny and some sobering — she can finally appreciate how this immersion experience ultimately leads to personal growth and a heightened self- awareness.”

According to Hales, she’s worked for over 50 years providing mental health services to communities across the nation, including Tennessee, Colorado, Idaho and New York, and around the world, including Liberia and New Zealand.

“Throughout her academic career, she was a professor of nursing at Cuttington University in Liberia, West Africa and at New Mexico State University in Las Cruces,” per the book’s author description. “Prior to that, she was the director of the Housing and Feeding the Homeless Program in the School of Hotel Administration at Cornell University and taught the school’s first service learning course.”

Hales received her Ph.D. at Cornell University. She also became the first psychiatric advanced practice nurse to receive prescriptive authority in the state of New Mexico through her time teaching at New Mexico State University.

In New Zealand, Hales was a visiting professor from 2000 to 2001, and while there, she assisted the New Zealand Council of Nursing with their policies regarding prescriptive authority for advanced practice nurses.

Copies of Hales’ book are available through Barnes & Noble at tinyurl.com/2oxdgfuc or Amazon at tinyurl.com/2f5p42ah.