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Community Celebrates Emerson Park
A large crowd enjoying refreshments fills the newly restored grand ballroom Sunday, June 10, 2012 at the Emerson Park Pavilion dedication and centennial celebration.

OWASCO | A story that dates back 100 years turned a new page on Sunday afternoon.
A crowd of more than 100 gathered as Cayuga County Legislators and the Fred L. Emerson Foundation commemorated the centennial celebration and dedication of the newly restored Emerson Park Pavilion.
“The scene that you're looking at behind me, would have looked very different in 1912," said Dan Fessenden, executive director of the Fred L. Emerson Foundation. “You would be sitting among ashes and embers because the pavilion would have just burned down.”
The pavilion burned to the ground in May of 1912 and just three months after the fire, a new one was built — a daunting feat that was made possible by what Fessenden said, was likely the same kind of people doing the work back then, as today.
“As much as there may have been some differences between today and 1912, it takes an army to make a project like this happen,” he said. “And my job today is simply to give thanks to those who made this possible.”
The Emerson Foundation collectively with Cayuga County, came together to renovate and revive the pavilion.  The process was more than five years in the making and cost around $5 million in funds donated by the Emerson Foundation and Cayuga County. 
Fred L. Emerson purchased the park in the 1930s. In 1944, Emerson donated the park to Cayuga County and to the citizens of Auburn.
Members of the Emerson family were in attendance to commemorate the special occasion, including Fred Emerson's grandson, Peter Emerson.
"It is our hope that the pavilion will inspire future generations of community leaders," Peter Emerson said. "It's an absolutely beautiful day and what better way to spend your time than to be out at the lake." 
County Legislator Tim Lattimore described the pavilion as "the crown and jewel of Cayuga County.
"If anyone's been out on the lake at night they've seen these lights from the water," he said. " ... The pavilion has served us well and we hope the future brings more memories for many more years to come.”
For generations, the pavilion has been a place for parties, dances, events and summer outings. Many residents who came for the event vividly remember days at the park.
Ray Jacobs has been eying the project from his home on the other side of the lake, he said, and looked forward to the renovation.
"We came down here as a kid and have many fond memories of this place," he said. "It's a great facility and it's nice to see that younger generations will be able to enjoy it."
Ellen Baumes was anxious to see the place, and she said she could already envision great events happening in the facility. 
"They used to do a Christmas tree event every year here and it would be beautiful to see that done again in the new space," she said. "It's a spectacular facility. It's new and fancy but it's kept it's old charm."
As part of the new plan for the pavilion, H & J Hospitality officially took over the operation of the facility. Owner Jamie Ciaschi, along with his staff of more than 50 employees have been on the job for nine days and he said they're already busy working on upcoming events.
The pavilion has secured more than 40 events for 2012, Ciaschi said. Eighteen are scheduled for 2013, with 12 more in the works. 
"A lot has changed here and we're excited about our future," Ciaschi said. "We're looking forward to it. The future looks bright for the pavilion."




St. Joseph Students Utilize Leadership Skills at Conference

Mitchell Fessenden, left, and T.J. LaDuca, right, two middle school students who attend St. Joseph School, pose at the National Young Leaders State Conference, held April 19-22 in Westchester County.

May 15, 2012

AUBURN | Two students from St. Joseph School learned that they are natural leaders and improved their leadership skills when they attended a conference in late April.

Mitchell Fessenden, eighth grade, and T.J. LaDuca, seventh grade, traveled to Westchester County to participate in the National Young Leaders State Conference.

"The purpose was to teach us how to be better leaders in our community and with other people in groups," LaDuca said.

Fessenden said he and his schoolmate learned about different types of leaders and what kind of leaders they were. Once all the participants discovered what kind of leaders they were, students broke into groups and worked on planning and carrying out different aspects of the conference.

"We worked through the whole weekend in our own separate committees," Fessenden said.

There were committees for a talent show, the conference commencement ceremony, a press club and a scholar-led seminar.

Both LaDuca and Fessenden were on the commencement committee and helped lead the conference's closing ceremonies.

"They taught us all the steps of leadership and how groups form," Fessenden said.

The students said the skills they learned at the conference translate both to real life and to school life.

"Definitely — all the skills they taught us were to use later on in life," LaDuca said. "They did teach us how to be better leaders in our school community, too."

Middle school coordinator and English language arts/seventh- and eighth-grade social studies teacher Jane Cooney was the teacher who nominated Fessenden and LaDuca for the conference.

"Both Mitchell and T.J. have shown leadership qualities in their classes, not only academically, but socially," Cooney said. "This is something, as a middle school teacher, I can offer my students. This is a different experience and I want them to have as many experiences as they can."

Cooney said she looks for leadership qualities in students she nominates for the conference.

"A student who thinks about a question before answering, someone who perceives a variety of scenarios, somebody who looks at something holistically before they respond ..." she said.

Staff writer Kelly Voll can be reached at 282-2239 or kelly.voll@lee.net. Follow her on Twitter at CitizenVoll.