Fulton Library Memoir Project Near Completion

For the third year, I've had the pleasure of working with the Fulton Public Library on its Memoir Project, a writing program to help people share their memories of Fulton. Each year, the Library asks people to recall stories on a particular theme; this year the theme was Service Providers: Police Officers, Firefighters, Elected Officials, Community Support Agencies. Over the past five months, I have been working with those who chose to participate to help them write and edit a short ( five to six page) memoir.

On Wednesday, September 23rd at 6:30 p.m. we'll be presenting the Project to the public at the Cayuga Community College, Fulton campus, meeting room (in the old K-Mart plaza). Several of the 40 memoirists will be reading an excerpt from their writing. We'll hear about the origins of our police department, a few of Fulton's infamous fires, the early years of Menter's Ambulance Service, how recreation in Fulton has evolved over the years, what it was like to work summers as a lifeguard at Rowlee Beach and many more stories.

                                        Fulton Chief o…

                                        Fulton Chief of Police from 1914-1942, Edward Dyer.

Join us for this exciting event, as we visit Fulton's history, one personal story at a time...

Six Months From Today...

Six months from today will mark the 50th anniversary of a little snowstorm that dropped in on Central New York. Well, maybe it was more than a little storm: it packed enough punch to shut down our neck of the woods for a week or more. Over the last year and a half, I’ve been talking with people who remember the storm and, oh, the stories they told me!

In just under three months I’ll be releasing the book, along with its companion volume, a biography I’ve written about one of the most memorable voices heard during that storm. He was a SUNY Oswego meteorologist who had a daily weather broadcast on WSGO radio, and during the four and a half days of the blizzard, he observed it almost around the clock, giving his loyal listeners over 100 reports. His name was Bob Sykes.

Join me for the launch of both books on Thursday, October 15th at 7 p.m. at the river’s end bookstore in Oswego. Let’s just hope we don’t get a lake-effect snowstorm that day!