Democrat and Chronicle from Rochester, New York • Page 109

EVENT OF THE WEEK -J no lowns f- i3 1 mile MURRAY Holley' p. ro What: St. Rocco's Italian Festival with Italian foods, raffle, musical by the Blue Notes, games, Chinese auction, a boutique and produce stand. Where: St. Rocco's Church, on DEMOCRAT AND CHRONICLE WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 29, 2001 '2; 3 -33 E.

Lee St. CLARENDON i Inflation elation Hulberton Road between routes 31 and 104, Murray, Orleans County. When: Sunday, with bocce tournament at 9 a.m., Mass at 11 a.m., pasta dinner at noon and activities until 6 p.m. Admission: Free. Pasta dinner is $6 for adults and $3.50 for children 10 and under.

Other foods may be purchased. To register for bocce, call Randy Bower at 638-6100 by Friday. Cost is $20 per person for a four-person team. mw -Y-l i If you want to submit information about an event, please send it two weeks before publication to Our Towns, Event of the Week, 55 Exchange Rochester, NY 14614, or fax to 258-2579. AROUND THE TOWNS TTS 1 1 A with ft 1 'MMV lmw tvvmf 1 I'flw MAX SCHULTE staff photographer Grandfather Joe Calabrette spends some quality time with the basket of his hot-air balloon in Penfield.

Looking for a good time, local balloon pilots like to hang around in the clouds BY STAFF WRITER SHEILA RAYAM HILTON Barrel racing, games at timed horseback trials Saddle up your horse and trot over to the second annual Lakeside Gymkhana. Games on horseback begin at a.m. Sept. 8 at Manitou Hill Farms, 662 Manitou Road. Timed horseback riding games including barrel racing and pole bending are planned.

A 5050 jackpot barrel class is also scheduled. Admission is $20 to ride in the games, free for spectators. Proceeds will benefit Lakeside Health System's Capital Campaign. For further information, call 395-6095, ext. 4379.

GREECE Meals for the elderly at community center The Greece Department of Human Services, in conjunction with the Monroe County Office for the Aging, is continuing to offer a nutrition program daily from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Monday through Friday at the West Ridge Community Center, 300 Chesterton Road. A $2 suggested donation is asked from those ages 60 and older. The meal costs $4 per person for those under 60 years old.

The town also offers van transportation to all Greece residents over 60 years old via Medical Motor Services for a suggested $1 donation round trip. For more information, call 663-0200. To set up transportation, call 723-2425. Program for women begins next week A program exclusively for women to get together, participate in projects and socialize will be held from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

Wednesdays beginning Sept. 5 and ending Dec. 12 at the West Ridge Community Center, 300 Chesterton Road. Light refreshments will be served for this Time Out For Women. The registration fee is $7.50 for Greece residents and $10 for others.

To sign up, call the Department of Human Services at 663-0200. File photo Balloonists sail over the Dansville countryside during a misty morning flight that was part of a past New York State Festival of Balloons. There's something heavenly about being an aeronaut. "It's like you're standing in a basket, suspended in the air and the earth is revolving slowly underneath you," says John Cavin of Dansville. "It is very peaceful." Cavin, 58, has spent a lot of time hovering in the sky during the past two decades.

Such is the life of an aeronaut, better known as a balloon pilot, who guides massive hot-air balloons thousands of feet overhead for fun and sometimes for profit. During Labor Day weekend, Cavin. will be among more than 50 balloon pilots participating in the New York State Festival of Balloons at Dansville Municipal Airport. The festival is one of many such gatherings held year-round throughout the United States. Nationwide, there are about 5,000 balloon pilots, says Glen Moyer, editor of Ballooning magazine, based in Shreveport, La.

Of that number, 3,000 to 3,500 still take to the sky, including about a dozen in Monroe and surrounding counties. The majority of participants in this year's state festival will come from outside the Rochester area, some from as far away as South Dakota. However, local aeronauts will be in the air, too. Rochester-area pilots come from various backgrounds. They took different paths to their perches in the clouds.

"I've always maintained that there is no typical balloon pilot," says Moyer, loon," says Joe, 59, who took lessons and worked on a crew prior to purchasing their first balloon, Big Red, in 1979. Joe, who will retire from Xerox Corp. in December, has been a balloon pilot for 22 years. Sue, who raised three daughters full time, has been a pilot for 16 years. When the couple decides to go for a ride in the sky, they do so in their current balloon, Red Again.

Red Again's envelope (the big, colorful bag with the air in it) holds 80,000 cubic feet of air. There are some balloons out there that hold more than 200,000 cubic feet, making them able to carry more weight. That's a lot of hot air, but it doesn't take as long to fill an envelope as you might think. An experienced ground crew can inflate a balloon in 15 minutes or less. who's also spokesman for the Balloon Federation of America, based in Indianola, Iowa.

And though they traveled to ballooning in different ways, the Rochester area's aeronauts have the same passion for flying. Love at first flight Sue Calabrette used to see balloons off in the distance while living in Dallas, Texas. "It looked like it could be fun and exciting," recalls Calabrette, who lives in Penfield. She mentioned her interest in taking a balloon ride to her husband, Joe, and he made a few inquiries. Then, for his wife's birthday, Joe purchased a ride for Sue and, although he didn't realize it at the time, for himself.

(He had thought the price was for one, when it actually was for two.) One ride was all it took to hook Joe. "Within three months, we had a bal Clip and send in Send submissions to: Our Towns, 55 Exchange Rochester, New York, 14614. BALLOONS, page 4F Attach extra sheet of paper to coupon if additional space is needed. MAKING A DIFFERENCE Tve always maintained that there is no typical balloon piloC GLEN MOYER, EDITOR OF 'BALLOONING' MAGAZINE Name (Please send in a Agegrade: Historic Greece cupola making comeback photo with your nomination) SchoolTown: ActivitiesAccomplishments: How heshe makes a difference: -j I if si I 'fit 1 iw I in 1 I Bi I i 1 I IS 1 1 is 1 'iL If So despite much controversy the town demolished the building to make way for development. The former Town Hall site on the corner of Long Pond and West Ridge roads now has a Pier 1 Imports store on it.

Lorraine Beane, the historical society's executive director, got her pick of furniture and office supplies from the old Town Hall for the historical society offices. But it was the cupola that struck her as what needed saving most. She showed up one day to the work site, and asked the construction company if she could keep the cupola. "They said, 'Who are Beane said. "They made a few calls and we got it.

The town of Greece was very willing to give us more things, but we didn't have any plans for the pillars or steps," Beane said. "This is what's left." BY STAFF WRITER LAUREN STANF0RTH GREECE A fixture of Greece's landscape for 80 years is finally coming out of the shadows. The more-than-6-foot-tall white cupola that sat atop the Greece Town Hall since 1919 will be resurrected soon this time as a sign. The Greece Historical Society has kept the former Town Hall beacon behind the historical society museum on Long Pond Road since the Town Hall was demolished in April 1999. The 80-year-old Town Hall became too cramped and antiquated for what the town needed.

Town officials said it was too expensive to keep the building as a historic landmark and they found it difficult to find any business person or organization that would buy the building and renovate it. Michael Dugan, owner of Architectural Antiques in Rochester, took several other pieces of the building including the main entryway to sell to others. The town's Department of Public Works loaded the cupola onto a truck and drove it to the new Town Hall campus behind the town's museum. Beane said someone suggested storing the cupola out of the rain and snow in a Department of Public Works barn. But if it could weather the outside for 80 years why not a few more? Its years atop Town Hall must have been good because the cupola is in excellent condition, Beane said.

All it needed was to be sanded and repainted. All kinds of places were thought of for the cupola's new home a garden around the museum, atop an addition on the museum building. But offi cials wanted the cupola to be visible and its 800-pound weight would make its placement on the addition precarious. So it was decided to incorporate the cupola in a sign in front of the museum on Long Pond Road. Historical society members Tom Schommer, Fred Meredith and Larry Zarn-storff helped with the idea and with finding labor and materials.

Architect Richard LaCroix who helped with Town Hall studies for more than 20 years had his architectural firm design the siga It will be made of brick save for the cupola, which will be placed on one end of the siga "It's not a very usual thing," LaCroix said of the cupola's placement in a siga But it will be visible for the entire community to see. Construction is going to start this week, with completion expect- Nominator's name and phone: Nominee's phone number (for File photo Greece cupola stood atop Town Hall for 80 years ed in about six weeks. "It's going to catch a lot of attention," Beane said,.