Several readers have recollected a time in the late 1950s when the city held a Christmas Festival at Coessens Park in the East End.  Thomas F. Gregg, mayor from 1958 to 1960, organized the festivities. Down the page...

The Historians with Bob Cudmore from Radio to The WWW starting in 2014 "450 Podcasts on-line" 

Historians Go Fund Me

Link updated Tuesday, November 29, 2022

https://www.gofundme.com/f/the-historians-podcast-2022

The first heavy snow of the 2022-23 Winter season will likely tip this box over

U.S. Mail

Bob Cudmore to 125 Horstman Drive, Scotia, NY 12302. 

Christmas memories

By Bob Cudmore

          Alberta Zierak Fondacaro’s aunts lived next door to Kiddo’s, then the family tavern, on Reid Street in Amsterdam.  The tavern was named for Fondacaro’s father, Albert Zierak whose nickname was Kiddo.

          In the 1950s, Fondacaro, now of Rotterdam Junction, used to spend Christmas Eve with her aunts in their home, keeping the traditional Polish vigil with an elaborate meatless feast.  Always, there was an empty chair at the table.  Fondacaro’s father, tending bar next door, would send people who were alone on Christmas Eve from the tavern to the house to enjoy the ongoing holiday meal.

CHRISTMAS FESTIVAL

          Amsterdam this year was home to two major holiday light displays, the Noteworthy Christmas Center and numerous musical performances.

          Several readers have recollected a time in the late 1950s when the city held a Christmas Festival at Coessens Park in the East End.  Thomas F. Gregg, mayor from 1958 to 1960, organized the festivities.  Santa Claus talked to children and animals were brought in from an Adirondack tourist attraction. Gregg was a butcher who operated a shop on what was then Railroad Street.

CHILDREN’S HOME

          Shirley Spurles Baroody, now of North Carolina, recalled Christmas at the Children’s Home at 81 Guy Park Avenue where she lived for 11 years in the 1940s and 1950s.

          The matrons who oversaw the home asked each child for a list of three things wanted for Christmas.  Baroody remembered getting her three items each year—paper dolls, perhaps, or white socks. The women’s clubs of Amsterdam put on a big Christmas party every year for the children at the home.

A COLD CHRISTMAS

          Richard G. Ellers, now of Ohio, recalled a cold Amsterdam December in 1943 or 1944.  Ellers said the snow crunched underfoot, adding, “That crunch is linked in my memory to walking to Christmas midnight mass at St. Michael’s from our home, an apartment on East Main Street downtown.”

          Ellers could hear the Salvation Army bell ringer on the street below. There was only single pane glass on the windows in the apartment and Ellers said, “I can still hear the clink-clink-clink of snow chains on cars driving below. Occasionally every third or fourth clink would be counter pointed with a double thunk, which was the sound of the ends of a broken chain slapping the underside of a fender.”

WORKING CHRISTMAS

          Jacki Vogel’s parents, Alphonso and Catherine D'Alessandro, owned the Gift & Hobby Shop at Lark and East Main Street in Amsterdam.

          Vogel wrote, “I vividly remember Christmas Eves when others were gathering to celebrate the holiday.  My dad would still be in the store, awaiting people coming to pick up their layaways. They always went the extra mile to try and locate a special toy that someone would want for a child.”

CHRISTMAS WITH THE CUDMORES

          When I was young, we usually went to a candlelight service Christmas Eve at the long gone First Methodist Church on Division Street.  I was always impressed that the choir managed to march in holding a hymnbook in one hand and a candle in the other while singing Joy to the World.  No one ever tripped and started a fire.

          One memorable holiday our cat did knock over the Christmas tree.  My grandmother was sitting nearby and simply stretched out her hand and grabbed the tree trunk before it hit the ground, holding it until my father could get the tree upright again.

          We sang a lot on Christmas and, as the favored son, I had way too many presents.  Dinner was always good and, after visiting my aunt and uncle and their three sons, we came home and somehow managed to eat yet another meal.  

Wednesday, November 30, 2022

Julia Sweig is author of “Lady Bird Johnson: Hiding in Plain Sight” that draws on diaries kept by Lady Bird when her husband Lyndon was President from 1963 through 1968.

Thursday, December 1, 2022, From the Archives of the Daily Gazette—-Christmas memories 2007 

Friday, December 2, 2022-Episode 451-Environmental educator Anita Sanchez is author of Meltdown: Discover Earth’s Irreplaceable Glaciers And Learn What You Can Do To Save Them.

Mohawk Valley Weather, Tuesday, November 29, 2022

Leader Herald

Hochul announces $10M DRI projects
Twelve Gloversville Downtown Revitalization Initiative projects announced; Gov. Hochul announces from Glove Theatre
GLOVERSVILLE – Twelve Downtown Revitalization projects were announced Monday for Gloversville by Gov. Kathy Hochul at the Glove Theatre.

Make Us A Part Of Your Day

https://www.leaderherald.com/