City of Batavia resident Phillip Boyd on Thursday said he has shelved his idea of a nine-hole disc golf course at Centennial Park in favor of working with city officials to place one at Williams Park on Pearl Street.

“It’s much larger than I originally thought,” Boyd said after taking a walk around the east and south portions of Williams Park with City Maintenance Supervisor Ray Tourt and City Parks Supervisor Brian Metz yesterday afternoon.

“Our talk went very well and there’s definitely a lot of potential for a nine-hole and we talked about possibly clearing out some of the woods in the right (southwest) corner for an 18 (hole course) in the future.”

Boyd said that he planned to return to the park today with a couple friends to map out a nine-hole course that would start near Pearl Street on the east side and proceed south along the east, southeast and south edges of the park.

He said he is hoping to attract sponsors for each hole to cover the expenses for tee pads, signage and baskets, figuring it would cost around $5,000. He also said he will be submitting his plan for Williams Park to City Manager Rachael Tabelski.

“Yes, I’ll have to do the same thing that I did to try to get Centennial Park; send in my course layout and proposal,” he said.

When asked to comment about the stir he caused with those living around Centennial Park, with many residents of that area rising up in opposition, Boyd said he wants to look ahead.

“Look, we all have our passions. Their passion was for Centennial Park’s history and mine is for disc golf,” he said. “I have no problems with leaving that behind now that there are other options available.”

Boyd also said he is willing to help those seeking to put an 18-hole course at Genesee Community College, and already has received quotes for the necessary equipment for that layout.

Photo: Brian Metz, left, Phillip Boyd and Ray Tourt looking at a map of Williams Park as they explore the possibility of placing a disc golf course at the Pearl Street recreational area. Photo by Mike Pettinella.

Sponsored by the Just Kings Social Club, Batavia's Juneteenth celebration is taking place in Williams Park today. The celebration of freedom continues until 7 p.m.

The event will include vendors, food, a talent show for ages 8 to 16 (with cash prizes), a bounce house, dunk tank, other fun and games, and live music. 

There will also be a guest speaker.

Live music performers include Ratiboy YN, Ray Williams, Mark Lee, Molotov Mall, King & Drizzy, Brenda Williams, Dolly Man & King Beans, Yikey Mikey, Shun-Della Williams, and Debbie.

Everybody is invited. The park is located at 101 Pearl St. in the City of Batavia.

Juneteenth is the traditional day to celebrate the end of slavery in the United States.

The organizers are looking for more volunteers to help with the event and there is still space for vendors. All local businesses are welcome to participate. Volunteers get free food and drinks.

Those interested in volunteering, contact Brandon Armstrong on Facebook or at (585) 536-6576. Vendors can contact Lydia Bruce on Facebook or at (716) 573-3461.

Enough players showed up at Williams Park in Batavia this afternoon for an eight-team informal flag football tournament.

What once was billed as a protest is being transformed into a call for unity in the City of Batavia.

Area resident Macy Paradise formed a group called "Community Against Social Injustice" met with city leaders today and together they worked out a plan for a BBQ for Equality to be held at Williams Park at noon on Sunday.

Originally, Paradise and group members were planning a "protest" outside City Hall on Sunday but after violence erupted in other cities following peaceful protests, Paradise said he recognized the risk to local businesses in holding an event downtown.

He said the City of Batavia and City Church have agreed to donate food for the BBQ. The restriction on public gatherings in the park will be lifted Sunday afternoon for this event.

Statement from Macy Paradise:

In light of the recent destructive events happening nationwide and after meeting with many head city members, we’ve decided to team up with the city to take a proactive approach to getting our voices heard! The City of Batavia has teamed up with Community Against Social Injustice to bring OUR CITY a BBQ FOR EQUALITY in place of the protest. We will meet at NOON on Sunday, June 7th at Williams Park to show that this community can come together as ONE for the same cause, equality! The City of Batavia and The City Church are donating the food and resources necessary to make this event successful! This will be a FREE family-friendly event with many guest speakers, including The City of Batavia’s Police Chief Shawn Heubusch, who will share his views on the recent events happening in our nation and to promote equality within our community! Show up and MAKE YOUR VOICES HEARD! We are ALL capable of standing TOGETHER to show that Black Lives Matter and that our community is strong and working together towards the same mission, EQUALITY!

Our mission is to show our community that we are unified in the efforts to end the social injustices happening to our brothers and sisters of color. We hope to bring the whole community together in one place to show how important it is for local police to denounce the actions of those officers who have committed these social injustices to the minorities in this community in hopes that we come together in the fight for equality. We listened to the voices of our local residents and business owners and decided we would make a much more proactive stance if we shifted from a protest to a BBQ/Rally for equality. We’d love all elected city officials, civil servants, businesss owners, and residents to come together and hold each other accountable in the fight for equality. Hopefully this alleviates the fears and brings more people together for a peaceful cause!

Chief Shawn Heubusch confirmed the plan and said city officials were concerned about outside agitators using an event downtown to come here and cause trouble.

"We don't want to see happen here what happened in Rochester," Heubusch said. "It's better that we come together united and have everyone sit down and have a good conversation rather than everybody screaming at each other."

Heubusch will be one of the speakers at the BBQ and he will share his thoughts on the killing of George Floyd at the hands of police officers in Minneapolis.

"We're calling on our elected leaders to participate and show those looking for justice that we're united," Heubusch said.

The Batavian will have a live stream interview with Paradise at 3:30 p.m. today and with Heubusch on Wednesday morning.

Photos from the finals of the annual Turkey Bowl at Williams Park. We expect to hear later who won.

As they have done for who knows how many years -- the couple of guys I talked to didn't seem to know -- a group of friends met in Williams Park this morning for their annual Boxing Day street hockey match.

Dozens of teams across the spectrum of age groups competed today in the 3rd annual 3-on-3 tournament at Williams Park.

Here are pictures from two of the afternoon games.

The tournament was sponored this year, for the first time, by The Batavian.

To purchase prints of photos click here.

Davon St. John drives for a layup during a bit of a practice session today at Williams Park in advance of Saturday's third annual 3-on-3 Tournament organized by Jerry Smith.

The tournament this year is sponsored for the first time by The Batavian.

Registration opens at 10 a.m. First game is at 11 a.m.

The cost is $50 per four-player team. Each team is guaranteed at least four games.

There are boys and girls divisions grades 5 through 12, an 18-19 year-old division, and a 30 and over division.

The winners will receive champion T-shirts.

Event supporters include Venue Entertainment, Big Pauly's Pizza, Southside Deli, Extreme Streetwear, Direct TV, Showtime Player Development, Buffalo 716ers, Erie Hurricanes, Ficarella's Pizzeria, and Genesee Clean-Out.

Thanks to Davon and his father, David, for the fun game of 21. It's the first time I've played basketball in at least 25 years.

Davon is entering his junior year at Bennett High School in Buffalo. He was part of the Pembroke program. His father hopes there might be a way he can return to Genesee County -- Batavia or Pembroke -- before the start of the high school basketball season.

Late this afternoon, there was a robust game of basketball at Williams Park. The players were Greg Solomonidis, Dustin Pilc, David Burr, Coty Patrizi, Manny Delrosayrio, Mike Jamil.