At Thursday's annual meeting of the Business Improvement District at Center Street Smokehouse in Batavia, My Cut Barbershop was honored as business of the year and Sara Tenney was named the BID's volunteer of the year.

My Cut is located on the first floor of the Masonic Temple building, 200 E. Main St., Batavia.

Join us for our annual FeBREWary Beer Walk Downtown Saturday, Feb. 24 from 4 - 8 p.m. with 23 participating businesses. Registration is to be held at GO ART!

Come walk The Downtown Business Improvement District, sip some delicious craft beer, and visit local businesses. Shop our downtown as you visit with friends and family, eat some great food, and see what is new. 

FeBREWary tickets are $35.00 per person, and you must be 21 or over to attend. No one under 21 will be allowed entry. 

Tickets are available at Adam Miller Toys & Bicycles, Yngodess Shop, and Eventbright. For more information, visit our Facebook page or at www.bataviabid.com.

Press release:

Join us in the holiday spirit at the annual Christmas in the City celebration on Saturday, Dec. 2, from 2 to 6 p.m. with the Downtown Holiday Parade starting at 6 p.m.

Christmas in the City activities include pictures with Santa, holiday crafts, cookie decorating, chili, hot cocoa, face painting, sleigh rides, family portraits and more! Several downtown businesses will be offering activities, crafts, and in-store specials. For a full listing of activities, go to www.bataviabid.com.

The parade begins promptly at 6 p.m. at Wendy's and makes its way down Main Street east toward Liberty/Summit Streets. 

Join us in our scavenger bunt bingo throughout Downtown, exploring and and supporting our small businesses. Bingo begins at Iburi Photography at 35 Jackson St. and ends at GO ART!, 201 East Main St. There are 22 business bingo stops. 

For more information on Christmas in the City, see The Batavian's previous story: Snow is here, December is coming, it must be time for Christmas in the City

Batavia’s downtown Business Improvement District members would like to spend some of their more than $220,000 capital account to enhance the downtown area, and because that will take a city amendment to do so, a public hearing is necessary.

While trying to obtain a schedule of events for the second annual Italian Festival, scheduled for July 29 and promoted this year along with a classic car cruise, The Batavian has learned that the event has been canceled.

“The BID has decided not to move forward with Italian Fest this year,” the group’s executive director, Shannon Maute, said Monday. “Although we loved the event, we have decided to focus on our other events.”

During BID’s — which stands for Business Improvement District — annual awards get-together in April, Maute shared that upcoming events, including the Italian Fest, would be “bigger and better than ever.” It was quietly canceled, per the online note and line drawn through the event name on its own page. 

On Monday, Maute emphasized that BID is still forging ahead with its boxcar derby, set for 8:30 a.m. Aug. 26 just outside of downtown on Ellicott Avenue, and the annual Wine Walk has been penciled in already for 4 to 8 p.m. Oct. 7 in downtown Batavia, with this year’s theme being “Under the Big Top.”

Vette opened the Thursday Night concert series in Jackson Square yesterday.

The band consists of Kole Moore, lead vocals and rhythm guitar, Alex Fitzak, lead guitar, and on Thursday, the substitute rhythm section was Mike "Thunder" Warren on bass and Alex DeSmit on drums.

The next show is the band Free Beer on Thursday, followed by Qwister on Aug. 10 and Radio Relapse on Aug. 17.

The concerts are hosted by the Business Improvement District.

The Friday evening concert series in Jackson Square, sponsored by the Business Improvement District, kicked off the 2023 season with the Skycats.

Photos by Howard Owens.

The Business Improvement District hosted its inaugural Cider Walk, modeled after the popular Wine Walk in the Fall, in Downtown Batavia on Friday.

Photos by Nick Serrata.

The Soapbox Derby, sponsored by the Business Improvement District, returns for 2023 with sleeker, larger, faster car kits, organizers announced today.

The race will be at the same locations as last year -- Ellicott Street at Richmond, next to Centennial Park in Batavia -- on August 26.

During the downtown annual beer walk, an out-of-town participant won a gift card, which not only brought her back, but she had her whole family in tow. They shopped at Empire Hemp and booked a massage at The Spa at Artemis, promising to return for dinner and stop into Valle Jewelers to browse and hopefully purchase some of the shop’s dazzling items on display.

That is perhaps the epitome of what a Business Improvement District event is all about, and Executive Director Shanon Maute shared that visitor’s excitement of winning and exploring downtown Batavia during BID’s annual awards get-together Thursday evening.

“The events, and what they mean to our community — where do I start? Let’s start with the Wine Walk, Beer Walk and the newly added Cider Walk. These events may not seem that impactful, but on a typical walk, they get over 600 people downtown and into our businesses,” Maute said at Center Street Smokehouse. “We are not only getting locals, but we are seeing more and more people from out of town. The reactions we get from them are great. They tell us how much they love our downtown and had no idea that some of these businesses were here — sad but true. We do see a lot of repeat business from these walks.”

That one winning participant and her family, on their return trip, had lunch at one restaurant and dessert at another before shopping and getting a pampering treatment at Artemis, Maute said. They took advantage of much that downtown retailers and eateries had to offer, with no time left to even complete their to-do list during one visit.

“I call that a success!” Maute added.

That might make one wonder if locals look at downtown with similar fresh-eyed excitement of a visitor or take for granted those shopping and eating opportunities. Maute doesn't, and hopes to increase the attention drawn to inner-city offerings.

“I have not lost my excitement for our downtown and look forward to our upcoming events. The Board of Directors, the committees, and our volunteers have been amazing and have really supported my ideas, and I greatly appreciate each and every one of them,” Maute said. “The committee members have become my extended family, and I could not have done these events without them, so thank you.”

She announced the newly added event this year that will be coming up in about six weeks: the inaugural Cider Walk on June 17. Italian Fest and the Boxcar Derby are being tweaked to be "bigger and better than ever," doubling in size, she said.

Other events include:

• Friday night Jackson Square concerts resume on July 7
• Thursday concerts on July 13 and 20, August 10 and 17
• Italian Festival and a Classic Car Show is set for July 29
• BID Boxcar Derby on August 26
• Scarecrow Contest in September
• Wine Walk on October 7
• Shop Local in November
• Christmas in the City December 2
• Febrewary Beer Walk has been slated for February 24

Maute then presented awards to the Volunteer of the Year, Lauren Becht, for being “one of the nicest, most positive people I have met” and for serving on every committee, always being available and willing to help out — whether it’s racing Maute down a hill in a Big Wheel to test the hill before the Box Car Derby or stuff her car full of pumpkins for the Paint Your Pumpkins Pink breast cancer campaign — Becht was there.

“And she does it all with a smile,” Maute said. “I know I can always count on her for anything.”

Next up was Business of the Year, and that went to Judy Hysek for her vegan restaurant that began as an incubator trial inside of Eli Fish Brewery on Main Street. The concept and place — Eden Cafe and Bake Shop — grew and became popular enough to move out on its own, which it did nearly a year ago.

The site has its own brick-and-mortar location at 242 Ellicott St., and Maute is “very happy to say this was a success story” that she could announce.

“The award for Business of the Year is actually a business that I am very proud of and have personally been there since the beginning and watched them grow,” Maute said. “I highly recommend stopping in. Tell them Shannon sent you; it won’t get you anything. I just think it would be funny.”

BID's goals include continuing to cross-promote each other’s businesses; create relationships amongst all BID businesses; increase their online presence; target events toward the “next generation to bring vitality back to downtown.”

The BID is made up of board officers Derek Geib as president, John Roche, vice president, Glenn Liucci, treasurer, Kourtney Kunichika, secretary; and members Rachael Tabelski, city manager, Peter Casey, Ken Mistler, Patti Pacino, Marty Macdonald, Carrie Lawrence, Shelly Wolanske, Peter Hunt, Lauren Becht, Patrick Burk, Cregg Paul and Sara Tenney.

Top Photo of people mingling during the annual BID awards get-together Thursday at Center Street Smoke House in Batavia, by Howard Owens; Volunteer of the Year Lauren Becht and BID Executive Director Shannon Maute, and Business of the Year Eden Cafe and Bake Shop, left, Thomas Shaw, line cook, Shannon Maute, owner Judy Hysek, and chef manager Nicole DellaPenna; and the unofficial Best Dressed Award went to My Cut Barbershop, presented to owner Zach Watts. seen also with Victor Thomas, Connor Hyde-Hamilton and Ray Williams; and no ID available for the speaker, all courtesy of BID. Live musical duo entertains during the evening, by Howard Owens.