This weekend’s events include Caring for Your Cemetery Day on Saturday, May 3 from 1:30pm to 3:30pm at the Town-owned Guilderland Cemetery on Osborne Road in Guilderland Center.   This special event was rescheduled due to last weekend’s heavy rain.  This weekend’s forecast calls for showers which should not impact the cleaning of gravestones and removing overgrowth.  You can get more information by calling the Parks & Rec Office at (518) 456-3150 or by emailing Parks Foreman Dave Jenkins at jenkinsd@togny.org.

On Saturday, May 3 from 9am to 2pm, the Guilderland Garden Club is holding a garage sale at the Town-owned historic Mynderse-Frederick House located at 451 Main Street (Route 146) in Guilderland Center.   All profits will support the Club’s scholarship fund.  

On Thursday, May 15 at 1:30pm at the Guilderland Public Library, the Guilderland Historical Society’s feature speaker is the City of Albany Historian Tony Opalka who will talk about the 150-year history of the Albany Fire Department from early bucket brigades, later volunteer companies, to the professional period that began in 1867 and remains today.  Mr. Opalka is the author of a book The Firehouses of Albany, which combines history, anecdotes, extensive illustration, photographs, maps, and documents for nearly 400 years of firefighting in Albany.

Community Events & Resources

On next Tuesday, May 6 at 6:15pm at the Library, the Guilderland Historical Society and the Town's American Revolution 250th Anniversary Committee are having its inaugural meeting for a new book club featuring the books about the Revolution.  This series will start with Rick Atkinson's award-wining book The British Are Coming.   Registration for this special event is open through Monday, May 6 at Noon.

On this Saturday, May 3 from 10am to 4pm and Sunday, May 4 from Noon to 4pm, the Library is hosting a Book Sale.  Tomorrow from 4pm to 8pm, the Library is offering a Preview Night Book Sale, with a $10 admission, with a limit of purchasing 10 items at the listed price.  On Sunday, the Library will provide bags for $10 for filling with books.  The event’s sale proceeds will benefit the Library’s programs and services.  

The Albany Pine Bush Preserve’s month-long Lupine Fest 2025 starts this week to celebrate the blooming of the wild blue lupine with guided hikes, interactive exhibits, live music, wildlife encounters, and participating in conservation efforts.  On Thursday, May 15 at 7pm, the Preserve is hosting a seminar entitled Butterfly and moth diversity in Preserve, when you can learn more about high diversity of winged insects in the Preserve’s barrens habitats, highlight the species found in the Preserve, and explain how these species are managed and monitored to both protect them and to learn how management decisions are affecting the Preserve overall.  

On Friday, May 16 from 5:30pm to 7:30pm, A Night with the Arts which will honor the legacy of renowned wildlife artist Wayne Trimm.   Mr. Trimm was a frequent contributor to the Conservationist magazine.  The ticketed evening will also feature the first public screening of Scorching Success, a short film that captures the Preserve’s transformative use of prescribed fire. 

On Friday, May 30 from 4pm to 7:30pm, the Preserve is presenting "Nature Night Out", when the Pine Bush Discovery Center will have extended hours until 7:30pm to capitalize on longer sunlit hours.  You can enjoy live music while dining on a meal from food truck vendors, go on a StoryWalk adventure along the trail, and learn about the natural & cultural history of the Pine Bush with interactive Discovery Center exhibits. 

On Wednesday, June 25 at 7pm, you can join in National Butterfly Count Volunteer Training, a virtual seminar, when you can learn about butterfly habitat in the Preserve and how you can participate in the 2025 National Butterfly Count.

On Saturday, May 17 from 8am to 2pm, the Westmere Fire Department is hosting a Flea Market, with breakfast sandwiches, hamburgers and hotdogs, donuts, cookies, and ice cream.  If you would like to participate as a vendor and sell your products at this event, you can email for information. 

Community Caregivers’ weekly Lunchtime Chats, including “The First Solo Voyage Around the World,” tomorrow at 1pm, and “Music & The Mind,” next Wednesday, May 7 at 1pm.   You can easily join and listen in on these one-hour chats by calling (518) 992-6661.  You can help with Community Caregivers in fulfilling its mission by volunteering your time and/or making donations. 

As you may have read, the Federal government is withdrawing support for many social programs that impact food pantries.  Since 1979, the Guilderland Food Pantry has responded to food insecurity in our community.  In just four years, monthly visits to the Pantry have increased from 60 to 196 visits.  You can help the Pantry by making credit card, Venmo or cash donations, arranging for Amazon food deliveries, or dropping off food donations at the Pantry.  Non-perishable food items can be dropped off at the Pantry during regular hours or left in the collection bin located outside the Pantry at 4 Charles Boulevard.  The Pantry is open Monday through Saturday from 9:30am to 11:00am.     

On this Sunday May 4 at 2:30pm, the 45th Annual John U. Miller Memorial CROP Hunger Walk, which raises awareness and hopefuuly donations to end world hunger, takes place in Albany.  The event provides 25% of the raised funds to local food pantries.  You can get more details about registering for this event or making an online donation.

Thank you for taking the time to read this newsletter.  

Peter G. Barber

Town Supervisor