With event approvals set, Village of Lewiston looking forward to warmer weather

By Joshua Maloni

GM/Managing Editor

A series of summer events were approved Tuesday – on one of the coldest days of the year – during the Village of Lewiston’s monthly meeting. Trustees approved the following motions:

•The Lewiston Garden Club’s request to host the annual GardenFest on June 20-21. The event serves as the club’s largest yearly fundraiser.

•The Lewiston Council on the Arts application to host the Lewiston Art Festival the weekend of Aug. 8-9; plus, LCA “Music Mondays” at Hennepin Park (June 29, July 6-27, Aug. 3) and special events at Academy Park (Fourth of July, a July 10 concert, and the return of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra on July 24)

Also approved – but not for summer:

•Niagara Hospice’s request to host the Mighty Niagara Half Marathon and Hospice Dash 5K on Saturday, Oct. 3.

The Red Brick Municipal Building.

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Changes to Red Brick campus

The Village Board voted in favor of:

•A motion to have the Red Brick Municipal Building windows replaced, contingent upon approval from the Town of Lewiston to fund this project.

White Andersen 400 Series windows will be designed to match what’s currently in place on the historic building at 145 N. Fourth St.

“We’re proposing a very similar product, that’s windows with (wood) vinyl clad,” Engineer Mike Marino told the Historic Preservation Commission last week. “They’ll pretty much look just like these, except with better energy efficiency. We’ll get a custom grid pattern to match the existing.”

The replacement program covers the Red Brick’s first and second floors, and would update basement windows; it does not include the glass block windows located above the gymnasium.

Funding would come from the Town of Lewiston’s six-and-a-half-megawatt energy fund derived from the New York Power Authority relicensing agreement.

•Granting an easement to Niagara Mohawk Power Corp. for placement of a new pole to be erected on the Red Brick campus to provide electric service to the property located at 145 N. Second St., as well as additional light in the playground.

2025 a busy year for LPD

Lewiston Police Department Chief Mike Salada informed trustees, “Our call volume was way up again,” in 2025.

He explained, “ ’23 had been our highest, and then ’24 was 56% higher than that. We ran just under 16,000 calls last year.”

“Everything was up – tickets, arrests, calls,” Salada said.

“That just means you guys do a good job,” Mayor Anne Welch said.