Gowanda Small Town Times

While we haven’t quite made it to Labor Day, the first preliminary contests for the high school Fall sports season are on the horizon. Leading the way will be the Pine Valley/Gowanda Varsity girls soccer team who will face Silver Creek at 10 am on Friday, August 29. This first action of the Fall season will take place on the team’s home field at Pine Valley.

The next day, Saturday, August 30, Gowanda’s Varsity volleyball and football teams will both see their first pre-season action. Volleyball will be at Falconer at 8 am and football will be at Springville for a 5:30 pm game.

None of the Gowanda Fall Varsity sports teams will see any home action in Gowanda until Friday, September 5, when the Gowanda Varsity volleyball team will host North Collins at 6:30 pm.

[photo] Members of local fire companies along the finish line await the arrival of the bulk of the derby ducks.

On Sunday, August 24, the annual Ducky Derby event was held in Gowanda. After using the new amphitheater at Gateway Park for spectator seating the past couple years, the race was relocated to Creekside Park for 2025. Gowanda’s Community Watch group added to the event by hosting a Community Picnic at the same location.

Community Watch volunteers gave out hot dogs and hamburgers to attendees while also accepting donations towards future activities. Several other local groups also set up booths during the event. Additionally, there was a duck mascot on hand plus horse rides in the park for the children. Despite some gloomy skies at noon, and a couple of rain drops, the skies cleared as predicted going into the afternoon.

[photo] A raft, with the duck mascot onboard, prepares to head upstream with the ducks prior to the start of the race.

The picnic began at noon while race goers were arriving for the 2 pm main event. Members of local fire companies were on hand to manage the derby. At race time, along with the duck mascot, two fire department members took two bins of derby ducks upstream to the starting point for the race. After releasing the ducks, the raft cruised back to the finish line to prepare for the arrival of the ducks there. Fortunately for race officials, the first five ducks managed to separate themselves from the pack (and each other) quite well making it very easy to determine the first five finishers. The finish line crew had to work a bit faster collecting and calling out the next few arrivals which came in with less space between them. After ten places had been called out, the finish line crew reverted to collection duties picking up the remaining duck to race another day.

Winning ducks were:

1st Place [$200] #380 “Tommy” owned by Thomas Bartlett II

2nd Place [$150] #410 “Duke 2” owned by Jim Galati

3rd Place [$50] #389 “Peanut” owned by Ason Offhaus

4th Place [$50] #204 “Joey” owned by Mark C. Burr

5th Place [$50] #395 “Dustin” owned by Elliott Bernard

6th Place [$50] #432 “Jackson” owned by Donna Byroads

7th Place [$25] #115 “Chucky 9” owned by Charlie Smith

8th Place [$25] #212 - unnamed - owned by Darlene Stark

9th Place [$25] #398 “Hillbilly” owned by James Kittle

10th Place [#25] #15 “frodo” owned by Fred Davis

Jamestown Community College has put out another list of high school students earning part time Dean;s List honors for the Fall 2024 and Spring 2025 semesters. To be eligible, students must achieve a minimum GPA of 3.50 or better while enrolled in six to 11 degree credits.

Several Gowanda students were named as follows:

For Fall 2024, Chase Bolen, Molly Bowers, Holland Browning, Gracie Eddy, Max Hansen-Ivett, Santino Jefferlone, Tessa Kohn, Addison Kota, Danielle Krajewski, Seamus Matwijow, Maddison Smith, Sydney Smith, Demetra Spire and Helena Wallschlaeger.

For Spring 2025, Seamus Matwijow.

Monday, August 25

Gowanda Free Library - 10:15am to 3:30pm
Weekly Crafts

Collins Public Library - 10:30 to 11am
Lapsit with Miss Abby Ages 6 months to 3

Tuesday, August 26

Assemblyman Joe Sempolinski - 6 to 7 pm
Town Hall Meeting at Hollywood Theater

Thursday, August 28

Collins Public Library - 3 to 4:45pm
Free Family Movie

Friday, August 29

Gowanda Harley Davidson - 5 to 8 pm
Rock & Rumble Bike Night Music by Apple Jack

Thursday, August 31

Gowanda Free Library - 4:30 pm
Big Chef - New recipes for adults

Jamestown Community College recently announced Dean’s List honors for full-time high school students enrolled part-time in college courses for the 2024/25 Fall and Spring terms. To be eligible, students must achieve a minimum GPA of 3.50 or better while enrolled in at least 12 degree credits.

One recent GCS graduate, Jillian Gernatt, was named to the list for the Fall 2024 term. Gernatt was also the Gowanda Class of 2025 Valedictorian.