Granville Then & Now – Christmas lights everywhere this year

By Erik Pekar, Town Historian

Granville is getting into the holiday spirit. The special team of volunteers have been busy at work for the past few weeks setting up decorations. A large push was made in the efforts of decorating the village over the past two weekends. Garland was placed on the light poles, and the bridges: Main Street, Church Street and the rail trail. Progress was made with placing lights on trees in Veterans Memorial Park.

More building outline lights have been placed on buildings in the village, including the Lions Club warehouse off Main Street, and the Manchester building on East Main. Early in November, building outline lights were placed on the Pember elevator addition. These lights have been turned on as they are completed. The lights of the original installation made last year on Main Street have been on since late March. The building outline lights have received great praise in and out of Granville. The lights are stylish and welcoming; this has been seen on Granville’s Miracle Way for months and show now on buildings all over the village.

Granville’s light displays have been expanded in scope from last year. Granville’s volunteers have been busy. The displays are looking to be Granville’s best yet this holiday and Christmas season.


The Granville area recently received a break from the seasonable cool fall weather. From Nov. 5 to No. 11, the area had a heat wave, with daily temperature highs reaching more than 60 degrees, and on some of those days nearing 70 degrees. The last warm day was Nov. 11, which was cloudy all day, with infrequent light rain showers in the afternoon.

The heat wave broke on Nov. 12. The temperature was warmest early in the morning before sunrise and cooled throughout the day. With the heat wave gone, fall weather is upon Granville once more.


Veterans Day did not go unnoticed in Granville. A small group of members of the Granville Post of the American Legion and the Falvey-Fringi Post of the VFW held ceremonies at the monuments in Veterans Memorial Park, in front of Granville High School, at the Mettowee Valley Cemetery, and at the Memorial Clock. The group stopped at the Main Street bridge over the Mettowee River to drop a wreath into the river.


The crosswalk improvement project of the state DOT is underway. New crosswalk ramps have been poured and are in use along East Main Street, West Main Street, and Quaker Street. At some of these crosswalks, such as the north end of the crosswalk at Irving Avenue, there was no ramp from crosswalk to sidewalk.

The crosswalk on West Main Street at Edwards Market is a reality. There had not been a crosswalk in the area for 14 years. This will certainly help with pedestrian crossing, especially for those going to Edwards Market.

While the new crosswalk on West Main Street was needed and will benefit Granville, it is not the only location in Granville where a crosswalk would be helpful. A crosswalk on Quaker Street at Veterans Memorial Park would help people attending events there, such as the summer concerts. There are currently no crosswalks on East Main Street. A crosswalk on East Main Street between North Street and Slocum Avenue would aid people crossing the street without having to use the crosswalk that crosses Main Street at its widest and busiest point, between the corners with Church Street and those with North Street, or resort to waiting for a long break in traffic and cross East Main Street. These crosswalks may or may not have been suggested or requested of the village by residents over the years, but cannot be built by the village itself because the crosswalks are on Route 149, a state highway, and such work on crosswalks has to be done by the New York State DOT.


The capital project of the Granville Central School District is wrapping up for this year. At the Mary J. Tanner School in Middle Granville, the older playground structure is being replaced with a new one. At the Granville High School grounds, the renovations of the football field and track are complete. The grass has grown in the fields around the track and the field that was dug up this summer south of Memorial Lane. New notice signs have been hung at the entrance gates. A new flag pole was put up near the scoreboard last Tuesday. The new look of Sam Eppolito Field is an improvement over its appearance a year ago, and will prove to be a showpiece of the Granville High School and the Granville Central School District as a whole.