Granville Then & Now – Summer arrives and graduates celebrate a milestone

By Erik Pekar, Town Historian

Summer has arrived. After the abnormally cooler weather over the weekend of June 18, this last weekend, the first of summer, was a warm one. Temperatures peaked in the 90s, with hardly a cloud in sight during the day. It suffices to say that it certainly was a scorcher.

+ + +

Granville’s graduation ceremony for the Class of 2022 occurred last Friday evening, June 24. Many attended the important event, with a crowd of lawn chairs surrounding the class as was seen in previous years. Quaker Street was lined with cars as far north as Williams Street and as far south as Montray Place, with every parking lot available filled with cars.

The speeches were given, the diplomas, awards and scholarships given out, and when it was all over the caps went flying. The Class of 2022 had now formally graduated from Granville High School. At that time, the crowd of family, friends and teachers merged with the group of graduates themselves. Congratulations were exchanged, and many a conversation was had. After some time, the crowd began to disperse, the cars left, and by 9 p.m. Quaker Street looked as it usually did late on a Friday night.

With graduation now behind them, the members of the Class of 2022 now commence with the rest of their lives. Congratulations to the Class of 2022, and best of luck with your plans and endeavors.

+ + +

The new look at the Glens Falls National Bank was completed this month. A new clock sign was installed on June 3 and 4. The old sign, which had served the bank well for more than a decade, had only a segmented display that only showed the time and temperature. The new sign has an LED display that allows for different colors. Like the old sign, the new sign displays the time (now with A.M. or P.M.) and temperature. The new sign also has a static portion, as did the old one. This has the name of Glens Falls National Bank, white on a maroon-like background. For the first time, the connection as an “Arrow Company” is mentioned directly on the sign. Over the installation weekend, it displayed test messages. Despite the name of the bank being on the static maroon sign above, the LED display company still managed to misspell the bank’s name in the test message as “Glen Falls.”

The sign was the culmination of an exterior remodeling effort on the part of Glens Falls National. Last year the old “Granville Branch” sign along the driveway was removed, and new lettering placed directly on the building, both facing the driveway and Route 22. The appearance of the window at the drive-thru was also changed. The brush was cut in the fence circle near the bank, greatly improving the visibility of the bank and the sign with the display.

+ + +

The Route 22 Farmers’ Market is at a new location. First held for the year on June 6, it is now located at the village parking lot off Main and Church Streets, near the Village Yarn Shop. The market previously was held near Mountainview Commons off Quaker Street. The market requested the new location to increase visibility. The village gave them the option of two parking lots, the one at Veterans Memorial Park or the one at Main and Church Streets; they chose the latter. The Route 22 Farmers’ Market is held every Monday from 2 to 5 p.m.

+ + +

Paving projects continue in the Granville area. Washington County finished its paving in the village last week when they painted the yellow center lines and white edge lines on North Street and Pine Street. They also repainted the markings of several county roads, including the section of Church Street repaved last month by the village.

NYSDOT has finished the paving portion of its work on Route 22 from Comstock to West Granville and last week the center rumble strip was installed. NYSDOT road-marking paint trucks have been going around reapplying the marking on the local state highways. Markings of a different type have appeared on Granville’s Main Street, which is scheduled to be repaved by NYSDOT this year. No date has been announced for when the repaving will occur.