Bill Burk's collective writing...and some other stuff.

The Grape Discovery Center of Westfield, N.Y.

“Studying wine taught me that there was a very big difference between soil and dirt; dirt is to soul what zombies are to humans. Soil is full of life, while dirt is devoid of it.”

Oliver Magny – Wine expert, author and entrepeneur

Wine making depends on soil quality; you know where the good soil is by what you can grow. Different soils lend themselves to different vintages of wine. Places like NAPA Valley, with its diverse climate, 68 square miles tucked between the Mayacamas Range to the west and the Vaca Mountains on the east is an obvious choice. So too the Finger Lakes in central New York.

On the coast of Lake Erie generally, and in Chautauqua County between Dunkirk and Ripley specifically, the soil is prime for the concord grape, and the wine you can make from it.

The Lake Erie wine region is a hidden gem in American viticulture. Spanning parts of Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York, hugging the coast of the great lake, it’s distinguished by its unique climate, soil composition, and geographical location, creating an ideal environment for wine production. The concord grape, with its deep root system thrives here. Lake Erie keeps the local weather from extreme fluctuations (though you would be hard pressed to convince local snow-belt survivors of that), which allows for a longer growing season and relatively stable conditions for the concord grape.

In recognition of the importance, and economic impact of this region as a wine mecca, the Grape Heritage Foundation constructed The Grape Discovery Center In February 2010.

“We consider ourselves the educational and historical center of the Lake Erie grape corridor,” says Deb Howser. “There are thirty-thousand acres of vineyards in a hundred-fifty miles along the lake.” Deb is the manager of the Discovery Center. “Here we have representations of most of the products from those vineyards. We are able to sell quite a few of the wines from New York State, and we showcase those from Pennsylvania.”

The Center is an inauspicious building, located slightly off the beaten path on Route 20 off New York State 90 between Westfield and Ripley, N.Y. From the roadside it’s an unassuming building, but a revelation inside. It features a tasting bar with wines from the area, an exhibit room, interactive learning displays, and a souvenir shop with apparel, food, and art from local artisans.

The economic impact of the industry is undeniable. With a worldwide distribution of the products from the area, the grape district supports almost 2,000 jobs. The total economic impact is $340 million, which includes sales generated by juice processors, growers, wine production, and and other businesses from whom the vineyards purchase. About $54 million is paid out in wages from over 800 producers on those 30,000 acres of vineyards. Total sales approaches $210 million, with $17.5 from wine production. Some 35,000 tourists visit annually. The center is celebrating its ten-year anniversary.

A premier event for the center is the Westfield Grape and Wine Festival, held at Moore Park in Westfield, N.Y., coming September 7^th and 8^th. This is the second year of the festival, that has something for the whole family all centered around the grape. “There are grape pies and ice cream as well as the wines and juice.” Howser says. “We’ll have vineyard tours and feature antique equipment.”

Most recently the Center has housed brewing operations for Ghostfish Brewing Company. The Seattle based company has one of the premier gluten free craft beers on the market. The Center will be selling that unique product soon.

Meanwhile, there’s plenty of wine.

The Town Names of Chautauqua County

Why They’re Called What They’re Called

Chautauqua county has twenty-seven towns (fifteen villages and eighteen school districts for what it’s worth). That’s a lot of governing done by a lot of people; tax assessments, elections, sewer districts, utilities, police, fire, and transportation department management, more taxes. Each entity carving out a distinction, an image for the world to see, maybe make a case for visitors to stop in and spend some money, or people to make their home.

And, they all had to be named (the study of names is onomastics for you lexicologists).

The name Chautauqua is native American, derived from a lost language of the Erie tribe. The lake, town, and institution of Chautauqua share the name. A Seneca Indian tribe inhabited the land back then as well and contributed names from their language to Cassadaga (the word meaning “water under the rocks”), and Kiantone, from the Seneca word kyenthone, meaning “a level place for growing corn”. Not wildly exciting or mysterious original descriptions, but more singular than pointing and describing what you see, like Lakewood (lake and woods), Westfield originated in a field west of Ripley, Silver Creek (water that looks silver), Forestville (a ville next to a forest), Lily Dale (a dale full of lilies), or Cherry Creek (see Silver Creek).

Many were named after the man who first set down roots in a spot. Busti after Paul Busti, Ellicott after Joseph Ellicott, Bemus after William Bemus. These three in particular procured their property from the Holland Land Company and successfully petitioned to have it named for them.

Jamestown is named after James Prendergast, an early Chautauqua County settler.

The county seat, Mayville, was named by the Holland Land Company, when Paul Busti successfully petitioned Joseph Ellicott for permission to name the village after Busti’s wife under her maiden name of May. Elizabeth May was from a prominent English family and married Paul Busti. The couple had no children and she never visited western New York.

Not a town, but the hamlet of Ripley was titled for Eleazer Wheelock Ripley, a general in the War of 1812. Sinclairville was founded in 1809 and named for the American Revolutionary War Major Samuel Sinclear. Celoron is named for Pierre Joseph Céloron de Blainville, a French officer and explorer of Ohio. Sheridan was named by John Loucks for the Civil War Union general Phil Sheridan. During the 1870s Patrick Falconer donated a bunch of land to the Dunkirk Allegheny Valley and Pittsburg Railroad using his name for the depot in a place called Worksburg, later named after the landowner.

At least four are looked-like places. Randolph was named in honor of Randolph, Vermont by its early settlers. Poland for…well, Poland. Dunkirk was called Chadwick Bay in 1805 and renamed because its harbor reminded people of Dunkirk (Dunkerque), France. Panama was named after its rocks, which were named after the Isthmus of Panama by a man called Panama Joe.

The county is big on memorializing signers of the Declaration of Independence, even if these namesakes, like Elizabeth May, never set foot here. William Ellery, George Clymer, Roger Sherman, and Richard Stockton all signed; all have towns in Chautauqua named after them.

Clymer was a Pennsylvanian, first president of Philadelphia Bank, first president of the Philadelphia Academy of Fine Arts, and vice-president of the Philadelphia Agricultural Society.

Roger Sherman is the only person to have signed all four of the most significant documents in our nation’s early history: the Continental Association from the first Continental Congress, the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation, and the United States Constitution. He was a favorite son of Connecticut.

Richard Stockton was one of five New Jersey signees.

The Town of Gerry was named after Elbridge Gerry, Vice President of the United States in 1812 and also a signer of the Declaration of Independence.

William Ellery also signed. He was a supreme court judge in Rhode Island.

For some of the “F” towns; Findlay Lake was named in 1815 for the man who built the dam that powered his mills and created the lake, Alexander Findlay.

The first European family who settled in the area were purportedly the Frews in 1807. Tack on the burgh and you have Frewsburg.

French Creek is named for a fort the French used near Erie. Legend has it George Washington traveled the creek to ask the French to abandon their Pennsylvania stronghold.

And finally, Fredonia is derived from the English word “freedom” with a Latin ending. The creator of the name, Samuel Latham Mitchill, proposed it as an alternative to using The United States for our country.

Imagine the implications.

The Spirited Saga of The Firecracker 10K. Hound’s CHASE!

A Dash Through Lakewood’s Iconic Footrace

Forty-three shirts. All different colors and designs. Enough to fill a large dresser or a small closet.

Forty-three shirts for forty-three years.

That’s how long people of all ages have lined up on Terrace Avenue on an early morning on or near to July 4^th in shorts and running shoes, taken off on foot, and ended back where they started 6.2 miles and between thirty and ninety minutes later. Before they covered that distance, they all got t- shirts and a runner’s bib. With an average of 300 runners a year (as high as 500 one year) that’s over 13,000 tops.

Welcome to the Lakewood Firecracker 10K—a rollicking holiday tradition that’s equal parts community block party, morning exercise, and road race. The Lakewood Firecracker 10K and 2 Mile Run/Walk will be held in Lakewood, NY, on Friday, July 4, 2025, with the 10K race starting at 9:00 AM. If you were prescient enough to preregister for the race you will receive shirt number 44.

Tom Anderson retired as the director of the Lakewood YMCA in 2022 after 31 years. A big part of his job was coordinating the annual Lakewood Firecracker race; engaging sponsors, signing up runners, and covering race day logistics. Of the 43 races run, Tom and his YMCA staff and team of volunteers have handed out thirty-two of those shirts when the YMCA took over the race from the Village of Lakewood in 1992. Tom says, “The July 4^th Firecracker run is more of a reunion for Lakewood than anything else. People come home from all over the country to see friends and family.”

The race originated in the early 80’s when jogging was all the craze in the United States and the idea of running K’s took off as a popular community fund-raising activity. The village of Lakewood organized the first race in 1981 as an add-on to an ambitious Jaycees sponsored Lakewood Beach 4^th of July carnival that included fireworks, a water-ski show, a parade down Terrace Avenue, rides, paratroopers landing in the lake, and -I kid you not- a guy who set himself on fire and jumped into a pool. Anderson says, “The 10K came in 1981, organized by the village and it started at the Chautauqua Mall. We took it over in 1992.”

That first shirt is older than most of the 400-500 people who line up to run today.

From the beginning, the Firecracker 10K was more a celebration of all things Lakewood, a warm-up for the events of the day; street vendors, beachfront games for kids, and the very popular fireworks show, where the beach hill becomes a sitting-room-only carpet of blankets and lawn chairs. The start of the race is like a reunion, where families and friends meet up. Once the race starts, non-runners cheer on the hoofers. Folks living along the race-route hand out water and encouragement. The event has blossomed, drawing bigger crowds and more runners each year. As running became more popular, more women, youth, and older athletes joined the fun, making the start line a true cross-section of the Lakewood community.

Proceeds from the race fund scholarships at the YMCA, who prides themselves on never turning away a child for financial reasons.

Randy Holcomb, mayor of the Village of Lakewood is a proud and enthusiastic supporter of the event. “Lakewood is grateful to be sponsoring the spirited Firecracker 10K & 2 Mile Run/Walk thru our scenic village, not only for promoting health and fitness, also for the support of our local community. Good luck to all participants!”

This year the Lakewood 4^th of July celebration will kick-off of Rock the Lake, a season-long series of concerts held at the beach gazebo. Event coordinator Michelle Turner says, “We are excited to bring this event to the Village of Lakewood as the LCDC continues its mission of improving the quality of life within the Village for all members of our community.”
Look for the series on Sundays at Lakewood’s Hartley Park, July 6th, 27th and August 10th, 24^th, from 2-5 pm.

NFL Coaching Rolodex: Personality vs. Competence

NFL Head Coaching Personalities Can Overshadow Competence

Apparently making bold, noxious predictions on TV, and owning a middling resume doesn’t get you hired in the NFL.

Per New York reporting, the Jets will not be hiring snowy-toothed ESPN GameDay pundit Rex Ryan, despite his obvious pining for the job on the weekly national TV broadcast. More than once in the past few weeks Ryan has used his GameDay pulpit to lobby for the job, with comments like, “when I get that job” (re3ferring to the open head coaching job in New York). When Mike Vrabel became one of the most obvious hires in recent memory with the New England Patriots last week, Ryan commented, “Hopefully I get to kick this guy’s ass twice a year.” Quickly adding, “By my team, not me personally.”

The Jets organization might just have been listening. Through sources, the team has dispelled rumors that Ryan will be overseeing operation Gang Green any time soon.

Ryan coached the Jets from 2009 to 2014. In those six seasons the team went 46-50. He then went to the Buffalo Bills and took a top five defense and dropped it to 19^th in the league, going 15-16 during that tenure. With their quarterback situation up in the air (Aaron Rodgers is not expected back in a Jets uniform), and the traditional woes of the franchise, bringing back an unsuccessful coach, just because of his on-air personality, looks to be a decision not even the relatively incompetent owner Woody Johnson is willing to make.

Ryan is fond of quoting what he considers NFL genius from his father Buddy Ryan, who coached in the late 80’s and early 90’s (“like my father always said…”). The elder Ryan was a legendary character in the game…who went 55-55-1 in head coaching stints at the Philadelphia Eagles and Arizona Cardinals.

Having a media savvy personality as the face of your NFL franchise might be an alluring hire. Looks like the Jets will decide to go with a coach more attuned to the game of today with a record of winning.

The West Wing Walk-and-Talk

Fans Love West Wing Walk-and-Talk
Very few techniques in television transform viewers into a time and place, the fictive dream, as much as the walk and talk film sequence. The rapid-action storytelling practice is versatile and can suit genres ranging from drama to comedy, making scenes feel lifelike and dynamic. It engages characters in conversation while they move through a space, shot with a steady or tracking camera, creating a dynamic method to deliver dialogue, introduce characters and plot lines.
In the TV political drama West Wing, that space is the corridors of power in the White House. While walking the cast takes turns handing off snappy dialogue, workloads, schedules and plot drivers, so that much of the cast is presented to the TV audience in a steady stream of character and plot set-ups for that week’s episode.

One of the first and most effective uses of the walk and talk was the drama ER. The show frequently used walk-and-talk scenes in its fast-paced hospital environment to reflect the urgency and complexity of medical situations. The Michael Crichton written show, with special help from producer Steven Spielberg and his company Amblin Entertainment, ran from 1994, to April 2, 2009, 15 seasons with a total of 331 episodes. It was one of the longest-running and most successful medical dramas in television history.
Other shows that used the walk and talk include Grey’s Anatomy, a hospital setting like ER; The Newsroom, another Sorkin vehicle like West Wing, this time in a newsroom; Suits, law firm offices, corridors and elevators; Mad Men, action in Sterling Cooper’s offices; House of Cards, the halls of congress; CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, through crime scenes and labs; The Wire, on the streets of Baltimore. Even half hour sitcoms like Scrubs and Brooklyn Nine-Nine have integrated the technique.
West Wing is the standard for the artform in television. Aaron Sorkin perfected the technique to create the bustle and energy of one of the most explosive working environments in the world, to show off his unparalleled skill at tetchy, abrupt and technical dialogue, and to showcase the witty, likable characters that make up the fictional Bartlett administration spearheaded by Martin Sheen as President of the United States.

Josh Allen Saves The Buffalo Bills

Buffalo Bills Fans Think Josh Allen Might Have Saved The Franchise

The NFL Buffalo Bills have a wall of heroes, posted on a ring around the inside of High Mark Stadium in Orchard Park, New York. It’s a list of legends from the storied franchise; Cookie Gilchrist, Joe Ferguson, Jim Kelly, even OJ is up there.

There will be a new name there in the near future, Josh Allen. Some fans think it should be on the outside of the new stadium being built for the team.

The Bills are a small market NFL team, second smallest only behind the City of Champions Green Bay Packers. The Bills market size is around 632,000 people, and Highmark Stadium holds 71,608 people.

Since Allen first suited up in his #17 Bills uniform, five years ago, Buffalo has played nine Monday Night games. It took them nineteen years to play that many games before Allen. They’ve played twelve Sunday night games. It took twenty-four years for them to play twelve games pre-Allen. The renewed relevance of this small market team can be attributed directly to Allen and his Superman play on the field. He’s a needle-moving Q-Rating machine. When he plays, people watch.

NFL teams move for greener grass, especially when they can’t fill stadiums and generate local revenue. Owners get fidgety when local governments don’t support the team (with tax incentives to build new venues). In 1999, rumors that the Bills would leave Buffalo filled the air in Western, New York (two years prior the Browns bolted for Baltimore, to replace the Colts who left a decade earlier). They were coming off a 6-10 season, missing the playoffs. The stars of the team, who propelled the franchise to four straight Super Bowls were moving on, retiring or being traded.

Along came Doug Flutie. He started fifteen games for the Bill in 1999, winning eleven. They went to the playoffs as favorites (losing to the Tennessee Titans in the Music City Miracle). It would be the final season that Bruce Smith, Andre Reed, and Thurman Thomas were on the team together. All three were released at the end of the season due to salary cap issues.

The Bills wouldn’t get back to the playoffs until 2017.

Flutie filled Rich Stadium with his inspired play, his David versus Goliath routine. He sold jerseys, he prevented TV blackouts, they made a breakfast cereal bearing his name, Flutie Flakes. He might have saved the franchise in Buffalo.

In 2014 Bon Jovi and none other than Donald Trump sought to buy the team. Bon Jovi failed when it was learned he would try to move the team to Canada. Trump couldn’t get a bank to loan him the cash. But the rumors started again that the Bills were for sale and ripe to be located to a larger market.

Josh Allen has put a stop to all that chatter. He’s a marketing, seat-selling, NFL prodigy, and the Western New York has responded to his mega-stardom. The Buffalo Bills’ New Highmark Stadium, nicknamed “The Pit,” is under construction in Orchard Park, New York. Designed by Populous, it will seat 62,000 fans and feature a grass surface. The project, costing over $2.1 billion, is scheduled to open for the 2026 NFL season.

A lot of fans believe the stadium would not have been built without the newfound popularity of the team, the Buffalo Bills mafia, and the play of the best quarterback in the NFL.

Baseball is BACK!

If you’ve never been to a baseball fantasy camp…you’re smarter than me an my friends.

Tune in to WJTN FM this week to get a baseball fix, and hear about that wild ride.

Check out this week’s Bill Burk Talks; About Sports and Life on WJTN.

Wednesday around 8:40am. Streaming at https://radio.securenetsystems.net/cwa/index.cfm?CFID=eb6dc10d-c215-45d0-b2e7-e39b6ee456ab&CFTOKEN=0&stationCallSign=WJTN

THE GOOD OLD DAYS!

…weren’t always good, and tomorrow ain’t as bad as it seems.

Bill Joel

If you’re of a certain age, (ie: old) you’ll recognize a few names in this week’s Bill Burk Talks. If you’re not, have your search engine ready.

Wednesday around 8:40am. Streaming at https://radio.securenetsystems.net/cwa/index.cfm?CFID=eb6dc10d-c215-45d0-b2e7-e39b6ee456ab&CFTOKEN=0&stationCallSign=WJTN

Special thanks to Macey Estes for producing the bi-weekly sound. She makes me sound half-way decent!

2/28/24 On WJTN FM; Dennis Webster Show

Some walks are longer than others, no matter the distance.

Check out this week’s Bill Burk Talks; About Sports and Life on WJTN.

Wednesday around 8:40am. Streaming at https://radio.securenetsystems.net/cwa/index.cfm?CFID=eb6dc10d-c215-45d0-b2e7-e39b6ee456ab&CFTOKEN=0&stationCallSign=WJTN

Special thanks to Macey Estes for producing the bi-weekly sound. She makes me sound half-way decent!

My Great White Whale!

Apologies to Herman Melville
I’d like to preface this week’s talk by saying that I’ve never had a hole in 0ne, it is my white whale, On a golf course, I am Ahab.

If you’ve never read Moby Dick, all 13,000 pages of practically indecipherable prose, and which one of us hasn’t, you’ll recognize the cursed lament you are about to hear. If you haven’t then please bare with me
I’ll start.

There’s a white whale out there, it exists in my mind, the nod of other, the ones who stand on a level swatch of grass, weapon in hand, goal in front, and a keen eye for a prize. That prize is some distance off, measured in yards and years. It’s elusive, much on the side of impossible. But others, many more of a fact, many more skilled, many less so, many have skulled that white behemoth. Don’t let them fool you, the skilled and the unskilled alike.
They are, to a person, lucky so and sos.

With tee in my hand and ball in the other I set the course, seeking, as so many do, the very soul of perfection, the score of one.

“They think me mad – First for playing this impossible game, next for hunting the incredible within the impossible; hopelessness squared, then trebled, and finally, the last chance, the ultimate par 3 on this maddening sea.
The target -my whale- is almost beyond my aging sight. It’s great white snout barely visible across the expanse of green sea. Marked with a flag, a sign of where to look, where to strike. It might as well be a single wave on the vast sea, so elusive, so finite.

“But today is the day, I can feel it, deep in my bones, in my hands and my Footjoys. Let faith oust fact; let fancy oust memory; I look deep down the fairway and do believe.”
The others stand my side, they wait, knowing it is I alone the whale has escaped, they to a person, have conquered their own beast, some more than once,
They let me know, keep me informed of their loud victories against the great white,
They are, to a person, arrogant so and so’s.
“‘Stop your grinning,’ shout I, ‘and hand me my trusty harpoon.

“I’VE piled upon the whale’s white hump the sum of all the general rage and hate felt by my whole race from old Tom Morris, to Bobby Jones, Sneed, Palmer and Niclaus on down; and finally me, the Ahab of these times.
I try all things, I achieve what I can.”
My hopeless resignation is not understood,. It is not appreciated “To be enraged with a dumb brute an unlikely task, that acts out of blind instinct is blasphemous.” The ball nor the hole gives an acre of heed to my strike. It just sits there…
But MOCKING..mocking.
“To the last I grapple with thee; from hell’s heart I stab at thee; for hate’s sake I spit my last breath at thee.”
I strike and wail: Go in the hole you cursed thing”

“That wild madness that’s only calm to comprehend itself!” That clubbed harpoon that sails past the whale, and mocks me, looking back to say, what did you think was going to happen? That I’d wind up in that blow-hole? That I’d give you rest? That I’d put your name n the papers, and let you join that unholy cabal that has surely given some part of their soul to enjoy this achievement?
“That ain’t no whale; that a great white god.” I scream
Tis simply a hole in the ground, say my partners.
“Then all collapse, and the great shroud of the sea rolls on as it rolled five thousand years ago.”
I did not feel the wind, or smell the fresh cut of grass. I only stood, staring at the horizon, with the marks of some inner crucifixion and woe deep in my face.” As the small white ball slipped past the hole to settle with grim satisfaction in the shadow of the flag, and my fellow golfers said to me, “better luck next time”, which, incidentally, is exactly what I would have said to the Melvin’s Ahab.

For more of Bill Burk Talks go to WJTN podcasts on the web.

For more of my writing, hit me up at http://www.billburkwrotesomething.law.blog

Or check out my book RUN! From Civil War to the NFL; The Jehuu Caulcrick Story, available on Amazon.

Would love to hear from you.