Partner Spotlight: Aimee Rogers, Imagine Forestville Team Member

We work to highlight a partner or community organization that is doing great things in our county. This month, we are highlighting Imagine Forestville with member and board president Aimee Rogers!

 1. Tell us about Imagine Forestville.

 In an effort to stop a big box store from tearing down a home in the Hamlet and build a store that would change the look of our community, we listened to the advice of Christiana Laminatus from Preservation Buffalo Niagara, to hold a meeting, and that began our adventure of trying to protect the Forestville that we loved. From that first meeting, we continue to meet monthly, and in the fall of 2018 we officially became Imagine Forestville, a not-for-profit dedicated to the preservation and enhancement of Forestville, with another goal added in 2023: to have fun!

2. What are some recent accomplishments achieved by this group? 

The most recent accomplishment was hosting our first ever, First Day Hikes, January 1, 2024 at the Forestville Hiking Trail. We offered hot cocoa, s'mores, and had a fire to warm up at after they hiked the almost one mile trail. Over 80 people attended and everyone had a great time.

Another recent accomplishment is being a recipient of a $20,000 grant from CCPEG to use for the betterment of our community. With those funds we are having design guidelines established for our Main Street, purchasing two chess/checkers tables and chairs to put up on Main Street, two bike racks, and hanging flower baskets. We are also having a new “Welcome to Forestville” sign made.

In July 2022, we officially opened the first hiking trail in Forestville and it was the first hiking trail in all of the Town of Hanover.

We are bringing back our “Welcome Baskets” to give to the new residents in the Hamlet. The baskets include gifts from our local businesses and a brochure with local information that will be helpful to our newest community members.

We now have a Garden Team! In 2023, the team installed new planters in front of Evans Bank on Main Street. More planters are being planned at other business location in 2024. They are also making plans for gardens along Main Street.

We just recently became a part of the “Adopt-A-Highway” program with the NYSDOT, and if you drive down Route 39 in either direction you will see two new signs that say “Adopt-A- Highway: Imagine Forestville Inc.”

We hold monthly meetings, many with guest speakers. We also hold an annual appreciation dinner in October for the many organizations and individuals that helped us that year.

In 2023 we began a “Community Recognition Award” where we publically honor, at our appreciation dinner, an individual who goes above and beyond for the community, either with present day efforts or their efforts in the past. Our first recipient was Richard Yeager, a long-time resident, mayor, serviceman, historian for our local Pioneer Cemetery, bike repairer for the youth, and who recently spearheaded the donation of a new POW flag to the Forestville High School to display next to the American Flag in the auditorium, just to name a few things he does for our community.

We have been included in the placement of two historic markers located in Forestville by the Town of Hanover historian, Vince Martonis. One marker designates Tupper Brook and the other marks the home of Attorney Daniel Sherman, who represented the Seneca Nation in the 1800s.

Every year we team up with the Fredonia Farmers Market and hold a farmers market on Main Street. We look forward to another farmers market this year.

In 2024, it will be our 6th year participating in the BLOOM event organized through Northern Chautauqua Community Foundation (NCCF). We love this event because it has brought beauty to our Forestville residential community! Every year we see more and more homes participating!

At our recent January 2024 meeting, Tom Halicki, Commander from our local American Legion, presented our group with a beautiful American Flag and stand to display it for our meetings. This idea of his to donate one came up when he noticed - while at our annual appreciation dinner in October - we had a very small and not well displayed flag. So he asked the American Legion membership if they would donate one to us. And they did! We are so grateful!

3. What are some exciting things you have planned for 2024?

We are looking forward to the completion and acceptance of our historic district nomination to SHPO (State Historic Preservation Office) which we have been diligently working on.

We have been approved by the NYS DOT to "Adopt a highway" on Route 39 that runs through the hamlet. With this acceptance we can work to not only clean up the roadway but it allows us to work on beautifying the Main Street which we plan on adding flowers, trees, etc.

We received funding through NCCF for trail signage. The plant identification plaques are being made by Forestville Central High School principal Dan Grande, and Tom Woodward is preparing the posts. We are hoping to work with the youth to locate and identify the trees, shrubs and plants using the ecological study we had done.

Installation of a 100 year old historic water trough, originally located on Park St. in Forestville, to be installed once again, not directly on Park St. but will hopefully be on the corner of Park and Main St. It will have a new purpose as a fountain!

We will once again be participating in project “BLOOM”, a residential garden recognition event sponsored by NCCF. For the past five years, we have teamed up with the Fredonia Garden Club and we are excited to team up with them again in 2024.

Looking forward to the return of the Farmers Market on Main Street for our 4th year! We are just in the beginning phase of planning a community-wide, outdoor event, to be held in July at the American Legion in Forestville that will include either the Cassadaga Community Band or the New Horizons Band!

Working with the school to begin labeling the trees and shrubs on the hiking trail and of course our annual clean-up the trail days! The youth have been a big help with maintaining the trail. We are so blessed to be able to partner with them.

We will be working along with the NYS Historic Business Preservation Registry to recognize businesses that have been in our community for over 50 years. The nominations will be presented by our Senator, George Borrello, as per SHPO instructions.

With the Fall Festival Committee, we plan on celebrating the long awaited “Grand Unveiling” ceremony of the town clock restoration project that we contributed to, sometime in 2024.

4. Imagine Forestville relies on community volunteers. Can you talk about the importance of this grass-roots community-driven effort to improve Forestville?

Nothing would be accomplished without the volunteers! We have been blessed with dedicated community members that love their hometown and would like it to remain as they remember it for future generations to enjoy. We are also blessed to have very knowledgeable, talented and creative individuals who love to help. Many of our members are lifelong residents, some are newer and some come from the surrounding areas such as Smith Mills, but we share the same passion. We love Forestville! Imagine Forestville would not be in existence without these dedicated members of all ages and walks of life and we could not have accomplish all that we have without them.

5. What is something most people don’t know about your organization?

Many of our projects we are blessed to work on in conjunction with other groups, such as: The Fredonia Garden Club; the Forestville High School; the Fall Festival; the Town of Hanover Historical Dept.; The American Legion; 4-H, and the H.S. football team. Such blessings to work together in the community!

We determined at our recent meeting that the one thing that most people don’t know about our organization, is where we meet! Sure we advertise, etc., but for most people when we mention the building, they have no idea where it is! Our organization began and continues to meet in a building that has stood in Forestville since 1850, and possibly earlier. It is located four feet from the roadway, yet, it remains a place that isn’t recognized or noticed. It is a hidden treasure in plain sight and one that has been our biggest asset in accomplishing our dreams and visions for Forestville since we began in 2018.

Our “secret” meeting place is presently known as “The Forestville Meeting House”, aka “the lower hotel” or the “Wilcox Hotel”, named after a previous owner back in 1950-80s. This “mystery” hotel is not written up very much, or not at all, in the history books - not even the centennial books - yet it greeted guests arriving on the train located just across the street and based on the discovery of a diary from 1860s it was a place to come to for dances. It has survived, a mystery to many, but an inspirational place for us in Imagine Forestville!

Just for the record, the address is 37 Center St., Forestville, NY. Now it is not a “secret” anymore!