Almond, NY – “The place where you wish you grew up!” Or
better yet, “The place you’d like your kids to grow up!” Almond may be
centrally isolated in western New York, BUT what other rural town with 1,600
residents has:
- A thriving
ballet studio that started as an annual neighborhood show on a small side porch
and is now in the building that was once the school, and later – a chair
factory?
- A
well-stocked, two-story brick library more than 100 years old, built and funded
by a few dedicated women of the community for most of its existence?
- Or a
fascinating museum in one of the oldest houses in town, featuring a crutch used
as a diary, personalized wedding plates by the village potter, up-to-date
archives on each family in town, and volunteers eager to answer inquiries from
all over the country or to dress up every year as figures from local history to
introduce the fourth grade social studies classes to their heritage?
PLUS
- a highly-ranked public school, whose alumni give thousands
of dollars in scholarships to new graduates every year, and also an
accomplished, supportive homeschool community,
- active youth sports programs for all, which build into
high school teams who are contenders for state championships,
- ambitious plans for playground improvements with special
opportunities for children with disabilities,
- thousands of acres of state forest land, perfect for
hunting or hiking, with access to the Finger Lakes Trail,
- friendly churches,
- easy access to the interstate, AND
- two world-renowned colleges less than ten miles away?
Where else but Almond?
There’s a saying that, “You don’t have to be nuts to live in
Almond, but it helps,” which might make you think that Almond and almonds have
something to do with each other, but really the town was named for a place in
Scotland, and so it should NOT be pronounced, /awl mund/. Allegany, Alfred, Alma, Allen, Angelica – the
county and nearby towns all start with the same sound. The first house was built in 1796, and the
names early families still sound familiar.
Many of the current residents grew up here, and now keep busy watching
their grandchildren and great-grandchildren’s soccer games and ballet shows.
There are a variety of small businesses, such as The Big
Dipper ice cream shop, the Almond Veterinary Hospital, and Mullen Carpets, but
no major employer in town. Most people
work either at Alfred University or Alfred State College, or else in the small
nearby city of Hornell. Hornell has had
its own share of economic troubles in recent years, but is now on an upswing,
since its largest employer, Alstom, won a major, long-term contract to build
high speed railcars for the northeast corridor.
Also, last year Hornell was awarded $10 million for a Downtown
Revitalization Initiative.
Unfortunately, that economic boost has yet to be felt much in Almond.
Almond is the gateway to the newly-branded Western New York
Wilds for thousands of artists, hunters, Tough Mudders, and other nature
lovers. It’s also the gateway to Alfred
for thousands of college students arriving from destinations as different from
Almond as New York City, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and Beijing, China each semester
- and so the town could really use some sprucing up!
That museum we mentioned, where the 4th graders visit every
year? It needs a new coat of paint and a
thorough deep cleaning. The church
building next door may need a new roof.
The house two doors up, that used to be a sanitarium with a lovely
sun-room upstairs? - is in a sad state of disrepair. So are many other houses, and also the big
white building downtown that used to house a nice family restaurant, renowned
for its prime ribs on Saturday night.
There the roof is blowing off.
The building was once a shoe factory and later included a grocery store,
the post office, and some apartments. It
even had a ballroom upstairs! But now it
lacks a working septic system, and the cost to bring it all up to code has been
prohibitive.
And the historic Library building, while it looks good from
the road, is in urgent need of major renovation. Years of vibrations from the road and the
relentless pull of electric wires have loosened mortar, displaced bricks, and
generated cracks that run right down through the foundational concrete. Windows need to be replaced with tempered
glass. The kitchen last had a major
upgrade in 1958, and folks are afraid to use the vintage gas stove, once the
key to many community-building and fund-raising events. This village hub and
after-school haven needs at least $20,000 for the contractor to get started on
the reconstruction, and $90,000 - more than its entire annual tax-supported
operating budget - in order to stay open, without completely depleting its
savings. Money is tight for many folks,
and fund-raising efforts have been slow, indeed, compared to these goals.
Opportunities for entrepreneurs abound! There are openings for day-care centers,
cafes, bakeries, produce markets or other small food stores, card and antique
shops, hair salons, bed & breakfasts, retreat centers and the like. Other
ideas proposed by the Town’s 2018 Comprehensive Plan include
"agri-tainment" type industries such as laser tag, paintball, u-pick
fruit or vegetable farms or co-ops, Christmas tree farms, and similar low
impact development that would preserve Almond's rural character while providing
entertainment, recreation, goods and services, and employment to the area.
The Comprehensive Plan states the Town’s Development Goal:
“To be able to provide a better quality of life for the Town of Almond’s
residents and taxpayers by encouraging new business growth and improved
housing, while retaining the rural character and ‘hometown’ feeling of the
area.” Anything that could jumpstart
fulfillment of that goal would be a tremendous blessing for years to come.