Carol Fisher Linn
MJ Brown popped into my home today and brought me a fresh copy of a new, hot off the press E’ville Events cookbook. Those of you who have faithfully followed this E’ville Events community publication since its beginning in 1981 are sure to recognize any number of the recipes found in this book. They were all printed within the pages at one time or another – treasures from family and friends that have been passed down through generations, or new delights that made the news pages, generally tested by the team in the OBCC (Old Broad’s Command Center – a dedicated room in Teresa Mercer’s home, with glitter, glitz, lights and pin-ups.) After all, “All work and no play …” well, you know.
all of its loyal readers and community members. The
E’ville Events recipe collection cookbook, a compilation
of the local, heart grown recipes they have
printed over the forty-four years in their publication.
The book is available to you free of charge at Alexandra
in Ellicottville, 10 Washington Street (two per
person) until the edition is gone then they will reprint
at a nominal charge to you.
Forty-four years ago, three women of the Ellicottville community started E’ville Events. Their goal was a mix of village, town and county news, poetry, both funny and heartfelt stories that told the story of Ellicottville and its people since 1981. Our beloved Mary D. (Duszynski) paired up with Janet Tekavec and Lori Northrup and was soon joined by Pat Enger who got the “bug” from the three Founding Mothers and jumped in with enthusiasm to match theirs. Their goal was for “good news,” presented more like a community newsletter and calendar of events with lots of fun stuff in between. Lynn Timon joined the group, offering her artistic skills creating every single stunning cover and the ads by hand. She remained on the team throughout the entirety of the paper’s run. In the final run, the team consisted of MJ Brown (Mary D and Doc D’s daughter), ever faithful Lynn Timon, Teresa Mercer (Rover Makeovers) and Dawn Westfall (Ellicottville Historical Society).
Forty-four years and it wasn’t all smooth sailing. They almost closed the doors several times due to decreasing ads, non-payments, and just the big job of keeping the machine working. They hung in there repeatedly thanks to the many volunteers who presented themselves constantly – people wrote, delivered papers, helped with billing and bookkeeping and in every way they could. The gratitude on MJ’s face as she spoke glowingly of those volunteers said it all. This cookbook in many ways is a tribute to the loyalty and consistency of those individuals who stepped to the plate to get the job done.
It seems strange to not find E’ville Events on the stands in the community anymore. It was a difficult decision to stop publishing, but if you pay attention, even the Big name papers are gone or have dwindled due to lack of advertising revenue, high production costs and the rise of online platforms. Those things hit small papers even harder. During the painful decision process, they had decided to do one last final publication – a recap of everything from the last 44 years. Always one to find good solutions, Teresa suggested that they, instead, do a cookbook of all the recipes from the paper. Hence the E’ville Events recipe collection cookbook, their final gift to all of you! Thank you, Teresa, we loved you and you are HUGELY missed by your team and by the entire Ellicottville community. Yes, it truly takes a village.
The cookbook will be available at Alexandra’s on 10 W. Washington in Ellicottville on Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday when Lynn Timon is available to distribute them. This first batch is free of charge, limit is two. If more are requested, see Lynn. Once the initial printing is gone, the cookbook will be reprinted and will have a nominal charge. Bon Appetit! Enjoy the gift.