• CHEER: The Olcott Lions Club’s Polar Bear Swim is already one of the big winter events in Niagara County. For a lot of local charities, the swim could be getting a lot bigger. Aaron Dey, Olcott Polar Bear Swim chair, has announced the “One Plunge — Countless Causes” initiative, inviting all manner of charities to use the swim as a fundraising vehicle. “It’s a region-wide effort to help all nonprofits in Western New York,” he said. “We hope to make it a tradition for everybody who does good things.” Minus net costs of the event, half of the gross proceeds of the 2026 swim will go toward causes of the Olcott Lions Club and the other half will go to participating charities. Dey said the Olcott Lions Club’s vision of the Polar Bear Swim, with its costume party and contest and revelry, is “a celebration of Western New York, its communities and its people. We want it to be a winter festival of goodness and giving.” We encourage those looking to raise funds for their favorite causes to dive right in. For more information about the swim, to register as an individual swimmer, or sign on as a partner charity, go to: thepolarbearswim.org.
• CHEER: There’s been some talk in the Youngstown community that the village center’s clock tower would be coming down for good in the months ahead. Not so, say village officials, who are working on a plan to restore the weathered and crumbling structure. They anticipate the tower will come down in January — and be back up by the end of the year. The clock was installed around 1980, with the bell inside the tower having been removed many years ago and put on display inside the village center. The clock is already ticking as currently, the village is working out available funding opportunities to see the project through.
• CHEER: It’s hard to believe it’s been eight years since the Thunder of Niagara Air Show took to the skies over Niagara County. Despite the long pause, the popular summer event is ready to take off again and is scheduled to take place next year during Father’s Day weekend, June 20 and 21. The last time the air show took place in Niagara County was in June 2018. Other attempts to stage the show since have been cancelled either due to COVID-19 or Air Force leadership not approving it for the base, which sent the event to the Buffalo waterfront in 2021. So far, the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds, the Snowbirds of the Royal Canadian Air Force, the Wings of Blue parachute team and Rick Volker have been confirmed to appear and fly at the show. There will also be displays and spaces for attendees to get up close and walk into planes. “The theme of this air show is ‘Welcome back’, ” said NIMAC Chairman Mike Zimmerman. “It’s so exciting to have everyone back on the base.” Another reason to be excited is the show’s back on the United States’ 250th anniversary and Zimmerman said they are sure to be some aspects of that that will be incorporated into the show.
• JEER: So much for newfound riches — unless you’ve recently returned from a trip to a little town outside of Little Rock, Arkansas, you didn’t celebrate Christmas as a new billionaire. That’s where a Powerball ticket worth $1.817 billion was sold. Final ticket sales pushed the jackpot higher than previously expected, making it the second-largest in U.S. history and the largest Powerball prize of 2025, according to www.powerball.com. The jackpot had a lump sum cash payment option of $834.9 million. Not too shabby. There may have been some good news for one or two local Powerball players. Two $50,000 tickets were sold during the previous two Powerball drawings and it could have happened here again. Don’t feel too bad about the big jackpot, though. Powerball’s odds of cashing in on the big one are 1 in 292.2 million.