Evans Brings Music To Chautauqua

By Rich Place rplace@post-journal.com POSTED: August 28, 2009 For Sara Evans, music and family go hand in hand. Born in the rural town of Boonville, Mo., the country singer/songwriter has been a part of the music world since she was a kid. From traveling with the family band when she was five to singing at the Chautauqua Institution Amphitheater tonight, her family has supported her throughout her career. "I have two brothers and four sisters, and my parents put us on music lessons when we were very young," she recalls. "They decided to put together a band and we started performing all over Missouri. It just kind of grew from there." As she grew, so did her desire to make music her profession. While in her 20s, she followed the path any aspiring country music artist would follow by moving to Nashville. Setting her apart from the pool of amateur musicians, however, was her determination and dedication to making her dream come true. "Once I moved there, I started making calls, just trying to connect with anybody and everybody that would give me the time of day," Evans remembers. She found the help she was looking for and was able to land a record deal with RCA. "It was very quick. I got a record deal within the first two years that I moved there." Her first record, "Three Chords and the Truth," came out in 1997, but was not a big hit on country radio stations. It was her second album, "No Place That Far," that boosted Evans into the national spotlight. The title track was a duet with Vince Gill that reached number one on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles and Tracks chart. "I called Vince Gill and asked him to sing with me on it," says Evans, who had worked with Gill during a Buck Owens tribute beforehand. "He came in and did it for free, and he put more than harmony on it. He puts his voice all over it and that's the reason that song became such a huge hit." Since "No Place That Far," Evans has released three more studio albums plus a "Greatest Hits" album in 2007. Some of those hits include "Born to Fly," which was her first solo number one hit, and her rendition of Edwin McCain's pop hit "I Could Not Ask For More." Decades after touring with her parents and siblings around Missouri, family still plays a crucial role in her career. When she went through a divorce with ex-husband Craig Schelske in 2007, it was her career and her family that kept her on track. "Staying busy was the saving grace for me," she says. "I just focused on my children, [who] travel on the road with me almost all the time? and I have two sisters and a brother that tour with me on the road, so I was surrounded by family. It's a huge support system." At the time of the divorce, Evans was performing on ABC's "Dancing With the Stars," but was forced to pull out of the competition prematurely for "personal reasons." While on the show, however, she was able to boost her popularity while still being able to enjoy herself. "It's physically gruesome," she says with a laugh about participating in the show. "It's exhausting, but at the very same time, it's so fun and rewarding, especially if you are competitive like me. It was just a thrill to have to go out there and do something I had never done before." Today, fans will not only see Evans' name on television screens and CD albums, but also on book covers. The songwriter has opened a new chapter of her life and will be coming out with a book called "Sweet By and By," which she wrote with author Rachel Hauck. "I never really thought of myself as a book writer," admits Evans. A publisher noticed that most of the songs Evans writes are 'story songs,' and asked her to consider the idea of writing a book. After considering it for a few weeks, she came up with a character and a storyline. "It takes place in the South. It's about a girl and it's a story about redemption and forgiveness. It's due to come out in January and I'm really, really excited about that." The audience tonight at the Chautauqua Insitutuion Amphitheater will see Evans doing what she loves, performing her music. An essential part of a musician's career, she says concerts are one of the most exciting aspects about being a professional singer. "I absolutely love the live performance," she says. "It's just my favorite, favorite, favorite part of the whole career. When I am on stage, I just relish every second. I'm naturally a kind of comedian at heart, so when I get up there I just want to make people laugh and make them cry. "I want them to have the best time and go away from the experience just feeling happier than they were when they got there." Evans is expected to release her next album later this year, and the single "Feels Just Like a Love Song" was released in mid-July. Expect her to perform that song and many other classics when she sings at the Amphitheater tonight at 8:15 p.m. Tickets for the concert are $38 general admission and can be purchased by calling 357-6250. Subscribe to Post-Journal

Light the Lakes Chautauqua

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"LIGHT THE LAKES" & Harvest Festivals Light the Lakes & Labor Day Weekend The second annual Light the Lakes celebration in Chautauqua County salutes the end of summer and welcomes the fall harvest season with a huge bang. Labor Day Weekend festivities abound in the area, culminating in concurrent fireworks displays at 10:10 pm on September 6th in several lakeside communities on three lakes. At each location, the fireworks will run simultaneously for twenty minutes to a live music broadcast via radio with a television feed broadcasted by airplanes above. The Bemus Bay Pops Finale September 6, 2009 The Bemus Bay Pops Finale has three free performances scheduled on the floating stage for the weekend offering everything from Bucelli to Bublé, including a special tribute to Elton John. Festivities start early with a Brew Fest on Thursday evening, September 3rd. On Friday, John Marcellus of the Eastman school of music presents the Bionic Bones Trombone Salute with MAC Award Winning special guest Shaynee Rainbolt from NYC. The first of two nights of fireworks begin on Saturday along with the full symphonic Bemus Bay Pops Orchestra under the direction of Bruce Morton Wright along with John Marcellus and Steve Swanson. Critically acclaimed ABBA Mania will perform a Tribute Concert on Sunday evening from 8:00 - 9:30 pm ending just before Light the Lakes fireworks display. Labor Day Festival September 6, 2009 The Village of Mayville at the north end of Chautauqua Lake will hold its Labor Day Festival starting at noon. Located at Lakeside Park along Route 394 the festival will include pony rides, face painting, kids crafts, hot air balloon tethered rides, an appearance by the Buffalo Jills, live music, and a classic car show. The Lighting of the Flares around Chautauqua Lake will take place at 10 pm followed by the Mayville fireworks display. Findley Lake Harvest Festival September 4 - 6, 2009 Findley Lake will host its Labor Day Harvest Festival, a long-established end-of-summer celebration, from September 4-6. The 12th annual event will take place on Friday, Saturday and Sunday on Findley Lake's scenic north shore. Visitors will enjoy strolling among the artists; crafters, with music by local musicians and food vendors nestled throughout the town. Live music will be featured each afternoon. Fireworks at Findley Lake begin at 10:10 P.M. Labor Day Weekend in Westfield September 4, 5 & 6, 2009 In the middle of grape country, the Town of Westfield will culminate its holiday celebration with fireworks at 10:10 PM over Barcelona Harbor on Lake Erie. The weekly Farmer's Market at Moore Park in Westfield begins the activities on Saturday morning. From 9 AM to 5 PM The Cross Roads Farm & Craft Market hosts a Countywide Yard Sale on Saturday and Monday just outside the village on County Route 21. Jamestown's Annual Labor Day Festival Sunday, September 6 Pre-event festivities are planned for the City of Jamestown where the annual Labor Day Festival takes place all day long at Bergman Park, on Baker Street Extention on Sunday, September 6, 2009 from 11:00 a.m. - 8:30 p.m.. A day filled with live musical entertainment, children's games, bingo, magician, karaoke, refreshments and highlighted with fireworks at 8:30 p.m.. The Jamestown Savings Bank Ice Arena will launch a laser light show at 9:30 p.m. Night Lights at the Heron Fridays and Saturdays throughout September. New for 2009, the grounds of the annual Great Blue Heron music festival will offer Night Lights at the Heron, a unique outdoor light show set amidst forests and ponds in Amish Country. Guests walk paths through a forest transformed with colored lighting and music from 7:45 pm to 11:00 pm on Fridays and Saturdays throughout September. Harvest Festivals September weekends in Chautauqua County bring the tastes of grapes and the sounds of blues and jazz to Fredonia, Silver Creek, Forestville, and Chautauqua Institution. Area Farmers' Markets continue to offer local produce weekly in village and urban centers through September. Stop in Jamestown on Fridays from 10 am - 4 pm, Westfield, Dunkirk, and Fredonia on Saturdays from 8 am - 1 pm. The Cross Roads Country Craft Market is also open every Saturday from 9 am to 5 pm through December. Cross Roads is located on County Route 21 between Westfield and Sherman with over 40 local arts, crafts and specialty food vendors. The Red, White and Blues Festival takes place September 11-12 in Fredonia. Known as the "Best Street Party Around" the annual event celebrates local red and white wines, brews and blues with free music in the park and throughout the village. Workshops on Saturday include Conversations with a Grape Grower, History of the Blues, and Fredonia, New York: Illustrious Home to Prohibition. The 36th Annual Festival of Grapes is September 18th to 20th. The Village of Silver Creek is celebrating the annual grape harvest and featuring a ride midway, food vendors, wine tent, childrens and adult events, live music, craft fair, grape stomping and a grand parade that begins on Sunday at 1 p.m. in downtown Silver Creek. For more information on Chautauqua County and a Schedule of the Fall Festival visit the Chautauqua County Visitors Bureau online at http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?et=1102682473280&s=531&e=001VkraOssaITaVAe6zxPo4vPhY5Tr13K53pd2zHTClqcq6pM_wm_DZrYyiwGJIcOGz51Rbzugyr5_1Glz4fRDOXmY4asRFoXp1KisBOfqvX-JXGHHHisvW9A== or call 1-866-908-ILNY (4569). More Harvest Festival Events: The Spirit of Woodstock, Chautauqua Institution, 716-451-4004 - September 11-13 Septemberfest, Merritt Estate Winery, Forestville - September 12-13 12th Annual Jazz at Chautauqua, Chautauqua Institution - September 18-20 World Famous Lipizzaner Stallions, Jamestown Savings Bank Ice Arena - September 24 Busti Apple Festival, 716-483-0134 - September 27

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Beach Boys Take Chautauqua Stage Tonight

By Rich Place, rplace@post-journal.com How many of you have seen the BB's in concert Please Post? It's summertime in Chautauqua County. If you're looking for a soundtrack to highlight every moment of the sunny skies, mild temperatures and afternoons on the water, the Beach Boys are a top pick, and they are coming to the Chautauqua Institution tonight. Although the band looks different from the group which put out its first single, "Surfin'," in 1961, Mike Love remains the lead singer and the other current group members produce authentic Beach Boys' music that will take listeners back to that summer shoreline in the 1960s. The Beach Boys began as a family band, with brothers Carl, Dennis and Brian Wilson, cousin Mike Love and Al Jardine, a high school classmate who could play guitar. "My earliest memory of my cousin Brian was singing 'Danny Boy' on my Grandma Wilson's lap," Love told The Post-Journal. Like many families, the cousins would see each other at family events like Christmas, Thanksgiving and birthdays. "There would always be music around in the house, my mom made sure of it." Nearly 50 years after the Beach Boys began touring the country "with a station wagon and a U-Haul," as Love described, the band is still performing the hits that made them big, but with different band members. Carl and Dennis Wilson died in 1998 and 1983, respectively, and Brian Wilson and Al Jardine now tour with their own projects. Love is joined now by Bruce Johnson, who joined the band in 1965, as well as newer members of the Beach Boys, including Love's son, Christian. "He's a fantastic singer and plays guitar and bass," Love said. "He sounds incredibly like my cousin Carl in so many songs... in a way it's pretty fantastic that we can replicate those songs." Many, if not all, of the Beach Boys first hits, such as "Surfin' USA," "Help Me Rhonda," and "Fun Fun Fun," are classics many people recognize, old and young alike. To write songs that span a number of generations is amazing, Love said. "The Beach Boys music is always being reinforced in people's awareness," he explained. "Every year, we have a couple songs on a major motion picture soundtrack. Every day, there's several of our songs played on oldies radio." He said that hearing Beach Boys classics brings up different feelings for different people. "For people that just started out with us - who are my age and a little more, little less - it's nostalgic," he continued. "When they play our music it reminds them of what they were doing back then and who they were with." The younger generation may be more familiar with the "Full House" version of the Beach Boys, when John Stamos played the drums and sang a few songs on the television show, and Love believes appearances like that have helped generate new fans as well. "We've been on 'Full House' to the point where the reruns, when we are on it, are some of the most popular ones they have done," he said. "We get recognized by children who watch that show." Despite performing the same songs over and over for decades, Love still enjoys singing the music that took the California family into the national spotlight. "I like so many of them, and they are all fun to sing," he said. "'California Girls' is one incredibly great song. My cousin arranged that song so it sounds like a symphony orchestra opening up in the intro. 'Help Me Rhonda' was fantastic. 'Surfin' USA' was incredible. 'Fun Fun Fun' was one of the best cruising songs you could every have." After these hits, the band released "Pet Sounds" in 1966, an album that contained "Good Vibrations," which "Rolling Stone" magazine ranked sixth on their "500 Greatest Songs Of All Time" list in 2004. A product of Love and Brian Wilson, the song was the band's third No. 1 hit, reaching the top of the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1966. "I think it was the most creative," Love said. "'Good Vibrations' is unlike so many other songs. It's so derivative, it doesn't sound like any other rock song. "[The song] was sort of our psychedelic offering of the time ... I'd have to say that's the one I'm probably most proud of in terms of success and uniqueness. It's unlike any other song every recorded." Love will be bringing 'Good Vibrations' to the Chautauqua Institution's Amphitheater on Friday night, a venue that he says the band really enjoys performing at. The Beach Boys last played at here in 2006, and Love describes the venue as a "classic. It's like a classic woody." "It's just a great place to be," he said. "The venue itself is great. It's big enough, but it's also so intimate as well. You're right there, and the people are right there in front of you." Love promised that the band will be playing "everything that we have done that's been a high," and will also mix in songs that people haven't heard before. Sure to be a crowd pleaser, the Chautauqua Institution Web announced the concert, which will be Friday evening at 8:15 p.m. at the Amphitheater, is sold out. "We've been getting really good feedback from audiences and from venues where we have been," Love said. "They've said the band has never sounded better, it sounds the best it ever has. It's just great." Subscribe to Post-Journal For more information on Chautauqua Lake Real Estate & Living visit: http://www.chautauqualakehomes.com/

Red, White and Blues" festival in Fredonia

Festival Fredonia is hosting the 15th annual "Red, White and Blues" festival in Fredonia, NY, on Saturday, Sept. 12th, 2009. The festival includes a motorcycle run ("Blues Cruise" for MDA). The run is scheduled to follow a route around Chautauqua Lake as a manageable and beautiful route on a Saturday morning. www.festivalsfredonia.com For more information on Chautauqua Lake Real Estate & Living visit: http://www.chautauqualakehomes.com/

Westfield’s Shawn Wilder Becomes Sixth Chautauqua Lake Idol

Shawn Wilder's performances during the final night of Chautauqua Lake Idol were emotional for the audience and impressive for the judges, as the Westfield native was crowned the competiton's winner Monday. In front of a packed crowd on the shoreline at the Floating Stage in Bemus Point, Wilder took off his trademark cowboy hat, nodded and took a humble bow after being named the sixth winner of the competition. "Short and sweet: thank you very very much," Wilder said. "It's a dream come true." Wilder was chosen from finalists Kira Chadwick and Steve Davis, who along with Wilder performed any two songs they wanted, not having to fit into a specific genre as in previous weeks. This resulted in some original songs, as well as classic covers. For his first performance, Wilder sang Craig Morgan's "Almost Home," which he said was one of his favorite songs. "I always sang it," he told the audience before his performance. "It's a little funny song, it gets everybody to giggle a little bit." After the song, all four Idol judges gave him positive reviews. "It amazes me someone your age can sing with the wisdom of someone much older who has gone through many more life experiences than you have," judge LouAnn Dobmeier told the 22-year old Wilder. "You gave me goosebumps and I think so many people in the crowd felt the same way." "You have never sang a bad note for me from your audition until now," said judge Sarah Malinoski-Umberger. "Every single song that you sing I can feel that it comes from deep inside you, and that is a gift." From a light song to an emotional one, Wilder chose to perform a song that he wrote for some close friends who gave birth to a stillborn last year. While singing "Hailey's Grace," many audience members and some of the judges were wiping away tears. "I went through 'Hailey's Grace' all day," Wilder told The Post-Journal after he was crowned the 2009 Idol. "I couldn't get through it without getting really emotional and I was worried that was going to happen again. I really wanted to bring my passion in. I really happy I did get through it." After the performance, he again received positive reviews from teary eyed judges. "Music, to me, is all about telling stories," judge Mike Quimby said after Wilder's second song. "You told us a story tonight, and you told it well." Wilder joins past Idol winners Susan Waite (2004), Marla Harris (2005), Lauren Checcini (2006), Ben Blood (2007) and Billy Thomas (2008), and every winner except Blood performed a song for the audience Monday night. Bemus Bay Pops chairman Dan Dalpra, County Executive Greg Edwards and Senator Cathy Young also made appearances. Along with the title of 2009 Chautauqua Lake Idol, Wilder walks away from the competition with a three night stay at Geneva-On-The-Lake, an overnight stay and admission to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, dinner for two once a month at Roberto's among other prizes by local merchants. In his final effort, Davis sang the Carpenter's "Superstar" and Ray Charles' "Hallelujah I Love Her So." Miss Chadwick performed one of her favorite songs, "Bleeding Love" by Leona Lewis and an original song co-written by one her best friends called "I've Always Been in Love With You." This concludes the sixth year of the Chautauqua Lake Idol Regional Vocal Competition, organized by WWSE 93.3 FM, a Media One Group radio station. The contest began when dozens of contestants tried out for auditions, and a field of 12 performed for the first time in front of the crowd in Bemus Point on June 29. Subscribe to Post-Journal For more information on Chautauqua Lake Real Estate & Living visit: www.chautauqualakehomes.com

Chautauqua Watershed To Present Healthy Lakes Seminar

DEWITTVILLE - The Chautauqua Watershed Conservancy will host its 2009 Healthy Landscapes-Healthy Waters Program: Lakescaping and Watershed Landscaping for Water Quality starting at 2 p.m. Monday, Aug. 24, at Camp Mission Meadows, 5201 E. Lake Road, Dewittville. Two workshops are offered, with both featuring Dr. Rebecca Schneider, of the Cornell University Dept. of Natural Resources and Jamie Vanucchi, visiting lecturer from the Cornell University Dept. of Landscape Architecture. The training will include ways to enhance the water quality filtration functions and habitat values of property to benefit the lake and streams. The afternoon session will be from 2 to 5 p.m. and offer a technical presentation for professional landscapers, designers, groundskeepers and agency personnel. The evening session, designed for the individual homeowner, will be held from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Both sessions will include both classroom and lakeshore field training. To register, e-mail your name, address and phone number to info@chautauquawatershed.org or call 664-2166. There is no admission fee for these programs. Donations to the Chautauqua Watershed Conservancy or a membership contribution to assist the conservancy in paying the costs to present the program will be accepted. The seminars are part of the Chautauqua Lake Watershed Education Program partnership between the Chautauqua Watershed Conservancy, Cornell Cooperative Extension of Chautauqua County, the Chautauqua Lake Management Commission and Cornell Cooperative Extension. Subscribe to Post-Journal For more information on Chautauqua Lake Real Estate & Living visit: http://www.chautauqualakehomes.com/

America's Grape Country Wine Festival

America's Grape Country Wine Festival - Saturday, August 15th and Sunday, August 16th at the Chautauqua County Fairgrounds, Walford Rd. in Dunkirk, NY from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. both days. Over 25 New York State wineries will be represented, along with food vendors, live music, and over 20 craft vendors. Tickets are $15 for one day, $25 for two days; designated driver tickets are $5. For more information, go to acgwinefestival.com. For more information on Chautauqua Lake Real Estate & Living visit: http://www.chautauqualakehomes.com/

Watershed Plan Will Help Chautauqua Lake

By Rick Constantino Watershed Coordinator Chautauqua Lake is a special asset for the people that live, work and recreate in its watershed. Your mission, should choose you choose to accept it, is to participate in watershed planning to protect the lake and its watershed. Planning for water resources simply put is a very difficult but important process. Water moves. It's used and reused, it interacts with many things along its path and it has enormous economic, cultural, political, and, of course, physical significance. Reasons for the demise of several civilizations during the past 3,000 years illustrate the difficulty of properly planning for this important resource. The Chautauqua Lake Watershed, which encompasses 180 square miles of our county, has a significant history of community stewardship and studies undertaken by numerous organizations, municipalities, colleges and its residents. The Chautauqua Lake Management Commission, the latest organization to be formed, is building on the efforts of talented people and groups over many decades to develop a comprehensive Watershed Management Plan to manage our water resource. Recently, articles, public meetings and discussions about the Chautauqua Lake Watershed say the creation of a watershed plan offers much promise, but why and what is this plan? Does this promise come from simply repackaging past efforts or is there something more? To begin to answer these questions we must first address a simple misconception; a watershed management plan is not a study of the lake or its watershed. The plan is intended to integrate the knowledge that we have gained from current and past studies and to develop consensus on a strategy and a work plan for achieving water resource goals that have been identified. With that in mind we can address a second common question; The weeds are in front of my house, so why are you planning for the watershed? The Chautauqua Lake Watershed is eight times larger than the lake; the impacts from activities within the watershed have a significant impact on the Lake. Water resource planning requires looking at the big picture, the watershed. Looking at the big picture within the watershed requires recognition of all the interrelationships that occur between a host of natural and man made components and processes. A watershed plan's goal is to make everything fit together or make sense with respect to each of these relationships so that those "touchy," "nasty," or "irritable" issues like the excessive growth of aquatic vegetation, algal blooms and sources of sedimentation can begin to be addressed. The causes of these issues arise from the interactions of nature, science, technology, culture, and resource limitations in the watershed. We, as a community, have the ability to have some influence on these causes. Watershed planning involves decision-making about how we as a community manage both the positive and negative impacts on water quality. The first phase of a watershed management plan is intended to provide a framework for identifying and quantifying specific causes and sources of watershed and lake issues. After this initial phase occurs, strategies are developed and tools are recommended to reduce impacts from the causes. Some examples of these strategies and tools might be: working with municipal officials to determine which land use - www.chesapeakebay.net/landuse.aspx?menuitem=14671 - and zoning changes can be updated in order to guide development - www.chesapeakebay.net/developmentpressure.aspx?menuitem=19514 - and conserve important water resources; reducing stormwater - www.chesapeakebay.net/stormwater.aspx?menuitem=19515; restoring vital resources, such as stream corridors, to improve water quality; and educating citizens about behavioral choices that have impacts on water quality such as lawn fertilization. All of these potentially beneficial choices require community consensus and resources if they are to be implemented. In order for the watershed management plan to be successful it needs to be implemented. Many of us have heard of well developed plans that are written, blessed and then sit on shelves and never implemented. The causes of this syndrome can be varied. In the past community consensus was not always reached and an outside consultants recommendations may not have had public support, or the community may have lacked adequate resources. However, another more common error was that plans did not to include a road map for the implementation. Therefore, being an action oriented plan, the Chautauqua Lake Watershed Plan will outline an implementation schedule that identifies each responsible entity and their specific tasks. Phasing of the plan's implementation will then be based on numerous variables including cost and available funding, measurable achievement of objectives, community acceptance, and monitoring needs. Once completed, the Chautauqua Lake Watershed Plan will provide the guidance on actions to be taken to protect our water resource that has long been sought by public officials, agencies and citizens. However, that is where the tough work begins, not ends. Leadership will be required from government officials, non-for-profit organizations, residents, and other stakeholders to continue to work together and implement the action plan. Much like a business, stakeholders will need to determine how best to invest in our watershed in order to achieve the agreed upon goals. Money, technical assistance and other resources will need to be made available to communities that want to put their watershed management plans into action. If your mission is to be successful, everyone who lives, works, and recreates in the Chautauqua Lake Watershed needs be involved in implementing and supporting the plan. Unlike "Mission Impossible", with your help and commitment this effort will not self-destruct. If you are interested in learning more about improving watershed and lake issues and potential solutions, the Chautauqua Lake Management Commission will be hosting a free public meeting entitled Come Grill us on Your Watershed on Tuesday, Aug. 18, from 4:30 to 7 p.m. at Long Point State Park, just north of Bemus Point. The meeting will highlight strategies and recommended actions steps from the Watershed Management Plan that is currently under development. The meeting format will be an open house with a walk around survey. Members of the CLMC, county staff and our consulting team will be available to answer your questions or hear your comments first hand. There will be no fee to enter the park and hot dogs and hamburgers will be provided at no cost. So drop by and become informed about your lake and watershed and be a part of the solution. Subscribe to Post-Journal For more information on Chautauqua Lake Real Estate & Living visit: www.chautauqualakehomes.com

Sadie J’s Opens In Mayville

Glad To Be Back By Dennis Phillips, mailto:dphillips@%20post-journal.com MAYVILLE - If you find something you like to do for a living, you should stick with it. It's an approach Louise Johnson, Sadie J's Cafe owner, is taking and enjoying. The cafe owner has opened in a new location at 21 S. Erie St., Mayville, after a hiatus of a couple of years from running the restaurant. Sadie J's Cafe was located inside the Chautauqua Institution for 16 years and had the same name. However, Ms. Johnson closed the cafe to ''semi-retire.'' ''I had 10 different jobs in three years during that time,'' she said about her semi-retirement. ''I decided to come back because I missed the business. I missed the customers, serving good food. Some of my employees even came back to work with me again.'' In fact, Ms. Johnson said it was after running into an old employee and after seeing that BonJour Cafe - her previous restaurant in the same location - had closed that she thought it was possible to return. ''I saw that it was empty and thought 'what could happen,''' she said. ''Then I ran into an old employee and asked her what if I opened the cafe again and she though it was a great idea.'' Ms. Johnson said it took about three weeks to get organized and ready to reopen Sadie J's Cafe, which opened on June 22. ''I'm glad to be back. I'm happy as can be,'' she said. ''I have a positive feeling in this building, like I'm meant to be here.'' Ms. Johnson said the word of mouth advertising she is getting in the Mayville and Chautauqua area has been great for business. ''Seeing people that used to come to the cafe in the institution and now having new customers like the county employees, we're having so much fun,'' she said. ''Seeing old customers and reconnecting with them has been great.'' Ms. Johnson said she got her start when her old boss, Charlie Heinz, helped her get with purchasing her own business. She said she was working for Heinz when the business was a grocery store inside the Chautauqua Institution. ''He gave me my start. The best boss I ever had. He was a great person,'' she said. Ms. Johnson said she bought the store in the early 1990s and renamed the business Sadie J's Cafe after her cat. ''I always loved the name and thought it had a ring to it,'' she said. Sadie J's is known for its jumbo cookies, breakfast sandwiches and Chautauqua melts, Ms. Johnson said. Also, she said there are lots of vegetarian meals, with no deep frying of any meals. ''All food is made to order and it's all fresh,'' she said. The business is open from 7:30 a.m. to 3 p.m., with breakfast served until 11 a.m. For more information or place an order, call 753-3311. Subscribe to Post-Journal For more information on Chautauqua Lake Real Estate & Living visit: www.chautauqualakehomes.com