Daemen College’s inaugural Founders Celebration, a new annual tradition to commemorate the college’s rich history and origins, will kick off with a dedication and ringing ceremony at 11:30 a.m. Sept. 7 to officially unveil the institution’s Founders Bell.

In honor of the college’s 70th anniversary being marked this year, the ceremony will include one symbolic ring for each decade since the college was founded in 1947. Official ringers at the ceremony will include Daemen President Gary A. Olson; Dr. Thomas Stewart, ’74, chair of the Daemen Board of Trustees; Sister Edith Wyss, ’66, of the Sisters of St. Francis of Penance and Christian Charity, the college’s founding congregation; Nancy Haberman Gacioch, ’62, alumna; Dr. Matthew Ward, president of the Faculty Senate; Dr. Ned Cuddy, faculty emeriti representative; and Hugo Juarez, president of the Student Association.

Eight local schools will host the top drum corps in the world when they converge on Orchard Park for the annual Drums Along the Waterfront Tour of Champions event taking place on Aug. 6 at New Era Field.

“The visiting drum corps will spend one night at each of the host schools, where these musical athletes will eat, sleep and practice,” said Drums Along the Waterfront Director Jack Gaylord Jr. “We thank the schools and the entire community for being so welcoming year after year. We could not pull off an event of this magnitude without their cooperation.”

Local school serving as hosts include:

York State Senators Chris Jacobs and Michael Ranzenhofer, AAA Western and Central New York, New York State Police and AT&T teamed up to raise awareness for AAA’s 100 Deadliest Days (the period between Memorial Day and Labor Day when teen crash fatalities historically climb 15 percent compared to the rest of the year), as well as AT&T’s “It Can Wait” public education campaign and NYS distracted driving laws.

Distracted Driving Awareness Day in Western New York was hosted June 1 at AAA WCNY headquarters, where young drivers, parents and all those who visited the Amherst AAA were educated about the dangers of distracted driving.