Author: Kira Maddox

Singer-songwriter Sera Bullis stepped into the Syracuse spotlight this year when her EP The Road to Marcellus won Best Pop in the 2018 Syracuse Area Music Awards (Sammys), and she was awarded the Brian Bourke Best New Artist Award. Bullis began putting lyrics to her music around age 10 (when she also sang at the U.S. Tennis Open) after a few years of piano lessons. Her first musical performance came when she was 12, opening for folk singer Cheryl Wheeler at the Auburn Public Theater with a starting collection of original pieces. She has gone on to pen more than…

The words “ boy scout” tend to summon an image of a kid in a tan button-up shirt, green shorts and a sash full of merit badges. The child would be just as ready to help an old woman cross the street as he would be to start building a fire in the woods. But there’s a new Boy Scout on the horizon, and she’s a girl. Following a fall 2017 announcement, girls are to be allowed to participate in Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts, the Boy Scouts of America’s two most prominent programs. “We didn’t just wake up one…

It’s the middle of summer on a hot June day. A group of kids trek through Arnot Forest, a 4,000-plus-acre expanse of woodland just south of Ithaca in the Finger Lakes. The journey will take them from the wooden cabins and lodge of the main campsite into the sprawling forest and streams that feed Banfield Creek. On a clear day along the top ridge, you can see as far south as Pennsylvania. The kids, ages 11 to 15, pack only a small number of necessities: good hiking shoes, warm clothes and maybe a tent. But most of what they’ll use…

If you’re seeking a place to raise a family, don’t overlook Camillus. Despite Route 5 (or Genesee Street), the busy thoroughfare that runs through it, the western suburb encompasses many peaceful neighborhoods and lots of families. Twenty percent of the population is under age 18, according to town and census data. “It’s a pretty area, with the rolling hills and the topography,” says Terri Micho, an associate broker at BHHS CNY Realty. Camillus was founded in March 1799. The elevation varies throughout the town, creating picturesque horizons and natural-looking city planning. The space comprises 35 square miles, with a population…