Keith’s Highlights & Top 5 Most Interesting Uticans For 2014

In 2014 you heard 50 local musicians interviewed in 50 days straight while unfortunately burying four of them, got to know a handful of local figures who made it to national TV shows, watched the Faye St. warehouse blow up, inaugurated the 2nd All Star Band, voted on your favorite foods in Utica, watched us win the Boilermaker Burger Relay, learned how to solve a Rubik's Cube, helped me welcome my new son, watched our 'wet t-shirt contest' in below-zero weather and speaking of which, we all took on the ice bucket challenge.

I wrote well over 500+ pieces in the last 365 days which surprisingly reached over 400,000 people both nationwide and locally, but these were my top 5 local stories/interviews for the year (click the title or pics for the story)...

Erin Covey's Portrait 365

A New Hartford native photographer came up with the idea of shooting a black and white portrait every day for a year. She even shot me as one of her subjects near the beginning of the project and still has a few portraits to shoot before the year is up!

Dwight Cramer's Hot Air Balloon Landing

A local balloon pilot landed in a resident's back yard causing quite the stir. We got him in studio to educate the general public on why his landing was nowhere near an emergency

Chad Smith, The Roving Painter

You've probably driven past him going, "Is that really a guy painting something?" Yup. He's Utica's roving outdoor painter and he's even been spotted a few times already this winter!

Justin Smithson's Comets Theme

A local musician wrote an original song a few years back and due to his friendship with Utica Comet's co-owner Rob Esche, birthed a music video and his song being played at every Comets home opener.

Chief Brooks' Fire Station Christmas Sign

Last, but not least this story erupted just last week and is easily the biggest story of the year for us, although it was over something so small. An atheist group that champions removing all traces of Christianity from public forums picked a fight over this sign.