CANTON -- At their May 15 meeting at the VFW Post 1231 in Canton, the Zonta Club celebrated an important milestone in Zonta International’s history.

The organization, established in 1919 in Buffalo, NY, will reach its 100th anniversary next year.

New York State hosts more than 40 individual clubs with a membership nearing 1,000 women. Canton is part of District 2’s 22 clubs, which stretch from the Mid-Hudson Valley in the south, over to Syracuse and as far north as Ottawa and Montreal.

The local club is one of four groups in Area 4 and was formed in 1986, making it the third oldest in the district.

Each club holds its own Torch Ceremony during its month of original formation, keeping a symbolic torch during that month; Canton’s month was May 2018.

Mayor Michael Dalton proclaimed May 15 as Zonta 100 Day, and an announcement of the event appeared on the American Theater marquee for the day.

Following a pot luck dinner, Debra White, a member of Zonta for 35 years, treated the members to a recounting of her worldwide mountain climbing experiences.

To conclude our celebration, members lit the District Torch as well as individual candles as a means of “lighting the way forward” into the next 100 years.