Chronogram November 2025

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SAUGERTIES VILLAGE ART WALK

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 3-6PM

Come celebrate the galleries in the village of Saugerties. Visit art receptions, dine at local restaurants, browse nearby shops, and enjoy a day filled with art and community.

Five Contemporary Artists Group Exhibition

11 25

The Rosendale Improvement Association Brass Band and Social Club at the Rosendale popup portrait shoot on October 12.

Photo by David McIntyre

COMMUNITY PAGES, PAGE 52

DEPARTMENTS

6 On the Cover

Olaf Breuning’s Bigfoot family is spotted in the Gunks.

8 Esteemed Reader

Jason Stern is paying close attention to life and death.

9 Editor’s Note

Brian K. Mahoney rides the crisis turtle all the way down.

PROFILE

10 The Saint of Saugerties: Linda Montano

A pioneer of endurance performance art, Saugerties native Linda Mary Montano reflects on faith, healing, and a sixdecade career devoted to art as spiritual practice.

THE RIVER NEWSROOM

13 Battle for the Ashokan Corridor

A fierce dispute over a two-mile rail corridor near the Ashokan Reservoir reveals Ulster County’s divisions over tourism, environmental stewardship, and the escalating national polarization shaping community conflicts.

FOOD & DRINK

16 Time-Tested Tables

A celebration of enduring restaurants that have stood the test of time, blending consistency and culinary excellence.

20 Sips and Bites

Recent restaurant openings across the region.

HOME

22 Farmhouse to Table

Chef Josh Kroner’s 18th-century Rhinebeck farmstead.

HEALTH & WELLNESS

40 When the Air Turns Deadly

An audio docudrama transforms one family’s lead poisoning tragedy into activism against New York’s hidden toxic crisis.

COMMUNITY PAGES

44 New Paltz: The Constant is Change

New Paltz embraces growth and innovation while preserving its small-town charm, creative spirit, and community character.

52 Rosendale Pop-Up Portraits by David McIntyre

Karen Burd selling crochet dolls on Main Street in New Paltz.

Photo by David McIntyre

COMMUNITY PAGES, PAGE 44

RURAL INTELLIGENCE

58 Holiday Season Events Guide

A roundup of holiday lights, markets, concerts, and performances that brighten the dark season across the Hudson Valley, Berkshires, and Litchfield Hills.

ARTS

62 Music

Seth Rogovoy reviews The Solomon Diaries Vol. IV and Vol. V by Sam Sadisgursky and Nathan Koci. Michael Eck reviews Home by Rosine. Michael Wiener reviews Live at Green Kill Sessions by Spaghetti Eastern Electro Dub. Plus listening recommendations from Adam Weinert, incoming executive director at Hudson Hall.

63 Books

Anne Pyburn Craig reviews Keep This for Me, a mystery novel by Jennifer Fawcett. Plus short reviews of Nothing of Insignificance: Adventures in Journalism by Brian Hollander; A Truth Versus the Truth by Rabbi Stephen B. Roberts; Fire in a Wire by Steven Read Nelson; Town & Country by Brian Schaefer; and The Invisible Eye by Sparrow Hall.

64 Poetry

Poems by Michael Alcee, Jayne Gumpel, Cole Solis Jativa, Kirby Lee, W. Wayne Lin, C. P. Masciola, Gabrielle Rabinowitz, C. H. Redding, Guy Reed, Carol Shank, and J. R. Solonche. Edited by Phillip X Levine.

GUIDE

67 The International Museum of Dinnerware Design in Kingston hosts “Picnic,” its sixth biennial exhibition.

68 Beacon’s annual Bonfire festival ignites the city with art, music, performance, and community celebration across downtown.

69 Here’s some of the events on our Short List this month: Pine Plains Festival of Shorts, Rififi at Upstate Films Midtown, “Follies” at Philipstown Depot Theater, and “Catenary” at PS21.

70 Hudson Valley native Photay returns to Assembly in Kingston with an immersive electronic set inspired by wind, weather, and the natural rhythms of the Hudson Valley.

71 Live Music: Beach Fossils at Bearsville Theater, Lost Leaders and Ginger Winn at Park Theater, and Earth at No Fun.

72 Listings of art exhibits across the region, including “Animalia” at the Olive Free Library and “Hard Palate” at Creative Legion.

HOROSCOPES

76 Loud Quiet Loud Cory Nakasue reveals what the stars have in store for us.

PARTING SHOT

80 The Homelands PowWow in New Lebanon The Homelands PowWow at the Darrow School celebrated Indigenous culture with drumming, dancing, and storytelling in a weekend of ceremony, community, and intertribal exchange. november 11 25

The Gravity of Levity

Olaf Breuning’s Mythic Humor

If I could bottle the medicine to cure human beings, it would be humor. It brings people together, it doesn’t divide them,” says Olaf Breuning, a Swiss-born artist who lives in Kerhonkson. “When people have humor, it’s a buffer zone before you get serious about something. Life is a tragic event in general, we all die. And humor is something you can use as a softener.”

The use of levity as a way to help us access our humanity is a consistent through line in Breuning’s varied and celebrated career as an artist. His work is represented in galleries and museums around the world and spans myriad mediums: photography, painting, sculpture, film, drawings experiments with social media, NFTs, and AI. Breuning is 55 but has the playful energy of a teenager and can be relied upon to deliver unfiltered opinions on life and art that will make you snort with laughter.

It was a childhood gift that sparked Breuning’s love for art, and a tragedy that cemented his path. “My father gave me a camera when I was 15 years old, and I was obsessed. Then my mother died when I was 18 and it was a breaking point. That moment was when I realized I couldn’t work in an office and my passion was photography.”

Early inspiration from artists including Cindy Sherman gave Breuning a fascination

with creating characters. It was one of these strange characters, named Sibylle, that he made a photograph of that launched him in the art world. Sibylle features a topless, reclining figure—smiling at the camera like a model would—with a red wig, devil horns, bread rolls for fingers, a severed stump of one leg and a rash of extra nipples covering one section of its torso. “The photograph Sibylle was one of the first works where I figured out my own language,” says Breuning. “I try to make art that is understandable to any person on the planet. Characters, or stereotypes, are recognizable. I want to talk about life in general, and our understanding of this world is full of images of characters like Vikings and knights.”

Making art more accessible to more people is a primary concern of Breuning’s. He is constantly absorbing cultural references and processing them through his work, leveraging their familiarity to draw people closer. Breuning describes this process as “opening the door” to art for people. “With some artists you have to find the door, then you open it. My door is open from the beginning, then you enter and you may get confused,” he says. “I want to make it as easy as possible to enter, to access. I was one of the first artists who brought horror film aesthetics [into art]; bringing the real world straight into the art without a filter.”

Over the years, Breuning has never stopped experimenting. The manicured lawn around his home is dotted with his sculptures, some crafted from the woods themselves. During the pandemic, with few human subjects available to photograph, he turned to painting: crafting wood blocks from the surrounding trees and using them as giant printing tools. Since moving to the Hudson Valley, Breuning describes being “brainwashed” by nature, and the local surroundings pop up in his work in unexpected ways.

Breuning’s sensibility animates this month’s cover image. Leave Me Alone depicts a Bigfoot family walking Abbey Road-like though Shawangunk pitch pines. It’s an image that has immediate impact: a glimpse of fantastical creatures in a picture-perfect natural setting. Once your brain settles, you can reflect on the dissonance between the image and the perma-digital state we all live in today, glued to screens and struggling to connect. Perhaps we too should aspire to be a family hiking in the wilderness, hands and big feet in lock-step, free from any knowledge of doom scrolls or comment trolls, happy to just smell the air then disappear from view.

—A. J. Lee

A. J. Lee writes about the creative people of the Hudson Valley at Catskillcultureclub.substack.com.

Leave Me Alone, Olaf Breuning, C-print, 2024

EDITORIAL

EDITORIAL DIRECTOR Brian K. Mahoney brian.mahoney@chronogram.com

CREATIVE DIRECTOR David C. Perry david.perry@chronogram.com

DIGITAL EDITOR Marie Doyon marie.doyon@chronogram.com

ARTS EDITOR Peter Aaron music@chronogram.com

HOME EDITOR Mary Angeles Armstrong home@chronogram.com

POETRY EDITOR Phillip X Levine poetry@chronogram.com

CONTRIBUTING EDITOR Anne Pyburn Craig apcraig@chronogram.com

contributors

Winona Barton-Ballentine, Maggie Baribault, Michael Eck, Melissa Esposito, Jamie Larson, A. J. Lee, David McIntyre, Cory Nakasue, Seth Rogovoy, Sparrow, Michael Wiener, Steven Yoder

PUBLISHING

COFOUNDER Jason Stern jason.stern@chronogram.com

COFOUNDER & CEO Amara Projansky amara.projansky@chronogram.com

PUBLISHER Jan Dewey jan.dewey@chronogram.com

BOARD CHAIR David Dell

sales manager

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media specialists

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ad operations

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MARKETING & EVENTS MANAGER

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production

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PRODUCTION DESIGNER

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mission

Founded in 1993, Chronogram offers a colorful and nuanced chronicle of life in the Hudson Valley, inviting readers into the arts, culture, and spirit of this place. All contents © 2025 Chronogram Media. All rights reserved. ChronogramMedia.com 845-876-6208

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A parable*:

In a mother’s womb were two babies. One asked the other: “Do you believe in life after birth?” The other replied, “Why, of course. There has to be something after birth. Maybe we are here to prepare ourselves for what we will be later.”

“Nonsense” said the first. “There is no life after delivery. What kind of life would that be?”

The second said, “I don’t know, but there will be more light than here. Maybe we will walk with our legs and eat from our mouths. Maybe we will have other senses that we can’t understand now.”

The first replied, “That is absurd. Walking is impossible. And eating with our mouths? Ridiculous! The umbilical cord supplies nutrition and everything we need. But the umbilical cord is so short. Life after delivery is to be logically excluded.”

The second insisted, “Well I think there is something and maybe it’s different than it is here. Maybe we won’t need this physical cord anymore.”

The first replied, “Nonsense. And moreover if there is life, then why has no one has ever come back from there? Delivery is the end of life, and in the after-delivery there is nothing but darkness and silence and oblivion. It takes us nowhere.”

“Well, I don’t know,” said the second, “but certainly we will meet Mother and she will take care of us.”

The first replied “Mother? You actually believe in Mother? That’s laughable. If Mother exists then where is She now?”

The second said, “She is all around us. We are surrounded by her. We are of Her. It is in Her that we live. Without Her this world would not and could not exist.”

Said the first: “Well I don’t see Her, so it is only logical that She doesn’t exist.”

To which the second replied, “Sometimes, when you’re in silence and you focus and you really listen, you can perceive Her presence, and you can hear Her loving voice, calling down from above.”

The questions this parable raises are profound but so common and seemingly unanswerable that they easily become platitudes. Questions like “What am I here for?”, “What am I meant to do with this brief existence?”, “What is death and what, if anything, awaits me on the other side?”

One implication of the story is that what we call life is a preparatory stage for something much bigger, more unbounded and free. Whether or not this has any basis, the practical sensibility rings true. What am I preparing for, and how am I meant to prepare?

An undeniable fact upon which everyone agrees is the fact of death itself. Whether one is a staunch materialist or of a more spiritual or religious bent doesn’t matter. We know from direct experience that every being that is born goes through a longer or shorter cycle of life, and dies. Regardless of what I believe awaits me in “the undiscovered country, from whose bourn no traveler returns,” the fact of death provides an inevitable event for which to prepare. Spiritual traditions of every stripe say the same thing about how to prepare for death: Die before you die. Though this sounds morbid and evokes images of suffering and self-denial I don’t think this is the essence of the task. Rather I think it is to see and strive to loosen one’s grasp on anything that we will be required to leave behind as we die.

With death, I leave what I call my life. This includes my house and car, my espresso machine and Persian rug, my books and original signed Eisenstadt photo. I leave my cat, my friends, my wife and children and parents. I leave my accomplishments, degrees, positions, identity; my beliefs and opinions, my thoughts, my joys and pleasures and suffering. And, of course, I have to prepare to let go of the attachment to my body with all its capabilities, pleasures, and comforts.

At the same time, I am alive! And while I am alive I want to enjoy all aspects of embodiment. So the task appears paradoxical, to be in life but not of life. In other words, can I live fully, and at the same time aspire to and strive toward an ideal or value that is not required by anything in life?

Not that a flattering epitaph or eulogy is any kind of goal, but a funeral is often a good indicator of how someone has lived. One feels the influence of a person’s life in the state and reflections of the people present for the event. The question of how to die becomes one of how to live.

*published by Wayne Dyer based on a longer short story by Pablo Molinero

by Brian K. Mahoney

All the Way Up

Some mornings begin with catastrophe. The rest just pretend not to. I’m not talking about catching a glimpse of my face in the mirror—though that can prove deeply dispiriting. It’s the news, refracted through the funhouse mirror of social media— the daily apocalypse feed, that rolling stock ticker of despair. War, political violence, decaying democracy, ecological collapse Doom at the planetary scale. Doom in the comment section. Crisis piled on crisis, all the way down.

Some days it feels like the world’s not resting on turtles anymore—it’s resting on algorithms, all squabbling for our adrenal glands. Every notification is another small alarm, engineered for outrage. We are both the arsonist and the fire brigade , running in circles with buckets of outrage.

And yet—this isn’t new. Every age has believed itself to be the last. A thousand years ago, Europeans waited for the skies to open at the stroke of the first millennium. In the 14th century, the Black Death convinced half a continent that God had finally had enough. Mid-20th-century schoolchildren ducked under their desks to protect themselves from nuclear annihilation. The sense of teetering on the brink is, historically speaking, the human condition. The difference now is bandwidth. The apocalypse won’t be televised on the six o’clock news, it’s being livestreamed by legions of TikTokers.

What are we supposed to do with this endless churn of crises? I don’t mean in the self-help sense—there’s no bullet-point list for surviving the century. I mean: how does one attempt to find meaning inside the chaotic and often cruel human maelstrom we’ve created and continue to perpetuate? The psychiatrist Viktor Frankl, who survived Auschwitz, wrote in Man’s Search for Meaning that “Those who have a ‘why’ to live can bear almost any ‘how.’” It’s a sentence that’s haunted me for years, because the “why” has become so slippery. When everything feels impermanent, when the ground keeps shifting under our feet, the task isn’t to fix the world— it’s to keep finding reasons to care about it rather than retreat.

Maybe that’s why we keep at this odd business—sending writers and photographers out into the community to bear witness, to find the acts of meaning that still make sense when almost nothing else does. This month’s issue isn’t offering solutions so much as

persistence—the slow, stubborn grace of people who refuse to give up.

Take Linda Mary Montano, the subject of Peter Aaron’s profile “The Saint of Saugerties” (page 10). Montano has spent six decades turning endurance into art, prayer into performance, and suffering into something radiant. She once lived for seven years inside a system of self-imposed ritual constraint, colorcoding her days and listening to tones aligned with her chakras. She tied herself to another artist for a year with an eight-foot rope. She’s fasted, prayed, sung, danced in a chicken suit, and turned grief itself—her husband’s murder— into an offering.

At 83, she calls endurance artists “outsiders who are privileged to go into nasty, uncomfortable, dangerous, unspeakable, frightening places and bring back the goodies.” That’s not a bad working definition for what it means to be alive in 2025. Montano’s faith has shapeshifted—from Catholicism to Buddhism and back again—but the throughline is clear: to heal through art. Her life is an argument that patience and persistence aren’t passive virtues— they’re radical resistance to nihilism.

Olaf Breuning, our cover artist this month, prescribes a different but complementary cure: humor. “If I could bottle the medicine to cure human beings,” he says, “it would be humor. It brings people together; it doesn’t divide them.”

Breuning’s Bigfoot family on the cover— strolling through the Shawangunks like a hirsute Beatles tribute band—suggests a version of existence that’s both absurd and aspirational: at peace, unplugged, unsupervised. His art bridges tragedy and laughter, the ridiculous and the profound. Breuning’s right, of course—life is tragic: None of us get out alive, and we lose everyone we love along the way. But humor, that cosmic pressure valve, allows us to keep breathing.

Which brings us to Steven Yoder’s “The Battle for the Ashokan Corridor” (page 13), a story almost entirely without levity What should have been a measured debate over rail and trail options in Ulster County has devolved into rancor, sabotage, and mutual distrust—an unnervingly local microcosm of our national disunion. Over a 1.7-mile stretch of disused train track, neighbors have hurled insults, death threats, and lawsuits, mirroring a society where disagreement feels dangerous and every hill is the one to die—or kill—on.

Keisha Hoerrner of the Woodstock Land Conservancy, who received one of those threats, wonders how we can “build back any sense of unity or shared values or common principles when you literally cannot communicate with one another.” It’s a fair question. The answer, I suspect, has something to do with the opposite of threat: invitation.

Which is where Beacon Bonfire comes in—a festival that, in its radical inclusivity—its “yestival” ethos—creates space where the default mode is yes (page 67) If the Ashokan Corridor fault line shows how easily shared space can fracture, Beacon Bonfire shows how it can cohere: hundreds of artists, dancers, musicians, and pyromaniacs convening around the idea that community itself is an art form. There’s something almost liturgical about the Bonfire’s closing ceremony, when drummers and fire dancers gather at Veterans Place and the whole community crowds around them—neighbors, artists, children, elders—faces lit by flame as smoke and rhythm rise into the November dark.

It’s not denial of crisis—it’s a response to it. A communal act of imagination that says: We still belong to one another.

Together, these stories feel like coordinates on a map out of despair. Montano offers graceful persistence: The discipline to keep making meaning even when life itself becomes an endurance test. Breuning offers levity: The reminder that laughter isn’t frivolous, it’s sacred. The Ashokan story warns us of division: How easily passion curdles into hatred when we forget our shared humanity. And Beacon Bonfire gives us community as a radical art form: the possibility that creation itself can be redemptive.

Each of these responses—ritual, laughter, dialogue, art—testifies to something deeply unfashionable but utterly essential: hope. Not naïve optimism, but the stubborn act of showing up even when it might not ultimately make a difference.

We live in a time when every problem feels existential: climate, democracy, truth itself. The temptation is to retreat—to disengage, to numb out, [insert your favorite option here]. But disengagement is just another form of surrender. The antidote, if there is one, lies in the small acts of repair happening all around us.

Maybe the world is crisis all the way down. But maybe it’s also compassion all the way up— if we choose to look for it.

The Saint of Saugerties

The Enduring Art of Linda Mary Montano

By Peter Aaron

It’s another one of those interviews for which your arts editor is running late. He’s jetting up the Thruway from Kingston, about 30 minutes behind his scheduled meeting, focusing hard on sticking to the speed limit lest he end up being even more late to his destination, with a few more points on his license to show for it. Fortunately, today’s subject is no stranger to patience. In fact, she’s made an art of it. One could even say she has the patience of a saint. Or at least that’s the goal.

“I’m going to make tea, want some?” offers Linda Mary Montano in her Saugerties kitchen as she gestures to a plate of biscuits on the 1950s Formica table. “Here, these are for you, too.” Then she starts the interview with a prayer.

A legend in the world of performance art, Montano is known for her extended endurance pieces, such as 1974’s self-evidently titled Three Day Blindfold; Seven Years of Living Art, which from 1984 to 1990 saw her wearing strictly monochromatic clothing while spending a portion of every day in a colored room of her home and listening to designated tones that corresponded to the energetic qualities of specific chakras; and Art/Life: One Year Performance 1983–1984 (Rope Piece), a collaboration with Taiwanese-American performance artist Tehching Hsieh that saw the two bound together for 24 hours a day for a year with an eight-foot

piece of rope tied around their waists.

But for all the eccentric peculiarity of the performance art world, it’s her strict religious upbringing that Montano credits as the starting point of her nearly 60-year career. “I wanted to be a saint,” she explains. “In a way, Jesus was a performance artist, to suffer as much as he did. Traditional Sioux culture has the heyoka or sacred clown, who expose taboos and shadows of the subconscious. A ‘sin catcher.’ I wasn’t called so much to the performing life; I was called to heal medicinally through art.”

Catholic Discipline

Montano—who had moved away from the church and for decades worked as Linda Montano but added her middle name when she reverted to the faith—lives in the Victorian house she grew up in. “Saugerties was Timbuktu back then,” recalls the artist, who was born in 1942, about the early domestic life she shared with her siblings. “It was like Freedomland. My mother would open the back door, let us run out and play in the park or go to the public pool all day, and then we’d come home.” A descendent of Italian and Irish immigrants; her maternal grandfather was born on the ship that brought his family over from Ireland while her paternal grandfather founded the town’s iconic Montano’s

Above: Linda Mary Montano, still from I’m Dying–My Last Performance, 2015. Courtesy of the artist and SAIC’s Video Data Bank.

Opposite, from left: Bilinda by Linda Montano (photo/alteration by Michael Titus Parkes); posing as a young Bob Dylan. New York City, 1989.

shoe store, which in 2026 will celebrate its 120th year of operation. She was entranced by her grandmother’s folk art and her parents’ playing in a local theater orchestra (both sang, and her father played trumpet as well). But it was her elders’ devout Orthodox Catholic beliefs that initially moved her most. “My dad had a mystical vibration,” she recalls. “He was very serious about his beliefs; his soul just resounded with tenacity. And my Italian grandmother was a like a performance artist. She wore all black, spoke no English, and sat in the window of the Central Hotel all afternoon, saying her rosaries.”

After a year at the College of New Rochelle to prepare for the nunhood, Montano left to join the Maryknoll Sisters missionaries. But two years later, following a struggle with severe anorexia, she was back at New Rochelle, where a sympathetic faculty member steered her toward art. “She was my savior,” says Montano about the elder nun who introduced her to the creative curriculum. Graduating in 1965 with a degree in sculpture, Montano visited Italy, where she marveled at the sacred art, made religious-themed works of her own, and began externalizing her blossoming artistic essence. “I started to see myself as a walking sculpture,” she says.

By the Bay Montano next attended the University of Wisconsin, Madison, to pursue an MFA. Her 1969 thesis project, titled The Chicken Show , was a display of nine live chickens in three minimalist cages on the roof of the arts building (the piece would serve as the inspiration for her first major performance, 1972’s Chicken Woman , and her recurring, humorous-but-provocative Chicken Dance series, which has had her dancing in full chicken costume in public). In 1970, she and her new husband, the photographer Mitchell Payne, moved to America’s mecca of freaky art, San Francisco, and it was there where she met influential figures like Terry Fox and her performing career began to lift off. She also met pioneering composer Pauline Oliveros, who became her romantic partner after she and Payne had become estranged. The tragic loss of Payne in a shooting spurred 1978’s landmark Mitchell’s Death , a stark black-and-white video performance that features a closeup of Montano’s face, festooned with acupuncture needles, as she recounts the incidents following the murder with a detached, droning delivery that sounds much like a bishop’s incantations.

Ever the searcher, she turned to Buddhism, living in a Zen monastery for three years before studying with Dr. Ramamurti Mishra at Ananda Ashram in Orange County, a mentorship that would continue for three decades. She’d said in 1980 that she was “retiring from art.” But, unlike most aspects of Montano’s tenacious life, her time away wouldn’t last.

Rope Trick

In the early ’80s she met Hsieh, who was revered for One Year Performance 1978-1979 (Cage Piece), a work for which he spent an entire year living in a 9-by-11-and-a-half-foot cage. “He was smart, intelligent, and the king of endurance,” Montano says. “I bowed to Tehching—I came out of retirement, basically.” The two soon embarked on Rope Piece, during which they slept in twin beds and maintained their pledge to never touch. The radical and now legendary performance is one of five of Hsieh’s year-long creations to be anthologized in “Tehching Hsieh: Lifeworks 1978–1999,” an exhibition that opened at Dia: Beacon in October and is on long-term view. Taking up residence in Kingston, Montano launched the Seven Years of Living Art performance, taught performance art at her self-

founded Art/Life Institute, provided what she calls “Art/ Life counseling” at New York’s New Museum, and began writing a series of yet-to-be-published (in physical form) books that include her Art/Life Handbook. She also entered another area of live performance work: imitating other personalities. In a spate of multiple, charming, and amusing three-hour street and gallery performances, Montano has appeared as Mother Teresa, Bob Dylan, and her friend Woodstock artist and musician Paul McMahon, who she met at party organized by Queens arts organization Franklin Furnace in 1986. “Linda asked if she could ‘be’ me in 2007, which was such a terrific validation and honor,” McMahon says. “When she does something, she’s all in. I mean, who says, ‘Sure, I’ll be tied to you for a year’? She’s a mystic.”

Prodigal Return

Montano moved back to her family’s home in the early 2000s to care for her ailing father. The return prompted her reembrace of Catholicism and

subsequent efforts of taking of prayer requests to holy pilgrimage sites around the world and making of videos that explore the faith. These include projects about the 14th-century Saint Teresa of Avila and noted priest and exorcist Father James Lebar. Naturally, her advanced age has meant a slowdown in her performing schedule. “Right now, I’m preparing for the denouement—dying,” says the artist, now 83, with a playful smirk. “Endurance artists are outsiders who are privileged to be able to go into nasty, uncomfortable, dangerous, unspeakable, frightening places and bring back the goodies. I’ve been called to heal medicinally through my art. And my biggest and best performance is my community of friends and family.”

Still, she isn’t yet specifying a stopping date for her work. “I’m getting old,” says Montano, who lipsynced as Bob Dylan at last month’s O+ Festival in Kingston. “But this is all I’ve ever done. I literally can’t do anything else.”

In Art/Life: One Year Performance 1983–1984 (Rope Piece), Montano spent a year tied to fellow performance artist Tehching Hsieh 24 hours a day by an eight-foot length of rope.

Battle for the Ashokan Corridor

A Rail-and-Trail Reckoning

By Steven Yoder

At a little before 9am on the snowy morning of February 12, Keisha Hoerrner stepped into her office at the Woodstock Land Conservancy on Tinker Street. She’d become the group’s communication and outreach manager in April 2024 after moving to the area from Florida with her husband.

A few months into the role, she’d started working on a cause the conservancy was advocating for: extending the eastern end of the Ashokan Rail Trail, which runs 12 miles along the northern rim of the Ashokan Reservoir. One option under consideration is removing a stretch of railroad track that the Kingston-based Catskill Mountain Railroad hopes to use to extend its tourist train runs.

Hoerrner shoveled the walks and sat down to open her first email, addressed to the group’s general mailbox. What she read would jolt her and send the organization into emergency mode.

“If you do anything to the railroad in that area,” wrote the anonymous sender, I’ll “kill multiple people” and then commit suicide.

Hoerrner alerted Board Chair Kevin Smith, and they spent the day coordinating with law enforcement, staff, and board members. It wasn’t till Hoerrner got home that the emotions hit, running from terror to anger. Woodstock “was supposed to be this very laid-back place of peace and love, and everybody was so warm and welcoming,” she says. “It was disconcerting to have all that change in an instant.” An investigation by the Ulster County Sheriff’s Office is ongoing, and the conservancy has implemented a rigorous security regime.

Boiling emotions were on display again on April 22 at a packed town board meeting in Hurley as the board was weighing whether to take a position on the disputed portion of track.

Town Supervisor Michael Boms says the intensity during the public comment period caught him off

guard. “I’ve never seen an issue divide the town that much,” he told the River Newsroom. “I could see blood vessels popping out of people’s heads. It was just way too emotional, way too nuts.”

Competing visions for what kind of tourism and leisure the county wants to promote have driven a deep wedge between Ulster County residents and legislators, all centered on 1.7 miles of unused railroad running along the east side of the Ashokan Reservoir. This year the disagreement has taken a more sinister turn, mirroring the transformation of politics in the country.

Three Options, Two Price Tags

In 1979 Ulster County paid Penn Central Railroad $1.5 million for almost 40 miles of unused track running from the Hudson River in Kingston to the Belleayre Ski Center in Highmount. Today the fate of that 1.7 miles of track is in the hands of Ulster County’s political leaders.

Kellee Esposito of the Hurley Rail Trail Committee measures a section of the 1.7-mile disputed corridor along the Ashokan Reservoir, where Ulster County officials must decide between rail, trail, or a combination of both.

They have in front of them three choices for that stretch of track: rail only, trail only, or both rail and trail. Embedded in each are competing visions for which amenities best serve residents and attract tourists. The costs of each differ dramatically: All agree that the third option, rail with trail, is the most expensive, though by how much is contested.

The first, rail only, would expand the operations of Catskill Mountain Railroad, which has operated heritage tourist trains in the area since 1982. Today the company runs trains that start in Kingston and go about five miles west toward the reservoir, ending less than 2 miles short of it. In 2024 the railroad had almost 61,000 riders, according to numbers it submitted to the county.

The company is in the second year of a fiveyear renewable permit from the county to run its trains on that stretch and pays $60,000 a year for the permit.

Renovating the existing track on those last two miles would let the railroad bring passengers to the reservoir, where they could get off and walk the Ashokan Rail Trail, say rail proponents. There the railroad proposes building a train station with amenities on land that the railroad leases from a private landowner, with the lease running through 2038, says Catskill Mountain Railroad president Ernie Hunt. From the station, the railroad says it could run a trolley into Woodstock.

The second option, trail only, would instead extend the Ashokan trail along those two miles, opening up that section to people in more communities, say trail boosters. But the bigger goal it would make possible is to eventually run the trail all the way to Kingston. That matters because Kingston is on the Empire State Trail, a walking, hiking, and biking path running from New York City to Buffalo, the longest such multi-use network in the country, according to the state. The existing trail, which opened in 2019, gets more than 192,000 visitors a year, according to the county.

The third option, rail with trail, would do both, running trains alongside walkers and bikers. Because that two-mile stretch is single track, doing so would require significantly widening the right of way. The terrain poses significant challenges to that: sections of track run on top of a narrow artificial land bridge called Stony Hollow Fill and in another section through a rock defile. How much more this option would cost, and the environmental impact, are the heart of the debate.

Trail proponents say the rail-only option would permanently curtail the Ashokan Rail Trail’s potential. “If you do that, you’ve isolated forever the ART—it becomes a totally separate trail that never connects to the larger trail system of New York State,” says Jeff Collins, a Democratic county legislator who headed up a legislative committee to study the issue starting last year.

Rail proponents say the same about the

trail-only option. Hunt says the railroad wants to deliver train riders to the reservoir’s open vistas. “It’s our opinion that if we don’t get this extension, we’re just wasting our time in Ulster County,” he says. “For us basically it’s essential to our existence.”

Rail-with-trail would seem to make everyone happy. But the engineering feats required are immense. For example, Stony Hollow Fill is a half-mile stretch of track built on top of a 30- to 60-foot-high causeway of rock and dirt to even out the steep elevation gain there. There the track,

“I’ve never seen an issue divide the town that much. Blood vessels were popping out of people’s heads.”

—Hurley Town Supervisor Michael Boms

choked in spots by head-high mugwort, soars above the forest floor, parts of which are federally protected wetlands.

The problem: At 13 feet wide in some places, that section can’t accommodate both a train and a trail.

Catskill Mountain Railroad proposes several options. One, for example, would run a boardwalk out over the wetlands floor to accommodate the trail. Smith of the Woodstock Land Conservancy rejects that: “We’re talking an extraordinary, very complicated construction project to do that and major, major impacts on mature wetlands,” he says, citing the opinion of a local wetlands ecologist. “I think it’s poppycock.”

Two recent studies looked at the feasibility and costs of trail-only versus rail with trail. In 2023 the Open Space Institute commissioned a study of both for the entire length of corridor running from Kingston through the disputed section. The resulting 136-page report put the price tag of the rail-with-trail option at almost

$39 million, more than twice as expensive as trail-only. Catskill Mountain Railroad commissioned its own study last October. That six-page report, an update to a 2015 study, put the rail-with-trail price tag at $18.5 million, less than $4 million more than trail-only.

Tampering, Sabotage, and Death Threats

The dispute now is about more than corridor widths, wetlands, and price tags.

In March 2024, a Woodstock Land Conservancy supporter spotted railroad maintenance equipment on the disputed section of track. The conservancy told the county, which investigated and found the railroad clearing trees and installing fixtures, and more on that section. The county sent a cease-and-desist letter to the railroad, threatening to pull the current permit to run trains from Kingston.

Hunt told the River Newsroom that the railroad leases the land around that track from the landowner, so the county “had no right to send us a cease-and-desist.” But the company opted not to fight it, he says. Smith says that’s wrong—the county has an easement that runs across the landowner’s property, so the railroad can’t work on the tracks themselves since the tracks are within the easement.

That same month the railroad issued a press release announcing it had won three state grants. One was to be used to fund construction of the train station that the railroad envisions. But last October the county wrote a letter to the state contesting the awards because the projects required county approval, which the railroad hadn’t gotten before applying. The state subsequently suspended two of the three grants, the Times Union reported.

Then in April Hunt claimed that the railroad got its own death threat: When he arrived for his presentation at the April 22 Hurley meeting, the law enforcement officer checking people in told Hunt that the railroad itself was the target of a threat, Hunt told the River Newsroom. Hunt says he thinks the officer was from the Ulster County Sheriff’s Office, but he didn’t get his name. Ulster County Sheriff spokesperson Collin Reynolds told the River Newsroom by email that the department has no record of receiving a complaint of a death threat against the railroad. The town of Hurley has no police department.

On June 27, the railroad issued a press release reporting it had been the target of sabotage when someone cut electrical wiring and oil lines and punctured fuel and oil filters on two of its maintenance vehicles parked on a bridge. The railroad reported the incident to state police and the federal Transportation Security Administration. Hunt told the River Newsroom he thinks the railroad was deliberately targeted because the bridge isn’t a place “where you just casually walk by.” A month later someone cut audio cables at the railroad’s station in Kingston, he says.

All of that mirrors trends in the country at large. Dislike and disgust directed at members of opposing political parties has increased steadily since the 1980s, according to a 2023 report by the Carnegie Endowment. Local elected officials have been targeted with more threats since 2018, hate crimes in 2021 were at their highest level in at least 20 years, and the US is polarizing faster than other Western democracies, it noted.

So it was perhaps unsurprising that Democrats and Republicans in the legislature who took a public position on the disputed track mostly picked opposite sides. The legislature’s Ulster & Delaware Corridor Advisory Committee, set up to study the issue, recommended in May that the county move ahead with a modified trailonly option. It would cede a bit more track to the railroad on the eastern end of the disputed section but leave the rest trail-only. All five Democrats on the committee voted in favor and the two Republicans voted against, according to reporting by the Daily Freeman

The dispute also may split rail users and bikers and walkers. Manna Jo Greene is a Democratic county legislator who’s led environmental causes for years and appears to be the only Democrat to have spoken out for the rail-with-trail option.

“I’m a senior and at the point where I don’t do long hiking or bicycling,” she says. “But taking my family on that railroad is something that I look forward to.”

A Tie-Breaking Study

Legislative leaders now are trying to lower the temperature. In June, the legislature’s Housing & Transportation Committee voted to postpone implementation of the corridor advisory committee’s May recommendation for a modified trail-only option.

Instead, legislature chair Peter Criswell announced that the legislature would seek a third, independent study of the cost and feasibility of all three options, and a contract to do that was awarded to New Paltz engineering firm Barton & Loguidice. Criswell gave no timeline for the study’s completion because the contract still has to be approved by the legislature. “The goal is to have objective, datadriven information that allows the legislature to make the best decision for Ulster County residents,” Criswell told the River Newsroom by email.

There’s no telling which way the vote will go once that report comes out. Collins, who voted

for the amended trail-only option in May, says he could be persuaded to switch to rail-with-trail if it’s not significantly more expensive and doesn’t have negative environmental impacts, though he’s skeptical that’s what the new study will find.

“If the cost difference was not significant, definitely. I’ve always said this: If we could do both, we should do both,” he says.

Greene says she cares about cost but is on board with rail-with-trail even if it’s much more expensive: “I’m one of the legislators who believes that both rail and trail in that corridor are valuable assets, and that even though rail with trail would be more costly than either one of the other options, I think it’s a very good investment for Ulster County,” she says. Once the report comes out, she’d like to see mediators sit down with the sides and negotiate a solution, she adds.

But the year’s events have rocked Hoerrner’s faith in the ability of Americans to disagree without violence. “I don’t know how you build back any sense of unity or shared values or common principles when you literally cannot communicate with one another,” she says. “It seems like the first step now is to be rude and then move to vilifying people. And then violence seems very easy on top of that.”

A Catskill Mountain Railroad crew member halts traffic during a tourist train run in Kingston. The railroad hopes to extend service two miles west to the Ashokan Reservoir—track now at the center of Ulster County’s increasingly bitter rail-versus-trail battle.

Photo by David McIntyre.

TimeTested Tables

HUDSON VALLEY RESTAURANTS THAT HAVE AGED LIKE FINE WINE

By Marie Doyon and Brian K. Mahoney

In a time of rapidly changing food landscapes, when it seems like all we do is report on openings and closures, we’d like to take a moment to honor the places that have endured the test of time—and a pandemic to boot. We’ve gathered the cream of the crop—Hudson Valley restaurants that have been around for at least 10 years and that excel at what they do. These local eateries are aging like fine wine, and if you haven’t been yet, it’s time to start ticking some off the list.

Le Canard Enchaine

276 Fair Street, Kingston

Ahhh, Le Canard. Step back in time to a simpler, more elegant moment with white tablecloths and servers in black tie. This restaurant has not made its name with innovative, boundarypushing, identity-molting menus, but rather by perfecting the art of French cuisine and continuing to dish up consistency against all odds and changing times. If you’re going for a birthday or anniversary, book a table, otherwise sidle up to the old wooden bar for a martini while you wait on a plate of moule mariniere or escargots. The steak au poivre is always a good choice (and generally available even when not on the menu). This French bistro, complete with the classic checkered floor, also has its delightful anachronisms (or at least incongruities with the vintage style decor and service)—like the electronic dance music that often pumps through the speakers, or the very 2025 prices.

Terrapin

6426 Montgomery Street, Rhinebeck

Within a circa-1825 cedar-shake Baptist church, chef-owner Josh Kroner has created a temple of eating that has endured over 27 years. The organizing principle for Terrapin’s lengthy and varied menu has always been unapologetically subjective: foods Kroner likes to eat. As the farm-to-table movement grew up around the restaurant, Kroner began incorporating more and

more local ingredients into his food, ultimately becoming a champion of the movement in the Hudson Valley. Today, all of the animal products served at Terrapin are free-range, grass- or natural grain-fed, and raised with no hormones or antibiotics. The influences are far-flung, pulling in American, Chinese, Mexican, and Italian influences with equal ease. The menus are different on the bistro and restaurant sides. On a warm night, sit outside under the eaves to watch the hustle and bustle of Rhinebeck slip by.

Il Cena’colo

228 South Plank Road, Newburgh

For more than three decades, Il Cena’colo has been a cornerstone of Italian dining in the Hudson Valley, bringing refined Tuscan flavors to Newburgh since 1988. Owner-chef Sali Hadzi, originally from Montenegro, imbued the restaurant with an Old World sensibility—plastertinted walls in soft golds, century-old beams, copper pot racks, and rustic shutters cocoon the dining rooms in warmth and quiet drama.

The menu celebrates classic Northern Italian techniques and ingredients. Signature dishes include stracotto alla Fiorentina (traditional Italian pot roast) and costoletta d’agnello profumate (grilled rack of lamb, marinated in juniper berries, garlic, and fresh herbs). Each meal opens with a generous antipasti table of house-cured meats, cheeses, olives, and preparations of smoked fish.

The cozy dining room at Ship to Shore, Kingston’s longtime Rondout anchor for steakhouse classics served with a modern twist.

Il Cena’colo continues to draw loyalists who cherish its unhurried pace, polished service, and the kind of food that feels timeless.

Ship Lantern Inn

1725 Route 9W, Milton

A good restaurant, like a good Bordeaux, rewards patience. And in the case of the Ship Lantern Inn, we’re talking nearly a century of cellaring. Family-run since 1925, this Milton stalwart occupies a stone building that predates the Republic itself—George Washington may well have passed by on his horse and wondered about the prix fixe. Inside, the mood is all understated elegance: brass fixtures, dark wood, and a fireplace glow that flatters everyone in the room. The menu is gloriously untroubled by culinary fashion—rack of lamb, porcinidusted Chilean sea bass, house-aged New York sirloin—each dish executed with the confidence of a place that has nothing to prove. The Ship Lantern isn’t chasing the next big thing. It already was one, about three big things ago.

Brasserie 292

292 Main Street, Poughkeepsie

You’ve gotta love a place that does what it does, and does it well. Brasserie 292 is a classic French bistro, which hasn’t varied from its founding principle in its more than 15 years of operation. The restaurant space itself, modeled after a Parisian bistro, is a delight to be in, with white-tiled walls, a long red leather banquette fronted by cafe tables, and a tin ceiling. In 2012, we described it as “a shrine to French gastronomy,” and we stand by that remark. Beyond the shift toward exclusively local ingredients, not much has changed. The raw bar is still briny; the lobster thermidor is still triumphantly indulgent; and the escargots still sing in their parsley-garlic butter bath. And it is still a place for special occasions.

Gigi Trattoria

6422 Montgomery Street, Rhinebeck

Gigi Trattoria in Rhinebeck wears the comfort of home lightly—warm enough to feel familiar, inventive enough to never get boring. Chef Laura Pensiero opened it in 2001, and over two decades later the place hums with the quiet confidence of food rooted in the Mediterranean and made local. The menu spans across Spain, Italy, and Greece, with house-made pastas, bold seasonal flavors, and dishes like gambas in garlicky paprika sauce that beg for crusty bread for mopping. Gigi is the kind of spot where memories are layered: friends who met there, children who grew up with those menus, toasts made across many years.

Silvia

42 Mill Hill Road, Woodstock

When Silvia came on the scene in 2015, it was as much revelation as heresy. With all traces

of its former raucous (night) life as the Joyous Lake erased under a fresh coat of sleek black paint, its arrival heralded the start of a new era—for Woodstock, specifically, and for the Hudson Valley, broadly. Despite local affinity, it is hard to be resentful once inside and seated on a plush, olive-toned, velvet banquet, amid tropical plants, and surrounded by impeccably curated mismatched art. It is sexy, something that Woodstock’s tie-dyed past never claimed to be. And the wood-fired food program kicked off local obsession. Farm-fresh pork and free-range chicken found their char-grilled nirvana and the craft cocktails were the upstate speartip of

a beverage renaissance. The seasonally rotating menu has a vegetable-forward bent, but the animal products, from milk to beef are locally sourced and pasture-raised, organic when possible. The style is decidedly New American, with a menu that rotates seasonally.

The Red Onion

1654 Route 212, Saugerties

Tucked on the side of busy Route 212, the Red Onion manages to be relaxed but elegant, much like the historic house it occupies. A large horseshoe bar is the focal point of the dining room. Here, locals gather for a drink and a chat

Cucina’s wraparound porch and farmhouse dining room have become Woodstock’s go-to for rustic Italian fare and convivial, timeless charm.

with the bartender or a solo meal, while all around at white tablecloth-clad tables, couples celebrate anniversaries and families gather for a nice meal out. The menu, which incorporates as many local ingredients as possible, is a globetrotting greatest hits list. Apps span from Thai-style mussels to homemade pierogies and mains from pappardelle a la Bolognese to duck a l’orange. There’s something for everyone, both in ambiance and cuisine. It’s survived 23 years and counting for a reason.

Ship to Shore

15 W Strand Street, Kingston

Since opening in 1998 in Kingston’s historic Rondout waterfront, Ship to Shore has quietly built a reputation as a steadfast destination for steakhouse fare with global flair. Chefowner Samir Hrichi guides a kitchen that fuses Mediterranean and Asian flavors into a New York–style steakhouse template. The dining room, tucked along the West Strand, is part of the Rondout’s evocative riverfront tableau, where tourists and locals alike drift in for serious fare. The menu balances classic steakhouse anchors— like 16-ounce New York strip or bone-in ribeye— with lighter, inventive dishes: yellowfin tuna stack layered with avocado, sesame crust, crisp wontons, and sriracha; pan-seared branzino with braised kale, olives and beans; Thai red curry shrimp stir fry; lamb lollipops, and a vegan skillet. Over more than two decades, Ship to Shore has stood the tests of changing tastes and economic cycles, maintaining a voice that’s boldly confident, rooted in the region, and open to global impulses.

North Plank Road Tavern

30 Plank Road, Newburgh

Once a roadhouse and later a speakeasy, North Plank Road Tavern has been serving something or other to weary travelers since 1801. By the late 1970s, though, the old place was on its last legs— until Tom Costa bought it in 1979 and brought it back to life with the patience of a man reviving an heirloom. What could have become a relic instead became a local landmark, its warren of handtroweled rooms and flickering candles offering an unhurried refuge from modern speed. The kitchen turns out dishes that balance rustic comfort with polish: red-wine-braised short ribs, Faroe Island salmon, filet mignon au poivre, and mussels with jalapeño, bacon, and smoked paprika. More than two centuries in, the Tavern still feels like a secret you’ve just been lucky enough to hear.

Cucina

109 Mill Hill Road, Woodstock

When Chef Gianni Scappin opened Cucina in 2006, he transformed a revolving-door location into one of Woodstock’s most beloved restaurants. Set in a renovated farmhouse with a broad porch and wood-beamed dining rooms, Cucina captures rustic elegance without fuss. The menu balances Italian tradition with seasonal Hudson

Valley produce. Starters range from grass-fed beef meatballs with parmesan polenta to tuna crudo with pickled grapes and crispy farro. Hand-made pastas are a centerpiece: smoked ricotta cavatelli with honeynut squash and brown butter, fusilli col buco with bolognese and stracchino, or linguine alla vongole with clams, garlic, and white wine. Mains highlight both comfort and craft: classic chicken parmesan with linguine, pan-seared trout with cider beurre blanc, or a 14-ounce ribeye with rosemary fries. Nearly two decades in, Cucina remains a touchstone of Woodstock dining—welcoming locals, weekenders, and visitors with the kind of consistency that turns meals into memories.

Swoon Kitchenbar

340 Warren Street, Hudson

Opened in 2004 by Jeff Gimmel and Nina Bachinsky, Swoon KitchenBar has long stood as a pioneer of luxurious farm-to-plate dining in Hudson. Set in a 19th-century Warren Street building, the space blends exposed brick, high ceilings, and a quietly modern aesthetic—simple enough to let the food shine. Swoon’s menu changes often with seasonal harvests, but its backbone is steadfast: refined, locally sourced dishes that feel grounded yet lively Among starters, you might find bacon-wrapped dates, crispy spiced chickpeas, or oysters on the half shell. On the pasta side: house-made linguine with fresh tomato and basil, or house-made pappardelle with braised beef ragout. For mains, the options include a spice-rubbed skirt steak over potato puree, pan-

roasted Atlantic salmon with green tomato relish, brown sugar–brined pork chop, or slow-roasted veal breast with sausage stuffing and broccolini. After nearly two decades, Swoon still feels like a bridge between the region’s agricultural roots and a more modern, adventurous dining sensibility.

The Corner at Hotel Tivoli

53 Broadway, Tivoli

Nestled on the ground floor of Hotel Tivoli, The Corner blends art-world pedigree with warm, ingredient-driven cooking. The business was opened in 2014 by painters Brice and Helen Marden, and their curatorial hand is everywhere— in the midcentury and custom furnishings, bold color accents, Murano-glass lighting, and rotating works by fellow artists like Roy Lichtenstein.

Chef Colby Miller helms a Mediterraneaninflected and seasonally minded menu built around local produce and meats. Small plates tempt with dishes like crispy Brussels sprouts with pomegranate balsamic, roasted beets with herb labneh, or a trio of dips with house focaccia. On the entree side: hanger steak with red chermoula, Faroe Island salmon with romesco, a roasted halfchicken with market sides, or fresh spaghetti with rock shrimp and clams. The wine list is eclectic and global, and cocktails are crafted in concert with Employees Only NYC. After years in the Hudson Valley scene, the Corner distinguishes itself not just by its food but by the immersive, art-forward environment—where dining feels like entering a living gallery.

At The Corner in Hotel Tivoli, art-world polish meets Mediterranean comfort in a jewel-box dining room curated by painter Brice Marden.

Photo by Roy Gumpel

sips & bites

Oyster Party

1802 Route 28, Woodstock

After 15 years of shucking oysters at pop-ups and private events across the Hudson Valley and beyond, Oyster Party is putting down roots on Route 28. The little inland seafood shack takes over the roadside spot next to Santa Fe Woodstock that previously housed Abandoned Hard Cider’s Outpost. Slated to open in November, the brick-and-mortar will feature an expanded menu that includes lobster rolls, creamy clam chowder, lobster bisque, and caviar; and will also be available to reserve for private educational tastings. Their popular po’boy is also likely to return. Beer, wine, and cider from local producers like West Kill Brewing, Rose Hill, and Hudson Valley Brewery will round out the offerings, though the space will open BYOB until Oyster Party’s liquor license is finalized.

Oysterpartybk.com

Oui Oui

288 Main Street, Beacon

For the past three years, Oui Oui Cuisine’s pink and turquoise food trailer has been a common sight at breweries, vineyards, and community events throughout the region. In September, husband-and-wife team Georges and Laura Goba-Byrne opened a permanent stall inside Hudson

Valley Food Hall in Beacon, which they run in addition to catering events. Their menu leans on European cafe traditions while staying playful: a croque monsieur on brioche with gruyere, ham, and bechamel ($14), a Caprese Croissant; the Oui Oui Baby panini with chicken, bechamel, hash browns, gruyere, lettuce, and tomato on a Portuguese roll ($14). They also have a late-night menu Thursdays through Saturdays, with offerings like the Irish Spice Bag, a Dublin street-food cult favorite made of fries, fried chicken, onions, and peppers tossed in Chinese spices and served with Irish curry sauce ($17); and Sunday brunch from 10am to 3pm. Ouiouicuisine.com

Lucky Kingston

43 N. Front Street, Kingston

In early October, Tannersville favorite Lucky Catskills opened its Stockade District location in the old Kingston Bread + Bar spot. The concept for the Kingston spot is the same as the Catskills location: an Asian cafe with dim sum offerings, coffee drinks, and a provisions market, open from 9am to 5pm. Kick off your day right with the 888 Sando, with heirloom eggs, American cheese, kewpie mayo, pork belly, and housemade kimchi ($14). Drop by at lunch time for Asian tapas like soup dumplings ($8), steamed buns with chicken, vegetable, or pork filling. There’s

also radish cakes ($6) spring rolls (two for $5), and chive cakes ($4). On the cafe side of things, beyond your standard drip and espresso drink offerings, things get interesting at the flavors. Dunkin’ can keep its hazelnut and pumpkin spice, Lucky Catskills sets itself apart with add-ons like black sugar, red bean, cardamom, toasted coconut, miso caramel, and gochujang caramel.

Luckycatskills.com

Hilltown

224 Hillsdale Road, Egremont

After a long and very visible building restoration on Route 23 in Egremont, Massachusetts, Hilltown finally opened in mid-October. Pizzaiolo Rafi Bildner built up his following over the past six years under the banner Hilltown Hot Pies, with Neapolitan-style pizza pop-ups at farms and breweries throughout the region. The menu at Hilltown is meticulously curated and seasonal, shaped by local farms and choice Italian producers. A few starters, like the wood-fired meatballs with local beef, ricotta, and sourdough bread ($18) or formaggi e verdure, a rotating mix of local cheeses and vegetables served with focaccia ($16), set the tone. Pizza menu highlights include the Sassy Salsiccia, featuring pork sausage, pickled goat horn peppers, smoked mozzarella, and house giardiniera ($27); and the L’Irpinia with

dark leafy greens, burrata, lemon zest, and olive oil ($26). A few salads, small plates, and desserts—like the Cornbread Tiramisu with maple zabaglione ($14) round out a menu that keeps its focus tight but expressive of its place.

Hilltownhotpies.com

Kingston Bread + Bar

608 Broadway, Kingston

After five years and a location change, Kingston Bread + Bar is closer than ever to its original vision with its new spot in Midtown Kingston. In early October, the beloved bakery and cafe opened its doors in a freshly renovated space on Broadway, in the former home of Pakt, bringing with it a bigger kitchen, fixed all-week menus, and a liquor license. In addition to sourdough loaves and pastries, KBB’s famous mini pancakes are now available all week, as are the bagels and bagel sandwiches. The menu has also incorporated new items like a fried chicken and a tofu sub and will continue to evolve in the coming weeks. The restored spot is cozy with plenty of natural light, tin ceilings, hardwood floors, exposed brick walls, and a custom wooden bar and tables. Look forward to weekend brunch and special events in conjunction with UPAC.

Kingstonbread.com

—Marie Doyon

Rafi Bildner opened Hilltown, a wood-fired pizza restaurant, in Egremont last month.

Drawn by the Great Western Catskills’ scenic quietude and rich agricultural history, culinary creatives have long taken to the mountains of Delaware County to hone their craft. In recent years, the region has welcomed everyone from ambitious restaurateurs to bestselling cookbook authors and expert winemakers, giving rise to a new generation of seasonally-driven and family-owned restaurants that are redefining what rural dining means. Ready to dig in? Here are six of the latest openings in Delaware County that are sure to whet anyone’s appetite.

San Mul, FleiSchmanns

San Mul is the new home base of Kimchee Harvest by East Branch Farms, a brand of Korean-style ferments beloved at farmers’ markets near and far. Chef Madalyn Warren and her family have transformed the space into their kitchen studio and Korean lunch counter open Friday through Monday. Recent offerings include bibimbap, chive pancakes, a rotating selection of small-batch banchan, as well as seasonal produce from their farm.

CatskillS taCo Shack, FleiSchmanns

Just down Main Street, Catskills Taco Shack brings a burst of color and spice to Fleischmanns’ increasingly culinarily-blessed downtown, which also includes cafe-grocery Dolittle’s and vinyl

Fresh FlavorS in Delaware County

6 reCently opened Food & Drink experienCeS

record bar The Print House. Ivan Herrera’s family-run eatery, open Sunday through Tuesday, serves classic Mexican street fare made with care. The compact menu centers on tacos (think classics like steak and chorizo, alongside a robust black bean, chickpea, and red pepper vegan filling), each served on corn tortillas with housemade salsa verde.

rae’S, Margaretville

On Margaretville’s Main Street, Rae’s has quickly become a culinary anchor since its opening this summer. Owned and operated by husband-and-wife team James Bailey and Alexandra Rosenberg, the restaurant’s rotating, seasonal menu pairs nostalgia with inventive techniques. Recent highlights include roasted pork butt with a maple and Korean chili glaze, a whitefish melt with kimchi and purple basil aioli, and a celeriac steak with beer-braised cabbage and black eyed peas. A thoughtful drinks list features natural wines, local beers, and playful twists on classic cocktails.

Book village inn & Bar, hoBart

In Hobart, the Book Village Inn & Bar pairs literary charm with comforting cuisine inspired by Argentine home cooking. Thursday through Monday, guests can stop in for cozy fare such as skirt steak with chimichurri and choripan (a classic sausage street food sandwich), alongside a bar program that highlights local beers, low-intervention wines, and canned cocktails.

It’s a fitting complement to the town’s cluster of bookstores and galleries, and a convivial stop for locals and literary pilgrims alike.

Dear native Grapes taStinG room, walton

Founded by Deanna Urciuoli and Alfie Alcantara, Dear Native Grapes is redefining Catskills wine culture with a mission to celebrate forgotten American grape varieties. At its new tasting room in Walton, currently open on Saturdays, guests can sip natural wines while enjoying the scenery and selections from rotating pop-up food vendors.

CaSita MexiCana, hancock

In Hancock, Casita Mexicana is the Huerta family’s celebration of Mexican cooking. Since opening, the family has drawn loyal diners with sizzling fajitas, tacos, tamales, enchiladas, and more, made from scratch. Open seven days a week, the restaurant’s warm hospitality has quickly made it a cornerstone of the town’s dining scene.

In search of something fun to pair with lunch or dinner? Take a hike up to one of Delaware County’s firetowers, stop into one of its acclaimed distilleries, cideries, and breweries, or peruse its many independent shops and galleries. Whether popping into one of the Great Western Catskills’ charming towns or hamlets for a few hours or a weekend getaway, there’s always a feast of culinary and cultural delights to enjoy.

Greatwesterncatskills.com

Enjoying the view at Dear Native Grapes tasting room in Walton.

Photo by Jason Martin

Farmhouse to Table

THE FOUNDER OF TERRAPIN RESTAURANT’S DUTCH FARM

By Mary Angeles Armstrong

Photos by Winona Barton-Ballentine

At Josh Kroner and Betty Contreras’s 1720 Dutch farmhouse, the connection between garden, kitchen, and table runs deep. The front door opens straight into the kitchen, where picture windows capture views of the surrounding 38-acre farm. “ The original farmhouse was built by Dutch settlers before the English took over,” explains Kroner, the founder and head chef at Terrapin Restaurant. It ’s been a farm so long the wood planks in the barn have been ground down by centuries of use. ”

Between kitchen and farmscape, an ancient, restored butcher block is a natural gathering space, set with a seasonal offering of flowers that Contreras is slowly learning to coax from the garden. For Contreras, that spot and the surrounding flow of activity whirling from chef ’ s kitchen to patio to fields form the heart of the home. “I love that the first thing I see when I enter is the butcher block and then the gardens where our goat and chicken wander,” she explains. “It ’s the instant blend of home, food, and nature—all the things we love in one view.”

Josh Kroner and Betty Contreras walk their dogs Winnie and Jefe, and their goat Sage, on their 38-acre farm. Their Rhinebeck property includes seven cleared acres with enclosed gardens, a small pond, a chicken coop and goat pen, and a 200-year-old barn. After starting with chickens for eggs at his restaurant, Kroner now keeps the sole survivor, Stella, who has bonded with Sage. “The goat is actually my most affectionate pet,” Kroner says.

Opposite, Top Right: The view from the kitchen through picture windows to the garden beyond. In 2022, Contreras began renovations to bring light into the historic space, knocking down walls, adding windows, and installing a glass slider along the back wall to connect the kitchen to the farm. Outside, the garden has become a lesson in humility to Contreras. “The seasons in the Hudson Valley are beautiful but demanding; what thrives one year might struggle the next,” she says. “The land has its own rhythm, and I’ve had to learn to listen to it.”

Bottom Right:  Kroner prepares lunch at home. Inspired by the promise of fresh produce, Kroner moved to the Hudson Valley in 1997 and started Terrapin Restaurant, a pioneer in the local farm-to-table movement. “I had the taste and wanted to be connected to the actual farms,” says Kroner, who now sources ingredients from over 100 local farms. “I was one of the people to start it, but it was really local people who made the farm-totable movement happen.”

The original farmhouse living room features wide-plank floors, 18-inch hand-hewn ceiling beams, and low ceilings typical of Dutch construction. A row of split Dutch doors, which allowed light and air in while keeping livestock out, helped date the home. “The inspector explained that the house was likely built around 1720 because of the Dutch doors,’” explains Kroner. “In 1731 the English took the area over and they stopped the Dutch construction methods.”

The Reluctant Locavore

The seeds for Kroner ’s culinary calling were planted early.

“My grandfather left Manhattan to start a restaurant in Brewster,” he explains. “My first cooking job was at my Uncle Vinny ’s restaurant in Pleasantville, where I learned my grandfather ’s recipes.” Kroner briefly detoured into tech, studying engineering before he realized he shared the family passion for food.

He attended the French Culinary Institute in Manhattan and began apprenticing with chefs in the city. But real inspiration came from his commute. “I lived in the East Village and worked in Union Square at Bobby Flay ’s Mesa Grill,” Kroner explains. “When I got out of the train I’d walk through the farmers’ market and think, ‘Wow this is great! This is where the food comes from.’”

Drawn by fruit and vegetables, Kroner returned to the Hudson Valley in 1997, in search of a cornucopia of fresh ingredients and a thriving local food culture. The reality was quite different. “I expected fresh produce to be everywhere, and it just wasn’t,” he remembers. “There were no farmers’ markets, no farm stands, and absolutely no farm-to-table. No one seemed to care where their produce came from.”

So Kroner started small, opening the first iteration of Terrapin in the woods of West Hurley. He was intent on providing fresh, local ingredients to diners and began

reaching out to local farms. “It seemed natural to connect with local farmers when I started the restaurant,” he says. “I started going to farms and asking farmers, ‘What can I get?’” He built recipes around what he sourced and began identifying local farms on the menu. Kroner was onto something. “ The whole thing just mushroomed. Other chefs started doing the same thing and customers started asking to see more local ingredients,” he remembers. “I didn’t want to start a movement, I just wanted better ingredients for the restaurant.” In 2003, Kroner relocated Terrapin to Rhinebeck, taking over an 1825 former Baptist church on Montgomery Street, transforming one half into a formal restaurant, and the other into a bistro.

Straight from the Donkey’s Back

For Contreras, childhood meals weren’t farm-to-table, more farm-to-donkey-to-table. She grew up in the Dominican Republic on a family farm abundant with light, color—and plenty of mangos right outside her front door. Farmers skipped the middle men; instead marchantas hawked fresh produce straight from the farms. “They piled vegetables and fruit high on donkeys and then rode around town yelling out that day ’s harvest,” she remembers. “I’d run out and pick what I wanted straight from the donkey ’s back.”

Contreras moved to New York for college, studying

physical therapy, and settling in Brooklyn. She was entranced by the city ’s vibrancy and, even though she’d always planned to return to the family farm, she started to think she’d never leave her block in Fort Greene. “I loved that little world, with its array of cultures expressing beauty through flowers and landscaping,” she says. “Almost through osmosis the mix seeped into how I see light and create spaces.”

Farm-to-Island Cooking

In 2017 Kroner bought the four-bedroom farmstead near Rhinebeck. The home’s previous owner had doubled its square footage by adding a first-floor primary bedroom suite with an open concept office above. Kroner hoped the antique home, with its original wide plank floors, 18-inch-wide ceiling beams, and split Dutch doors would charm his kids into appreciating farm life. “But they didn’t really enjoy the farm at all,” he says. “It became a bachelor pad.”

Still, they visited. To create a space for both meal prep and guests, Kroner redesigned the kitchen around an island topped with a custom range hood. Ample counters stretch along the edges of the room with extra storage and island seating. “ It was function over form,” he explains of the redesign. “ I wanted the people I love in front of me, so I can cook and face them. Everything else I need is right within reach.”

Unlikely Animal Friendships

Contreras and Kroner met when she was visiting for the weekend. “We actually met at the restaurant,” Contreras says. Initially, she wasn’t necessarily sold on the chef, or his life in the country. Kroner ’s gloomy 300-year-old bachelor pad didn’t help. “It was dark and claustrophobic and a little austere,” Contreras says of the low ceilings and warren of small rooms spread over 3,500 square feet. Kroner admits she might have had a point. “ The home was beautiful but soulless,” he says. “I’m a chef. Design was not my thing.” Kroner, however, did have a dog. “I fell in love with his dog Woolfie first,” Contreras explains. “ Then I started to like Josh too.” She began to see potential—in the man and his kitchen. The two eventually got married and in 2022 Contreras embarked on a master renovation determined to bring light into the historic spaces. “I wanted the design to bring all the influences and threads of our lives together,” she explains. “ Vibrancy and pops of color from the tropics, the textures and rhythms of the city, and the calm minimalist restraint of the Dutch architecture—all grounded in the Hudson Valley landscape.”

Farmhouse Light

Contreras began by knocking down a wall that separated two disjointed kitchen spaces. The newly expanded room

When Kroner bought the home, the kitchen was “bizarre”—two separate areas with sinks in different locations that weren’t integrated. Working with neighbor Jacob Hutchings of HV Builders, Kroner gutted the space and redesigned it for daily cooking and creating social media content. The space includes a custom copper range hood from Copper Hoods in Wisconsin and a restaurantgrade clear-door fridge. “This is his domain,” says Contreras, who is happy to be sidelined. “When I play records and he cooks, everything connects— the music, the food, the landscape, the light. It all moves together, effortlessly.”

“The more time we spend here, the more the boundaries between home, land, and community blur— in the best way.”

—Betty Contreras

Top: Contreras in her redesigned home office. Inspired by the “color, open air, and natural flow between indoors and out” of her childhood in the Dominican Republic, she worked with designer Sissy Quick of Paint Perfection to create custom mural wallpaper for the office wall. “What’s been most rewarding is how deeply personal the house feels now—my being is palpable in the space,” Contreras says. “You can sense it in the flowers, in the way the light moves through the rooms, in the calm that settles over everything.”

Bottom: Jefe in the primary bedroom, where Contreras added windows to flood the once-dark space with light. A painting of a flamboyan tree, a gift from her late mother hangs on the wall—a reminder of the Dominican farm she thought she’d return to. “They’re everywhere in the DR and so I wanted one,” says Contreras, who grows a flamboyan in the greenhouse, keeping it small enough to move indoors each winter. “I always thought I’d go back and have a farm in the DR. It turns out that it happened here in New York State.”

inspired another idea. “I thought, ‘ What if, when someone walks through the door, they immediately see outside?’” To capture that vision, she installed a glass slider along the back wall and surrounded it with windows. She also updated an adjacent bathroom, adding textured wallpaper and an oversized bucket sink.

Contreras took the same design approach with the remaining first floor rooms. “I wanted light,” she explains. “And I wanted to accentuate the farm setting.” She transformed her tranquil home office by enlarging the windows and adding bucolic mural wallpaper. In the primary bedroom, Contreras added a picture window between two existing casement windows, creating a wall of light. A back deck ties the three renovated spaces together and offers al fresco dining. “Betty wanted to bring the farm into the house,” says Kroner. “Now the deck has become a space we use constantly for meals and hosting.”

From Farm to Table to Home

Contreras still wasn’t quite satisfied. She loved the kitchen and she loved the view. “But we needed something inbetween,” she explains. Her design solution emerged from an unexpected source—her Danish mentors in Brooklyn. “ They invited me to see things differently—to appreciate simplicity,

light, and the quiet beauty of well-considered spaces,” she says. “ They had this amazing butcher block in their kitchen, and I remember thinking I’d have one of my own someday.”

She mentioned the idea to Kroner, suggesting they search for a similar piece. Then Kroner remembered a relic he’d saved from the early days of Terrapin. “I had a butcher block in the barn.” Salvaged from the original West Hurley location, he’d been holding onto the 80-year-old butcher block for two decades. Now, the restored piece is the natural gathering spot tying the kitchen to the deck and the landscape beyond.

What Contreras experienced as a child in the Dominican Republic, and what Kroner dreamed of while walking through Union Square, has been reimagined in their renovated home: a direct connection between land and table, between farmer and eater, between home and community. “The farm-to-table movement isn’t just about food anymore,” Contreras says. “It’s about creating a sense of place, community, and giving back. The more time we spend here, the more the boundaries between home, land, and community blur—in the best way.” Contreras has come around to Kroner ’s farm-to-table way of life. She explains, “ That connection—from soil to kitchen to table—feels like home.”

renovation was part of her larger 2022 transformation of the first-floor spaces. “I wanted to bring all the influences and threads of our lives together,” she explains. The oversized bucket sink quickly became a favorite feature. “It’s unexpected, practical, and somehow feels perfectly us.”

The redesigned bathroom off the kitchen features textured wallpaper installed by Sissy Quick of Paint Perfection and an oversized bucket sink by Earthy Concrete Artisans. The

HOLIDAY SHOPPING GUIDE

With so many independent creators and curators across the Hudson Valley, Catskills, and Berkshires, it’s never been easier to buy bespoke. From locally sourced herbal remedies to fine jewelry, gourmet provisions, well-designed decor, and more, here’s a roundup of thoughtful holiday gifts that are sure to surprise and delight.

Mohonk Preserve

Visitor Center: 3197 Route 44 55, Gardiner; (845) 255-0919; Mohonkpreserve.org

Gift a year of outdoor experiences with an annual membership to Mohonk Preserve. Members have access to their six trailheads throughout the Shawangunk Ridge. In addition to a year of walks, adventures, and memories for the recipient, support conservation, education and stewardship efforts that make the Preserve what it is. While supplies last, receive a limited-edition tote with all gift memberships. Visit mohonkpreserve.org for more information!

Road to Nowhere Clothing

270 Fair Street Kingston; Roadtonowhereclothing.com

In the heart of Uptown Kingston, Road to Nowhere offers timeless, travel-inspired clothing for men and women. Each piece is crafted from natural, sustainable fabrics and designed for everyday adventure—moving easily from weekday to weekend, city to countryside. With cozy knits, elevated basics, and beautifully made wardrobe staples, the shop embodies effortless style and thoughtful design—an ideal stop for distinctive, wellcrafted gifts this holiday season

Photo by Volunteer Photographer Bill Winter

Clubhouse Vintage

416 Main Street, Rosendale NY; (845) 244-0243

Clubhousevintageny.com

Clubhouse Vintage offers a lovingly curated collection of vintage Americana clothing for people of all ages and sizes. The shop in Rosendale stocks a constantly evolving selection of vintage denim, tees, workwear, kidswear, outerwear, military, dresses, accessories, and footwear. With over 500 pairs of vintage jeans in store, Clubhouse offers the largest selection of vintage USA-made Levi’s in the Hudson Valley. Gift certificates are available —perfect for any vintage lover. See more on Instagram @clubhouse_vintage_ny.

Lightfoot Woods

@lightfoot_woods, Lightfootwoods.com

Along the edge of beloved waterways, Caitlin Lightfoot gathers stones that speak. They tell her about glaciers dissolving into dreams, rivers keeping every secret. From their stories, she coaxes jewelry—small monuments of recycled metal and reverence. Each piece vibrates with a quiet invitation of belonging on this spinning earth.

Discover Lightfoot Woods online, at her studio in The Chocolate Factory by appointment, or at VERSE at 35 W Market St in Red Hook. The earth keeps its quiet treasures, just waiting to be noticed.

Adel Chefridi Fine Jewelry

47 East Market Street, Rhinebeck; Chefridi.com; @adelchefridi

Nestled in a historic building in the heart of Rhinebeck, Adel Chefridi Fine Jewelry has become a destination for those seeking gifts that carry meaning and artistry. Designer Adel Chefridi approaches jewelry as a vehicle for connection and emotional resonance, making it the perfect gift for the holiday season.

Their collection offers a wide variety for every budget, from wearable everyday designs to one-of-a-kind engagement rings featuring hand-selected diamonds and gemstones. Every piece is carefully handcrafted, blending traditional techniques with modern aesthetics, making each gift not only beautiful but an enduring heirloom.

Voted “Best Jewelry Store” by Chronogram readers two years in a row, the Rhinebeck Flagship gallery, which also houses The Adel Chefridi Design Studio, invites visitors into a warm, welcoming space. Guests can expect concierge-level service from a team of expert jewelers and jewelry professionals.

This year, Adel Chefridi celebrated 25 years of their design studio. Their original designs remain a favorite among Hudson Valley locals and visitors alike. Many collectors make shopping at Adel Chefridi a yearly holiday tradition.

Visit their Flagship Gallery in Rhinebeck, shop online at Chefridi.com, or from 100 stockists nationwide.

Eleish Van Breems Home

11 Main Street, New Preston, CT

Additional locations in Westport, Roxbury, and Nantucket @eleishvanbreems

Evbantiques.com

Childhood friends Rhonda Eleish and Edie van Breems founded Eleish van Breems as a fine antiques gallery in Woodbury, Connecticut in 1997. The duo’s fresh take on Gustavian formal and country Swedish folk antiques mixed with the latest accessories from Scandinavia quickly became a go-to resource, earning them an international following and resulting in two best-selling design books.

For almost 30 years, their mission has been to bring good design to everyone, with a focus on a clean, elegant, and fresh approach to interiors—all with a Scandinavian influence. Their storefront in New Preston is a sophisticated-yet-whimsical shop filled with many beautiful designs for the home including antiques, furniture, porcelain, pottery, textiles, giftable items, and beyond. All items are sourced from small international and domestic companies and artists whose work resonates with the Eleish Van Breems brand in terms of quality and design.

Elizaville, NY (518) 537-6799 Teecetorre.com

Teece Torre crafts original, one-of-a-kind jewelry that blends timeless elegance with modern edge. Each piece is composed with an eye for gemstone, color, and quality—bracelets and necklaces that feel personal, sculptural, and effortlessly chic. Whether it is a custom piece, repurposed estate jewelry, or curated vintage, Teece Torre offers wearable art for collectors who value originality, personal service, and quiet luxury.

5 St Andrews Road, Hyde Park; Dassai-blue.com

This beautifully packaged set includes three premium sakes, Type 23, Type 35, and Type 50, all handcrafted in the Hudson Valley! Type 50 offers a full-bodied and sweeter profile, while Type 23 presents a delicate taste and dry finish. Packaged in a special box, it’s the perfect gift for both curious beginners and sake lovers. Free shipping with orders over $90 using this code on Dassai-blue.com: GIFTLIST

Teece Torre

Dassai Blue Sake Brewery

Shorty Espresso Cups, Set of 2 shown in Teal, $70 (also available in Amber, Green, Pink, and Blue)

Celestial Embroidered Linen Coasters in Blue, Set of 4, $160

Hudson Roastery Café and Coffee Bar

4 Park Place, Hudson (518) 697-5633 Hudsonroastery.com

Hudson Roastery Café and Coffee Bar has become a destination where locals and visitors gather for conversation, freshly roasted coffee beverages, daily baked goods, and a chef-inspired breakfast and lunch menu.

This holiday season, the perfect gift awaits at Hudson Roastery—whether it’s a gift card or a Coffee Experience and Tasting purchased through their website. The experience includes a live coffee roasting demonstration, a guided tasting, and light snacks. Coffee beans are also sold by the bag— choose from nine different varieties. Open 7 days a week: weekdays 7am–3pm, weekends 7am–5pm.

The Blue Olive Shop

26 Charles Colman Boulevard, Pawling; 125 Main Street, Cold Spring; 24 Eastdale Avenue South, at Eastdale Village, Poughkeepsie Theblueoliveshop.com

The Blue Olive Shop is a family-owned olive oil and vinegar tasting room and gourmet store featuring numerous infused and varietal extra virgin olive oils, traditional and infused balsamic and specialty vinegars, bread and cake mixes, pizza kits, local jams and spices, sea salts, pastas, Italian sauces and risotto, olives, tapenades, olive oil soaps made in house, and much more.

Emerson Resort & Spa

5340 Route 28, Mt Tremper; Emersonresort.com

It’s not often that shopping itself feels like a holiday all on its own. Housed in a beautifully restored 19th-century dairy barn, The Shops at Emerson offers an atmosphere that’s as magical as the holiday season itself. From exposed beams to the gentle clinking of the drylaid brick floor to a grain silo that’s been transformed into the World’s Largest Kaleidoscope, shopping here is a one-of-a-kind experience for the senses.

Explore a curated mix of boutiques featuring home decor, designer apparel, kitchen gadgets, bath and body products, games, puzzles, gifts for pets, baby gear, and plush toys. Looking for local products? Find keepsakes, gourmet foods, books, Catskills hoodies, art, and more.

With easy parking, indoor shops, and a scenic setting, shoppers can relax, browse, and find something special for everyone on their list. Holiday shopping doesn’t have to feel rushed and chaotic. At The Shops at Emerson, it feels like part of the celebration.

Hummingbird Jewelers

23A East Market Street, Rhinebeck (845) 876-4585

Hummingbirdjewelers.com

Hummingbird Jewelers is grateful to celebrate over 48 years as Rhinebeck’s full-service jewelry store. This holiday season, they have curated a collection of fine designer jewelry from around the globe. Whether it’s repair, restoration, repurposing of family heirlooms, or the creation of a new piece of fine jewelry, Hummingbird Jewelers is there to satisfy all their customers’ needs.

Newhard’s —The Home Source

39 Main Street, Warwick (845) 986-4544

This is the season of thanks and gratitude, a time to enjoy the company of friends and family and nature’s surrounding beauty. There is no better time of year to visit the Warwick Valley! Newhard’s—The Home Source has been called the “Emporium of Everything” and is filled with treasures to make one’s home a little bit warmer, more beautiful, gracious, and happy. Take a moment to discover the town and the Village of Warwick, its history, wonderful restaurants, and friendly stores. Find Newhard’s on Facebook and Instagram.

Wndrmade

Kerhonkson

Wndrmade.com

Born from a love of nature and mindful living, Wndrmade creates one-of-a-kind botanical perfumes, candles, and incense made only from plant ingredients, wood, and resins. Designed for those drawn to purity and who are sensitive to synthetics, each piece makes a thoughtful, grounding holiday gift.

Horses for a Change

Esopus (845) 384-6424

Horsesforachange.org

Does a loved one want a horse for Christmas? How about a gift certificate from Horses for a Change? With a large indoor riding arena and heated viewing area, this nonprofit offers English riding lessons winter-long. Folks of all ages and abilities are welcome. The atmosphere is non-competitive and supportive, emphasizing empathy and understanding between horse and rider. Gift certificates are available for lessons and for therapist-led equine facilitated mental health services.

Birch Spa & Boutique

73 Crown Street, Kingston (845) 331-7139

Birchkingston.com

Self-care at its absolute best, right in the heart of Uptown Kingston. Massage, facials, and reiki are all available, and couples massage too! Shop the boutique for distinctive and fun finds, skincare, gifts, and simple luxuries. Full menu, gift certificates, and online booking at Birchkingston.com.

Haven Spa

6464 Montgomery Street

Rhinebeck (845) 876-7369

Havenrhinebeck.com

Give the gift of beauty and relaxation this holiday season! Haven Spa is a self-care sanctuary where relaxation and pampering meet aesthetic and skin health. Day spa services include rejuvenating massages, luxurious body treatments, relaxing facials, manicures, pedicures, waxing, eyebrow/lashes, and more. Med spa services include Botox, micro-needling, fillers (Juvéderm, Restylane), and more. Annual gift card promotions are available for the months of November and December. Follow Haven Spa on social media for details.

Hudson Valley Art Market

Locust Grove, 2683 South Road, Poughkeepsie

Discover the 11th Annual Hudson Valley Art Market, Thanksgiving weekend, Friday, November 28–Sunday, November 30. Explore fine art, handmade goods, and smallbatch creations by local artists and makers. Shop small, shop local, and make holiday giftgiving truly special.

Kingston Social

237 Fair Street, Kingston (845) 202-0078

@kingstonsocialny

This holiday season, discover Uptown’s favorite authentic Italian cafe and modern mercantile, also home to Pinkwater Gallery. At Kingston Social, find gifts for everyone, from cookbooks and cookware to Italian specialities like panettone plus an array of wonderful games and toys for kids.

Hudson Valley Goldsmith

71 Main Street, New Paltz; (845) 255-5872

Hudsonvalleygoldsmith.com

In a season built on giving, few gifts carry the meaning and longevity of fine jewelry. At Hudson Valley Goldsmith, each piece is crafted in-house by skilled designers and jewelers who blend traditional techniques with modern artistry, creating jewelry that’s made to last a lifetime.

Phoenicia Diner

5681 Route 28, Phoenicia (845) 688-9957

Phoeniciadiner.com

Bring the heart of the Catskills home! Available in classic Buttermilk, Buckwheat, and Vegan varieties, Phoenicia Diner’s famous pancake mix is a perfect gift for foodies. Crafted from whole, GMO-free ingredients and produced in New York, these mixes are available from specialty stores throughout the region and at Phoeniciadiner.com.

Woodstock

Wine & Liquor

63 Tinker Street, Woodstock (845) 679-2669

Woodstockwineandliquor.com

Whether shopping for wine lovers, Scotch collectors, or Cognac connoisseurs this holiday season, Woodstock Wine & Liquor is the boutique wine and spirits shop in the heart of historic Woodstock with just the right gift for them all. Gift packaging and free local delivery is available, and ordering online is easy on their website.

Whether dreaming up a custom engagement ring or selecting something special from the cases, every piece is designed to tell a story. From first sketch to final polish, the workshop blends oldworld craftsmanship with modern design to create pieces meant to be worn and loved every day. The team specializes in custom design, repairs, and restyling, transforming unworn or inherited jewelry into something that feels truly personal.

From classic diamond tennis bracelets to one-of-a-kind gemstone rings and minimalist pendant necklaces, each original piece makes every gift shine with meaning. Visit the New Paltz showroom to experience jewelry made by hand, right here in the Hudson Valley, and find a gift that truly sparkles, inside and out.

Visit the studio in downtown New Paltz, or explore more work on Instagram @hudsonvalleygoldsmith and at Hudsonvalleygoldsmith.com.

Daffodils Gift Shoppe

43 Eastdale Ave North, Poughkeepsie

Daffodilsgiftshoppe.com

Let Daffodils make holiday shopping effortless! Discover Jellycat, Brighton, and one-ofa-kind gifts for baby, home, and her. Enjoy complimentary gift wrapping and shop ahead on Daffodils’ new website for easy pickup or shipping. The team welcomes shoppers to its beautiful shoppe where they’re always honored to help new and returning guests find their perfect gifts.

Little Sister Wine Shop

5 North Clover Street, Poughkeepsie (845) 204-6465

Littlesister.wine

Michelle Rhodes Pottery

By appointment (845) 417-1369 or deepclay@mac.com

Michellerhodespottery.com

This Mid-Hudson Valley shop stocks a broad selection of rare, organic, biodynamic, and smallproduction wines, sakes, and ciders. Offering the largest selection of Champagne in the area, Little Sister Wine Shop is ready to fulfill any holiday gifting and celebratory needs. Free street parking. Right by the Poughkeepsie train station!

Curio Cabinet of the Hudson Valley

300 Main Street, Poughkeepsie (845) 849-9090

Curiocabinethv.com

This holiday season, forget the fruitcake and embrace the unusual at the most distinctive store in the Hudson Valley! At Curio Cabinet, there’s something for the person who has everything. From oddities and antiques to handcrafted treasures and more, every find is so special, even re-gifters will want to keep ‘em. Shop local. Shop strange. Stay curious.

The Spa at Litchfield Hills

407A Bantam Road

Litchfield, CT (860) 567-8575

litchfield-spa.com

Step into the enchanting atmosphere of The Spa’s annual Holiday Bazaar, where a world of thoughtful gifting awaits!

Shop a curated selection of clean beauty, wellness, and luxury lifestyle gifts that will bring cheer to loved ones this giving season.

American Made Alpaca

21 Moore Road, Pleasant Valley

Americanmadealpaca.com

American Made Alpaca, based in Dutchess County and online, is the destination for cozy, thoughtful holiday gifts. From durable alpaca socks to warm throws and yarn, they will help people find something special for everyone on their list—one-of-a-kind, USA-made comfort that makes gift-giving easy.

Highlight Your Business in December

It’s not too late to be part of Chronogram ’s annual Holiday Shopping Guide! Participate in the December issue and attract the attention of holiday shoppers this season. When Chronogram readers seek gift inspiration, they turn to us as their primary source for discovering delightful gifts during the festive season. Our Holiday Shopping Guide curates the finest independent retailers from the region, available both online and in print. Reserve your space: sales@chronogram.com

When the Air Turns Deadly

New York’s Hidden Lead Epidemic

By Maggie Baribault

When the construction began below their apartment in December 2006, Shannon Burkett didn’t think much of it. The old bank on the first floor of their Manhattan building was being renovated. She assumed it would be a few weeks of noise, then back to normal.

Then the dust came. It wasn’t just on the windowsills or gathering in corners. It coated everything—a chalky film across every toy, dish, carpet, and baby blanket. Burkett, an actress and new mother, wiped it off again and again, but it kept returning—thick, swirling in the air, in every breath, impossible to escape.

When her nine-month-old son, Cooper, went in for a routine checkup, his bloodwork came back showing dangerously high levels of lead. Soon, he stopped hitting developmental milestones. He no longer talked or ate. He grew agitated.

“I didn’t know where to begin,” Burkett says. “We had no idea what was happening to him, and no one wanted to take responsibility.”

The construction company denied wrongdoing. The landlord dismissed her concerns. City officials brushed her off, saying lead poisoning was a thing of the past. “I was constantly gaslit,” Burkett says. Her once-safe home turned into a toxic zone she was left to navigate alone, terrified, exhausted, and furious.

Then Cooper developed pica, the compulsive urge to eat non-edible materials—pages out of books, pieces of sheetrock from the walls, the wooden corners of his crib, strings ripped from bathmats. He sobbed from stomach pain and threw up yellow battery acid each morning.

Burkett began leaving her shoes outside after runs over the Brooklyn Bridge, vacuuming in the middle of the night, scrubbing every surface with Cascade, dipping even books into the solution until they bulged and warped, until her hands cracked and bled from the chemicals. The fear was constant.

Finally, after contacting the Environmental Protection Agency, two inspectors—“angels,”

as Burkett calls them—visited off the clock, putting their jobs in jeopardy, confirmed the presence of lead-contaminated dust from the bank renovations, and helped the family begin cleanup. “Those people saved us,” Burkett says.

What followed was years of struggle and discovery. The damage to Cooper’s body revealed itself over time: anemia, reactive asthma, stomach ulcers and pain, short-term memory loss, and ongoing developmental and processing issues. He underwent years of occupational therapy, speech and behavior counseling, and specialized education programs to help rebuild what lead stole. Though he has made remarkable progress, Burkett says, he continues to live with lasting neurological and physical effects that trace back to those first months of contamination.

Through it all, Burkett went back to school, earned a nursing degree, and began to understand what was happening inside her child’s body. From that knowledge and a resolve to ensure no other parent lives the same nightmare, came the audio docudrama series, “Lead: How This Story Ends is Up to Us.”

Trauma to Art

Burkett recorded many of the Signal awardwinning podcast’s scenes in that same apartment, her home of 20 years. She taught herself audio editing with guidance from her husband, Emmywinning sound mixer Andy Kris, and coproduced the podcast with her longtime friend Jenny Maguire. It was largely self-funded through Burkett’s work as a NICU lactation nurse at Mount Sinai and New York Presbyterian, with supplemental donations supporting events. “We’re trying to find money,” Burkett says, “but it’s not stopping us. We’re thinking outside the box. We’re opening up those doors.”

Originally conceived as a play, the story evolved through workshops with Philipstown Depot Theater artistic director Alice Jankell. She helped refine the opening line, “If only I knew then what I know now,” and encouraged Burkett to embrace

multiple voices. “Alice saw it: It’s the chaos, the atoms, like electrons bumping into each other, different compounds,” Burkett says.

Maguire suggested reimagining the story as a podcast to reach a wider audience. When they discovered Tribeca Film Festival’s narrative audio section, the team shaped “Lead” to meet the festival’s requirements, editing and packaging the material in just a month.

The podcast features an Emmy and Tonyaward winning ensemble starring Meritt Wever (“Severance”), Alessandro Nivola (The Brutalist), Cynthia Nixon (“Sex and The City”), Cooper Burkett, and director Alan Taylor (“Game of Thrones”).

When “Lead” premiered at Tribeca in June, it resonated far beyond the art world. The docudrama became a rallying cry for awareness, not just about one boy’s illness, but about an overlooked epidemic in New York State.

Invisible Epidemic

According to the New York State Department of Health, thousands of children in New York test positive for elevated lead levels each year, most often in neighborhoods with aging homes, flaking paint, lead pipes, or contaminated dust. Twenty-five communities of concern, including Poughkeepsie, Kingston, and Newburgh, have been identified for their high rates of pre-1978 housing—the year lead-based paint was banned. This November, the state’s new Lead Rental Registry will take effect in these communities, requiring landlords to remove lead hazards in older multiunit rentals.

Young children are especially vulnerable because they explore the world by touch, putting their hands or objects in their mouths that may be contaminated. New York State requires blood testing at ages one and two, with annual risk assessments from six months to age six. If a venous test shows levels above five micrograms per deciliter, local health departments conduct environmental investigations. Severe cases may

Shannon Burkett with her kids in their Manhattan apartment. Her son Cooper contracted a series of illnesses and suffered developmental delays after being exposed to high levels of lead during a renovation of their building. Cooper developed pica, the compulsive urge to eat non-edible materials—like the wooden edges of his crib.

require emergency screening for abdominal or blood effects.

“With strong pediatric networks in the Hudson Valley, we’re able to detect elevated levels before they manifest as clinical disease,” says Dr. Amy Brown, a pediatric pulmonologist and environmental health specialist. Universal screening, she says, is crucial for early detection. But exposure can begin even earlier.

“Lead can cross the placenta before birth, so prenatal exposure is common in our region,” Dr. Brown says.

Even low levels of lead can damage the nervous system, impair brain development, learning, and cause behavioral, hearing and speech, and kidney problems. “The toxin easily crosses the blood-brain barrier,” Dr. Brown says, disrupting development during critical windows of childhood. “There’s no safe level of lead in the bloodstream. Any amount comes from an outside source.”

Prevention, she says, requires coordination among health departments, pediatricians, landlords, contractors, community organizations, parents, and policymakers. “We can’t go back in time and eliminate what can be devastating effects of lead poisoning,” Dr. Brown says. “But we can employ prevention at every public health level.”

Right to Know

For Burkett, those stakes are personal. Her son’s illness spurred her into advocacy, partnering with Clean and Healthy’s Lead Free Kids NY coalition—a network of over 60 organizations working to end childhood lead poisoning by 2040. Their current focus is on public education and aggregating support for the Lead Paint Right to Know Act

The legislation, sponsored by Senator Neil Breslin and Assemblymember Jonathan Rivera, would require property owners to disclose the presence and location of lead hazards before

selling or renting a home, giving families the right to know if their home is safe and preventing lead exposure.

“If that law was in place when the dust infiltrated our apartment, I would have known that the dust had lead in it and my son wouldn’t have gotten sick,” Burkett says. “To take away children’s potential because of preventable lead exposure, that’s cruelty. That’s why we fight until it’s done.”

Her advocacy extends beyond New York. She and Cooper were recently honored by UNICEF for their work in global lead poisoning prevention. “Going to the UN breakfast was a sense of pride for my kid,” Burkett says. “I have a tremendous amount of guilt from what happened to my son, and I can never undo it, but I can try to stop it from happening to other kids. Passing these laws and seeing this disease go away helps me find meaning in what happened.”

Top: Cooper and Shannon Burkett at a press conference appealing for the passage of the Lead Paint Right to Know Act in New York State.

Bottom: Cooper Burkett behind the camera filming Forever Chemical, a short film about his exposure to lead as an infant.

Listening Together

During National Lead Poisoning Prevention Week, October 19-25, the “Lead” team took their message on the road. The six-city tour stretched from Buffalo to New York City, beginning October 19 at the Depot Theater in Garrison, where participants donned headphones to immerse themselves in the soundscape of “Lead.” Each listening was followed by a live conversation with the creators, medical professionals, scientists, elected officials, and families—a communal counterpoint to the silence that so often surrounds lead exposure.

“People feel alone and unheard,” Burkett says. “They feel like they’re screaming into the void that their children are being poisoned, and nobody’s listening.” The tour, she explains, is about building connection, breaking down the silos between scientists, medical professionals, advocates, and artists. It mirrors Burkett’s own journey: uniting the compartments of her life as an advocate, nurse, researcher, and actress through storytelling. “It’s incredible to come full circle on my own sense of isolation,” she says. “There’s a community of people trying to make this world safer.”

That sense of gathering lies at the heart of the tour. “Theater doesn’t proselytize or lecture. It gathers us to dig deep into universal human experiences,” the Depot Theater’s Jankell says. “Through human behavior and relationships, we find awareness, empathy, and conversation. This is about giving voice to the voiceless.”

At the Depot, the podcast became what Jankell calls “a movie in your ears,” a new form of theatrical storytelling that turned listening into a collective act. “You’re breathing together, gasping together, sharing laughter,” she says. “It’s a circular energy that only happens in a theatrical gathering—movies, theater, podcasts, anywhere that we dine out on a story together.”

These gatherings, Jankell believes, can ignite change. “You might not know this subject matter affects you,” she says. “But you’ll be moved. Your world will crack open. You’ll understand your neighbors better, or become a better voter, or more curious person.”

“It’s a fundamental question I’m asking,” Burkett says. “Do we have the right to clean water, air, and a safe place to live? I think it’s an inalienable right—life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness—and lead is taking that away.”

As the lights go down and the headphones click on, Cooper’s voice rises through. “How this story ends,” he says, “is up to us.”

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The Constant is Change New Paltz

By Melissa Esposito Photos by David McIntyre

The unmistakable views of the iconic Shawangunk mountain ridge offer an impactful greeting to all who enter New Paltz. With each season bringing its own scenic beauty, the conglomerate plateau and its surrounding dynamic landscapes symbolize how the town may change over time, but its core remains the same: New Paltz is a community that honors tradition yet celebrates progress, supports local but considers global, and maintains an outspoken diversity of thought, art, and culture.

There’s small-town charm and world-famous climbing and hiking trails; a rich agricultural community from vineyards and orchards to farm stands and cannabis; and ample ways to treat yourself, whether you prefer massage therapy or retail therapy. A diverse dining scene includes long-running mainstays like Main Street Bistro, where you can still get a hearty

breakfast for under $10, or newcomers like Mex-Asian fusion spot Agave where the service is friendly and the meals are authentic, and the new hotdog hotspot, Shorties, where you can grab a gourmet dog and sip a cocktail with friends or introduce the kids to old-school "Star Trek" pinball.

All of this contributes to giving the town a character that’s distinctly its own. While there’s value in keeping traditions that maintain this spirit and serve a greater good, there’s merit in a refresh and the potential opportunities that can come with change. One such change that’s been all the buzz is the consolidation of the town and village into one municipal entity.

“I think the goal for a community like New Paltz is to keep it a special place; there’s a lot of real character that we don’t want to compromise, but we also want to make sure it continues to be sustainable and thriving,” says

Above: A runner on the Walkill Valley Rail Trail passing by the 28-room boutique hotel being built on Water Street.

Opposite, top: Casa Luna is a funky hostel next to the Trailways Station on Main Street.

Opposite bottom: Vito Petroccitto Duo performing on the patio at Lola's on Main Street.

longtime Village Mayor Tim Rogers, who is a leading proponent of the consolidation and is also running for town supervisor against incumbent Amanda Gotto this month. “The reason we have a village in the first place was due to a need for fire protection downtown in the late 1800s. But now, it means we’ve got two boards: If there’s a capital project for the community pool, who pays? When it comes to sales tax, how much is shared? We already share many things like police and fire departments; the two-board government creates funding-formula gymnastics that don’t serve anyone.”

The village includes much of the main drag and historic downtown; its dissolution would mean that the town absorbs all assets and government responsibilities. According to Michael Baden, director of Planning, Zoning, and Code Enforcement for the village, most of the expressed fears of consolidation are centered around the consequences of changing the core character of the community. “As far as zoning is concerned, the town and village would merge codes. The extreme ideas of New Paltz completely changing are just un-backed fears that wouldn’t suddenly happen,” he says.

Innovative Spirit

That isn’t to say that New Paltz is stagnant. Both the town and village are evolving with new initiatives, programs, and construction, each of which will have an impact on its surroundings. Even SUNY New Paltz, located in the village, is changing with the times, recognizing the need for programs that focus on new technologies and emerging fields for its approximately 7,200 students. “One thing we’re excited about is our growing number of microcredentials: compact academic offerings developed by expert faculty, designed to be completed in months, leading to valuable professional credentials that have the full backing of the SUNY system,” says Andrew Bruso, executive director of communication at SUNY New Paltz. “I’ll share two examples: Our Science of Reading Fundamentals microcredential, which launched in 2023, has enrolled approximately 25,000 teachers and education professionals who are looking to understand how they can apply the research behind childhood literacy in their schools and classrooms. And just this fall, our School of Business introduced a Cannabis Business Workshop designed to help professionals in

New York’s legal cannabis industry gain the knowledge in logistics, compliance, and financial management that will position them for longterm growth and sustainability.”

While the college boasts a 72-percent graduation rate for six-year students, above the national average of 64 percent, there is a lack of affordable housing as graduates become young professionals and compete with senior citizens, working families, and first-time home buyers for space. One solution: the Trail Link Collective, an apartment complex under construction on the outskirts of the village with more than 100 units in two buildings, above ground-floor retail spaces. “Trail Link is designed to create a neighborhood where people want to live, work, and play,” Mayor Rogers says. “A vibrant, healthy community should have cross sections of housing: single family homes in the village and town, apartments, affordable housing units, senior housing—[the latter of] which is another new project over on South Manheim Boulevard: Harmony Hall, with 51 units of senior housing, several of which are serving more low-income individuals than the law states we need to.”

Serving this post-college-and-older crowd

Anthony Chisena, owner of Pop Culture Collectibles on North Front Street

Water Street Market is a popular stop for bikers along the Wallkill Valley Rail Trail.

Robin Minkoff and Jane Liddle opened Literally Books at Water Street Market this summer.

JEAN SHIN:

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WINTER GIFT MAKING FAIR

is a theme that has trickled into New Paltz nightlife. The college party scene is still alive and well, but those seeking an easygoing night of entertainment that still lands them in bed by midnight can find indie film and conversations at European-art-cinema house Denizen Theatre, located at the Water Street Market, or live music at bar/restaurants The Parish or The Lemon Squeeze.

“New Paltz has always been a music town,” says Lemon Squeeze manager Kevin Kopacko. “Our goal is to offer a variety of music, from free events with local artists to ticketed events with bigger names. We tried the piano bar model when we first opened, but over time saw that people preferred more variety. Since then, we’ve enhanced our sound and lighting and started booking a mix of genres from jazz to African to country with high-quality performers. New Paltz is a great spot for touring acts who are traveling from New York City because we’re right along the corridor and

they’re able to do a show along the way.”

This innovative spirit imbues the businesses in town that have learned how adaptability means longevity as New Paltz evolves. Jay Aspinall, manager of Inquiring Minds Books, has organized a “Shop local” campaign involving several shops and cafes including Manny’s Art Supply, Black Cat Bulk Goods, Crust and Magic, Cocoon, Verde, Handmade & More, Rock & Snow, Isabella’s Treasures, Lagusta’s, and others.

“The idea is that 20 shops give 20 $10 gift cards to one another, and every Wednesday, customers who shop in the stores have the chance to win,” Aspinall explains. “Here, we randomly pick two numbers out of a jar, and that purchase number customer is the winner.”

The initiative began late October and continues through the end of the year as a way to encourage foot traffic in the shopping district where boutiques abound, like handmade housewares at businesses like Cocoon or

Handmade and More, women’s apparel at Indigo and Velvet or Nettle and Violet, or antiques shops at the Water Street Market. In addition to Inquiring Minds, the village has two additional book shops: Barner Books offers used books and Literally is a bright, cozy new seller at the Water Street Market. All three indie bookstores are within walking distance of one another, yet offer their own individual shopping experiences and support one another.

“The goal of the shop local initiative is to raise awareness and encourage exploring the community,” Aspinall says. “There’s so much going on in town, and shopping online can be convenient, but it’s worth bringing back the act of shopping local in-person; there’s a benefit to your wellbeing when you interact with a community and so much enjoyment in taking time to come into a store, browse, talk to people, then maybe get a tea or glass of wine in town, and make a whole afternoon of it. There’s always so much to experience here.”

Mike Fisher of Flowering Sun Ecology Center with a giant puffball mushroom at the Hudson Valley Open Market at 196 Main Street.

Jay Aspinall, manager of Inquiring Minds Books, has organized a “Shop local” campaign in the village.

Rosendale

Thanks to all who joined us at the Muse in Rosendale on October 12 to represent their fantastic and quirky town.

Pop-Up

Portraits by David McIntyre

Amy Trompetter, Redwing Blackbird Puppet Theater with a paper mache portrait of Hannah Arendt. “Unveiling the Vortex,” a spectacle honoring three local women— Sojourner Truth, Sunksqua Mama Nuchwe, and Arendt—will be staged on November 30 at 4:30pm at Redwing Blackbird Puppet Theater, 413 Main Street, in Rosendale.

Top row: Gina Coatney, worker, with Sammy; Alice Gilgoff, licensed midwife and Jon Gilgoff, social work researcher; AutumnJoy Florencio-Wain and Carole White; Jeff Boos, head of maintenance at Lifebridge Sanctuary, with Caden Boos; Rosibel Landau, Ulster Pilates, with Emily Landau, student, Magda Toro, Pilates instructor.

Middle row: Amy Witkus, retired/volunteer at Rosendale Theatre; Amy Mottola, teaching artist at Rondout Central School District and wild little things; Ann Sarrantonio, Rosendale librarian with Tom Sarrantonio, artist; Ben Talutto and Barbara Piombino; Althea Werner, Heart of Rosendale, with Aria Werner.

Bottom row: Reta Sorge, High Meadow School and Atticus Laves, student; Rosendale Ukulele Group: Beth Carestia, James McGrattan, Sherrill Silver, Jenn Sturiale, Joanne Still; Barbara Ethan, Greyhound Advocate and Member of Rosendale Ukulele Group with Kassie.

Top row: Judith Minissali, volunteer at Mohonk Preserve, Rosendale Theatre, and Rosendale Library; Dinath Rose, tutor; Kenneth Boscher, Ken Fix It; Jen Metzger, Ulster County Executive; Diane DeChillo, publicist for The Muse.

Middle row: Dean Jones, No Parking Studio and Stephanie Ellis, Creekside Acupuncture & Natural Medicine, with Trooper; Brooke Reisigl, hospitality coordinator at Lifebridge Sanctuary; Leonisa Ardizzone, professor/ minister/musician/ Peace Education Center of the Hudson Valley and Michael Crawley, carpenter; Diana Zuckerman, retired Spanish teacher, coordinator Amnesty International Mid-Hudson; Cathy Gigante-Brown, writer and Peter Brown, retired.

Bottom row: Carine Elen, The Muse founder and curator; Naheda Hamdan, owner Garden House Restaurant; Carrie Wykoff,

Town Board member/event manager/co-chair Rosendale Street Festival; Laura Heady, biologist; Kelleigh McKenzie, musician/ localist/political strategist.

Bottom inset: Tess Leavay, music teacher, technology and Che Ruisi-Besares, with Mae Ruisi-Besares.

Opposite, top row: Kieran Liggan-Casey, Andrew Casey, Willow Casey, Cian Casey, Billy Liggan and Linda Liggan; Larkin Young, chef at the Feathers Tavern at Six Bells Inn; Ned Leavitt, literary agent/musician with Lynn Margileth, artist; Sheyna Imm, Good. Good. Shop with June Graves.

Second row: Marc Cassidy, owner, Adapt Consulting, Rosendale Town Board member; Brenna Chase, stained glass and gold leaf studio owner; Roberta Clements, Rosendale theater volunteer; Mariana Barcellos, singer-

songwriter, singing teacher, The Muse choir director and vocalist of Boreal; Mark Brown, carpenter.

Third row: Eileen Meltzer, volunteer Rosendale Library and Rosendale Food Pantry; Rod Bicknell; Liz Wassell, animal communicator; Kathleen Mandeville, The Outer Edge & Gateway House; Maria Yonnetti, retired teacher; Robert Bard, sound guy and mentor at The Muse.

Bottom row: Nila Leigh and Frank Boyd, coowners of Clubhouse Vintage, with Clover Leigh Boyd; Elijah Vanaver, VFX compositor, Shiloh Vanaver, animator/Photoshop artist, Livia Drapkin Vanaver, co-founder/artistic director of the Vanaver Caravan Dance & Music Co., Gabriel Vanaver musician/artist/ author; Snapper Earl, retired chef, now a thrilling storyteller and Ruth Backenroth, retired teacher, now a thrilling gardener.

Nearby New Paltz

For every major Ulster County town, there is an ever-brightening constellation of nearby communities. As New Paltz has grown in popularity and prosperity, so too have Gardiner, Rosendale, and Stone Ridge—offering locals and visitors a bounty of thriving businesses that call the Shawangunk Mountains home.

Butterfield at Hasbrouck House

3805 Main Street, Stone Ridge; (845) 687-0887; Butterfieldstoneridge.com

Now open daily for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, Butterfield offers a refined take on Hudson Valley farm-to-table dining. Savor seasonal dishes sourced from local growers and the estate garden, enjoy a cocktail at the Butterfield Bar, or linger on the cauldron-adorned patio with views of the historic grounds. Also available for private events and holiday gatherings, Butterfield is a destination for every occasion.

Whitecliff Vineyard

331 Mckinstry Road, Gardiner (845) 255-4613 Whitecliffwine.com

Whitecliff has dedicated more than 30 years to finding and planting grape varieties that succeed on their site. They are dedicated to sustainability, environmentalism, and producing vegan wines to be proud of. The family-run business celebrated 25 years in 2024. Winning more international awards than any other producer in the Hudson Valley, they are certified sustainable, and make limited release vegan wines. With two tasting rooms, one in Gardiner and one in Hudson, it’s simple to come and see why their favorite review described them as “Like visiting an unpretentious friend who is excited to teach people about wine.”

Whole Sky Yoga

3588 Main Street, Stone Ridge; Wholeskyyoga.com

Warm welcome. Inspiring teachers. Robust classes and a sweet, supportive community. What more could one ask for? Whole Sky Yoga is a sanctuary—a place to move, breathe, and truly belong.

Beyond yoga, Whole Sky offers Pilates and Barre classes and opportunities to deepen practice through thoughtful workshops, community events, and a comprehensive 200-hour Yoga Teacher Training.

David Myintyre

Century House

Historical Society

Centuryhouse.org

Widowjanemine.com

Rosendale Natural Cement was used in the building of some of the most enduring landmarks of the nation, the Brooklyn Bridge, the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty, and the wings of the US Capitol Building, just to name a few. The Century House Historical society, stewards of the Widow Jane mine, is dedicated to the history of the Rosendale cement region.

Creekside Bar & Bistro

1128 Route 32, Rosendale (845) 658-2000

Creeksidebistro.com

Creekside Bar & Bistro, established in 2019 and located in the heart of Rosendale, offers seasonal American cuisine, indoor and outdoor dining with stunning creek views. Enjoy happy hour, weekday specials, and their everchanging weekend features. Pair a meal with delicious cocktails or local and popular beers. Just 10 minutes from New Paltz.

Pitch Pine Outfitters

280 Bruynswick Road, New Paltz (845) 633-8483

Pitchpineoutfitters.com.

Pitch Pine Outfitters at Benton Corners in Gardiner is the local outdoor essentials shopping destination. They carry hiking boots, trail runners, and apparel from top brands like Patagonia, Outdoor Research, and Kuhl. Find gifts, stationery, jewelry, and handmade treasures. A cozy shopping atmosphere in a convenient location. Check them out!

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HUDSON VALLEY, BERKSHIRES, CATSKILLS

2025 Holiday Season Art and Events Guide

As autumn’s extravagant hues fade to brown, then crystalline white, and the winds grow colder, the Hudson Valley, Berkshires, and Litchfield hills begin to transition from displays of harvest spirit for a bounty of holiday seasonal to-dos. From festivals of light to holiday markets, November and December are replete with uplifting events to ward off the doldrums. But it’s not just homages to the religious and pagan festivals of old, created to keep people from going stir crazy while the sun hides for most of the day. Local arts venues continue to arouse our patronage with delightful performances and exhibitions. Seasonal affective disorder be damned!

NightWood: An Enchanted Sound & Light Walk at The Mount Select evenings November through January, Lenox, Massachusetts NightWood turns the gardens of Edith Wharton’s estate into a nocturnal narrative of light and sound. Guests follow a winding outdoor trail through forested paths, encountering seven immersive vignettes blending nature, myth, and seasonal motifs. Each station pairs subtle lighting effects with original sound design to create dreamlike landscapes. Between walks, the NightWood Cafe in the mansion courtyard offers hot cider, cocoa, and sweet treats, while the museum shop stays open for holiday purchases.

“Pippin” at the Copake Grange

November 7-9 and 14-16, Copake Grange, Copake In a committed community production, The Two of Us Productions presents the musical “Pippin” at the historic Copake Grange. The show follows young Pippin—heir to the Frankish throne—as he quests through war, romance, political intrigue, and illusion in search of true happiness. Under the guidance of a mysterious troupe of players, he comes to realize the deeper beauty hidden in ordinary life. Expect soaring musical numbers like “Corner of the Sky” and “Magic to Do.”

Vocal Fireworks: LIVE @AMP — A Cappella Showcase

November 15, 8pm, American Mural Project, Winsted, Connecticut

The American Mural Project’s Live @AMP series returns with Vocal Fireworks, an energetic a cappella concert featuring three standout collegiate groups: Brandeis University’s Starving Artists, UConn’s Extreme Measures, and Wesleyan’s Notably Sharp. Held inside AMP’s soaring five-story mural gallery, the evening marries rich vocal harmony with immersive architecture.

Basilica Farm & Flea Holiday Market

November 28-30, Hudson

Basilica Hudson becomes a holiday marketplace focused on local craftsmanship at Farm &

Flea’s winter edition. Conceived as a rejection of the capitalistic chaos of Black Friday, over the Thanksgiving weekend, more than 120 local vendors converge under the former factory’s high ceilings. Craft makers, vintage dealers, farmers, and artisans all take part in the highly social shopping extravaganza. The vibe is carefully curated to present only local, ethical, handcrafted producers.

Winterlights at Naumkeag

November 28–January 3(Wednesday–Sunday evenings), Naumkeag, 5 Prospect Hill Road, Stockbridge, Massachusetts

Each winter, the gardens of Naumkeag transform into a holiday spectacle in Winterlights, where thousands of twinkling lights trace pathways, terraces, and gardens, creating shimmering landscapes after dark. Highlights include glowing arches, light sculptures among evergreens, and choreographed light moments that surprise as you round each bend.

Kent Gingerbread Festival

December 1-31, Thursdays through Sundays, Kent, Connecticut

Now in its 13th year, the Kent Gingerbread Festival showcases imaginative gingerbread houses crafted by local bakers and artists. Delightful creations are tucked into 23 participating businesses around town. Pick up a map and

Lights shimmer across the grounds of The Mount during NightWood, the immersive winter installation that transforms Edith Wharton’s estate into a luminous dreamscape of sound, story, and seasonal magic.

Photo by Eric Limon

embark on a gingerbread scavenger hunt: Collect clues at each display to solve a festive riddle, then turn in your answer to claim a prize. Don’t forget to vote for your favorite sugary structure to crown the People’s Choice winner.

Bethlehem Christmas Town Festival

December 5-6, Bethlehem, Connecticut

Bethlehem transforms into its namesake Christmas town for this 44th annual festival, a beloved tradition that ushers in the holidays. Festivities kick off as Santa himself helps light the town Christmas tree. All weekend, the village green and Main Street fill with old-fashioned cheer: local vendors selling gifts, horse-drawn hayrides, an illuminated fire-truck parade, live music and dance performances, and a morning “Santa Made Me Do it” 5K.

Canaan Holiday House Tour

December 5-6, various private homes, Canaan/Falls Village, Connecticut

This annual house tour opens historic homes, barns, and inns across the Canaan region. Guides take visitors through gorgeously decorated interiors—a mix of folk, Colonial, and modern holiday styles—while lobbies serve complimentary cider, cookies, and music. Because many houses are private residences, tickets are limited and advance reservation is encouraged.

“A Christmas Story” at the Center for Performing Arts at Rhinebeck

December 5-21, Rhinebeck

This adaptation of the beloved movie A Christmas Story brings Ralphie Parker’s holiday adventures

to the stage in full nostalgic glory. Set in 1940s Indiana, the show features every iconic moment—“you’ll shoot your eye out,” the leg lamp, the pink bunny suit—all performed live with comedic timing and heart. The ensemble cast (kids and adults) brings humor and warmth to family antics, with the narrator guiding audiences back into childhood memory. Performances run weekends and a few matinees, making it a festive outing for all ages.

Kent Holiday Fest

December 6, 3-7pm, Kent, Connecticut

Kent’s Holiday Fest invites towns across Litchfield County to converge on the town green for an afternoon and evening of seasonal magic. Local artisans vend crafts in tents and musicians take turns on stage. Children may ride horse-drawn wagons, join in cookie decorating, or sing karaoke. As dusk falls, the town tree is lit amid cheers and carols, and the celebration spills into neighboring storefronts, which often stay open late for holiday browsing.

Winter Walk in Hudson

December 6, Hudson

Hudson’s Winter Walk envelops Warren Street in holiday glow, happy crowds, and music. Strolling along, you’ll find bands, circus performers, dancers, choruses, costumed characters, fireworks, street food vendors, petting zoos, horse and carriage rides, holiday lights and decorations, and signature latenight shopping. It’s a full-town, multi-site celebration designed to marry winter’s chill with community warmth.

Great Barrington Holiday Market

December 6-7, Great Barrington, Massachusetts

Great Barrington’s storefronts, galleries, and pop-up tents unite for this weekend-long holiday market of local artisans. In every corner, you’ll find ceramics, textiles, candles, small-batch foods, woven goods, and one-of-a-kind seasonal gifts. Shop window displays burst with lights and color, musicians drift among crowds, and performance artists surprise you at unexpected corners.

Stockbridge Main Street Christmas

December 6-7, Stockbridge, Massachusetts

Stockbridge will be adorned with twinkling lights and charming holiday wreaths that evoke the spirit of the season, offering a delightful array of family-friendly activities. From live performances and historic property tours to bustling holiday markets and the Winterlights display, there’s much to do. Don’t miss the Rockwell Holidays at the Museum, where art and tradition come alive, or the shops and restaurants that showcase the best the town has to offer. And of course, Santa himself will be making appearances.

Stella Cole at Studio E at Tanglewood

December 13, 7pm, Lenox, Massachusetts

Vocalist Stella Cole brings her classic tone and deep reverence for the Great American Songbook to Tanglewood’s holiday season. As part of the Tanglewood Learning Institute’s winter series, this performance leans into seasonal standards, all delivered with her soulful clarity and stylistic playfulness. Audiences can expect a blend of jazz, cabaret, and nostalgic charm. The show is part concert, part celebration, part invitation to reflect on the staying power of the standards.

Revelers fill Warren Street during Hudson’s annual Winter Walk, where music, lights, and holiday spirit turn downtown into a festive carnival of community cheer.

Photo by JD Urban

Sam Sadigursky and Nathan Koci

The Solomon Diaries Vol. IV and Vol. V (Adhyaropa Records)

In 2022, Westchester-based composers Sam Sadigursky and Nathan Koci released The Solomon Diaries, a triptych of stunning albums whose music evoked the lost world of the Jewish Catskills, inspired by photographer Marisa Scheinfeld’s visionary book, The Borscht Belt: Revisiting the Remains of America’s Jewish Vacationland. This time around, the duo has expanded their instrumental palette to include contributions from pianist Timo Andres, mandolinist Joe Brent, kaval player and alto saxophonist Matt Darriau, pianist Danny Fox, and violinist Meg Okura across two more albums in the Solomon Diaries series. The music remains intimate and personal, but the addition of other musicians gives Sadigursky and Koci more colors to work with, and these new pieces reveal an eclectic, idiosyncratic approach.

Klezmer is still in the mix, certainly, but the composers give free range to their omnivorous tastes, touching down in jazz, folk, chamber music, and modern minimalism—the latter no surprise, as Sadigursky is a member of the Philip Glass Ensemble. Still inspired by that lost world, the composers have expanded their thematic approach, dedicating a number of songs to prominent figures in their respective musical and personal lives, including Sadigursky’s late father Isaac (a prominent clarinetist and accordionist himself), accordion legend Guy Klucevsek (Koci’s mentor and teacher), violist and composer Ljova, clarinet and mandolin virtuoso Andy Statman, and others. In sum, the music— forefronting Sadigursky’s clarinet and Koci’s accordion—is a poignant and profound meditation on what truth and beauty can be in 2025.

—Seth Rogovoy

Rosine Home (Rag and Bone Shop Records)

Life in a Blender bassist and Kingston resident Mark Lerner begins Home, the third selfproduced effort by his solo project, Rosine, with a genteel, banjo-tinged take of the 19th century ballad “The Lone Pilgrim.” Previously recorded by the likes of Doc Watson and Bob Dylan, it’s mournful and beautiful but seemingly at odds with the cover image of a seafoam green electric guitar with its pickup selector offering options to “cease” or “desist.” The rest of the album’s nine cover songs (They Might Be Giants’s “Dead,” Phil Ochs’s “No More Songs,” Randy Newman’s “Texas Girl at the Funeral of Her Father”) assay other aspects of mortality, with slightly more sonic spread, including some of that subdued electric guitar, but the tone—as in the synth-underpinned “Dreadful Wind and Rain”—remains delightfully bedroom-y. A quiet, lilting way to while away a rainy evening, lost in your own thoughts of the here and now, and the later.

—Michael Eck

Spaghetti Eastern Electro Dub

Live at Green Kill Sessions (Bad Egg Records)

Hudson Valley mainstay Sal Cataldi’s jammy, soulful psych rock project

Spaghetti Eastern is enough of an institution that it has an equally beloved second manifestation as Spaghetti Eastern Electro Dub. Here, Cataldi’s electric guitar odysseys, evoking Jeff Beck and Duane Allman, are lent a groove by way of Tom Semioli’s lushly lubricious basslines, Dirk Drazen’s sibilant snares and languid drum fills, and the plaintive whine of the dautar, a customized, stringed instrument with a slyly homonymous name played by the band’s sonic seer, Dawoud Kringle. Kringle’s contributions elevate SEED’s skillfully executed, but sometimes overly familiar music—an earnest, committed homage to what was once called acid rock, filtered through a dub sensibility—transporting the listener to a sacral realm. This album, in fact, documents a live performance, at the invaluable, peer-driven Kingston community art space Green Kill, the audience an almost uncannily silent accomplice bearing rapt witness—psychonauts, in cosmic cahoots.

—Michael Wiener

SOUND CHECK | Adam Weinert

Each month we ask a member of the community to tell us what music they’ve been digging.

Lately I have been leaning back into music. My usual morning mix of news and political podcasts has started to feel like a bit too much, so I have been giving my ears and my brain a break. When I looked at what has been in heavy rotation, Cowboy Carter by Beyonce sat right at the top. I saw her in concert last spring, and it honestly changed my life. The scale of it, the precision, the generosity, it felt like opera. Next came Caetano Veloso, which surprised me at first but then made perfect sense. His phrasing, that blend of calm and joy, feels like the antidote to a noisy world. I find I’m drawn to music that feels

both grounded and unpredictable, the kind that rewards attention but also lets you drift. Hania Rani’s piano moves like a weather system, shifting depending on where you stand. Vuyo Sotashe’s voice has that same quality, a warmth that opens into something clear and bright. For running, I reach for Perfume Genius or Sharon Van Etten. For working, I tend to drift toward early music like Capella de la Torre and Katharina Bauml, steady and spacious. At Hudson Hall, I am surrounded by artists who blur the lines between tradition and invention. That spirit has found its way into my playlists too. Maybe that is what I like most about music: the right song still has the power to stop you, remind you, or just keep you company.

Adam Weinert is the incoming executive director of Hudson Hall in Hudson.

Nothing of Insignificance: Adventures in Journalism

Brian Hollander BUSHWHACK BOOKS, 2025, $22

In Nothing of Insignificance, Brian Hollander offers a tapestry of local lives, musical moments, political skirmishes, and the odd bridge climb in Kingston. A former Woodstock Times editor and two-term Woodstock town supervisor, he wields curiosity with both tenderness and grit. From interviewing Sonny Rollins to profiling a lingerie-shop owner who became a baseball umpire, these essays celebrate the everyday drama of Hudson Valley towns. Hollander’s voice is warm, incisive, deferential to place—showing us that no life is too small, no story too quiet, to demand our attention.

A Truth Versus the Truth

Rabbi Stephen B. Roberts

NEXT STEPS PUBLISHING, 2025, $32.99

In A Truth Versus the Truth, Red Hook Rabbi Stephen B. Roberts tackles the fraught meeting of faith and modernity with both rigor and compassion. He maps what he calls the “Modernity Spectrum,” examining why some religious communities adopt science, social change, and secular schooling, while others resist. Roberts surveys Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism with curiosity, not polemic. His voice is neither scolding nor naive: It invites dialogue. At 182 pages, this is a clear, humane guide for anyone wanting to understand how belief survives—or falters—in our changing world.

Fire in a Wire: Electricity Empowers Human Evolution Beyond Homo Sapiens

Steven Read Nelson

MASSAEMMETT MEDIA, 2025, $19.99

In Fire in a Wire, Williamstown resident Steven Reed Nelson argues that electricity is the new fire—not just a utility, but an evolutionary force. He proposes a bold thesis: that homo sapiens has given way to homo electric, a new species already emerging. Nelson traces his theory from life without power in the Andes to ventures in solar, broadband, concert lighting, and AI. He weaves anecdote and analysis to show how electricity mediates everything—from sight and sound to memory and identity. Provocative and teeming with metaphor, this is futurism by way of personal odyssey.

Town & Country

Brian Schaefer

ATRIA BOOK, 2025, $28

Set in Griffin, a “swanky rural” town modeled on Hudson, Brian Schaefer’s Town & Country peers beneath the polished veneer of small-town charm to expose its fault lines. (Think of it as a cousin to Jen Beagin’s 2023 novel Big Swiss.) Against the backdrop of a congressional election, lifelong locals and urbane newcomers spar over identity, belonging, and the price of progress. Schaefer deftly captures the tension between nostalgia and reinvention, showing how each new wine bar or gallery opening can feel like a quiet act of conquest—and every campaign sign a reminder that even paradise can be partisan.

The Invisible Eye

Sparrow Hall

HYDROGEN MEDIA, 2025, $16.99

In The Invisible Eye, Valatie resident Sparrow Hall crafts a sleek psychic thriller that moves between Manhattan’s fashion sheen and the woods of the Hudson Valley. Catherine Harper carries a gift she never asked for: In a blink, she can step into someone’s past lives. When classified documents tied to her late father surface, she’s drawn into a labyrinth of government secrets, spiritual realms, and haunting echoes of identity. Hall blends conspiracy, metaphysics, and suspense into a taut narrative where the seen and unseen converge— and where knowing the past might just be the key to saving the future.

—Brian K. Mahoney

Keep This For Me

Jennifer Fawcett ATRIA, 2025, $29

When Fiona was just a toddler, her parents were attacked by serial killer Edward Ward on a dark and desolate road in Northern New York. Her father survived, seriously injured, and her mother’s body was never found, although seven other bodies were later recovered from Ward’s backyard. Now, on his prison deathbed, Ward has said that he didn’t kill Fiona’s mother, Ana. She had slipped from his grasp into the waters of Lake Ontario and vanished.

Fiona flies home from the West Coast to the tiny Northern New York town of St. Thomas in hopes of interrogating Ward about just what did happen that night, but he dies before she can see him, leaving her frustrated and unsure if she should stay or go. Her life back home in flux, the notion that her mother might have survived the encounter but chosen not to come home gnawing at her gut, she opts to stay a while in the cottage she knew so well as a child and dig around for answers.

Ward’s son Jason and his taciturn mother never left town, despite facing near-universal ostracization and their own unanswered questions. Jason been 11 when, thanks to Fiona’s father, Eddie was apprehended. From the age of five, his father had been bringing him random souvenirs from long-haul trucking missions, and despite realizing after the fact that they’re probably trophies collected during murders, his own longing for comprehension leads him to hold on to the macabre collection.

David, Fiona’s childhood best friend, is still in St. Thomas too, having followed in his father’s footsteps and joined the police force. He’s the one who alerted Fiona to Eddie Ward’s deathbed claim that Ana had escaped, and David wants to help her find the answers she’s after, but when another young woman disappears on a dark and desolate road, his job suddenly becomes all-consuming.

Hudson Valley-based author Fawcett says that the seed for this book was planted when she read a news story about a pair of serial killers, father and son, whose victims had included a young couple whose car had broken down on a remote road. The story led her to begin wondering how survivors’ lives would play out in the wake of such nearly unbearable tragedy. Her talent is such that the reader feels, through Fiona’s first-person narration juxtaposed with Jason’s life then and now and glimpses of Ana’s experience on the night tragedy struck, as if they’re spying on real people. Fawcett expertly layers the multiple points of view and builds suspense in many directions at once. What is Fiona running from? Does her childhood friendship with David have the potential to grow into a romance? Is Jason a fellow victim or is he walking in Eddie’s footsteps? What really happened on that night long ago?

Tension builds like Great Lakes chop, as Fiona seeks answers, David works the current case while trying to keep her safe, and Jason suffers from an increase of the nearly unbearable pressure that has shaped his entire life. Matters are complicated when the killer’s granddaughter becomes fixated on Fiona, making awkwardly intense efforts at friendship that Fiona resents and pities.

Through it all, Lake Ontario is an ever-present character, cold and deep, gorgeous and terrible, capable of concealing secrets even from those who think they know it best.

Fiona’s father had moved all the way across the country with her when the anguish of his loss became intermingled with fresh fear that Jason might be targeting his daughter. As can happen in the wake of any tragedy, too many things have gone unspoken, and Fiona has grown into a kind, brave, and brilliant soul who considers herself to be fatally flawed. As we learn what she is running from, and how history may be in danger of repeating itself in more ways than one, the book becomes a masterful meditation on mothers and daughters, fathers and sons, and the underbelly of life in a bucolic but desolate small town.

The climax of all this will have you frantically turning pages and there’s an excruciating twist that will make you gasp. This is a genre-transcending book by a writer with a fine-tuned grasp of the human heart, whose language flows like water—and boy, can she swim in it. Not to be missed.

—Anne Pyburn Craig

How to Tarry

Irving touted the tavern but you can start at Transom. A book in hand is all you need.

Truth doesn’t matter here. Never mind that tarry is wheat, save your Dutch for the Zee of the sea, and let the Tappan remind you of its roots, the cold water of the Lenape. The rules are headless here,

all magic and heart. Head over to Horsefeathers where the light folds in on itself like an English tavern at midnight. Greet Hemingway and Lawrence, ask where Fitzgerald went, savor the shadows as you slow play a negroni.

Walk whichever bridge you please, Horseman or Tappan Zee, you’ll see the aperture is wide. You’ll hear the galloping in the distance. Don’t be scared. They all tarry.

Hessian, German, Weckquaesgeek, the bewitchers of this “drowsy dreamy” hollow. Hallowed be its name, go to the lab or Muddy Water, head to the speakeasy on Dixon.

Join the parade where the pope meets his match on Main, the headless horseman blessing parishioners with chase, even the children smile at the aftertaste of his eucharist.

In front of the music hall, echoes of William Wallace remind you to grab ice cream at Main Street Sweets. Spy the erector-set bridge on a mural there, featured like a debutante in North by Northwest as Cary Grant trains it to Long Island. I told you truth doesn’t matter here.

Half-moon rising, this isn’t even the full story, but you’re getting it. It’s easy when you fall under its spell, walking the aqueduct towards New York Public Library, the Hudson in the distance.

How fitting this place should end as it began, in books and byways, a boy named Washington dreamt into life. This is how you tarry.

—Michael Alcee

America

Now it has happened. We are broken. How quickly it happened. How quickly the state of broken things has become the things of a broken state. It has happened. It is here. We are broken. It can be ignored no longer, cast no longer to priority’s margins, to attention’s periphery. History has a new meaning. It means today. It means this very hour. History is broken. It repeats. Did not our fathers warn us of this? Did not their fathers warn them of it? Did not they warn how history repeats? They did not learn. It repeated. We did not learn. It repeats. It is broken. Who is he? Who is this man? Who is this child we put in charge? Who is this breaker of the things of state? Who is this breaker of the office’s oath? Who is this breaker of all vows and promises? Who is this breaker? He is broken. Who broke him? Did his mother break him? Did his father break him? Who taught him how to break the things of state? Who taught him what to break? From whom did he learn it so well? Breaking everything is all he knows. Breaking everything is all that enlivens him. Breaking everything is all that makes him whole. Who are these who praise him? Half the state praises him. What is half the state that should praise the breaker? Is he breaking them, those who praise him? No, they were already broken. They were already beaten down and broken. It is here. Everywhere we look, America, you lie broken all around us. We know not where to put our feet.

—J. R. Solonche

Can You Hear the Pounding?

Remember the tattooist of Auschwitz? Everyone is a number.

When the hammer finds the nail, all that sticks out becomes a nail.

Minaret, chapel, dying prickly brambles, thistles, jammed the debris of ruined edifice.

The highest falls the loudest.

Before there is time, a serpent snakes in and out of jagged walls, octopus squeezes through any interstices.

Everything built is pierced.

—W. Wayne Lin

A Song for Bill

All Hallows’ Eve Bill casts a spell on me. I dance through fields of corn and sing for him a villanelle.

He has an earthy, pungent smell, a shaggy head, a coat that’s torn. All Hallows’ Eve he casts a spell.

He looks a scarecrow. Town folks tell a tale of loss, a soul forlorn. I sing for Bill a villanelle.

From deep within the wooded dell I hear him blow his tinny horn. All Hallows’ Eve Bill casts a spell.

In ghostly form, I rise pell-mell from tangled grave of vine and thorn. I sing for him a villanelle.

Then off we dance the Tarantelle, and romp till rooster crows the morn. All Hallows’ Eve, a dance, a spell a song for Bill, a villanelle.

—Carol Shank

The Missing Fourth

A woman is crying and crying and cradling a white dog. There was an attack she says, it is missing a paw.

Jung saw Mary as the missing fourth: The father the son and the holy ghost, a trinity not complete unless squared.

I was a tiger once. I claimed a mate and sired four cubs. One was too weak to thrive, so I ate it up.

Jung said we each have an inferior function. One of our four inner equations cannot not properly perform its transfiguration.

I gather with two friends, three witches, and notice a presence in the negative space where the fourth would be.

—Gabrielle Rabinowitz

Night Owl

I love to put the stars to bed like family. Usually, early morning in the late dark when no clouds hover between the lights. At the zenith, the near future, stars of next month’s primetime evening hours. The stars who’ve had all night in our sky tuck into the western horizon. I nod a drowsy goodnight as they’re off to rise in the dusk of another’s east, where someone may or may not wonder about yesterday’s dawn as he, she, they bid sayonara to the sun. This close star always setting and starting the day on opposite sides as we continue to spin in orbit, and I close my eyes to sleep.

—Guy Reed

Its Own Reward

The careful life falls into place at the top is goodness rescued like lambs tiptoe to slaughter opening one door one closes this certainty each sacrifice identified/throat slit only memory bleeds forever.

—C. P. Masciola

Returned to Valleys

Today I Saw the Blood Spray

Today

I saw the blood spray, In my feed, They feed me my need, the blood Today I saw the spray Tomorrow expect more the ultra violet flow Violence

I saw

—Rob Walker

At 3pm

He lay dying— breaths becoming fewer and further between.

The golden light hitting his eyes— he gazed into it, then through it.

At 3 pm, the coldest day of the year.

I picked up the book of poems at his bedside and read:

Beefsteak Tomato

(The Heavyweight Champion of the Garden)

He is not subtle. Not shy.

Not some delicate cherry tomato blushing in a salad.

He arrives like summer itself sun-warmed, shoulder-broad, smelling of soil and thunder. You don’t slice him.

You carve him.

Thick slabs, dripping onto the cutting board like a promise kept. He is the heart of every sandwich worth remembering. Juice running down your forearm, seeds baptizing the countertop. It’s not lunch—it’s a love affair. All season he takes his time, growing slow and stubborn, holding out until August just to remind you that some pleasures can’t be rushed.

He doesn’t care about beauty. Sometimes he’s lumpy. Sometimes he splits. He’s here for flavor, not approval.

The Beefsteak is a tomato for people who mean it. For hands that know how to garden, and mouths that know how to moan over something simple done right.

I’ve been trying all of these hours to be who I really am.

—Kirby Lee

I take your hands and know better than to caress the peaks. Venation expressing dendritic landmarks or the truth of time passed. They say that rainbows disappear when the Sun shifts its perspective. She created one valley at a time. Furrow divination—reminder that day will break and rainbows are not visible 42 degrees above horizon. You extend your hand out for me and I’m scared you will float to twilight’s ultimate gift. Relentless at the eyes of Death. Transcending to nature’s promise, a pot of gold.

—Cole Solis Jativa

You don’t just eat him. You honor him. With salt, with olive oil, maybe a slab of mozzarella— but mostly, with awe.

—Jayne Gumpel

Our Lady

A full bowl of watermelon, No need for an edge of salt.

Listening to the story you’re telling, Then you come to a halt.

A spotted bug lands on your thigh. Carefully you help her fly, Like she was yours and mine.

—C. H. Redding

Dish and Tell

“PICNIC” AT THE INTERNATIONAL MUSEUM OF DINNERWARE DESIGN

Through January 17

Dinnerwaremuseum.org

I didn’t think I was interested in dinnerware—also, I wasn’t quite sure what it was—until I stepped into The International Museum of Dinnerware Design. Founded in 2012 in Ann Arbor, Michigan, the museum moved to Kingston last year. Its sixth biennial exhibition, “Picnic,” runs till January 17.

Lynette Lewis is an aboriginal ceramicist from Australia. Puti Pikiniki—Bush Picnic is stoneware plates and cups decorated with images of honey ants: black insects with globular orange bulbs on their rear ends. The sweet liquid in these bulbs is a delicacy for tribal peoples. Most of us don’t want ants at our picnic, but for aboriginal gourmets, ants are the picnic. Lewis captures the surreal luminosity of these six-legged beings, magnified 20 times.

Sand, a large photograph by George and Claudia Kousoulas, is an overhead view of a beach picnic (sans picnickers): three sandwiches, three orange plates, two

Converse sneakers, three nearly-full glasses of soda. The photo sits in a sandbox, on the floor, just a bit larger than the picture. From this angle, Sand tricks the eye like a Renaissance portrait.

Myra Mimlitsch-Gray’s Four Handled Skillet resembles two frying pans that melted together, into a fluid shape that’s almost a heart. Alice Abrams produced 15 highly realistic ceramic deviled eggs, complete with a sprinkling of paprika. (I don’t even like eggs, and they made me hungry.)

Nestle, by Irina-Diana Flore, is seven plastic placemats— mostly empty space—3D-printed on recyclable bioplastic. In them, crudely hewn parallel lines intersect with geometric shapes in pulsing, jazzlike patterns.

Most of the show’s exhibits sit on the floor, as if at an actual picnic—on various densities of Astroturf. Gotham Industries produced a picnic kit from the 1930s to the 1950s. A suitcase folds out into a low Scotch-plaid table; inside are plastic cups, dishes, real silverware with cute red Bakelite handles, two Thermoses, and an archaic beer bottle opener. Plus a “Scotch ice” cylinder that’s stored in a freezer to keep the picnic food cold—the same cylinder I brought every day to summer camp in 1963! I had no idea that I harbored a nostalgia for plaid print metal cans.

The first prize winner in the exhibition, juried by artist and educator Bryan Czibesz, is Under the Hood by Julianne Harvey, a trompe l’oeil wicker basket

surmounted by a miniature Little Red Riding Hood, picnicking with Yogi Bear and Boo Boo. (Her tiny picnic: hot dogs, corn on the cob, cheesecake.) Meanwhile, beneath her, seven ferocious wolves pour out of the basket, as in a revelatory Jungian nightmare.

Seven reproductions of vintage advertisements, all with picnic motifs, occupy a wall. One from 1971 shows two delighted young couples gathered in a meadow, looking like they’re either becoming or recovering from being hippies. One of the guys reads aloud from an opened book—perhaps poetry? The tagline: “One carton of Pepsi won’t last this weekend. You’d better Spring for Two.” In other words, soda fuels the counterculture.

One of the museum’s most popular features is a room dedicated to “The Tablecloth Trick.” In one video, a magician, Matt Ricardo, pulls a cloth away from a dinner table without disturbing the settings. A second video reveals the secrets of successful tablecloth-pulling. Next to the screen is a table set with dishes and cups, on a classic checkered tablecloth. Visitors are invited to yank the cloth without dislodging any dinnerware. (The floor is rubber, in case of failure.) I pulled the fabric, and a plate clattered to the floor.

Try your hand at the tablecloth trick, and prepare yourself for the Dinnerware Museum’s next show: “Ashtrays.” —Sparrow

Julianne Harvey's Under the Hood porcelain artwork took the first-place award at the International Museum of Dinnerware Design's "Picnic" exhibition.

The City That Plays With Fire

BEACON BONFIRE

November 5-9

Beaconbonfire.com

As dusk falls on Veterans Place, a hush ripples through the crowd. A dancer kneels on the asphalt, her hands tracing arcs of flame that flicker against the faces of children, elders, and artists leaning forward in shared wonder. The scent of smoke mingles with street food and autumn air. For a moment, Beacon feels like a village built around one communal fire—the spark at the center of Beacon Bonfire, the citywide festival of art, music, and imagination returning November 5–9 after a one-year hiatus.

When Kelly Ellenwood describes the event she cofounded as “a celebration of Beacon, by Beacon,” it’s not a slogan but a statement of purpose. The five-day festival of music, art, performance, and community grew out of a Covid-era impulse to reconnect neighbors and artists. “There were a lot of people moving up to Beacon during Covid who didn’t know what to do, where to go, who to meet,” Ellenwood recalls. “We came up with a scheme to make that happen—and it just sort of became even bigger.”

Bigger, indeed. What began in 2021 as a handful of outdoor gatherings has become one of the region’s most exuberant creative convergences: a Main Street

takeover of venues, pop-ups, and street installations where music, visual art, film, dance, and conversation spill into every available corner. The festival now sprawls across more than a dozen venues, from Industrial Arts Brewing to Prophecy Hall to the Beahive, with over 400 artists participating this year.

“It’s not a linear festival,” Ellenwood says with a laugh. “We don’t really say no. If you fill out the intake form and we can find a space for you, you’ll probably get in.” That open-door ethos—call it radical inclusivity—has become the festival’s signature. “It’s a yestival,” she says. “At the heart of it, we just say yes.”

That spirit extends to the festival’s Buy One/Give One ticket model—what Ellenwood cheerfully calls the “Pink Unicorn add-on.” Festivalgoers can purchase an extra pass for someone who might not otherwise afford to attend, keeping the Bonfire’s flame open to all. The program, along with the festival’s abundance of free events and reliance on volunteer labor, reinforces the idea that creativity should be accessible to everyone. “People have told us they’ve moved to Beacon because of the festival,” Ellenwood says. “They tried something at Bonfire in 2022, and it took on a life of its own.”

This year’s edition kicks off Wednesday night at 7pm at Prophecy Hall with the Syncretic Liturgy, a gleeful mash-up of comedy, music, and ritual. “It’s structured like a religious service,” Ellenwood says, “but it’s heartfelt and hilarious at the same time.” The ceremony’s fire motif begins at Hudson Beach Glass’s glory hole furnace and symbolically travels through the weekend—from the opening’s “illumination” to the climactic Sunday afternoon Bonfire Finale at Veterans Place, complete

with drummers, fire dancers, and music.

The 2025 schedule reads like a map of Beacon’s creative topography: Vinny DePonto brings his acclaimed mind-bending performance Mindreader to the St. Rita’s; Hudson Severn—a supergroup of Beacon-based and transatlantic musicians—plays Dennings Point Distillery; and Nerd Nite Hudson Valley returns with a film-themed edition of its science-meets-stand-up salon. Meanwhile, the Film Festival at Industrial Arts Brewing curates a “Beacon Triple Feature” of music-driven and locally made films, including Jeremy Schonfeld’s The Father Who Stayed, shot largely in Beacon.

Saturday, the festival’s main day, features the closure of Eliza Street for A Seat at the Table, a day-long installation and conversation space conceived by artist Donna Mikkelsen: a 50-foot grass-covered table that doubles as stage, catwalk, and communal hub. “There’ll be conversations, fashion, food, and fire,” Ellenwood says. “Maybe even the mayor will drop by.”

Running parallel to all of this: a 10K race, art installations across town, and impromptu performances that pop up wherever the mood—and the music—strikes. Despite its growing size, the Bonfire remains refreshingly anti-corporate. “It’s a risk every year, but it always seems to work out.” What matters most, she insists, is the collective act of creation: “We provide the space and the resources. The art is on the artists.”

If Beacon Bonfire has a theology, it’s that community is a creative force. In Ellenwood’s words, “People come to Beacon, they discover, they experience, they feel welcomed. And this festival is just an extension of that.”

—Brian K. Mahoney

Festivalgoers gather on Main Street during Beacon Bonfire, the citywide celebration that ignites downtown with art, music, performance, and community spirit.

Pine Plains Festival of Shorts

November 1-2 at the Stissing Center in Pine Plains

The Pine Plains Festival of Shorts spotlights the talent of Hudson Valley filmmakers across two nights of inventive storytelling at the Stissing Center. This year’s lineup features a wide range of voices and visions— from intimate documentaries and heartfelt dramas to imaginative animation. Highlights include Hollywood’s Mermaid: The Esther Williams Story, a luminous portrait of the MGM swimming star; the lyrical Memories/ Dreams; and Our Farms, Our Farmers, rooted in the region’s agricultural life. Each short is followed by a filmmaker Q&A, creating a lively exchange between artists and audiences—a celebration of local creativity projected on the big screen. 7pm and 5pm.

“Follies”

November 7-23 at Phillipstown Depot Theater  in Garrison

Past and present collide in “Follies,” Stephen Sondheim’s elegiac portrait of fading glamour and fractured dreams. Directed by John Christian Plummer and starring Lisa Sabin and Maia Guest, the musical follows a troupe of former showgirls reuniting in a decaying Broadway theater on the eve of its demolition. As they relive old performances and confront the ghosts of who they once were, memory becomes melody—bittersweet, dazzling, and sharp as regret. With Sondheim’s inimitable blend of wit and melancholy, “Follies” captures the ache of time passing and the beauty of what remains when the spotlight dims but the song lingers on.

“Catenary”

November 8-9 at PS21 in Chatham

In “Catenary,” boundaries between sound and movement dissolve. Developed during a PS21 residency, this new interdisciplinary work unites violinist Hannah Epperson, choreographer Rebecca Margolick, and composer-pianist Niloufar Nourbakhsh in an experiment of mutual creation. Epperson’s looping violin lines, Margolick’s fluid physical vocabulary, and Nourbakhsh’s darkly lyrical compositions intertwine until dancer and musician are indistinguishable—each gesture shaping sound, each note shaping motion. The result is a living structure of tension and release, like the architectural curve from which the piece takes its name: suspended, balanced, and breathtakingly human. “Catenary” makes its world premiere at PS21 after a two-week residency. 7:30pm and 3pm.

The Hydrosphere: Exploring Our Water World in Films, Writings & Conversations

November 9 at Upstate Films Orpheum Theater in Saugerties

Dive beneath the surface. The Hydrosphere is a oneday festival that threads cinema, literature, science, and gastronomy into a dialogue about our planet’s blue heart. The day opens with curated short films exploring ocean consciousness, followed by a panel led by documentary filmmaker Jon Bowermaster alongside authors Porter Fox and Susan Casey. Afternoon features Send Kelp!—a documentary about ecological innovation—and How Deep Is Your Love, a cinematic plunge into deep-sea ecosystems and the risks of mining the abyss. 11am-6pm.

“Memoirs from the Psyche of the Subjugated”

November 9 at Creative Legion in Hudson

Adapted from Cynthia Stephens’s House of Colorism: Memoirs Across Generations, “Memoirs from the Psyche of the Subjugated” is a one-act play that explores the pain and persistence of colorism through interwoven first-person monologues. The stories—drawn from

real lives—give voice to both victims and perpetrators, exposing the emotional knots of a society where skin tone too often defines worth, beauty, and belonging. Between confessions, songs from the Negro Spiritual tradition rise like balm and benediction, connecting generations of struggle and endurance. The result is a haunting, human portrait of internalized prejudice—and the resilience that allows the wounded to reclaim their own narratives. 3pm.

Rififi

November 9 and 12 at Upstate Films Midtown in Kingston

In a smoky, rain-slicked Paris, a quartet of thieves plots the perfect jewel heist—and then, inevitably, watches it unravel. Jules Dassin’s 1955 noir Rififi remains the gold standard for caper films: Its silent, 30-minute burglary sequence still studied by directors today. Blacklisted in Hollywood, Dassin shot the film in exile, imbuing it with both hardboiled grit and tragic tenderness. The result is a masterpiece of mood and precision—a heist film that’s less about the score than the slow, inevitable collapse that follows. Sixty years on, Rififi still glimmers darkly, like stolen jewels under a flickering streetlamp. 7:30pm.

“Live and Unfinished: A Night of New Theater”

November 13 and 14 at the Rosendale Theatre

Three solo, new (and unfinished) pieces share the stage in “Live and Unfinished,” spotlighting three artists midcreation. Jim Metzner’s “Rediscovering Poppa” follows an unexpected gift back to a shtetl past—funny, tender, and studded with rabbit holes. Jean E. Taylor’s “Return of the Wild Hare” casts a research librarian as insurgent ringleader, urging civic mischief and mindful courage before the censors reach the door. In “Bullpen,” Frank Boyd channels an eccentric minor-league lifer prepping teammates for the end of civilization—20-ish minutes of brand-new, nervy material. A lab-night for risk, voice, and the electric hum of work that’s not done yet. 7:30pm.

“The Oldest Profession”

November 14 at Unicorn Bar in Kingston Comedian and sex worker rights advocate Kaytlin Bailey brings her acclaimed one-woman show “The Oldest Profession” to Unicorn Bar for an evening of performance, history, and consciousness-raising around erotic labor. With sharp wit and radical empathy, Bailey reframes centuries of stigma, tracing sex work’s overlooked matriarchs from ancient temples to modern street corners. The night also features performances

by Mothh and Kingston artist Ashley Molesso of Everywhere Shop, with support from Eureka! Press and The Ishtar Collective, who’ll share harm reduction resources and allyship tools. 6:30pm

Jurassic Park Screening with the Orchestra Now

November 15 and 16 at the Fisher Center at Bard College

Hold onto your butts. Steven Spielberg’s Jurassic Park storms the screen with a full symphonic roar as The Orchestra Now, conducted by James Bagwell, performs John Williams’s iconic score live. The 1993 blockbuster’s blend of wonder and terror—dinosaurs resurrected, hubris punished—takes on new grandeur when the music’s soaring brass and trembling strings are brought to life in real time. It’s a rare chance to feel the tremors of both the T. rex and the timpani in your chest. A perfect reminder that sometimes the real spectacle isn’t on the screen but in the orchestra pit. 7pm and 2pm.

Marlon Wayans: Wild Child Tour

November 16 at UPAC in Kingston

Marlon Wayans isn’t just funny because he hits the punchline—he mines empathy, embarrassment, and survival. His humor pulls you in by making you feel, first, before you laugh. He trusts the sharp pain of awkwardness as much as the relief of a joke. Wayans’s comedy often straddles the line between satire and confession: he skewers stereotypes not by mocking victims, but by showing characters caught in their own absurd contradictions. His sharpest tool is vulnerability— he leans into what scares or shames us, turning discomfort into laughter that lingers in your gut. 7pm.

Laraaji

November 16 at the Old Dutch Church in Kingston Celestial music pioneer Laraaji returns to the ether. The zither-wielding mystic, who helped define the sound of modern ambient music with Brian Eno’s Ambient 3: Day of Radiance, marks its 45th anniversary with a live performance inside Kingston’s Old Dutch Church. Presented by Ambient Church, the event transforms sacred space into sonic temple—part concert, part meditation. Laraaji’s shimmering tones and transcendent laughter meet the luminous drones of Ana Roxanne, while projection-mapped visuals ripple across the church’s stone interior. The result: a radiant convergence of sound and spirit, where stillness becomes symphonic and light hums in harmony. 7:15pm.

—Brian K. Mahoney

Jules Dassin's Rififi screens this month at Upstate Films Midtown in Kingston.

A Mighty Wind

PHOTAY AT ASSEMBLY IN KINGSTON

November 15 at 7pm Assemblykingston.com

Hudson Valley-bred experimental electronica multiinstrumentalist, composer, and producer Evan Shornstein—better known by his performing name, Photay—will bring his dazzling and immersive sound back to the area this month. Ahead of the show, he answered the questions below by email. Photay will perform at Assembly in Kingston on November 15 at 7pm. Eucademix (Yuka C. Honda of Cibo Mato) will open. Tickets are $30.

—Peter Aaron

You grew up in Woodstock and started out as a drummer. How and when did you first encounter electronic music, and what drew you the genre? I had various encounters with electronic music and unique sounds at a young age. Sounds were both equally interesting and frightening to me. The haunted pitch of wind blowing through a small crack in a window or a distant train whistle at night. I’ll never forget a second grade field trip to see David Van Teigem perform at UPAC in Kingston. It was there that I heard a waterphone [stainless-steel resonator bowl or pan with a cylindrical neck and bronze resonating rods around the rim] for the first time; the sound stayed in my head

for weeks. In third grade, I stepped into an after-school dance class and heard ’90s trance music for the first time. My mom caught wind of this excitement and how the music was miraculously focusing my energy. With a recommendation from the lifeguard at the local public pool, she got me an Orbital record for Christmas. Around this same time, a classmate’s parent made me a mix CD with Aphex Twin and other ’90s electronic music. My folks played plenty of Beatles, Bob Dylan, The Band, etc. in the house, but they also played a lot of music from Africa, India, Mongolia, and beyond. It was really the non-Western and electronic music that took hold of me. My friends and peers of the time hated electronic music. It really wasn’t until college that I connected with people who had this deep mutual appreciation.

Your self-titled 2014 debut EP came out of your studying African drumming in Guinea. What was that experience like? Reaching back to your own roots, how has the Hudson Valley shaped your music? Growing up in the Hudson Valley was definitely isolating at times, but it was also magical and exposed me to a lot of meaningful things at a young age. I was very lucky to grow up playing West African percussion with my teachers, Pam and Mimo Camara. During my first year in college, they invited me to study with them for a month in Conakry, Guinea. I witnessed a new level of musical devotion and musicianship on this trip. We played music together all day, every day, in a place where music and community were inseparable. Another important thing to note is the landscape and environmental elements of the Hudson Valley: The

forests, the seasons, the rivers, and the mountains have grown in importance to me over the years. What started as maybe an unconscious appreciation has become the main driving force in my music and my life: snow, wind, foliage, frost, lightning, rain, and so on.

You describe your new album, Windswept: Expansions, as a “sonic exploration of the wind as a ‘powerful, deep, unpredictable and at times overwhelming spirit.’” Can you expand a bit here on the backstory of the theme? Where did the inspiration for the concept come from, and what was the process of manifesting it like during the making of the album? The album concept and palette were informed by the song “Derecho,” which I had started back in April 2020. It was obviously a very heavy time in the world, and while the social stillness was alarming, it also opened up new sensitivities. The winds were very intense that spring and I remember working on music one afternoon while observing the deep hum of wind roaring across a 40-mile radius. Through listening, I felt connected across miles of land. I become increasingly drawn to weather and shifts in the atmosphere as a reminder of the Earth’s aliveness and our vulnerability to it. Almost every song on the record features a synth patch that I created to express this feeling. It’s a deep bass tone with white noise swirling above. Similar to the wind, it’s hard to tame—sometimes gentle and other times temperamental.

Recently there has been much talk about AI and how it’s altering the creation of music, along with so many other aspects of life and humanity. As an artist who works with technology, what are your thoughts about the rise of AI and the future it points to?

If you’re a forward-thinking artist, then you probably embrace new forms of technology and find ways to interact with a changing world through your medium. AI has long existed in digital music software as a tool for artists. However, this new wave of AI feels threatening and unregulated. My biggest concern are the tech monsters like Spotify who are using this technology to actually replace artists all together.

On a positive note, I recently saw the legendary group Autechre perform in Los Angeles. They created their own software nicknamed “The System” back in the early 2000s. It opens up a sort of generative field for improvisation and a never-ending stream of musical ideas. It’s sonically mind-blowing and completely unique to them. The music is also pretty deranged and not for everyone. I’m not someone who lives in nostalgia, but I also don’t believe in losing ourselves in technology. Some of my favorite electronic music is still connected to the body and the Earth. When it becomes too intellectual, too heady, too carried away, it loses its soul. I’ve always been interested in the intersection of our earthly qualities and technology. There’s a nice balance in the middle. Especially if you’re a drummer.

Your music is perhaps identified as living more within the home-studio recording process and the controlled listening experience of those who encounter it via your releases. How does your music differ in that setting, compared to the recordings? What do you most hope that people get from attending your shows?

I grew up performing in bands. It’s a huge part of my life. Although the studio process is a big part of my music, I always strive to find ways to represent it live. The shows are usually a blend of unreleased material and reimagined pieces from my records. The live show is textural, rhythmic, melodic, and experimental. I try to break down a lot of musical barriers by pulling influences across a large spectrum and hopefully bringing them into a unified sound. I hope it leaves people feeling a bit more connected to one another and connected to their environment or in other words, present

Photay plays Assembly November 15

Photo by Carson Davis Brown

Hannah Cohen plays Tubby's in Kingston November 18 and 19.

Acoustic Alchemy

November 7 at Infinity Music Hall in Norfolk, Connecticut

Blending light jazz, new age, classical, flamenco, and folk, British band Acoustic Alchemy centers on the playing of guitarists Nick Webb and Greg Carmichael. Formed in 1981, the group found steady work, appropriately enough for their sound, as the in-flight entertainment for Virgin Atlantic flights between the UK and the US. Webb passed away in 1998, but with Miles Gilderdale having taken his place the band continues to keep its smooth style sailing along. (John Splithoff spins his spell November 1; Max Creek makes moves November 28.) 7pm. $47.42.

Earth

November 8 at No Fun in Troy

Pacific Northwestern instrumental ambient metal project Earth, led by founder and guitarist Dylan Carlson, has been cited as a formative influence by the likes of Boris, Sunn O))), and other stoner rock gods. A sometime running buddy of Kurt Cobain, Carlson has struggled with and staved off personal demons while building a discography of suitably dark, drone-heavy work. The band has changed formats since its 1998 beginnings, and in 2019 it became a duo with Adrienne Davies on drums. (Blood Lemon squeezes November 5; Daddy Long Legs leaps November 14.) Opening acts TBA. 7pm. $24.62.

Sound Life Fest

November 14-15 at the Lace Mill in Kingston Midtown artist live-work center the Lace Mill has quietly but consistently become one of the region’s most vital spots for experimental jazz and other variants of avant-garde music. This two-day festival in its gallery brings together some top talent for those who like to challenge their minds and ears with inspired improvisational sounds. The first night features Otto Kentrol, the Lucas Brode Trio, and the duo of Melora Creager and Elizabeth Clark; night two has Mike Pride with Bobby Previte and Ben Vida; Liam Grant; and MB3 featuring Michael Bisio, Jason Hwang, and Juan Pablo Carletti. 6pm. $20.

Beach Fossils

November 14 at the Bearsville Theater in Bearsville Brooklyn indie quartet Beach Fossils makes lush, layered music that floats somewhere between early ’80s postpunk and mid-’90s dream pop. Launched as a solo project of singer and songwriter Dustin Payseur, the reverb-heavy group has released five albums since 2010, including an artistic detour with 2021’s The Other Side of Life: Piano Ballads . Their latest offering is Bunny , which was ranked fifth on PopMatter ’s “20 Best Pop Albums of 2023” list. Being Dead opens. (Nels Cline, John Medeski, Billy Martin, and Scott Metzger jam November 21; Lissie lands November 22.) 7pm. $37.85-$64.15.

Lost Leaders/Ginger Winn

November 15 at the Park Theater in Hudson

“We began as a duo 15 years ago, but our collaboration is as fun and eclectic as ever,” says Lost Leaders bassist Byron Isaacs, who performs with the Lumineers and played with the Levon Helm Band, Olabelle, and Amy Helm. “[Lost Leaders guitarist] Peter [Cole] and I are very much in sync, but we also love playing with new collaborators, and that’s why we’re excited to join up with Ginger for these two shows.” Kingston singersongwriter Winn recently released Freeze Frame, her second album. (Western Skies and Blue Quarry get rustic November 7; Finding Lucinda screens with a set by Lea Thomas November 14.) 8pm. $21.82-$73.87.

Hannah Cohen

November 18-19 at Tubby’s in Kingston

Earthstar Mountain, the newly released fourth album by model and singer-songwriter Hannah Cohen, was produced by Sam Evian and features contributions from Sufjan Stevens, Clairo, Sean Mullins, Liam Kazar, Oliver Hill, and others. British online magazine MusicOMH called it “a laid-back record with a strong sense of place to play just as the day is taking shape while you contemplate life over a coffee.” The bar may or may not be pouring java during her two-night stand at the Tub, but don’t sleep on tickets for this second show. With Zannie. (Orcutt Shelley Miller returns November 6; Liam Kazar crafts tender tunes December 3). 7pm. $24.72. —Peter Aaron

1049 SAMSONVILLE ROAD

1049 SAMSONVILLE ROAD, KERHONKSON

“Faraday Cage.” RAE BK’s “Faraday Cage” transforms a home’s seven rooms into an immersive meditation on isolation, political drift, and the coping rituals people invent when reality gets too heavy. Through November 30.

510 WARREN STREET GALLERY

510 WARREN STREET, HUDSON

“Sun Stroke.” New work by Peggy Reeves. November 7-30.

68 PRINCE STREET GALLERY

68 PRINCE STREET, KINGSTON

“Present Tense: Past Participle.” New work by Douglas Navarra. Through November 16.

“A Glimmer of Change.” Work by Julie Evans, Murray Hochman, and Catherine Howe. November 22-December 21.

ALBANY INSTITUTE OF HISTORY & ART

125 WASHINGTON AVENUE, ALBANY

“For Liberation and For Life: The Legacy of Black Dimensions in Art.” Group exhibition. Through December 31.

“Jacob Lawrence: Three Series of Prints.” Featuring three series of silkscreen prints created between 1972 and 2000. Through December 31.

ANN STREET GALLERY

104 ANN STREET, NEWBURGH

“Untethered Creatures: bodies of emergent lore.” Work by William PK Carter, Ana Maria Farina, and Bridget Vasquez. Through November 23.

ART POD 66

66 ROCK CITY ROAD, WOODSTOCK

“The Crack in the Cosmic Egg.” Work by Carmela Tal Baron. Through December 21.

AZART GALLERY

40 MILL HILL ROAD, WOODSTOCK

“Fragmented Memories.” Work by Josh George Bojitt, Mercedes Jelinek, and Jill Ricci. Through November 30.

BANK ART GALLERY

94 BROADWAY, NEWBURGH

“The Shape of Memory.” Group exhibition exploring time, emotion, and reflection. Through December 13.

BAU GALLERY

506 MAIN STREET, BEACON

“Unearthed.” Sculptures by Soli Pierce.

“Trace Element.” Photographic-based work by Linda Lauro-Lazin and George Kimmerling.

“Intermediaries.” Work by Daniel Berlin, Tharpa Dawa, Jinpa Ser~o, and Garlic Woods. All shows November 8-December 7.

THE BEACON BUILDING

427 MAIN STREET, BEACON

“Beacon Reimagined.” Photos by Scott Lerman presented as eight-by-four-foot banners. Through December 31.

BERKSHIRE BOTANICAL GARDEN

5 WEST STOCKBRIDGE ROAD, STOCKBRIDGE, MA

“Flock.” Watercolor paintings by Robin Crofut-Brittingham. Through November 30.

BILL ARNING EXHIBITIONS

17 BROAD STREET, KINDERHOOK

“Seeking Complexity.” Work by David Becker, Deborah Bright, Jane Fine, Bo Joseph, Brian Kenny, A. J. Liberto, Andy Ness, and Harrison Tenzer. Through December 21.

BERNAY FINE ART

296 MAIN STREET, GREAT BARRINGTON, MA

“Two to Tango Two.” Work Janet Rickus, Warner Friedman, Stephanie Anderson, Stephen Dietemann, Meg Hitchcock, Kurt Steger, Amy Pleasant, and Pete Schulte. Through November 30.

BOSCOBEL HOUSE AND GARDENS

1601 ROUTE 9D, PHILLIPSTOWN

“Scenic Vistas: Landscape as Culture in Early New York.” Nineteenth-century landscape imagery alongside work by Kat Howard, Betsy Jacks, Kieran Kinsella, and James McElhinney, Alison McNulty, and Jean-Marc Sovak. Through November 16.

BUSTER LEVI GALLERY

121 MAIN STREET, COLD SPRING

“Atmospheric Geometry.” Work by Ann Provan and Bill Koistra. November 1-30.

CARRIE HADDAD GALLERY

622 WARREN STREET, HUDSON

“Objects of Affection.” New work by Alaina Enslen, David Halliday, Ash King, Jenny Nelson, and David Sokosh. Through November 16.

CATSKILL ART SPACE

48 MAIN STREET, LIVINGSTON MANOR

“Kat Chamberlin, Mia Brownell, and Lexa Walsh.” Painting, installation, ceramics, and social practice. November 1-December 28.

Fallen Tree, a photograph by Nancy Donskoj, part of the "Sharing the Space" exhibition at the Kleinrt/James Center for the Arts in Woodstock.

CMA GALLERY

AQUINAS HALL MOUNT SAINT MARY’S COLLEGE, NEWBURGH

“Confined.” Paintings by Marc Bernier. Through November 20.

CONVEY/ER/OR GALLERY

299 MAIN STREET, POUGHKEEPSIE

“Invisible Marks.” Work by Tracey McFarlane and Amy Morken. November 1-30.

CPW

25 DEDERICK STREET, KINGSTON

“Everyday Culture: Seven Projects by Documentary Arts.” Four decades of work by Documentary Arts. Through January 11.

“Kinship & Community.” An exhibit featuring selections from the Texas African American Photographers Archive. Through January 11.

“Rahim Fortune: Between a Memory and Me.” Photographs. Through Jaunary 11.

CREATIVE LEGION

7 FAIRVIEW AVENUE, HUDSON

“Hard Palate.” Work by Becca Van K, Kelsey Renko, June Glasson, Lexa Walsh, John Desousa, Daria Irincheeva, ransome, Gracelee Lawrence, and Ace Lehner. Through December 5.

CUT TEETH

394 HASBROUCK AVENUE, KINGSTON

“Walkers and Floaters.” Group show. Through November 22.

DAVID M. HUNT LIBRARY

63 MAIN STREET, FALLS VILLAGE, CONNECTICUT

“Vincent Inconiglios: Face Time.” Collage, found objects, and photographic prints. Through November 13.

DAVID ROCKEFELLER CREATIVE ARTS CENTER AT POCANTICO

200 LAKE ROAD, TARRYTOWN

“Still/Moving”. Work by Shen Wei. Through April 19.

DESMOND-FISH LIBRARY

473 ROUTE 403, GARRISON

“Picture Us.” Work by Alia Ali, Esperanza Cortés, John Ebbert, Patty Horing, Jordin Isip, JaFang Lu, Beverly McIver, Michael Pribich, ransome, Dylan Rose Rheingold, Nadine Robbins, and photobooth portraits from the collection of Oliver Wasow. Through March 29.

DIA BEACON

3 BEEKMAN STREET, BEACON

“Tehching Hsieh: Lifeworks 1978–1999.” Performance artist retrospective. Long-term view.

DISTORTION SOCIETY

155 MAIN STREET, BEACON

“Intangible Devotions.” New paintings by Laura Bochet. Through January 31.

ELIJAH WHEAT SHOWROOM

195 FRONT STREET, NEWBURGH

“Unfixxxed.” Group photo show about impermanence. Through December 15.

EXPOSURES GALLERY

1357 KINGS HIGHWAY, SUGAR LOAF

“In the Garden of Eden.” Featuring photographs of Central America by Nick Zungoli. Through December 31.

Untitled fiber work by Becca Van K, part of the "Hard Palate" exhibition at Creative Legion in Hudson. Photograph by William Kaner

FENIMORE ART MUSEUM

5798 STATE HIGHWAY 80, COOPERSTOWN

“Looking Back: Fritz Vogt’s Drawings at 125.” “Romare Bearden: Artist-Activist-Visionary.” “Exploring Calvin and Hobbes.” All shows through December 31.

FRANCES LEHMAN LOEB

ART CENTER

124 RAYMOND AVENUE, POUGHKEEPSIE

“My Brain Finally Broke: Between Truth and Fiction.” Photography exhibition curated by Jessica D. Brier. Through January 4.

“Chronostasia”. Select acquisitions 2020-2025. Through February 1.

“For Maria: Rose B. Simpson and Pueblo Pottery.” Work by Rose B. Simpson. Through February 15.

FRONT ROOM GALLERY

205 WARREN STREET, HUDSON

“On Everest.” Photographs by Sasha Bezzubov. Through November 9.

GALLERY 40

40 CANNON STREET, POUGHKEEPSIE

“Bridging Cultures.” Work by Vicki Arthur, Taylor Bielecki, Harley Ngai Greico, and Jennifer Prevatt. November 1-30.

GARRISON ART CENTER

23 GARRISON’S LANDING, GARRISON

“Photocentric 2025: State of Our Union.” Group show. November 1-23.

GRIT WORKS | GRIT GALLERY

115 BROADWAY, NEWBURGH

“Inside the Mind of Tommy Chan.” Impressionist paintings. Through December 31.

HOWLAND CULTURAL CENTER

477 MAIN STREET, BEACON

“Focus on Photographers II.” Work by Hillary Clements, Ross Corsair, Ron Hershey, Amy Finkel, Wilbur Norman, and Robert Tirrell Jr. Through November 16.

HUDSON HALL

327 WARREN STREET, HUDSON

“Ghosts, Mother’s Milk, and Other Stories.” Work by photographer and filmmaker Corinne May Botz. Through November 23.

HUDSON VALLEY MOCA

1701 MAIN STREET, PEEKSKILL

“Conscience of a Nation.” The “End Hate” doors by V. L. Cox. Through December 13.

JACK SHAINMAN: THE SCHOOL

25 BROAD STREET, KINDERHOOK

“General Conditions.” Group exhibition. Through November 29.

JANE ST. ART CENTER

11 JANE STREET, SAUGERTIES

“Sky, Land, Sea.” Monotypes by Suzanne Stokes. November 8-December 13.

KINOSAITO

115 7TH STREET, VERPLANCK

“Kikuo Saito: Reminiscence in Color.” Curated by Mikiko Ino Saito. Through December 21.

“The Unknown and Its Poetics.” Group show. Through December 21.

KLEINERT/JAMES CENTER FOR THE ARTS

36 TINKER STREET, WOODSTOCK

“Sharing the Space.” Work by the Women Photographers Collective of the Mid-Hudson Valley. Through November 30.

LABSPACE

2642 ROUTE 23, HILLSDALE

“To bring you my love,” New paintings by Susan Carr. Through November 16.

LAND GALLERY

30 CHARLES COLMAN BOULEVARD, PAWLING

“Wild World.” Nature photographs by Ann Shelbourne. Through November 23.

LOCKWOOD GALLERY

747 ROUTE 28, WEST HURLEY

“Enchantment.” Work by Deborah Barlow, Alison Cuomo, and Carter Hodgkin. Curated by Carole Kunstadt and Laura Gurton. Through November 23.

LONGYEAR GALLERY

785 MAIN STREET, MARGARETVILLE

“New Voices: Cena Pohl Crane, GG Stankiewicz, Jennifer Lord Rhodes, and Jerry Gallo.”

“First Impressions, Second Thoughts: Louise Kalin.”

Both exhibitions through November 16.

MAD ROSE GALLERY

5916 NORTH ELM AVENUE, MILLERTON

“Ebb & Flow.” Work by Eric Hilton, Lisa Sacco, Steven Weinberg, and Natalie Tyler. Through December 31.

“Through a Lens, a Painting.” Work by Lorenzo Minoli. Through December 31.

MAGAZZINO ITALIAN ART

2700 ROUTE 9, COLD SPRING

“Yoichi Ohira: Japan in Murano.” Retrospective of the glass artist. Through December 31.

“Piero Manzoni: Total Space.” An exhibit featuring two installations by Piero Manzoni. Through March 23.

MANITOGA

584 ROUTE 9D, GARRISON

“Glass Light Nature.” Illuminated glass sculptures by Jeff Zimmerman. Through November 16.

MARK GRUBER GALLERY

13 NEW PALTZ PLAZA, NEW PALTZ

“Looking In Looking Out.” Landscape paintings by Marlene Wiedenbaum. Through November 22.

MASS MOCA

1040 MASS MOCA WAY, NORTH ADAMS, MA

“Just a Dream…”. Vincent Valdez’s retrospective. Through April 5.

MILDRED I. WASHINGTON ART

GALLERY, DUTCHESS COMMUNITY COLLEGE

1 GALLERY CIRCLE, POUGHKEEPSIE

“Looking Through.” Photographs by Jason Torres from 1997-2025 in New York. November 5-December 12.

MUROFF-KOTLER VISUAL ARTS GALLERY

491 COTTEKILL ROAD, STONE RIDGE

“Time Again.” Work by Marie Mastronardo and B. Robert Johnson. Through December 4.

OLIVE FREE LIBRARY

4033 ROUTE 28A, WEST SHOKAN

“Animalia.” Eighth annual small works show. November 15-January 3.

OPUS 40

40 FITE ROAD, SAUGERTIES

“Seldom Seen.” Historic works by Woodstock artists. Through November 9.

PINKWATER GALLERY

237 FAIR STREET, KINGSTON

“Encyclopedia Botanica.” Work by Anne Sanger. Through November 5.

PRIVATE PUBLIC

530 COLUMBIA STREET, HUDSON

“In The Darkness I See.” Recent paintings by Kathy Goodell. Through November 16.

“Here, Elsewhere.” Recent paintings by Kylie Heidenheimer. November 29-January 11.

RED BARN GALLERY

6 MONTGOMERY STREET, TIVOLI

“Through a River Darkly.” Photos by Adrianna Ault and ceramics by Caroline Wallner. Through November 9.

ROHMER GALLERY

84 PARTITION STREET, SAUGERTIES

“Rhythm, Fission, and Folds.” Work by Damilola Ajegbomogun, J.C. Hopkins, Rina Kim, Precious Eboigbodin, and Rebecca Stern. Through November 5.

ROUNDABOUTS NOW

25 BARBAROSSA LANE, KINGSTON

“Quieter Than Water, Lower than Grass.” Group show. November 8-December 15.

RUTHANN

453 MAIN STREET, CATSKILL

“Alone with the Moon.” Work by Biff Elrod, Kathryn Lynch, and Enrico Kiley. Through December 6.

SAMUEL DORSKY MUSEUM OF ART

SUNY NEW PALTZ, NEW PALTZ

“Bodies of Knowledge.” An exhibit by Jean Shin featuring work made of textile and communication technologies. Through December 7.

THE SPARK OF HUDSON

502 UNION STREET, HUDSON

“Hudson 1997-2003: Portraits by Phyllis Hjorth.” Paintings of Hudson residents. Through December 19.

SUNY WESTCHESTER CENTER FOR THE DIGITAL ARTS GALLERY

27 NORTH DIVISION STREET, PEEKSKILL

“Katherina Jesek: Venus in Vectors.” Looped video works and digital prints. Through December 9.

‘T’ SPACE

120 ROUND LAKE ROAD, RHINEBECK

“New Hudson Valley Houses.” Work by Stan Allen, Garrick Ambrose, Steven Holl, Toshiko Mori Architect, and MOS. Through December 31.

TANJA GRUNERT GALLERY

21 PROSPECT AVENUE, HUDSON

“Chrysalis.” Work by Pam Poquette and Lawre Stone. Through November 9.

GOOD WORK INSTITUTE

65 ST. JAMES STREET, KINGSTON

“Resisting Erasure: Artistic Creativity in Times of Political Turmoil.” Group show curated by Dan Goldman, Maureen Gates, Onaje Benjamin, and Shirley Parker Benjamin. Through November 22.

THE INTERNATIONAL MUSEUM OF DINNERWARE DESIGN

524 BROADWAY, KINGSTON

“Picnic.” Sixth Biennial National Juried and Invitational Exhibition. Through January 17.

THOMAS COLE HISTORIC SITE

218 SPRING STREET, CATSKILL

“On Trees.” Work by Georgia O’Keefe and Thomas Cole. Through December 14.

TIME AND SPACE LIMITED

434 COLUMBIA STREET, HUDSON

“Meditations on the Hudson/Art and Artifact.” Work by John K. Lawson. Through November 9.

TIVOLI ARTISTS GALLERY

60 BROADWAY, TIVOLI

“Farm to Table.” Group show. Through November 16.

TREMAINE ART GALLERY AT THE HOTCHKISS SCHOOL

11 INTERLAKEN ROAD, LAKEVILLE, CT

“Wish You Were Here.” Work by Fern Apfel and Colleen McGuire. November 4-January 25.

UNISON ARTS AND LEARNING CENTER

9 PARADIES LANE, NEW PALTZ

“Cultura Viva.” Group show of work by artists of Hispanic heritage. Through November 8.

WIRED GALLERY

11 MOHONK ROAD, HIGH FALLS

“So Different, So What!” Work by Archil Pichkhadze, Dionisio Cortes, Edward M. O’Hara, Jill Ziccardi, Leticia Ortega, Paul Chidester, and Polly Reina. Through November 9.

WOMEN’S STUDIO WORKSHOP

722 BINNEWATER LANE, KINGSTON

“Workshopping.” New work by Emily Larned. Through December 12.

WOODSTOCK ARTISTS ASSOCIATION AND MUSEUM

28 TINKER STREET, WOODSTOCK

“Featured Active Members Group Show.” Group show. Through November 30. “Sanctuary.” Group show juried by Sergio Mercado. Through November 30.

YELLOW STUDIO CO-OP AND THE BEEHIVE AT YELLOW STUDIO

792 NY-35, CROSS RIVER

“Scent of the Sea.” Paintings and photographs by Jennie Carr. Through November 15.

Eight Ball, a sculpture by Collin Douma, part of the "Animalia" exhibtion at the Olive Free Library in West Shokan.

Horoscopes

By Cory Nakasue

Loud Quiet Loud

November brings some whiplash. We’re inundated with the energies of Scorpio and Sagittarius (the most covert and the most blatant signs in astrology respectively). A Mercury retrograde traverses both signs, Saturn and Jupiter change direction, and a new Moon in Scorpio bares its soul.

First, Mars enters Sagittarius on November 4. Actions and egos don’t get much louder or reckless than when the planet of will enters this no-holds-barred sign. This is followed by a sweet and serene full Moon in Taurus on the 5th. Subsequently, Venus enters Scorpio on November 6. Love and desire smolder in secret, and are tinged with obsession. On the 7th, after dipping its toe in Gemini, Uranus reenters Taurus for the last time to finish breaking old patterns in our relationships and finances.

Mercury stations retrograde in Sagittarius on November 9. As loud as Mercury is in Sagittarius on a normal day, when it stops to change direction, the volume gets turned up even higher. Mercury in Sagittarius can be entertaining and inspiring, but it comes up short on accuracy and complexity, especially when retrograde. On the 11th, Jupiter stations retrograde in Cancer. Jupiter, being the ruler of Sagittarius, adds to the inflation and brashness of this time. Mercury reenters Scorpio on November 18 to do some detective work, followed by a new Moon in Scorpio on the 20th conjoined to that Mercury and aspecting all the outer planets very tightly. This new Moon sets the tone for six months of exposing all that’s buried. Things lighten up as the Sun enters Sagittarius on the 21st. Saturn stations direct in Pisces on November 27, and we can resume structural work that was paused during its retrograde. Mercury goes direct on the 29th, and Venus enters Sagittarius on the 30th, ending November with a taste for adventure and wild love.

ARIES

(March 20–April 19)

You may be talking nonsense and looking to fight people. Stand down. Go to the library and do some research. You may discover some information that totally shifts your stance while also forcing you to connect with your own depths. If what you find out just makes you more passionate about your views, by all means, shout it from the rooftops. Chances are your opinions will land with more impact, imbued with authentic emotion. The more one pontificates, the less seriously they are taken. Your deep personal conviction, paired with keen investigation wins the battle of ideas.

TAURUS

(April 19–May 20)

Before you sign your name on the dotted line or across someone’s heart, do your due diligence. Typically, your slow and steady pace guarantees steady outcomes, but lately you’re uncharacteristically foolhardy. You seem convinced that this is the deal of the century or that person you’ve been dating for a month is your soulmate! Cool your jets. Have a more probing conversation. Test a person’s character. This may seem a little manipulative, but you’re eager to make a big investment. On the flip side, someone might be testing you to see if you’re worthy of their commitment. Either way, the truth will come out.

Cory Nakasue is an astrology counselor, writer, and teacher. Her podcast, “The Cosmic Dispatch,” is available on streaming platforms. AstrologybyCory.com

GEMINI

(May 20–June 21)

November is all about revising relational habits. If you subscribe to the idea that habits create behaviors, and behaviors create experience, the quality of our relationships rests on the little things we do everyday. We can think of this as relational hygiene. What are the small and consistent tasks you can do every day to build more trust and safety with others? Can you improve your listening skills? Can you take better care of your body and mind, so that you show up for others from a more resourced place? Partners are likely to be very vocal about what they need.

CANCER

(June 21–July 22)

You are bursting with energy to tackle work projects, home projects, self-improvement initiatives, and maybe even your kids’ school projects. Slow your roll. Save that energy for something way more internal and intoxicating. Instead of cleaning things up, roll around in the mud. You have a unique opportunity to revisit something or someone that stirs your soul, your imagination, or maybe your loins. Think of pleasure as a research project. Take another look at your manuscript, and go deeper and darker. Instead of merely “glowing up,” dismantle your ego so that your creative power can penetrate anything false.

LEO (July 22–August 23)

Just when you thought you were ready to embark on a new adventure, speak your truth, or declare your love, you remember that you left something at home. You remember that you need to clear the air with your partner. You remember that as excited as you are to share your clarity, your ideas are half-baked. You remember that you’re still grieving something that has passed, even though new love is on the horizon. Be patient with yourself. It’s okay to reflect. It’s okay to be precious about getting something right. It’s okay to wait until you’re truly ready.

VIRGO (August 23–September 23)

Your concept of emotional and physical security wants to expand. You may want to try a new therapy as a way of exploring the world of your feelings. You could also, quite literally, want to add a room onto your house or a new family member to your brood. These things are on your mind, but before you can move forward, there are some intimate conversations to be had with yourself and/or others. Before you can broaden your horizons, a deeper inquiry about security is needed. How can you build the container for safety if you can’t even define it?

LIBRA (September 23–October 23)

It’s your natural inclination to share, but did you share too much? Did you give too much of your time, energy, or money when it wasn’t necessary? Maybe you over-shared some personal information. Why did you do that? Sometimes we over-give out of plain old enthusiasm for something or someone. Sometimes we do it because we want to be liked, and we’re feeling a little insecure. Whatever reason you come up with, be prepared for a corrective impulse to rein it in. Keep your secrets, stash your cash, and invest in yourself. Become mysterious.

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Horoscopes

SCORPIO (October 23–November 22)

At the new Moon in Scorpio, a moment of clarity might smack you sideways. This is a good thing. It will feel like a breath of fresh air after being trapped in a dank and stuffy room. If your body or mind has been feeling fuzzy, or if you’ve been struggling with a vague illness, you may suddenly find a remedy. You’re embarking on a sixmonth cycle of integrating a multitude of changes you’ve been going through. If you don’t think you’ve changed over the past six months, expect to be surprised by a secret you’ve been keeping from yourself.

SAGITTARIUS (November 22–December 22)

The following is often attributed to the poet and mystic Rumi: “Before you speak, let your words pass through three gates: At the first gate, ask yourself ‘Is it true?’ At the second gate ask, ‘Is it necessary?’ At the third gate ask, ‘Is it kind?’” This could well be your mantra this month as your tongue is a lot looser than usual. Once Mercury retrogrades back into Scorpio, you’ll be reflecting on that first question a lot; what does it mean to be true? How is the truth different from fact? Do all “truths” need to be spoken? What makes you the appropriate person to speak it?

CAPRICORN

(December 22–January 20)

There’s so much chatter in your head, your body, and your dream space. It’s almost too much to contain. So don’t. If you find yourself ruminating or yelling at the television, channel all those words into a journal or sing them at the top of your lungs in the shower. Keep them to yourself for a while, because they’re still raw and unfiltered. However, they do need to come out lest you bottle them up and end up blurting the quiet part aloud. Let it all come out privately, but share only what is essential.

AQUARIUS

(January 20–February 19)

The signs of Sagittarius and Scorpio are both known for truth seeking. Sagittarius goes out into the world of experience in its quest for it. Scorpio tunnels beneath the surface for it. During Mercury’s transit of both this month, you’re going wide and deep in your social realms. You might start the month protesting, canvassing, or engaging your communities in public forums. You’ll end the month secretly searching for the power source that fuels authority. Between the two methods of collecting data, you’ll be able to find a truth about humanity that has eluded you.

PISCES

(February 20–March 19)

People forget that Pisces can be a perfectionist. Along with feeling the messy emotions of the world, it clings tightly to its ideals. Pisces can invest themselves deeply in “how things should be,” and feel great pain when things deviate from their vision. This month, the work of Pisces is to reconcile their elaborate crusades for a perfect world and the quiet work of composting ideas that don’t belong in that world. It’s the practice that writers refer to as “killing your darlings.” Some of your most beloved ideas might have to be sacrificed for the viability of a grander design.

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Eleish Van Breems Home 34

Emerson Resort & Spa 35

Exposures Gallery 75

Farmers Choice Dispensary 8

Fenimore Art Museum 2

Four Seasons Sotheby’s International Realty 24

Gadaleto’s Seafood Market 49

Garvan’s Gastropub 46

Glenn’s Wood Sheds 31

Great Western Catskills 21

Green Cottage 79

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Haven Spa 36

Herrington’s 31

Historic Huguenot Street 49

Holistic Natural Medicine:

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Hotchkiss School 75

Hudson Roastery 35

Hudson Valley Goldsmith 37, 46

Hudson Valley Trailworks 28

Hummingbird Jewelers 4, 36

Indigo Lane Jewelry 37 J&G Law, LLP 77 Jane St. Art Center 2 Kathleen McGuiness 75

Woods

Jewelry 32

Sister Wine Shop 38 Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center 59 Mark Gruber Gallery 76 MASS MoCA 59

43

Rhodes Pottery 38 Misskarret 39

Mohonk Preserve 33

Montano’s Shoe Store 4

Mountain Laurel Waldorf School 50

NewYork-Presbyterian 1

Oui Oui Cuisine 18 PD Canteen 18 Phoenicia Diner 37 Pitch Pine

parting shot

Dancing on Ancestral Ground

The Homelands PowWow in New Lebanon

Hundreds gathered on the grounds of the Darrow School in New Lebanon in October for a historic homecoming: the first Homelands PowWow organized by the Stockbridge-Munsee Band of Mohicans on their ancestral land in centuries. The event, held October 4 and 5, was a radiant display of music, dance, and ceremony—both a public celebration and an intimate spiritual act of reconnection with the land from which the tribe was displaced more than 200 years ago.

For tribal members who traveled from Wisconsin and beyond, the weekend carried deep emotion. “This gathering, the first of its kind in hundreds of years to be put on by Mohican people, is a sacred reconnection,” says educator and organizer Shawn Stevens, who has long taught in Berkshire schools about Native history and culture. “It’s not only just a gathering of people. It’s returning our footsteps to these ancestral lands that have always carried our songs, our dances, our stories. The people here may not know us, but the land has never forgotten us.”

The Mohican people once lived across the Hudson

Valley, Berkshires, and Litchfield hills. During the 18th and 19th centuries, repeated displacement forced them west—to Stockbridge, Massachusetts, then to New York, Indiana, and finally Wisconsin, where the Stockbridge-Munsee Community now resides on an intertribal reservation.

For Shawn’s sister and fellow organizer Ginger Stevens, the powwow represented the reclamation of traditions that were once outlawed. “Back in 1880, the Code of Indian Offenses made any of our cultural practices illegal,” she says. “We weren’t allowed to pray or sing or dance. Being able to return to our homelands and actually dance where our ancestors were not allowed to is a really powerful thing for us.”

Over the course of two days, the circle at Darrow School came alive with drumming, song, and traditional dances—women in jingle dresses and fancy shawls, men in iconic feather and skin regalia. Tribal members and guests moved together in intertribal dances, while vendors around the ring offered beadwork, crafts, and indigenous foods.

Dancers from the Stockbridge-Munsee Band of Mohicans join in a traditional intertribal song at the first Homelands PowWow held on their ancestral land at the Darrow School in New Lebanon—their first gathering of this kind in centuries

“It isn’t a performance,” Stevens tells visitors. “Powwows were never meant to be a spectator thing. You come to be joined, to be a part of it—a way of connecting heart to heart, spirit to spirit.”

That invitation was honored throughout the weekend. Local families, students, and longtime residents joined in, learning from elders and dancers about what the songs and regalia represent. The powwow was also an extension of the educational work the Stevens siblings have nurtured for decades. “I’ve been coming out here for about 21 years now,” Shawn says. “I’ve spoken to thousands of kids about who we are as a people—and that we’re still around.”

By the end of the weekend, the feeling among participants was one of renewal and possibility. Organizers spoke of hopes to establish a permanent presence in the region—a place for tribal members to gather, host ceremonies, and welcome visitors.

“This gathering is both a renewal and a prayer,” Shawn reflects, “a living link between the past and the future.”

—Jamie Larson