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Explore Summer in the Valley

Creekside fun Eating al fresco, events big and small, field trips and staycations, relaxing like kids.

Who cares if it's hot if you know where to go?

JUNE-SEPT. 2017 • ULSTER PUBLISHING • WWW.HUDSONVALLEYONE.COM

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How to see like a tourist Dante Kanter faces his fears of the outdoors

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he change in seasons is like a dripping faucet. You never notice the water accumulating until it’s filled an entire pool.

All of a sudden, camper vans are rumbling through the mountains. The creatures inside them are here to marvel at nature.

We live in an area known primarily for its

scenery, a picturesque quality captured by the droves of landscape painters who set up shop here. To many of these tourists, we live in a paradise.

Recently I saw a screening of the movie Mirror, directed by Andrei Tarkovsky.

Though there’s a narrative in there, the movie is mostly about looking carefully.

We’d started the screening early, and

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by the time we had finished the sun had just set. Over everything was a clear, blue sheen. I felt acutely aware of the spaces among things. It felt as though my field of vision had widened. I could see the tops of trees. The forest around me was grey and vivid, like the Russian countryside.

In Russian Ark, directed by Alexander Sokurov, another Russian filmmaker and Tarkovsky’s apprentice, a 19th-century marquis approaches two 21st-century gallerygoers and asks them whether they love beauty or its representation. This part of the movie always makes me feel guilty, because I often make the crucial mistake of failing to look. After all, isn’t that what film art is for? If it doesn’t extend past the hour and 45 minutes of its viewing, then it has failed as art.

I was born to two painters, so this is what I have been raised with all my life. Look at the sky! The sun! That bird! What color do you think that shadow is? A shadow does more than make a color darker.

My father taught me never to describe

June - August, 2017 • 3

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anything as purple, and my mother will pull over to the side of the road to take a picture of the sunset. My parents’ jobs are to notice, and they do it very well. There is only one thing in the way of me looking at the world in the same way. They

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are perpetual tourists, and I am a local.

eyes popped out of their sockets.

I’m kicking myself as I write this for being too sentimental. What option do I have? The unspoken taboo of cheesiness is restrictive of the perfectly legitimate emotion of wonder.

To say the word “beautiful” in writing now seems a platitude, especially since our

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have lived here since I was two years old, and to me the mountains, the leaves and the birds in the morning are the stuff of life, and go largely unnoticed. I wish that I had the eyes of a tourist. I would spend all day with my

Camps & Kids’ Activites

How to see like a tourist Dante Kanter faces his fears of the outdoors

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All Land Sports • Swimming Water Ski / Boating / Fishing Indoor Tennis & Gym • Creative Arts

Everything old is new again Susan Barnett tells the inside story of how brokers show the Hudson Valley 6

The meal at the end of the rainbow Harry Matthews tells us how he stumbled into heaven

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Peaceable kingdom Mary Busch presents an eclectic collection of eight magical experiences 22

New life in old Woodstock Abbe Aronson makes her recommendations

STONE RIDGE CAMPUS 30

Summer day trips to die for Lynn Woods presents alternative northward destinations

Tennis • Baseball • Softball • All Sport Basketball • Fashion Design • Snapology

KINGSTON CENTER OF SUNY ULSTER 35

Parenting brings truth We should question whomever we want to about everything, says Elisabeth Henry

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Summer’s strange traditions For your delectation, Paul Smart explores his personal seasonal nostalgia 44

Looking forward to lazy days Lisa Carroll warns that with young kids it’s better not to overschedule 46

Go-to destination for classical music Leslie Gerber provides a summary of the regional offerings 50

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LEGO SUMMER CAMPS REGISTRATION IS OPEN! Tons of new camp options, including fun themes, robotics, movie-making and more.

Summer camp’s many lessons There are always experiences to be processed, Melanie Zerah assures us 54

Leaving the Hudson Valley Jack Warren explains why he misses Phoenicia so much

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special, three-day-long event. We strung up all our food in a tree, out of the reach of the bears, and washed our dishes in the stream.

It was incredible to experience that much silence from day to day. One starts to hear the rustling of leaves hundreds of feet away. By the end of the trip, we were all inexplicably rising before dawn, and walking around without saying a word.

When I came back into civilization, it felt like time had slowed down.

I occupied the space between moments.

I was happy, though I smelled terrible.

To all of you who read this: Get outside.

Look around. You might find something spectacular.

Summer in the Valley June - August, 2017 An Ulster Publishing publication

current president has debased the word by firing it off like a mounted machine gun. I think people make the mistake of thinking that the word beautiful is meaningless when really it is being misused.

The word beauty, is, for lack of a better word, beautiful, and I think it crucial for our day-to-day survival to recognize what around us is beautiful.

I spend a lot of time thinking about art.

Why we make it, how and when. Most of the time I think art is there to teach us how to live like artists. Despite what Sokurov’s gallerygoers think, it is not enough to simply look at representations of beauty. It is important to find beauty in one’s own life, and what better time of year than now?

This is a season of possibilities. We are holding our breath as summer tumbles out like a carpet. The season has been proceeding at a breakneck pace. It is shocking to see the profound effect a

change of temperature can have.

Seasonal Affective Disorder is one of the most fascinating of human conditions.

If those affected by it do not get enough sunlight from day to day, they can become profoundly depressed. This demonstrates the embarrassing close similarities between people and plants. No matter how hard we try to convince ourselves that we are exempt from the laws of the natural world, we change with the seasons.

Editorial WRITERS: Abbe Aronson, Susan Barnett, Mary Busch, Lisa Carroll, Leslie Gerber, Elisabeth Henry, Dante Kanter, Harry Matthews, Paul Smart, Jack Warren, Lynn Woods, Melanie Zerah EDITOR: Paul Smart Front photo of Woodstock’s millstream in summer by Dion Ogust.

COVER DESIGN AND LAYOUT BY Joe Morgan Ulster Publishing

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spent most of my childhood afraid of the outdoors. I remember that one summer my friends decided they wanted to explore my woods. I volunteered to stay behind and have them report to me via walkie-talkie. Out of what I am guessing was annoyance, they told me that they had found an open grave in a clearing, and had heard something crawl out of it while their backs were turned.

I did not go back into my woods for years. Every once in a while, a bear would lumber out of the woods and muck up our trash cans, or a deer would stare nervously from our back yard, but otherwise I felt largely separated from the environment I lived in every day.

When I go to New York City, I am shocked by how content people seem in public parks. It is a paradox. The more there is of something, the easier it is to ignore.

The last time I went camping was with a group of Zen monks. I was a part of their Sunday-school program. This was a

PUBLISHER: Geddy Sveikauskas ADVERTISING DIRECTOR: Genia Wickwire DISPLAY ADS: Lynn Coraza, Pam Courselle, Pamela Geskie, Elizabeth Jackson, Ralph Longendyke, Sue Rogers, Linda Saccoman PRODUCTION MANAGER: Joe Morgan PRODUCTION: Diane Congello-Brandes, Josh Gilligan, Rick Holland CLASSIFIED ADS: Amy Murphy, Tobi Watson CIRCULATION: Dominic Labate

Summer in the Valley is one of four Explore Hudson Valley supplements Ulster Publishing puts out each year.

It is distributed in the company’s four weekly newspapers and separately at select locations, reaching an estimated readership of over 50,000. Its website is www.hudsonvalleyone.com. For more info on upcoming special sections, including how to place an ad, call 845334-8200, fax 845-334-8202 or email: info@ulsterpublishing.com.

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15TH SEASON | JUNE 30 – AUGUST 20

BARDSUMMERSCAPE 2017 Seven inspired weeks of opera, music, theater, dance, film, and cabaret.

OPERA JULY 28 – AUGUST 6

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By Antonín Dvoˇrák American Symphony Orchestra Conducted by Leon Botstein Directed by Anne Bogart ’74 The first U.S. production of this extraordinary work, vividly depicting the struggles for power in Russia’s time of troubles DANCE JUNE 30 – JULY 2

NEW YORK CITY BALLET MOVES

28TH BARD MUSIC FESTIVAL

CHOPIN AND HIS WORLD Concerts, lectures, and discussions exploring the life and times of composer Fryderyk Chopin (1810–49) August 11–13 Weekend One: Chopin, the Piano, and Musical Culture of the 19th Century August 17–20 Weekend Two: Originality and Influence FILM SERIES JULY 27 – AUGUST 20

THEATER JULY 13–23

CHOPIN AND THE IMAGE OF ROMANTICISM

THE WOOSTER GROUP

SPIEGELTENT JUNE 30 – AUGUST 20

Robbin’s Dances at a Gathering and other works by Balanchine and Peck, all with live music

A PINK CHAIR (IN PLACE OF A FAKE ANTIQUE) World Premiere Directed by Elizabeth LeCompte One of America’s most imaginative theater companies engages the work of visionary Polish artist and stage director Tadeusz Kantor

CABARET, JAZZ, & MORE Hosted by Mx. Justin Vivian Bond

845-758-7900 fishercenter.bard.edu Photo by ©Peter Aaron ’68/Esto.

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JOHN FISCHER/TRACKTHETRESTLE.ORG

Everyone knows about the Walkway over the Hudson between Poughkeepsie and Highland, but have you checked out Rosendale’s refurbished trestle at the southern end of the Shawangunks?

Everything old is new again Susan Barnett tells the inside story of how brokers show the Hudson Valley

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eal-estate clients show up from Brooklyn with huge enthusiasm for this area and absolutely no idea why. That’s what happens when an area develops “buzz.” They don’t know why it’s so great here, but they’ve heard it is and they’re in love before they even get off the Thruway.

My job, as their broker, is to show them why they’re right. They want me to find them a house they can make into a home,

but I’m also their advocate for the Hudson Valley. I’m the tour guide.

I grew up here. My dad’s family has had a summer cottage in Rosendale for five generations, and my family moved to Woodstock when I was nine. I’ve seen attractions come and go.

The rickety, death-defying trestle bridge over the Rondout Creek in Rosendale that thrilled my cousins and me when we were kids is now a solid, reliable structure. It links to walking trails that replaced the

train tracks my grandmother and her parents rode upstate from the Bronx when she was a kid.

The railroad bridge beside the MidHudson Bridge in Highland and Poughkeepsie is now the majestic Walkway Over The Hudson. My dad’s favorite Kingston spot, Lawton Park, near Golden Hill on Route 32, is closed.

Some things stay the same: the eerie echoes in the Widow Jane Mine in Rosendale, the ice caves off Binnewater Road,

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the climbers crawling the rocky face of the Gunks, the Mohonk tower above them, the stone walls of the Overlook Mountain House in Woodstock, and the rattlesnakes that nest nearby. Just for a few.

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hen there are the attractions that have been here forever, but I never knew.

Just last year I discovered Kingston Point Park. I have no idea how I missed it.

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Blame the dodgy reputation the Rondout area had when I was a kid. That was a very long time ago. Imagine my delight when I wandered through those iron gates late last summer and strolled the paths to discover a beautifully preserved trolley car sitting on the tracks in a misty rain.

I honestly thought for a moment that I’d managed to travel back in time. But no, no magic this time. That trolley runs every weekend in the summer.

The year before, I walked the soggy path to the Saugerties Lighthouse for the first time. I’ve been back several times since.

How about when that Viking ship with its crew of happy, young adventurers docked at the Rondout last year? Or when

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the Clearwater pulls up to the dock? The daily summer afternoon concerts at the Old Dutch Church in Kingston are worth a mention, too.

I happen to appreciate a good graveyard.

Some of my clients do, too. You can’t do much better than Kingston’s Montrepose Cemetery, designed by landscape architect Calvert Vaux. It’s so nice, he’s buried there. Nearby Wiltwyck Rural Cemetery

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also has a real, haunted charm, with the lonely whistle and squeaky creaking of the occasional freight train adding to the atmosphere. ometimes it’s not the outside attractions that appeal to newcomers.

They want architecture. They want food.

They want craft beer. They want music.

We’ve got that covered, too.

I tell them they’ve got to see a show at BSP in uptown Kingston and try to get a peek at the old vaudeville theatre that hides in the back of the building. Talk about a hidden treasure! And it’s a short walk to all of uptown’s dining options. It seems there’s a new one every day. Kingston’s city hall is well worth a visit if you’re an architecture fan. Too bad about the old post office up the road on Broadway.

It must have been a bit more inspiring than its replacement, Planet Wings, closed since this February.

If they’re foodies, I make sure to mention both the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, which we all know about, and also the amazing dining opportunities on

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WIKICOMMONS

Hudson Valley final resting places are full of history. These park-like settings make great getaways from the hustle and bustle of summer crowds.

Main Street in downtown Poughkeepsie.

If you haven’t checked out what’s there, you’ve missed something. Maybe you can burn off all the calories by walking back across the Walkway to your car.

Breweries we’ve got. Not only the established favorites, but also new ones, like the Suarez Family Brewery in Livingston, or

something entirely different, like Kombucha Brooklyn on Route 28. Plus there’s the Craft Beer Boogaloo, an annual event for the beer lovers from far and near.

Live music is coming back, too. BSP in Kingston has established itself uptown, but there are lots of smaller and larger venues, with the Colony Cafe in Wood-

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stock just re-joining the list this spring. here are some truly odd and terrific space reconversions that I point to when I confirm that something is, indeed, happening here. Joe’s Garage on Main Street in Catskill is a remarkable reuse of a garage space into an event venue. The Senate Garage on North Front Street in Kingston, a beautiful structure, has undergone a similar

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transformation.

The old lumberyard in Catskill is becoming home to a dance company. And there’s the remarkable Basilica in Hudson, a converted factory space. Kingston’s Hutton Brickyards is getting a new life as well.

My experience has been that the one thing our new residents aren’t terribly interested in is history. They appreciate it, but they aren’t excited by it. They want community, connection and nature. They love old houses, but a day in a museum doesn’t seem to hold much appeal.

It’s an interesting challenge for an area that’s always been, let’s admit it, a bit snobbish about its historical significance.

For our newest would-be residents, the Hudson Valley has no county barriers.

Hudson, Catskill, Woodstock, Rhinebeck — it’s all the Hudson Valley. All they ask is what there is to do, what there is to see, and how long a trip it is back to the city.

Because most of them keep a foot in the city for work. They’ve got to pay for that upstate house somehow.

Susan Barnett is an associate broker with Gary DiMauro Real Estate in Catskill.

She lives in West Hurley.

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EVENTS IN THE CATSKILLS

July 8 Athens Street Festival www.athensstreetfestival.org

July 22, 23 & 29, 30 Mountain Brauhaus Festival, Round Top www.crystalbrook.com/special-events

July 9 – 15 Annual Catskills Irish Arts Week, East Durham www.catskillsirishartsweek.com

July 30 Viking Obstacle Race at Sunny Hill Resort, Greenville | www.sunnyhill.com August 5 “Tour of the Catskills” Pro-Am Bicycle Road Race www.tourofthecatskills.com

July 13 - 16 Grey Fox Bluegrass Festival www.greyfoxbluegrass.com

For a complete listing of all events in The Great Northern Catskills visit

www.GreatCatskillEvents.com IT’S A WORLD AWAY… AND CLOSER THAN YOU THINK

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The meal at the end of the rainbow Harry Matthews tells us how he stumbled into heaven

Eduard Manet’s Luncheon on the Grass captured the languor of summer dining. Make sure to enjoy his trademark brush dots of pure color.

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everal key factors need to be taken into account when considering the best meal you’ve ever eaten. First and most obviously comes the food. Do you find yourself staring in to space, drooling a little at the memory of that meal? Does your stomach rumble with sheer delight at even the mere thought of it?

But it’s often not just the food, is it? It’s the person or people you share it with, the setting, the vibe, etc. All that can contribute to an experience you’ll not soon forget.

I could tell you that the best meal I ever had was the ten-course Indian feast a friend and I spent ten hours preparing for his extended family at the house my great-grandfather built on the side of a

mountain in the Adirondacks. It wasn’t necessarily the best Indian food ever, but the preparation, the ambience and the company were all just about perfect.

Or I could tell you that the best meal I ever had was the divine tasting menu at Thomas Keller’s French Laundry in the Napa Valley, but I’d be lying as I’ve never been there. Some day, some day.

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Now I wouldn’t be lying if I told you that possibly the best local meal I’ve had was the omakase at Sushi Makio in Kingston, that I was lucky enough to be treated to on my birthday last October. Everything was so pure, simple and fresh and made so lovingly and artfully that it in fact rivaled the omakase I once had at Nobu in Tribeca.

To be honest, the best meal I have ever had was not at a restaurant at all, nor at a house. The best meal I ever had, what I

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like to remember as “the meal at the end of the rainbow,” was at the Apollo Theater on 125th Street.

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he year was 1989, and New York City was still a place where artists and musicians could live fairly cheaply in a large space. Rents weren’t out of control, and Rudy Giuliani had yet to start his ruination of the city. Two friends and I were living in loft on Crosby Street be-

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tween Bleecker and Houston, in an area that was just starting to be referred to as “Noho.”

To get to our ground-floor space you had to pass through three steel doors between two long, dark hallways. Coming home often felt like walking through the opening sequence to “Get Smart”, minus the shoe phone. This was in a time before cell phones (there was a time before cell phones, kids). Friends who came to

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visit would have to call from a pay phone around the corner on Broadway in order to be let in.

The loft itself consisted of two large rooms with 20-foot ceilings and 14-foot windows that looked out on a shaft that the sun never reached. Each room had a roughly built second-floor bedroom, and the bigger of the two doubled as our living room, with a bare-bones kitchen and small bathroom.

It was a cold and dreary mid-February Saturday, the kind of day where you just don’t want to go outside, where your best thought might have been to pull the

June - August, 2017 • 17

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blankets farther over your head and go back to sleep. None of us had any money to spend beyond some loose change. All three of us had jobs, but as we were all coming to the end of the two-week pay period a check was still a few days away.

Dan, being a forward thinker, a week earlier had bought a bag each of potatoes and sweet potatoes. That’s what we had been living on. One of each, every day.

A baked potato for dinner, with a baked

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sweet potato for dessert. We were in our early twenties, an age when living like that still held a notion of romanticism.

I

t was about six in the evening when the call that would set “the meal” in motion came in. I had just lit the oven for our dinner.

“Put on your best clothes and take the A train up to 125th St.” It was Charles, a friend from high school who worked as

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a Broadway agent and lived in the West Village. “I’ll meet you at the station. And you’ll have to leave in five minutes to get there on time.”

By the excitement in his voice I didn’t bother asking him why we were going uptown. At the very least, I thought, he’ll spring for a few slices and a beer or two.

Dan, David and I fished out what we could piece together and in no time we looked pretty sharp, if not almost respectable. I had some plug tokens I had gotten off a Puerto Rican seller of loose cigarette on the Lower East Side, so we took the F up to West Fourth, where we switched to the uptown A. Twenty minutes later we found Charles outside the station. He had a big grin on his face. “You’re not going to believe what I have hooked up for us tonight,” he said, beaming. We crossed St Nicholas heading east.

“Do you remember Lindy, you know, the girl that Carter’s been dating?” Charles

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said. “Well, she works for this PR firm and tonight they’re throwing a big party for Philip Morris. And it’s at the Apollo!”

He could barely contain his excitement.

“And you’re never going to guess who’s playing. Are you ready? Ray Charles and BB King! And it’s all free!”

We passed a pizza joint. The aroma made my stomach grumble. I hadn’t eaten anything since the previous night’s potato deluxe, and I was feeling it.

“Do you think they’ll have anything to eat in there?” I asked, pretty sure they wouldn’t.

“Lindy said there was going to be an after-party sort of thing, but I don’t know what that entails.”

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y the time we made it inside, the Apollo was packed. We were quickly

seated in the last row of the main floor.

Soon the lights dimmed. Out walked Uncle Ray, who over the next hour and a half was just as amazing as you could imagine he would be. And as if that wasn’t enough here comes BB, The King of the Blues, to take the remaining tops of our heads off that much more. And who knows, I dreamed to myself, maybe I’ll even get to meet two of my biggest idols before the night is out.

June - August, 2017 • 19

When BB played the last notes of “The Thrill is Gone,” the lights came back up and there was Lindy whispering in Charles’ ear.

“This way, guys,” he said with a sly smile.

We walked past the bathrooms, through a pair of double doors that looked like the freight entrance, and down a long dark hallway that seemed to be glowing blue at the end. At the end of the hallway, bathed in cool blue aura, was a room far beyond

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• June - August, 2017

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my hunger-fueled imaginings. The wall at the back was filled with booze of every possible type, including champagne on ice and two large chests of chilled imported beer.

As this was a Philip Morris party, another wall had stacked up packs of Marlboros for the taking. And as this was the Eighties and we all still smoked, we immediately started filling the pockets of our overcoats with the swag.

On the third wall was more food than I had seen in what seemed like months.

Mountains of peel-and-eat shrimp, oysters, French cheeses, chips, dips, miniquiches, and loads of other tasties. That’s when the smells hit me. Circling the room were waiters and waitresses in black vests carrying trays of the most unbelievable appetizers, from grilled tuna on a thin slice of baguette and topped with mango salsa (now, remember, this was 1989 and grilled tuna with mango salsa wasn’t the slightly overplayed dish it has become), mini crab cakes with a spicy remoulade on top, and mini lobster rolls that I couldn’t get enough of.

I literally felt like I had died and gone to a heaven which turned out to have cool blue lighting. I could not stop eat-

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Giant outdoor feasts are fun, especially when informal. We remember those great summer meals. ing, drinking, and stuffing cigarettes in my pockets. I think at one point I had a lit cigarette and a glass of champagne in

one hand, another glass of champagne in the other, a crab cake, a lobster roll, and a shrimp somehow balanced between

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the two, and a mouth full of cheese. I was eyeing a pretty waitress who had just emerged from the kitchen carrying a tray of something new.

When the party finally wound down, we stumbled out onto 125th Street, bleary-eyed but feeling really, really good.

June - August, 2017 • 21

The express train back downtown was jammed, and for some reason we couldn’t stop laughing the whole way. All three of us had pocketed not only multiple packs of cigarettes, but ashtrays and champagne flutes which were to end up as broken shards at the bottom of our pockets.

In the end we never did get to meet Ray Charles or BB King. That was okay. I felt like they were there with us, feeding these three dumb kids who had somehow taken the A train to the end of the rainbow and had by chance and good grace unwittingly stumbled into heaven.

nights, or in distant glades far from roads, occasionally in the vicinity of old mansions now left to time’s destructive and mythologizing forces.

Don’t forget those places still used by travelers seeking to avoid racking up huge accommodation bills. Campgrounds in state and county parks can be looked up easily at local tourism websites. For wilder fare, the Catskill Park, Berkshires, Taconics and Shawangunks provide many options.

Regulations are marked at trailheads.

Please follow the rules. They’re there for everyone’s protection and wellbeing,

including our forests.

Even if it comes down to a simple tent set up in the back yard, or a sleeping bag on a tarp under endless stars, camping remains a way to tap into something ageless in the landscape, especially when accompanied by both fireflies and shooting stars. Figure out an easy menu, leave the smartphones and other entertainment at home, and wait to see what connections emerge.

Don’t forget that there’s nothing quite like waking with the dawn, realizing we can all survive, still, within the natural world that still surrounds us.

Camping isn’t just for kids

T

he Hudson Valley is surrounded by historic wilderness on the Shawangunk Ridge, in the Catskills and Berkshire mountains, and in the Taconic hills. It’s also chock-full of great state parks, many with wonderful swimming lakes and loads of great hiking trails, as well as campgrounds geared for families. There are now also a growing number of newer high-end “glamping” experiences. Some who look for the luxuries of destination camping they’ve seen elsewhere keep secrets about the treasures they’ve found in our region.

Those who complain that it’s not the Adirondacks or Rockies are correct. It’s not. But there are plenty of opportunities to climb a sharp ascent or deal with the rigors of deep-woods trails.

There are great spots for car camping, where you set up near a picnic table and stone firepit just far enough from others not to be scare by midnight snorers, but get the thrills of instant communities spread out in the woods, joined together by bad ghost stories, outdoors tall tales, and s’mores. Most Hudson Valley families have their getaway favorites.

There’s also the pleasures of hiking in to camp in mountainside lean-tos, best accessed without sharing on week-

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COURTESY OF WWW.WINGSCASTLE.COM

Wing’s Castle is a local boy’s dream built true, the result of the late Peter Wing’s efforts to match his love of fairytale lore. Arrange for a tour.

Peaceable kingdom Mary Busch presents an eclectic collection of eight magical experiences liding through the water at Stissing Lake in Pine Plains is one of the most delightful summer experiences you might have this summer. This glacial lake in the middle of the town is mostly surrounded by trees. Rising over the lake is Stissing Mountain, reflecting in the still water. The swimming is sublime. The water is always cold, and there are places to park. You can swim out to the middle of the lake.

Pine Plains itself seems a homespun and

G

undiscovered town caught in an earlier time. However, it has a busy lunch spot and an elegant French restaurant that was once a biker bar. he state-run Clermont estate in Clermont, home to seven generations of the Livingston family, is a white stucco mansion whose interior was left as the last Livingston had lived in it around 1930. Family heirlooms such as books, paintings and furniture are on display. There are stunning river views

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from the flower beds in the garden.

I once attended an enchanting wedding that began in this garden. On July 4 there is a big evening celebration when crowds of people come to see the fireworks from Saugerties across the river. cross the other side of the Hudson is the Saugerties Lighthouse, which you reach by walking almost a half-mile along a path through grass and sand. The lighthouse has overnight accommodations, booked months in ad-

A

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vance, for a couple.

Once you are there, you feel almost as though you are floating in a boat, because the lighthouse is so far out on a sandbar.

You can hear the lapping of the waves against the foundation. There is even a place to swim on a little beach below the several decks. The lighthouse, a historic landmark, has a gigantic top light that shone along the river at night. he Trevor Zoo at the Millbrook Zoo is a fascinating place, especially for children. Among some extremely rare animals there are the shy red pandas from China, which can be seen on a video when they are hiding inside their house. There are a large group of lemurs as well as a rare gold tamarin monkey.

Various jungle snakes inside glass enclosures usually sleep through the loud cries of the lemurs housed around them.

Wandering through their outdoor enclo-

T

A Warm Irish Welcome Awaits You At

June - August, 2017 • 23

Explore Hudson Valley

sures with gigantic feathered bodies are ostriches and emus. As you first enter the zoo, you cross a bridge over a large pond where otters, cranes and ducks live in

apparent harmony.

F

or evening entertainment there is the Powerhouse Theater at Vas-

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• June - August, 2017

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June - August, 2017 â&#x20AC;¢ 25

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Arts & Crafts Sawmill Recreation Vendors Food Vendors Maple Products Wood Products Forestry Equipment

Explore Hudson Valley

C ATSKILL F OREST

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Logging, Forestry and Milling Demonstrations Saturday, July 29th 10am-4pm A Celebration of the Catskill Forest

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Treat yourself to viewing 35 artist painted fiberglass rocking horses on the streets of Saugerties!

Then you will have the opportunity to own one beauties at the of these beauries not to be missed

‘Rockin’ Gala & Auction’ at SPAF on Sept 16.

For more info go to DiscoverSaugerties.com

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June - August, 2017 • 27

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• June - August, 2017

Well-known actors and playwrights are involved in these productions, which employ the latest technology and production values. “Hamilton” was first produced here before it went to Broadway. Because of the caliber of the productions as well as the intimacy of the space, the plays you will see are likely to be thrilling to watch.

W The

ing’s Castle which is in Millbrook is another dazzling and cool

Marbletown Inn

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place to visit. The castle took Peter Wing and his wife Tony 47 years to build. They used gigantic stones to fashion a building that would have delighted Harry Potter. Wing at one time used elephants to move the stones with their trunks.

The place is located on a high ridge. You feel as though you are in a plane as you look over the panorama to the Catskills. The small Stonehenge they built from large slabs of stone outside adds a mystical element

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to the view. Inside are beguiling antiques inside collected over the years by the Wings. he quiet and lush Buttercup Sanctuary on Route 82 outside Pine Plains consists of a meadow spread out along a hillside. There are mown paths through the grasses as well as through the woods above. Since It’s unusual to find other people there, it is a often perfect place for solitude. You might even

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June - August, 2017 • 29

Explore Hudson Valley

oxbury, deep in the Catskill Mountains, is an unspoiled small town with a striking main street. There are few signs or stores.

There are many ways to drive to Roxbury.

The roads wind through the most sacred and charmed of the highest Catskills, and the trip is so breathtaking that you will leave all your cares behind.

R

s you drive through the small towns along these roads, you will notice that they become more and more old-fashioned. You will see gorgeous old buildings that were once homes, granges, stores and churches. You become so curious that you get out of your car to look at them more closely. Amid the world’s raging turmoil we are lucky to be in the peaceable kingdom of the Hudson Valley.

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The walk out to the Saugerties Lighthouse has become one of the best ways to experience the Hudson River as an ecosystem. It’s a great place to picnic or swim as well. cross paths with a fawn, as I once did.

There a rare birds living here. as well as clouds of butterflies. Once you climb up along the top of the meadow, you can see across the valley as though you had climbed a mountain. There is something timeless about this meadow. It’s an American zen garden.

Thunder in the Valley POW WOW July 15- 16 Saturday 10-6 Sunday 10-5 Big Indian Park, 8393 Route 28,Big Indian, NY Gates open at 10am • Opening ceremony at Ilam • Grand Entry at 12 noon

Host Drum Spirit of the Mountain Singers Guest Drum to be announced Arena Director Tony Moon Hawk MC John Boles Jim Red Fox Story Teller

This is a Festival of Native American Dancing, Drumming, Storytelling, Crafts

Vendors, demonstrations, children's craft area, art, food and more!

Children's Teepee, dancing with public participation and more.

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Entertainment

W PA E N T A

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VLADIMIR FELTSMAN, ARTISTIC DIRECTOR

FACULTY GALA Saturday, July 15 / 7:00 p.m.

• Alexander Korsantia • Phillip Kawin • Vladimir Feltsman • Paul Ostrovsky • Robert Hamilton • HaeSun Paik

ILYA RASHKOVSKIY RECITAL Saturday, July 22 / 7:00 p.m.

Acclaimed for his powerful expressive interpretations and richly eloquent playing, Rashkovskiy will perform works of Liszt, Scriabin, Prokofiev

TICKETS ON SALE NOW www.newpaltz.edu/piano/tickets Box Office: (845) 257-3880 Parker Theatre Monday-Friday / 11:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.

OTHER EVENTS recitals, competitions, master classes, lecture $10 suggested donation at door McKenna Theatre www.newpaltz.edu/piano/events Ilya Rashkovskiy

FLIER COMPETITION GALA Performed by the 2016 Flier Competition Winners Friday, July 28 / 7:00 p.m.

• Akira Kaku (Rachmaninoff) • Mi Ou Lee (Babajanian, Schumann) • Lim Angela Tchoi (Prokofiev) • Soyoung Choe (Ravel)

S TAT E U N I V E R S I T Y O F N E W Y O R K

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• June - August, 2017

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New life in old Woodstock Abbe Aronson makes her recommendations

Above, Smorgasburg in Kingston’s Hutton Brickyards has transplanted a hipster Brooklyn scene to the banks of the Hudson River with food trucks and even Bob Dylan on the last weekend in June; right, Mountain Jam, which takes place the weekend this guide comes out, has become one of the region’s biggest music draws. Various music scenes draw many visitors.

S

o many fantastic things are in the works as we move into the Woodstock summer season that it’s hard to know what to highlight. But here’s a taste of what I’m looking forward to enjoying this summer.

First, do not miss some of the newest

JOSHUA TIMMERMANS/MOUNTAIN JAM

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editions to the Woodstock cocktail lounge and music scene.

The Lodge on Country Club Lane off Route 375 is back on the scene with some soon-to-be-gorgeous modern renovations in its cabin offerings and a spacious new outdoor deck off the bar. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s one of the better intimate music scenes in town.

Likewise, the Colony on Rock City Road in Woodstock returns to the â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;hood with a new bar, stage and summer lineup, like last weekendâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s benefit concert for the upstate chapter of the Anti-Defamation League.

Our community puts its money where its mouth is, proverbially and literally.

An eat, drink and be merry newbie on the scene but already gathering a fan base is Catskill Pines on Route 212 in Mount Tremper. Part rustic lodge, part restaurant and bar, you never know who might show

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• June - August, 2017

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2017 SEASON “One of the Valley’s hottest theater venues!”

Jun 2-25

Noises Off

By Michael Frayn

HUDSON VALLEY MAGAZINE

“A key destination for performance in the Hudson Valley and Catskills.”

TIMES HERALD-RECORD

SEASON

Jun 30 - The Jag Jul 16

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The Foreigner

Aug 18 Sept 10

Murder for Two

Sept 15 Oct 1

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Oct 6 Oct 22

Disgraced

Dec 1 Dec 17

Holiday Show

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up to jam at the brainchild of native son Jeremy Bernstein, aka musician and bon vivant Burnell Pines.

For those families heading upstate who are scratching their heads about what to do with the kids, think of The Paul Green Rock Academy, which will offer week-long music intensives with legends like Ike Willis from Frank Zappa’s band and Brendon Small of Metalocalypse. These “camps” are

Looking for longer-term home rentals?

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ummage around our cities, towns and villages, and you’re sure to find people who first started coming to the area on family vacations back when summer bungalows and resorts were all the rage. Or they’d visit friends for a few weekends, maybe try a bit of hiking and camping, or attend a local college for four years, and the next thing you knew they were ready to try an entire summer in the Hudson Valley, or maybe even a lifetime.

How does one do that without all purchasing real estate? There’s the rental market.

It used to be that you’d have to line up summer rentals, like camps for your kids, before all the snow had melted.

But not now. Even though there are many talking about how the shortterm- rental phenomenon has hurt traditional rental markets, local papers still have listings, as does Craigslist (albeit harder to find things where one wants) and many local brokers.

Of course, it being late in the season already, you’re not likely to find that perfect space unless you’re willing to pay dearly for it. But you can still get interesting cabins and apartments in more rural locations, from which you can learn the joys of driving hither and thither that’s part of the local lifestyle.

And deals can be worked out on Airbnb and other such sites. Just break the ice and ask ... the same you would of any good real-estate agent.

Best of all, it seems that old-style bungalow colonies and resorts are starting their own comebacks, albeit in areas a bit further off the track than some may want. But that’s how new trends start up here. We’d almost all be glad to have you for the longer spell.

June - August, 2017 • 33

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is my favorite place to unwind in nature.

Camping is allowed (they’re often filled up). New additions include a well-done kids’ play areas, boat rentals and picnic sites, and a soon-to-come dog run. This former

city girl finds Wilson park heaven on earth.

Among the many nearby experiential alternatives are the ridgetop Overlook Mountain trail to the skeletal remains of the former Overlook Mountain House

Entertainment

Celebrating We begin our 60th Anniversary celebrations at a special party in September; join us on a cruise of the Hudson River in October; visit our theatre to go behind-the-scenes

Years

DION OGUST

Diamond Jubilee Gala in June! Stay tuned!

Even if the water never gets quite warm enough for you, there’s pleasure to be had watching others’ enjoyment of a mountainfed stream.

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Schumann • Sibelius • Stravinsky • Szyimon • Tc T haikovsky • Thomas • Wolf • Wolfe • ZarĊĊbski

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Argento • Beethoven • Borodin • Brahms • Britten • Clyne • DvoĜák • Gaviláan

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open to beginners as well as experienced players. There is something for almost every musical genre, from blues to punk. een to Smorgasburg Upstate at the Hutton Brickyards in Kingston yet? The monthly food and flea market is worth a snack-and-stroll. The setting on the Hudson River couldn’t be more perfect. Hutton Brickyards is the site for the end-of-June Bob Dylan concerts.

If you’re in Woodstock wanting to breathe in the magical Catskills air and let loose your inner wandering hippie, I recommend a day pass to Kenneth L. Wilson State Park off Wittenberg Road seven miles west of the village green. Paved trails meander in and out of pine groves. There are off-trail strolls and gentle hikes. This

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(keep heading uphill on Rock City Road until you get to the state parking lot) and the Catskills Interpretive Center on Route 28 in Mount Tremper.

For those not feeling at all outdoorsy, there’s plenty of shopping fun in the center of Woodstock. I always love everything I see at ddaysstudio and Shop Little House.

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Woodstock’s Village Green is a great place to get a feel for its unique joie de vivre, with regular concerts and Sunday afternoon drumming. gods from Provisions, order a lobster roll at Shindig, and I’d say you’ve rounded a perfect day. Of course, you could stop by

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Nancy’s of Woodstock Artisanal Creamery up Tinker Street for a cone or a pint of ice cream.

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Cooperstown, seemingly a world away from some parts of the Hudson Valley, is a great drive on back roads, It offers great museums beyond baseball, a singular small-town experience, and Glimmerglass Opera’s productions.

Summer day trips to die for Lynn Woods presents alternative northward destinations or many residents of the mid-Hudson Valley, transiting out of the region usually means a straight path south to New York City for work, cultural enrichment or visiting one’s young-adult progeny in Brooklyn. Definitely it’s a huge ad-

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vantage being within a day trip’s reach of New York City, but proximity to this cultural juggernaut does have a drawback. It tends to overpower the other worthwhile destinations within a couple of hours’ drive of our region.

Granted, the Hyde Collection or the Ster-

ling Clark are miniscule compared to the Met, MOMA, the Whitney, Guggenheim, etc., but, particularly in the context of today’s taste for the local, the handmade and the small, these modest-scaled museums have their advantages—not the least of which is the journey, a drive through lovely coun-

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Within an easy drive of the Hudson Valley are many historic sites that double as restful day-getaways. Among the best are the Shaker settlements in New Lebananon and Hancock, the latter boasting one of the finest round barns ever constructed. tryside that’s restorative compared to the bus ride to the city.

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Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival — have long drawn cultural a icionados from the city. Stockbridge has lawns so green and manicured they positively glow behind the town’s white picket fences, which accessorize ine white clapboard buildings with columns and the like. (Eastern Massachusetts’ hills and woods are subtly different from our own, in the slant of the hills and the texture of the rock.)

The region, whose original hardscrabble aspect was memorably captured in Edith Wharton’s novel Summer, is a powerhouse in summer. The Mont, Wharton’s home and gardens in nearby Lenox, hosts performances, in addition to the plays put on

by Shakespeare & Company, also in Lenox.

Chesterwood, the home and studio of Daniel Chester French, exhibits contemporary sculpture as well as works by the sculptor famous for his igure of Lincoln in the Lincoln Memorial. Naumkeag, an immense shingled mansion designed by Stanford White with gardens by Fletcher

Steele, showcases traditional high culture.

The Shaker Museum at New Lebanon and the Hancock Shaker Village in Pitts ield display furniture and crafts noteworthy for their severe simplicity and perfect marriage of form and function. While in the area, you can also immerse yourself in the idealized images of Main Street Americana that riveted the country from the covers of the Saturday Morning Post at the Norman Rockwell Museum.

Traveling another half-hour north, there is MASS MoCA, in North Adams, a must-see complex of 28 brick industrial buildings given over to massive displays of contemporary art. Plan to add an extra hour to your visit due to the opening of a new 120,000-square-foot-addition. MASS MoCA also hosts evening concerts and performances.

Nearby, just outside the pristine college town of Williamstown, is the Sterling Clark, which has a wonderful collection of American and European paintings. At Williams College, located right in town, the Williamstown Theatre Festival puts on Tony Award-winning plays. Thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s also the highly regarded Williams College Museum of Art. Heading north, half an hour above Albany,

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is Saratoga Springs, the fashionable watering hole described in the writings of Henry James and many others. By Jamesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; time, the resort catered to the nouveau riche, whom he lampooned. The small city has spas

and wellness centers, thoroughbred horse and harness races, and polo matches. The Saratoga Arms Hotel is a well-preserved relic of the gaslight era, with its capacious verandah. Catch Sting, Cyndi Lauper, the

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COURTESY OF SARATOGA .COM

What’s summer without a trip up to the races in Saratoga, along with an evening of ballet, classical music, and possibly touring pop acts?

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Mass MOCA, in nearby Northwestern Massachusetts, has become America’s largest museum of contemporary art. It’s site-specific art is a delight for all ages.

Dave Matthews Band or other pop artists at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center, located in a large, sylvan park.

Glens Falls, another 20 minutes up the Northway, milled the logs loated down the upper Hudson from the Adirondack forest, which was being clear-cut. Though still a little sleepy following nearly a century of decline, it’s home to a little gem of an art museum, The Hyde Collection. The former mansion of Louis and Charlotte Hyde has hosted some excellent shows in recent years, including works by Romare Bearden and Georgia O’Keeffe. Complementing its collection of Old Masters, the Hyde this summer is opening a new gallery of modern art, whose premiere exhibition will feature the brightly colored and curved minimalist works of Ellsworth Kelly.

I

t’s a three-and-a-half-hour drive to Cooperstown, a gorgeous ride

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through Schoharie County, mostly devoid of people and rich in rural scenery.

Plan to stay overnight. Cooperstownâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s well-preserved 19th-century buildings are clustered at the foot of an immense, misty lake bounded by green hills conjures up Switzerland.

The Clark family has pumped enormous amounts of money into the town, including the founding of the Baseball Hall of Fame, which attracts thousands. Cooperstown is also home to the Fenimore Art Museum and the Farmerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Museum. The Fenimoreâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Thaw collection of Native American art, one of the nationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s best, will have a special exhibit this summer.

Also on display this season are works by Andrew Wyeth, in a show curated by his granddaughter Victoria Wyeth; landscape paintings of simpli ied forms and rich color by Tracy Helgeson; Frank Farmerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s jazzy, modernist interpretations of church interiors; images of igure skating from the collection of Olympics igure skater Dick Button; and others.

The Farmersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Museum across the street includes a historic village consisting of re-

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stored buildings moved to the site, a working 19th-century farmstead, complete with sheep and other animals, an elaborately painted carousel, and the petri ied Cardiff Giant, revealed to be a hoax.

After dinner on the verandah of one of the restaurants overlooking the lake, head to the Glimmerglass Festival, located in an open-air theater overlooking the lake.

The opera selections this summer consist of James Loweâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s acclaimed production of Oklahoma!, Porgy and Bess, and Handelâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Xerxes.

June - August, 2017 â&#x20AC;˘ 39

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Parenting brings truth We should question whomever we want to about everything, Elisabeth Henry recommends

A

young couple and their young son have returned from a year of traveling. They have shared some intriguing facts, such as that bars in Portugal serve glasses of wine to parents in playgrounds. In the public squares in Mexico, they told me, the adults relax and socialize while the babies crawl around on slate floors, and children play together.

Were there were any such traditions in upstate New York, or anywhere in America? I couldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t come up with much.

But I did remember an ill-fated crosscountry trip with four children and a large

Labrador retriever.

I did know that McDonaldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s owes part of its success to the fact that adults can enter with children, buy Happy Meals, and salvage a few moments of serenity over a dollar cup of coffee. Meanwhile, the children become engaged, counting french fries, arguing over who got more, examining gender-specific toys, and sipping apple juice. (That juice has replaced Coca-Cola!)

Other diners rarely offer criticism about the noise. The managers know on which side their bread is buttered. A family can linger at the table as long as they desire

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ing at her knees, while the five-year-old twins probe the purse of the unsuspecting retiree ahead of them in line. Parenting makes Good Samaritans of us all.

On that cross-country trip, we made the traditional family outing to a casino in Las Vegas. While we waited for our server to wend his way to our table with our individual vouchers for the All-YouCan-Eat Buffet, we each played Ke-No. We all felt very adult , except for the teenager among us who made snarky comments about family values.

I

wish I could point young parents in the direction of activities that can be enjoyed by adults while providing fun

for kids. It is a very attractive idea. Why does it not take hold in this country?

Puritanism, that’s why! We are bullied.

The bullying is incarnated in the likes of Molly, the president of the PTA when my kids were in public school. In her own school days, Molly was a mediocre student at best. She was as interesting as, oh, powdered coffee creamer, and as palatable.

It was impossible to engage her in conversation. Molly was busy. She had a clipboard to study. She had an announcement to make, either at the podium in the gymnasium in front of the entire school, or over the intercom. She did not give out her home phone number, thank you very

much. The only things Molly gave out were orders. And complaints.

Molly complained that parents did not provide enough healthy snacks. Molly complained about the curriculum. Molly complained that the newspaper did not take enough photos of those who, like her, labored day and night for the sake of the children.

Everyone feared Molly. Perhaps she was why the elementary-school principal.

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drenched himself in cologne. Perhaps he hoped to mask the stench of inadequate parenting with the stench of exhausted

olfactory nerves.

Relief came in the form of one young late-night-reveling writer, a young man

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who was allowed to publish a free bulletin insert in the local newspaper which would cover the very active nightlife in the area.

It did. In its first edition, there were tons of photographs, many of them of Molly, who it seems morphed into quite another sort of dominatrix when the lights were low. Instead of announcements from the podium, we got bird’s-eye views of Molly dancing. Finally, she got all the photos of herself that any sane person could want.

This notoriety had a sobering effect on Molly. Lord be praised.

D

espite small victories, we honest but flawed parents cannot expect dispensation from a society that creates phenomena like “The Honey Boo Boo Show.” That initiative succeeded because many parents, feeling the sting of lost autonomy, hoped to make their children happier versions of their own former attractive selves. A friend

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June - August, 2017 • 43

PUBLIC DOMAIN PHOTOS

Sometimes the most peaceful summers come from simply letting our kids be themselves. It also helps to let mommies and daddies be themselves, too, enjoying the many great products of the Hudson Valley. who designs children’s clothing confided in me that the only designs that get approved mimic adult clothing.

Not long ago I sat at table, after dinner, over coffee and dessert with two of our adult children and a passel of extended family. Two of my grandchildren and a sizable mob of grandnieces and grandnephews cavorted in the adjacent playroom. The eldest was six years old, the youngest two.

Despite the screams and sounds of things crashing that came from the playroom, none of the adults flinched. The discussion was thoughtful, measured and many-layered.

Then we heard a slippery, slapping sound. “No, Samuel,” directed my daughter calmly to her four-year-old. “Not the books.”

This grace under pressure, this aplomb, this ability to decipher nuances in chaos, can happen only when one has experienced the vetting that is parenting in this country.

It can only come after one totally loses one’s composure a few times. No days off. Sleep deprived. Humbled past caring about trifles like wardrobe and coiffure.

Eventually one arrives deep in the groove

of knowing what’s what. one can focus on a deep kind of truth.

If we must relinquish whatever dignity we thought we had, why not admit we too would really like to do what kids do naturally? I’d like to nap whenever I felt like it. I’d like someone to push me in a stroller when I was tired of walking. I’d like to spit out food I don’t like.

I

believe all of us should question whomever we want to about everything. If Hollywood could possibly provide a service, it would be to make more movies featuring stars who laugh at body noises. We all want to do it, but somehow, manage to mask this impulse.

We wouldn’t have to if we could pay to sit in a dark theater and chortle and guffaw our way to what must be a restorative release.

Maybe we should drop the filter more often. I would like to ride in a grocery

cart blissfully pushed by someone I trust, much as Ioathe the idea of ever motoring around the supermarket in that thing for the disabled.

I like the idea of more celebrations. My granddaughter has granted this wish for me. Now that she is potty-trained, she applauds and cheers loudly for anyone emerging from the loo.

I not only would like to jump in bouncy houses, I jump in bouncy houses.

If ever you need truly to be an adult, let it be when your children become teenagers.

They experience a form of mental illness only hinted at in The Exorcist.

Linda Blair, once inhabited, stayed inhabited. Your teenager will veer from one extreme to the next, and there are many extremes. You are not permitted to veer.

You must stay the course.

It is very, very difficult. But it is possible.

And it is worth it. It is all worth it. You will earn that nice glass of wine at last.

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Summer’s strange traditions For your delectation, Paul Smart explores his personal seasonal nostalgia ummer comes with rituals as well as events. For every concert opportunity, festival outing, or al-fresco dinner party, some of us need to feel complete certain tasks by the time our kids head back to school and the busier holidays of the autumn roll around.

Especially in local election years like this one, when we’re not swallowed by the growing means of national political cycles to interrupt our personal lives with bleeping insistency, Hudson Valley summers provide many ways to hook back into the pleasures of small-town America from Memorial Day through Labor Day. Given the many elements of worldly sophistication that have etched themselves on the region since its earliest days, we also maintain a global perspective, sipping Italian aperitifs, French wines or German-style brews while eying vistas that have been described as our nation’s answer to countless other places.

My summer is a mix of stay-at-home days, big-ticket draws and traditional events.

What’s a warm July evening without the crowd-arousing sounds of a baseball game, from organ trills and snippets of classic rock to the crack of a bat before a ball sails off into home-run territory?

Who needs to travel far when we’ve got the Hudson Valley Renegades at Dutchess Stadium in Wappingers Falls and the TriValley Cats at Troy’s Joe Bruno Stadium?

There are always good seats and great local food. Kids can often get a chance to run the bases after a game. And before the season starts in July, don’t forget to watch some Little League matchups. You’ll find them happening almost everywhere once you start looking around for them.

S

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Alongside a growing number of free outdoor screenings of classic and newer features, drive-in movies remain a summer thing in the Hudson Valley.

Our family loves local park concerts that feature local bands and an occasional bigger name. Sometimes people try a bit of dancing while their kids swarm around

like flocks of birds. Several community brass bands — Athens, Pine Bush, the IBM Big Blues and Dutchess County’s Aerophone Community Band come to

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The Hudson Valley Renegades provide great minor-league baseball all summer, with spirited games and audiences spurred on by their mascots. mind — that provide delightful glimpses into small-town times. heck out the local theater scene, which range from the high-end works in progress at Vassar College’s Powerhouse Theater to the Equity productions at Shadowland in Ellenville, from ambitious productions by Performing Arts of Woodstock to the various troupes in and around Hudson and Catskill’s energetic Bridge Street Theater. Classic and newer musicals are performed among other places at Woodstock Playhouse, Mac-Haydn Theatre in Chatham, the Center for Performing Arts in Rhinebeck, Wappingers Falls’ County Players and Shandaken Theatrical Society. Dance performances range from the experimental at Mount Tremper Arts to more staid productions at Kaatsbaan in Tivoli and Tannersville’s Orpheum Theater, where the National Dance Institute will be holding a July summer session under the wings of the Catskill Mountain Foundation.

We like the free Shakespeare performances at Vassar and on Woodstock’s Comeau property lawns each summer.

We hope to catch what Boscobel’s been putting on for years. We also intend to

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squeeze in at least one drive-in movie in Dutchess or Greene counties, plus as much putt-putt golf as we can in between trips to secret swimming holes all around the region (including several public and more private beach spots along the Hudson River itself ). e’ll meet friends for breakfast watching the trainers with their horses at Saugerties HITS, which has great views of the Catskills and nice breezes in the early hours. We’ll also take in the Accord Speedway’s big, loud races, at least one car show somewhere, hot-air balloons rising over Dutchess or northern Greene counties, and the roar of hundreds of passing motorcyclists from a shaded spot along a side road away from the madder crowds. And yes, we’ll make it up to Saratoga for a field trip to the races, with kids in tow (they seem better than us grownups at picking those magical surprise winners that make such sojourns closer to breakeven.

We plan to see at least one big evening of fireworks (which we can helpfully do from our home, without walking anywhere) and to hit at least three roadside or townwide yard sales. We’ll attend at least one massive art opening,

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at Bard, T-Space, the Dorsky or Jack Shainman’s School up in Kinderhook, where we get to either spend an afternoon or evening dressed all in black, or go against the flow with something more daring and cooler. ’ve always seen my more private traditions as being just as patriotic. I’ve always found time for driving around on back roads at dusk with all the windows down and some bad pop music playing loud. I like to sit in fields (mindful of ticks, of course) watching fireflies rise high enough in the dark night to become shooting stars. I adore watching my wife and her friends garden. My life includes floating wine goblets in a creek at night, watching them find a ballast point equal to what’s inside them. I’m still up for running around in bathing suits in a rainstorm, and then driving home halfnaked sitting on a soaked towel.

Summer comes with a sense of choice, including that of doing nothing at all. As I’ve long urged friends, it’s essential to pick your own fun. To me, the freedom of true randomness constitutes the highest form of summer patriotism. I can and will delight in the surprises I encounter, and hope I will engender a few myself.

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Looking forward to lazy days Lisa Carroll warns that with young kids it’s better not to overschedule s the hustle and bustle of the school year winds down, there’s been a collective sigh of relief at my house. With both girls in school — Shelby completing first grade and Sammie wrapping up full-day kindergarten — and a husband who teaches tech some towns over, the Monday-through-Friday scene at the Carroll house has been hectic at best.

Tom and I have been longing for those quiet mornings where we can sit on our front porch, sip coffee and plan out the summer days’ events without being beholden to a time frame. It’s a luxury not everyone has. We appreciate that.

This summer we won’t be taking any lavish vacations. We have plans to work on the house a bit, an on-going process.

There’s a kitchen floor that needs to be re-done, a living room carpet that needs to come out. But we’re also talking about finally getting that puppy the girls have been begging for. A chocolate Lab pup, maybe. That might put the kibosh on redoing the kitchen floor for the time being.

Most summer nights, my kids will volunteer to water the garden. That’s code for getting sloppy, wet and muddy. But the

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June - August, 2017 • 47

kids’ squeals of delight as they chase each other around the front yard with the garden hose is worth the time in the shower, and the time scrubbing the walls leading to the bathroom (they touch everything on their way up).

We’ve got plan for some lazy days on the lake, too. My husband bought a boat last season. It’s a modest thing, a fixer-upper we got a great deal on. While the vessel is yet to be named, it provides a source of tinkering for Tom, a way to relieve those last pent-up weeks of school stress.

We’ve got big dreams of taking it out on the water, cooler in tow. We’re going to cast out the line a few times (and then probably follow up with a barbecue on the beach). We did one trip on the boat last season. The girls loved zooming through the water, bouncing on the waves. Their

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grins made the work we had put into the boat worthwhile.

Over dinner one night, Shelby said our local library holds a lot of events over the summer that she’d like to check out.

She’s been wanting to get that library card forever. The library has an amazing lineup of arts and crafts, game nights and guests coming this year. I can see a lot of summer evenings spent at the library, followed by walking over for some ice cream. Summer isn’t anything without ice cream.

We’ll likely take trips to museums. One of our favorites is the New York State

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Museum in Albany. It’s nearly free (a donation is appreciated), just the right size and content for our six- and four-year olds. The best part, according to our kids, is the carousel. It’s over 100 years old, constructed between 1912 and 1916. We also plan to bounce around to local fairs, car shows and tractor pulls.

We try not to overschedule our eight weeks of summer freedom. We’ll see where each day takes us. We like to take that spur-of-the-moment ride to Oneonta or surprise the girls with a late-night movie. These adventures serve to remind

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us parents why we work so hard the rest of the year.

As the last days of school wind down, I’ve been stopping at dollar stores — loading up on bubbles and chalk and getting those bags of popcorn and s’mores ingredients ready. We’ve hit up the hot-dog sale at the grocery store a few times. And at some point I hope to take that rather scary, intimidating trip to the store to purchase a bathing suit — the truly frightening part of summer.

And there it is, our summer plans in a nutshell.

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County fairs everywhere

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hat says country like a county fair? Here in the Hudson Valley and environs, county fairs have bloated ever bigger with concerts, massive midways, and crowd-drawing events like demolition derbies, big trucks rolling over little hatchbacks and other vehicles with good gas mileage, and plenty of arteryclogging food choices. But there are also plenty of old-time agricultural displays, 4H demonstrations and contests, and well-tended farm animals to ogle.

The first county fair in this country happened not far from us when a former advisor to president George Washington, Elkanah Watson, decided to exhibit his sheep under a tree in his hometown of Pittsfield, Massachusetts. Others joined him to show off their veggies, livestock and pies. By 1810, Watson’s displays were called a cattle fair. Within 20 years they’d started to spread to the Hudson Valley.

Nowadays, the biggest of the local bunch are in Dutchess, Orange and Ulster counties, with the Dutchess fair

June - August, 2017 • 49

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(in Rhinebeck since 1842) offering a dazzling new welcome center, and running August 22 through 27. Orange’s 177th outing starts July 13 and runs two weeks in Middletown. Ulster County’s is on August 1 through 6 at the county fairgrounds outside New Paltz.

Smaller and more charming to some due to their older, more compact fairgrounds are the Grahamsville Little World’s Fair in Sullivan County August 18 through 20,

the annual county fairs in the Delaware County town of Walton August 14 through 19, and Columbia County’s in Chatham August 30 through September 4. For real down-home, no-frills county-fair experiences, there;s always the Greene County Youth Fair in Cairo from July 27 through 30, celebrating “Americana” this summer.

Hold off on your cynicism at these events, and prepare yourselves for old-time fun.

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Go-to destinations for classical music Leslie Gerber provides a summary of the regional offerings

T

he Hudson Valley and the surrounding areas have become go-to destinations for classical music during the summer. Check out the websites for each of them.

First among our festivals is the Maverick Concerts, which begins its 102nd year this June. Ars Choralis will offer “pre-season”

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The Maverick concert hall in the woods of West Hurley started as a temporary thing, and has become a landmark. Exquisite chamber concerts have graced the space every summer for over a century. performances on June 17 and 18 of Haydn’s “Mass in Time of War” and choral music by Aaron Copland. Maverick itself presents the famous contemporary music string quartet ETHEL in a free concert at the Woodstock Artists Association and Museum on June 23, and the season proper begins with a young people’s concert by

ETHEL at 11 a.m. the next day and a big people’s concert at 8. On June 25 the Miró Quartet graces us with an all-Dvorák concert at 4. The season continues until September 10 with two or three concerts each weekend by world-class performers.

Tickets to Maverick are still $25, or a book of 10 for $200, and ticket books no

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COURTESY OF MT. TREMPER ARTS

Mount Tremper Arts, part of the region’s energetic performance and music scene, presents cutting-edge contemporary work under its tent on a plateau east of Phoenicia. longer expire at the end of each season.

There is very much more information on the website.

Bard College, now a major source of year-round classical music, includes three summer festivals. Aston Magna, with some of the world’s leading specialists in historical instruments, offers four consecutive Friday concerts at Bard’s Bitó Conservatory Building at 8 p.m., beginning with “Music for Forbidden Dances” on June 16 (including the bandoneon,

that accordion variant played by Astor Piazzolla). Two further concerts are only at Saint James Place in Great Barrington on Saturdays. Bitó has particularly good handicap-accessibility. Get information at www.astonmagna.org.

The Hudson Valley Chamber Music Circle offers three annual Saturday June concerts at Olin Hall, Bard College (not, alas, very accessible to the handicapped).

The Juilliard Quartet, probably the longest-running string quartet in world his-

tory (since 1946), opened on June 3 with glorious performances of Bela Bartok’s first string quartet and one of Beethoven’s

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COURTESY OF BARD SUMMERSCAPE

Bard Summerscape fills the college campus’ Frank Gehry-designed Fisher Center all summer. Other events locations are within walking distance. last. Other concerts will be on June 17 (Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio) and June 24 (Calidore String Quartet).

PianoSummer at SUNY New Paltz begins on July 10, with all events at McKenna Theater. The Saturday recitals, at 7 p.m., include the always-exciting Faculty Gala on July 15, Ilya Rashkovskiy on July 22,

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and the four prize winners in the 2016 Flier Competition on July 29. This year’s Flier Competition among selected PianoSummer students takes place on July 17 and 19 at 3 p.m. There are also various master classes, student recitals, and talks during this festival.

The Phoenicia International Festival of

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the Voice has grown, improbably, with the complete opera performance (this year Puccini’s “La Bohème on August 5) usually drawing an estimated 1500 to 2000 attendees. The festival takes place August 4 to 6 at various locales in Phoenicia, and covers a wide variety of music for the voice, opera to French chanson to Duke Ellington religious music. Another highlight, August 5 at 3 p.m., is the world premiere of a new opera by Mitchell Bach, “The 3 Musketeers,” with libretto by PIFV co-director Maria Todaro.

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from September 19 to 26.

The Windham Chamber Music Festival doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have its 2017 schedule up at this writing. Last year it offered three concerts in August and September. Check www. windhammusic.com. Not far away, in the town of Jewett in Greene County, is Music at Grazhda, featuring mostly Ukrainian and Ukranian-American performers.

There are five classical concerts in July (starting on the eighth) and August at Grazhda, appropriately located on Ukraine Road off Route 23A. The venerable Music Mountain celebrates its 87th season at Gordon Hall in Lakeville, Conn. with 16 chamber concerts, Saturday afternoons at 3 p.m. (one on Sunday), supplemented with a â&#x20AC;&#x153;Saturday twilightâ&#x20AC;? series of jazz, big band, cabaret and Gilbert & Sullivan with outdoor dancing. Peter Serkin opens the series June 11 in a trio concert, a $60-75 benefit. Most other concerts are $35.

The Hudson Valley Society for Music offers its 18th annual BachFest on June 9 to 11 and 17 and 18, including Hudson Valley performers presenting six concerts at three locales. The offerings range from chamber music to a chorus and orchestra

event at Vassar on June 11. Two of the concerts are free. Others have modest admission charges.

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ne of the largest classical festivals in the world takes place every summer at the Tanglewood Music Center in Lenox, Mass. This year it starts with a Boston Pops concert on June 24. The Boston Symphony Orchestra concerts, the anchor of the festival, begin on July 7 with Mahlerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s â&#x20AC;&#x153;Resurrectionâ&#x20AC;? Symphony, and conclude on August 27. Among the BSO soloists this summer are AnneSophie Mutter, Emanuel Ax, Pinchas Zukerman, Yo-Yo Ma and Joshua Bell.

Remember, though, that when you go to hear the BSO, youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re in a huge space or outdoors on the lawn, listening to an orchestra which has to play three programs every weekend. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s still the BSO, of course. Ddonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t overlook the midweek Ozawa Hall concerts, often the most rewarding of a Tanglewood season, and the contemporary music festival from August 11 to 14 plus, as usual, plenty of rock, pop, jazz, and dance.

Summer at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center includes eleven opera perfor-

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mances by Opera Saratoga beginning July 1. SPAC classical offerings start on June 20 with Simone Dinnerstein and the Havana Lyceum Orchestra recreating their recent CD â&#x20AC;&#x153;Mozart in Havana.â&#x20AC;? The Philadelphia Orchestra residency runs from August 2 to 19, and the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center presents concerts from August 6 through 22. Loads of rock, pop, and jazz there also.

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Summer camp’s many lessons There are always experiences to be processed, Melanie Zerah assures us

PUBLIC DOMAIN PHOTO

Summer camps used to about outdoor skills. Now they teach sports, STEAM, and even civics.

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contestants. I’m standing in a shallow pool of water, most of which is airborne from ceaseless splashing. I’m reloading twenty bucks I don’t have onto my Dunkin’ Donuts app to support my intensifying coffee habit. I’m a camp counselor, and I don’t like kids.

I can hear my past self saying this in the summer of 2016 as I clock into my eightweek, nine-to-five near-minimum-wage summer-camp job. Seasonal gigs are difficult to come by for a college student. No one wants to hire some 19-year-old kid for two weeks of training and three weeks of actual work before they flee back to college. If you aren’t doing an internship or returning to a part-time job you had back

in high school, however, camp-counselor jobs can seem pretty attractive.

I had originally planned on staying in New Paltz last summer to experience the village with an absence of college kids. I had reasoned that getting a job around there would have been simpler than back at home on Long Island. I had figured I could keep it as the school year went on.

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of a hippie town didn’t feel so colorful to me. I felt uncomfortable to be here. The steps too many of us had taken forward in our mental health since coming to college were erased. We were back at square one.

Plan A was my cashier job at Spencer’s from the summer before. Due to the low traffic of weed paraphernalia and whoopee-cushion consumers, I had too much time to sit around and think about

the past semester. I soon left the neon, lava-lamp world of Sasha Grey molded fleshlights in search of something more fulfilling.

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the middle of a gym full of children and counselors. Through awkward, campappropriate movements, I hear the confused applause of the eight-year-old kids in my age division. There I am, doing the good ol’ sidestep to some pop song, looking around wondering how the hell I got here.

Being silly and smiley while still harping on a painful loss for the sake of some

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Most towns in the region offer summer recreation programs.

Come Outside and Play at Mohonk Preserve!

Apple Greens Golf Course

photo: Anna Harrod

Discover great hiking, biking, birding, climbing and more. Our Visitor Center is open daily 9am-5pm and the land from sunrise to one hour after sunset. Memberships and day passes are available at all trailheads.

845-255-0919 mohonkpreserve.org

Experience Climbing in the Hudson Valley Indoors and Outdoors

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• Team Building • Birthday Parties

- Operating daily - All ability levels

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234 Main St New Paltz, NY 12561

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• Bouldering

• Boy Scout Merit Badge

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- All equipment provided - Private and group lessons

Summer Climbing Camps July & August

AlpineEndeavors.com 877-486-5769

44 Main St New Paltz, NY 12561

161 South St., Highland, NY 12528 (845) 883-5500

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kid’s day at camp sounds awful. It was frustrating and difficult to reason with third and fourth graders on subjects such as fair turn-taking with go-carts. Leading a pack of wandering children through the depths of the Bronx Zoo on a hot day proved stressful. And mediating fights between kids on the grounds of “he/she started it” seemed meaningless.

But it wasn’t awful. It was a distraction, an interruption, an incredible interference from the constant questions in my brain asking why my friend Tom had to go. The frivolous wants and worries of a little kid helped remind me of the many lighthearted interactions in life. You can make kids’ days by sitting next to them on the bus or appointing them the special task of collecting cones on the field after a game of sharks and minnows.

During a relaxing minute on the soccer field, one of my co-counselors asked me: “Which one of these kids reminds you of yourself when you were eight?”

This was a fun question. I picked out one of the young girls. Quiet, small — constantly following around a few of the

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3 BBQ Competitions • PRO Competition

• Fire Co. Throwdown •

People’s Choice Charity Rib-Off

GREAT FOOD LIVE MUSIC CRAFT BEERS KID ZONE VENDORS GALORE

Net proceeds will benefit the Fleischmanns “Light the Park” Project

www.greatcatskillmountainsbbqfest.com Hosted by FAB:Fleischmanns Alliance for Business & Mark Project Inc.

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loud and outgoing girls trying to find friends. Kind and unassuming, eager to feel accepted. I smiled, hoping she would turn out okay.

My cynical mind suddenly brought me to a place of fear. Inside my head, I crafted the future of that little girl. What will she face? Who will hurt her? Who will she lose?

It was bittersweet to have campers I really liked and thought highly of, since I knew they would, without a doubt, feel heartbreak and pain of a new sort one day.

Interrupted by the screechy call of my

name from one of my campers, I shook this train of thought away, and summarized those feelings into “I just hope she doesn’t go through what my friends and I did.”

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f course, these kids have no idea how they affect the counselors.

They just know whether they are having fun or not. But they do form bonds with their counselors — they remember kindness and attentiveness in a place they thought they might not receive it.

Innocence and silliness helped me

The 172nd Dutchess County Fair Rhinebeck, NY

August 22 - August 27

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sharply dodge a potential summer filled with only heartache and painful contemplation. Many of these kids I will never forget, and the awesome people I worked with made this difficult job easier and just plain funny at times.

I actually don’t dislike kids now.

Being a camp counselor was a weird experience, and I won’t be doing it again.

But it was exactly what I needed then. I am happy I didn’t spend that summer any other way. Now, in the summer of 2017, I’m more clear-headed. I will be staying in New Paltz, spending warm and sunny days here.

Wine trails, beer and cider festivals

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THE MARSHALL TUCKER BAND OLD CROW MEDICINE SHOW Thursday - August 24 - 7:30pm

Friday - August 25- 7:30pm

FAIR SPECIALS! Tuesday: Admission $10 ALL DAY Wednesday: Ride Wristband Day – $25 To Ride ALL DAY. Thursday: $ Admission 7 after 5pm (Purchased At The Gate) Sunday: BUY ONE $15 Admission GET ONE 1/2 OFF (At Gate Only) *Advanced Sale Admission Tickets: $12 *Advanced Sale Ride Tickets: 10 Rides for $20

Advance Discount Tickets

ocal wines were once rather sweet, except for those homemade specialties a few back-roads restaurants would pull out at the right moment. Beer was national, or Genny Cream Ale. The legendary hootenanny sing-a-longs and bucket-of-blood hangouts that folk and rock legends have been built around tended not to be picky about their inebriants.

Then things started to pick up some 30 years ago as new vintners started planting vines, making better wines than anyone expected. Craft brews popped up in Kingston and a few other locations. Hard cider became all the rage, and distilleries popped up on both sides of the Hudson, reviving a drink-making scene that raged throughout the nineteenth century until all but snuffed out by Prohibition.

Hail the golden era of quaffable, sippable, and gift-ready Hudson Valley craft beers and ales, world-renowned ciders, high-end vodkas, whiskeys, and specialty spirits, and respectable wine trails in Ulster, Dutchess and Columbia counties. Some credit the state’s push to shift agricultural output in the region via tax credits and other incentives. Others point to new arrivals’ Brooklynesque tastes.

Find out for yourself. Take field trips to farm breweries, gastro-pubs, vineyards, distilleries and cideries, especially given the foodie bounty most places now serve up, along with music and great hangout spaces shared by cool locals and visitors.

Just take along a driver!

Check out www.hudsonvalleybeertrail. com, www.shawangunkwinetrail.com and www.hudsonvalleywinecountry.org.

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How about some hiking and biking?

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ver the past decade, the Hudson Valleyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s built up an amazing set of walking trails along its historic rail lines.

Centering all is the magnificent Walkway Over The Hudson between Poughkeepsie and Highland.

There are treasured walkways from Kingston down much of the Rondout Valley, up to and through the Shawangunks from New Paltz on one side, and Ellenville-Cragsmoor on the other. Rosendale has its own trestle hike, which ranges down along the Wallkill River for miles.

Up in the Catskills are classic old trails to mountaintops and hidden treasures.

Many start from within towns, including the popular path up to the site of the old Overlook Mountain House in Woodstock (which goes on to Blue Lake and, eventually, various locations in Greene County.)

Try the new hillside trail under construc-

COURTESY OF NY DEC

tion at the Catskill Interpretive Center in Mount Tremper, soon to be expanded upward.

Check out websites for the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation, Catskill Center, Scenic Hudson and New York-New Jersey Trail Conference for in-depth information on local trails. Our counties keep information on local offerings that provide access to the Hudson

River and various wetlands throughout the region. Many outdoor outfitting store supply maps and brochures.

Keep your eyes open for opportunity.

Never forget that, in addition to great wilderness-like experiences, town and village walking also has benefits and surprises. Get out on those trails. And remember that there are plenty of streams along most trails for cooling off in. Get off

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E pluribus unum Hudson Valley One is the one-stop shop for content from all Ulster Publishing newspapers, including New Paltz Times, Woodstock Times, Kingston Times, Saugerties Times and Almanac Weekly. Check it out at hudsonvalleyone.com.

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Leaving the Hudson Valley Jack Warren explains why he misses Phoenicia so much ast August, I left my home in Phoenicia to spend my next four years at Wesleyan University.

Many of the promises of higher education were quickly delivered to me: greater freedom, more challenging courses, greater diversity. Despite some growing financial anxiety and a decrease in nutritional health (French fries and chicken tenders every lunch and dinner! How was I supposed to resist?), my freshman year was a vast improvement over my time in high school. The diversity, in particular, was striking. People of color make up 42% of Wesleyan’s population. Phoenicia is 96% white.

I shared a dorm with students from China, India, Sierra Leone, Los Angeles, Houston, Boston, Portland, Seattle and the Bronx. Homework breaks often consisted of comparing systems of governance and debating who truly has the best pizza. The local imam played on the same basketball court as the local priest and the local rabbi, and the campus chapel held services for every denomination you could imagine. Queer people of all colors and creeds were well represented among students and staff. Perspectives from the world over collided in a constructive, beautiful mishmash of culture that far exceeded my expectations.

ne of the more unexpected surprises of college is that I found out my hometown is as unique as anybody’s.

I cannot count the number of times jaws dropped when I revealed that I come from a place that, according to Wikipedia, has a population of 309. (Or 308 now that I’m gone.).

Wesleyan is in Middletown, Connecticut, a relatively boring city of about 47,648 people, which fits many of my classmates’ definition of a small town, including my

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freshman-year roommate, Han, one of Beijing’s 19 million citizens.

Phoenicia’s modest population wasn’t the only thing about the Hudson Valley that inspired amazement. The Ashokan Reservoir never failed to elicit an awed gasp, small-town political battles captivated attentions, and Woodstock hippie culture spawned a number of questions.

More than anything, nature was what stole people’s hearts. I showed some friends a picture of my street, framed in

trees and running alongside the Esopus Creek. To quote a classmate from Atlanta, Georgia: “That’s a road? That people live on?”

For most of my childhood, I didn’t appreciate the beauty that draws so many people to the area. I wished that I lived in one of the cities of my future classmates, where I imagined all sorts of important things happened, or at least stayed open after 7 p.m. on weekdays.

Visiting home, I began trying to empa-

Golf needn’t be political

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olf, according to Arnold Palmer, is deceptively simple and endlessly complicated.

“It satisfies the soul and frustrates the intellect. It is at the same time rewarding and maddening — and it is without a doubt the greatest game mankind has ever invented.”

If you agree, you have probably been to plenty of golf courses with sweeping fairways, manicured greens, and the pleasant color conWIKICOMMONS trast of curving sand traps. You may even have gotten over the politics involved with the activity of late.

Not many courses have the breathtaking mountain views that make golfing in the Hudson Valley so pleasurable, and so non-political. Many area golf courses are located at resorts which offer packages for a golf vacation, including room and board, so the golfer can devote her or his complete attention to the game. If your schedule allows, you can save money with a midweek special.

Most courses have day passes for those seeking variety and wishing to try out different courses, as well as season passes for golfers who expect to stay around all summer. Golfing lessons, a pro shop and a restaurant are usually available. Some golf resorts present pro-am events, where golf professionals are teamed with local amateurs, and fundraising tournaments.

If you’re looking for challenges like elevation changes and naturally-occurring obstacles, you’ll find them at these courses, many of them historic in origin and designed by respected pros. Choose from nine-hole, 18-hole, and 36-hole courses.

Don’t forget about the fun involved in driving ranges or mini-golf, for that matter.

Summer’s all about fun, after all.

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COURTESY OF PHOENICIANY.COM

The Esopus Creek fills with people riding rapids in inner tubes each summer. Many just like sitting in the stream’s cooling, and entertaining, waters. thize with all of those Brooklynite tourists who seem to love the Hudson Valley so much. On early-morning drives, I watched the sun pour over the mountains. I gazed out my window more. Carrying in logs for the woodstove, I stopped to look — really look — at the blanket of glimmering snow sending the scenery to sleep.

Living in a valley, I was literally constantly reminded of the earth that I was standing on. Even if I was surrounded by buildings instead of trees, I could usually look up and find a mountain stretching across the horizon. ther features of Hudson Valley living I had long thought of as normal have revealed their idiosyncratic charm in stories I told to fellow students.

I told of waking up to screams coming from the Esopus, running out the door and down to the water expecting bloody murder, only to discover tourists having the time of their lives riding the rapids in inner tubes. I always enjoyed describing the Town Tinker tube-rental service I grew up down the road from: How many of my friends found their first summer jobs handing out safety equipment, working the register, or selling “I

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29th Annual Aug 4, 5 & 6 Dodds Farm 44 County Rd 7D Hillsdale NY

Three Days of Folk Music & Dance at the foot of the Berkshires Concerts, Dancing, Camping, Workshops, Craft Village, Activities 4 Kids, International Food, Thurs Pre-Fest Tastings with Daytime Farmers Market & Evening Lounge Stage, Accessible & ASL Interpreted

Eric Andersen, Sawyer Fredericks, Upstate Rubdown, Abbie Gardner, Joe Crookston, Gaslight Tinkers, The Russet Trio, ZydeGroove, Buddy System, Rani Arbo & daisy mayhem, David Massengill, The Slambovian Circus of Dreams, Brother Sun, Tempest, Vishten, The Storycrafters, others www.FalconRidgeFolk.com - 860-364-0366

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Phoenicia has changed little since this postcard a century ago, except that the hamlet is listed as a top destination for young millennial families.

Survived the Esopus” t-shirts.

I told horror stories, too, usually involving one of the floods and hurricanes that have turned the Esopus from a peaceful creek into a raging river. Wesleyan students are deeply concerned about the disastrous effects of climate change, but very few have lived across the street from one. I recounted the spiderweb of downed power lines I had to cross just to walk into town, the piles of mud and sand shoveled out of Sweet Sue’s and Brio’s, and the flutter of anxiety I felt at the smell of rain in the year or so following each flood.

Of course, I also spoke to the pleasures of living by the creekside. I told stories about exchanging stories with mysterious fishermen, dipping toes in the water with childhood crushes,and swimming in the shallows with family and friends.

The sound of the creek lulled me to sleep every night. ature exists at Wesleyan, too.

There are mountains, trees and a shockingly high squirrel count. There’s a forest right outside campus, as well as a river that used to host a substantial trading port. Middletown, Connecticut is no concrete jungle, but it still feels like

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a place where civilization has more-orless conquered wilderness.

In the Hudson Valley, and in Phoenicia especially, the relationship between man and nature seems much more tenuous than it does in Middletown. As scary as it can be when natural disasters hit, I find myself missing it far more than I ever expected.

I think that’s what draws so many people

to our area. Whether it’s for doing yoga, hunting deer, or just walking through the forest, the Hudson Valley facilitates an affinity for the outdoors. I plan on learning as much as I can from my classmates these next four years, but if there’s one thing I hope to share with them it’s my experiences of growing up in the shadow of the mountains and the sound of the creek.

Farm markets are about more than produce

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good summer farmers’ market has become a de rigeur part of Hudson Valley municipal character these days. It’s become hard sometimes to find a community without such a thing. To list each one’s weekly schedules — which include musical entertainment, plenty of activities for kids, loads of non-food vendors, and a growing amount of locally crafted ales, beers, ciders, wines and even various spirits — is what newspapers do. Suffice it to say that most are in the mornings on Saturdays and Sundays, with a few on weekday afternoons.

These markets are best when you get into the habit of going weekly, shopping around what local purveyors are growing over the season. Expect more than your usual shopping experience, since our farmers’ markets are as much gathering places for community-building as commercial enterprises.

That doesn’t mean that vegetables and other quality produce aren’t always available. They are. Bring bags to carry your wares away, and be prepared to splurge on extras, including clothes and tableware, gifts and even books. Check out county tourism websites for specifics, or the regional agriculture-oriented Hudson Valley Bounty site at www.hudsonvalleybounty.com.

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Wine Wow! Hudson Valley Wine Tasting

PASSPORT 15 Unique Wineries Beautiful Views Delicious Tastings Visit each of our 15 wineries at your own pace, and enjoy a tasting at each!

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