A wintry mix 2015 e sub

Explore Hudson Valley JANUARY 2015

• ULSTER PUBLISHING • WWW.EXPLOREHUDSONVALLEY.COM

A Wintry Mix

Seasonal activities plus The State of Our Valley Skiing the Berkshires & Catskills, the Culinary Institute's long reach, what's up with the real estate market, long drives for battling cabin fever, creative economies and the threat of gentrification, and what to do with the kids this time of year.

2015 2 | Winter Explore Hudson Valley

The healthcare industry is evolving, thanks to policy changes, socioeconomic shifts and technological advances. Amid these changes, HealthAlliance of the Hudson Valley is ensuring we consistently provide the best possible care to every patient today, while becoming the hospital of tomorrow.

HealthAlliance is among the state’s leaders in mounting a new strategy for healthcare delivery. The new strategy is based on maximizing value for patients and families — that is, achieving the best outcomes, at a lower cost, with the highest patient satisfaction. $W WKH VDPH WLPH ZH¡UH ZRUNLQJ ZLWK ORFDO GRFWRUV WR UHSODFH WKH LQGXVWU\¡V IUDJPHQWHG VWUXFWXUH ZLWK D XQLÀHG V\VWHP organized around patients and their needs. This is known as clinical integration.

Clinical integration is a strategy, led by area physicians with HealthAlliance support, to create a dedicated, multidisciplinary, mutually reinforcing network of local doctors working together to provide patient care.

Under the new network, the doctors and other clinicians will treat not simply a disease but rather the “whole person� along the continuum of care.

This means that while they treat a disease, they will also consider related conditions, complications and circumstances that commonly occur along with it — such as kidney and eye disorders for patients with diabetes.

They’ll also engage patients and their families in care — such as by providing education and counseling, encouraging adherence to treatment and prevention protocols, and supporting behavioral changes such as smoking cessation or weight loss.

Network members will work as a team, whether they’re in the same building or in different locations.

Which brings us to three other proposed changes: ‡ Consolidating HealthAlliance Hospital to a single campus in Kingston. ‡ $GDSWLQJ WKH RWKHU FDPSXV WR HQULFK SDWLHQW KHDOWK ‡ $IÀOLDWLQJ ZLWK D ODUJHU KHDOWK V\VWHP SDUWQHU We plan to bring all HealthAlliance Hospital services to one campus. The move, involving substantial facility upgrades, will improve patient care DQG SURYLGH PRUH HIIHFWLYH DQG HIÀFLHQW RSHUDWLRQV The innovative physical space on the single campus will be designed to improve the overall patient experience.

Needless to say, everything will be located in one spot, which will be convenient for patients, staff and doctors alike.

Assuming we receive regulatory approvals, we expect to begin the transition this year.

As part of the transition, we also have exciting plans for the remaining hospital campus.

We’re working on plans to convert the other campus into a “medical village.â€? The medical village will be similar WR D KHDOWKFDUH PDOO Âł D RQH VWRS GHVWLQDWLRQ ZKHUH consumers will have easy access to outpatient, preventive and other health and wellness services.

Key to the medical village will be enhanced access to SULPDU\ FDUH SK\VLFLDQV DOVR NQRZQ DV JHQHUDO SUDFWLWLRQHUV We imagine they will be the “anchor,� while smaller “boutique� healthcare providers in the building could offer child and adult day care, various types of rehabilitation, prescription drugs, behavioral health, diabetes care and health education.

Compatible retailers such as a beauty shop and coffee bar might also be there.

HealthAlliance has signed a letter of intent with Westchester Medical Center, which means we’re now in active discussions with the academic medical center about DIÀOLDWLQJ HealthAlliance and Westchester Medical Center both determined that joining forces would improve our hospital systems’ ability to provide healthcare services in our communities. We at HealthAlliance also found the vision and goals of Westchester Medical Center to resonate greatly with those of our hospital system.

HealthAlliance and Westchester Medical Center believe a strategic alliance would strengthen both hospitals — but, more LPSRUWDQW ZH DOVR EHOLHYH WKH DIÀOLDWLRQ ZLOO OHW XV HQKDQFH our ability to provide a full complement of services so vital to meeting the greater Kingston area’s healthcare needs.

At HealthAlliance, we are looking to pioneer a model of innovative, connected care in the region. We believe this will be an exciting year and we look forward to sharing news of our developments.

Indeed, we’re very optimistic as we build the hospital of WRPRUURZ ³ D KRVSLWDO WKDW GHOLYHUV VWDQGDUG VHWWLQJ PHGLFDO care, while reducing healthcare costs, improving patient out comes, and ultimately improving and sustaining the health and ZHOO EHLQJ RI WKH GLYHUVH FRPPXQLWLHV ZH VHUYH

Exceptional Healthcare Close to Home

hahv.org

Winter 2015 Explore Hudson Valley

| 3

A wintry mix

W

inter’s here, sing goddamn.

Who, looking out as the darkness punctuated by various forms of precipitation and chill, doesn’t echo Ezra Pound’s revision of the great Chaucer at this time of year? Some of us struggle to see this time of year in different terms. The new year’s just arrived. While some look back, others look forward to deeper analysis of the trends affecting our lives.

And maybe even prognostication!

And then there are those who thrill at the various opportunities this time of year offers, from skiing local mountains to ice skating and long drives. Talk about a wintry mix!

Paul Smart

Among our contributors in this issue: Susan Barnett is a licensed real-estate salesperson affiliated with Gary DiMauro Real Estate.

She lives in West Hurley and has been an anchor, producer and reporter for WRGB-TV and was Hudson Valley bureau chief for WAMC Northeast Public Radio. She’s the author of the short-story collection, “The View From Outside,” published by Hen House Press.

Jennifer Schwartz Berky is principal of Hone Strategic, LLC, an urban planning and revitalization consulting firm in Kingston. She currently serves on the boards of the Hudson River Valley Greenway, Re>Think Local, Kingston Historic Landmarks Preservation Commission, KingstonCitizens.org and Kingston Land Trust’s rail-trail committee.

Jennifer Brizzi has lived in the Hudson Valley since 1996, writing about food since 1997, currently from Rhinebeck. Describing herself a writerteacher-cook, she writes for newspapers, magazines and books, does recipe development, and cooking demonstrations and teaching. She also writes a weekly health column for Ulster Publishing. See her website atwww.jenniferbrizzi.com and her blog at www.tripesoup.com.

Carol Clement is owner with her husband John Harrison of the Bees Knees Café and Heather Ridge Farm in Preston Hollow. They raise, sell and serve animal-welfare-approved grass-fed and pastured livestock and poultry. The café and farm store are open every weekend year-round. www. heather-ridge-farm.com Erica Chase-Salerno, an energy healer and founder of HudsonValleyParents.com, writes about area activities for families in the Hudson Valley in her weekly Kids’ Almanac column in Ulster Publishing’s Alm@nac.

Paul Smart is a writer and editor for Ulster Publishing of two decades’ standing. He has edited a number of other regional weekly and biweekly newspapers and served as a radio host on WGXC-FM in Hudson, Catskill and Acra. He lives in Greene County.

Lynn Woods, long-time Kingston resident and Ulster Publishing writer, is co-author of “Adirondack Style: Great Camps and Rustic Lodges” and co-director of the film “Lost Rondout: A Story of Urban Removal.”

— 38 YEARS GOING STRONG —

Shingles • Wood Shakes Rubber Roofing Systems Custom Cooper Bay Windows Metal Standing Seam

No Subcontractors Ever!

KINGSTON (845) 331-9291

POUGHKEEPSIE (845) 332-4252

DION OGUST

This month’s Explore Hudson Valley — A Wintry Mix cover is by David Slutzky, whose family owns and operates Hunter Mountain in Greene County, where his prowess as a master snowmaker has not only allowed him to travel

the world making snow, but also build up a large portfolio of striking winter images. David is a graduate of The Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, and president of the Greene County Council for the Arts.

KIWANIS ICE ARENA Open 7 days a week with various times for public skating

Public Open Skating Admissions $6 for Adults, $4 for Children 6-18, Children 5 & Under are Free.

Public Drop In Hockey/Sticks & Pucks $8 for Adults, $6 for Children Skate Rentals - $3 a pair. Hockey and Figure Skates available Skate Sharpening - $5 a pair

Visit our website for the skate times for every public session

BIRTHDAY PARTIES • PRO SHOP 845-247-2590 | kiwanisicearena.com | 6 Small World Ave, Saugerties

2015 4 | Winter Explore Hudson Valley

DAVID SLUTZKY

Second time around Yes, you can get back to skiing here

By Carol Clement used to be all about skiing. Downhill skiing. I skied every week that the Catskill ski areas were open, for fun or for work. I didn’t need to carry trail maps to any of the Catskill ski areas. They were all in my head. I knew the relative merits of all the brands of skis and boots, updated my equipment regularly, had subscriptions to two ski magazines, and scoffed at the latest fashions in ski clothing. Vacations were a chance to ski and party someplace new.

Then, as a non-skiing friend put it, age sets in

I

like a bad winter. We’re boomers. As much as we deny it, body parts are starting to wear out.

My left knee. Years of skiing and hiking these mountains I love, and in the past ten years farming have taken a toll. Three years ago I had arthroscopic surgery to clean up a ragged meniscus, and remove floating fragments that were causing constant swelling and pain. The surgery should have helped but instead it seemed to provoke arthritis to take over. The next two years my knee became less and less flexible, stiffening up whenever I sat for barely five minutes, and soon I was unable to straighten it at all. I couldn’t ski like this. I couldn’t even get off a lift.

Last winter I had knee replacement surgery.

That’s a big deal. It’s major surgery, and it has taken months of physical therapy to regain strength and mobility. I’m a card-carrying bionic woman.

“In our home, you are on your own but never alone.”

NYS Dept. of Health Licensed Adult Care Home

———————— Full Medical Coordination Unmatched Recreational Activities

It always feels like a vacation here at MVM! Owned & operated locally by the DePoala & McNaughton Families 845.331.1254 • mountainvalleymanor.com

All-Inclusive Living No Fees, No Deposits, No Worries

PET FRIENDLY

Voted Best Assisted Living & Retirement Community in the Hudson Valley Nestled on nine acres in a country setting at 397 Wilbur Avenue, Kingston, NY

Schedule a Tour and Stay for Lunch

I even have an ID that I’m supposed to present when I go to an airport.

I want to ski again. I’m nervous about it, though, and want to proceed cautiously as I test the ability of my new knee. Starting over. So instead of thinking about which mountain will have the best conditions on those blue diamonds, I’m considering what the beginning and intermediate areas have to offer. My fantasy is to take a couple runs on easy gliding beginner trails, pat myself on the back, and graduate to an intermediate level if I haven’t lost my nerve. I’ll skip the bunny hill, because I’m sure, like riding a bicycle, it will all come back to me.

My first skiing experience was as the kid growing up in Saugerties. I was ten, and Belleayre was nine. My family didn’t ski, but my best friend’s family were avid skiers and invited me to join them. I don’t think I was very good. I was not a talented athlete, but I immediately loved it. Belleayre then, as now, was known for its terrain for beginners and great ski school, then headed by Olympian Dot Nebel. I didn’t have the privilege of meeting and skiing with her then (though we became friends much later), but the atmosphere was supportive of learning.

Shall I go back to my roots and go back to Belleayre? It has greatly expanded since those early days, and now has a “lower mountain” of mostly beginner level trails and a beginner trail that meanders from the very top of the mountain, connecting to the lower area. Ideal for the nervous beginner because hard riding experts are not on the same trails, startling you as they speed by.

Looking at the statistics, 80% of the terrain at Belleayre is either beginner or intermediate, the highest percentage in the Catskills. And amazingly Belleayre has not lost its charm and “foreverwild” feeling of the early days, while upgrading all its lifts and facilities.

After going to Belleayre a few times, I begged my parents for my own skis and boots so I could practice at home, trudging up and down the hills.

My second ski-area experience later that same winter was to Catamount, where I enjoyed the

Winter 2015 Explore Hudson Valley

| 5

have everything: gentle slopes, steep drops, great vistas and every possible snow condition over the course of the season. It is said that if you learn to ski out West, you have a hard time adjusting to eastern conditions. If you learn to ski in the Catskills, you can ski anywhere in the world.

I hope it’s true the second time around.

DION OGUST

luxury of using the rope tow on my very own skis. I was hooked on skiing, as long as my friend’s family would take me! Catamount today is transformed, with modern lifts and slopeside condos, and 74% beginner and intermediate terrain. I hardly recognize it.

Before recent my injuries, I skied mostly at Windham and Hunter. Windham has 73% and Hunter 52% beginner and intermediate trails.

52% at Hunter may sound low, but Hunter and Windham are larger overall, having more acreage than the other ski areas, so the beginner area is comparable in size, with a separate lifts serving just beginners. Windham has a long beginner trail

from the top, as well as a separate beginner area.

I know today’s Windham, Hunter and Belleayre well, except for the improvements they have made in the most recent couple of years when I was not on the slopes. I’m dying to see them.

I rarely skied at Plattekill Mountain, 60% beginner and intermediate, probably because it was the farthest from home and frankly was known best for its rugged terrain. It has beginner and intermediate areas, of course. Hmm, maybe I should test myself at the area I am least familiar with to break out of my old routines.

We might not have the biggest mountains or the deepest powder, but the ski areas of the Catskills

E D IN A L G N TA

Holiday Financial

?

R E N A H G OV RAT RATES A ES AS LOW AS

Sectional Overhead Door KINGSTON OVERHEAD DOOR 87 Boices Lane • (845) 336-6363

CONSOLIDATE YOUR DEBT WITH A

Signature Loan UP TO $10,000!

5.99%APR* FOR 36 MONTHS

%APR* 6.99MONT HS FOR 60

MHVFCU.com 845.336.4444 *APR = Annual Percentage Rate. Offer valid for new loans, refinances from another institution, or MHV refinances advancing a minimum of $2,500 in new monies applied for from January 1 until March 31, 2015 subject to change or terminate at the discretion of MHV.

Maximum loan amount of $10,000. Advertised rate based on credit qualifications and rate reflects .25% discount for automatic payments from your MHV savings or checking account. As an example, a 36-month term with a fixed rate of 5.99% APR would result in an estimated payment of $30.42 for each $1,000 financed. A 60-month term with a fixed rate of 6.99%APR would result in an estimated payment of $19.80 for each $1,000 financed.

2015 6 | Winter Explore Hudson Valley

Location, location, location A new generation brings the Hudson Valley to new life

By Susan Barnett

W

earing my real-estate hat enables me to see how tourism is translating to sales. Visitors want a piece of what we’ve got.

Unlike when I was a kid and everyone seemed to be buying second homes here, many of today’s buyers are Brooklyn expats who are here to stay, full time.

For the small towns of the Hudson Valley, there are enough of these Brooklyn folks to go around.

Brooklyn has a larger population than the entire lower and middle Hudson Valley. And despite highly visible efforts to provide affordable housing there, it’s continuing to gentrify.

In real estate, declaring a specific time period as a watershed mark opens the door to dispute. But I want to choose one. I believe a tipping point was reached in our area in 2014. And I’m prepared to defend my argument.

Before I got into the real-estate profession, I was a journalist. When I returned to the Hudson Valley and Catskills after many disgruntled years in northwest Connecticut, it was as regional bureau chief for a public radio affiliate. I got to see, first hand and in-depth, what had happened to our area in my absence. It was a bleak time. In 2006 every economic story was a different shade of discouraging.

The stories I reported were about the black hole where IBM had once flourished. Layoffs at the Dutchess County IBM facility made headlines.

Were they next?

Entrepreneurs proposed making the region the New York State -- nay, the global -- capital of the solar energy industry.

Tourism was the one consistent bright spot. Vis-

At e l i e r R e n é e fine framing The Chocolate Factory 5 4 E l i z a b e t h S t r e e t , R e d H o o k , N e w Yo r k Tu e s d a y t h r o u g h S a t u r d a y 10 ~ 6 or by appointment e-mail ~ renee@atelierreneefineframing.com

845.758.1004

Looking for Homeowners to Qualify for a FREE Home Solar Installation

Own Your Own Home Have a Southerly-Facing Roof Little to No Shading Pay an Electric Bill

The U.S. Government and your State have financial incentives that may provide homeowners the opportunity to supplement your electric provider with solar power.

NRG Home Solar is now qualifying homes for a FREE home solar installation. Call or go online today to see if your home qualifies.

1-518-628-4104 NRGHomeSolar.com NRG Home Solar offers you the option to go solar for as little as $0 down or you can lower your monthly lease payment with a down payment. Consult your solar specialist to determine your eligibility. Financing terms, pricing and savings vary based on customer credit, system size, utility rates and available rebates and incentives. System performance subject to several factor including location, roof and shading. Savings on total electricity costs not guaranteed. NRG Home Solar is a service mark of NRG Energy, Inc. © 2014 NRG Home Solar. All rights reserved.

HIC NYC 1427914, HIC Yonkers NY 5972, HIC Nassau County NY H2409720000, HIC Suffolk County NY 50906h, HIC Weschester County NY Wc24767h12, HIC RocklandCounty NY H11586400000

LAUREN THOMAS

itors, particularly visitors from downstate, loved the Catskills and Hudson Valley.

A very nice man had a crazy idea to turn a decrepit railroad bridge across the Hudson into a walkway. It seemed an unlikely proposition. In 2014, the Walkway Over the Hudson has become an undisputed home run. Ulster County rail-trails are making a concerted effort to offer visitors even more access to the glories of our natural setting.

Even the rotting trestle bridge my cousins and I once teetered across in Rosendale is now sturdy, solid and accessible.

M

y generation grew up and moved on.

This generation is moving in.

Gary DiMauro Real Estate, the agency I

represent, specifically targets that downstate and international demographic. Since 90 percent of my buyer clients are from out of the area, my view may be skewed. But my clients tell me this area, and Kingston in particular, is calling to young Brooklyn dwellers who are sick to death of high prices, high anxiety and high crime. They want community. They want to be near other artist types. And they want to be able to buy a house and still be able to afford groceries.

A young Brooklyn couple told me they could not believe they could afford a seven-bedroom Uptown Victorian in Kingston. They could. Another young woman bought an uptown retail building and has visions of her own business one day. A young man is in the process of buying a Midtown

Like Brooklyn but “weirder”

C

hrissy and Nick Sakes bought their uptown Kingston historic home a year ago. They’ve fallen so deeply in love with the area that they’re luring their former Brooklyn neighbors upstate, too.

Chrissy says she’s a onewoman marketing campaign for the wonders of her new home town.

“Beacon’s fine,” Chrissy said, “but when we were looking, Kingston was just a lot weirder and coolerlooking. It’s a magical little town.”

She’s discovered what she calls the “incredible” park at Kingston Point and the melancholy beauty of Montrepose Cemetery.

They got a puppy (be sure to check out Chongo the Corgi’s page on Facebook) who helps them explore.

Air BnB has helped pay for the bills in a stately XADDAX PHOTO COURTESY OF BAND old home once owned by a lumber baron.

“After nine years in Bushwick I was done,” Chrissy said. “My husband got mugged, our landlord was raising the rent on our rent-controlled apartment. We found this amazing old house and it had plenty of space for a business someday.”

They volunteered at the O+Festival and played it, too. Their band is called Xaddax. Chrissy said it seemed to take them no time to become part of the community.

Nick commutes to Albany for work, but his job allows him to work at home on occasion.

“One draw for me was that the city was just a couple of hours away,” Chrissy said. “But the funny thing is I only went twice in the entire past year. I just don’t care. Everything I need is here.”

Winter 2015 Explore Hudson Valley grande dame that has fallen on hard times.

Most importantly, they’re all meeting each other. They are creating the community they longed for. And they’re sharing what they’ve found on their online social networks.

This infusion of new blood that can be seen at the street festivals, from O+ to the recent Uptown New Year’s Eve bash. Look at the pictures posted online. Kingston is young again.

How do these folks make a living? Some are entrepreneurs. Some work remotely. Some commute to Albany or Manhattan. They rent out rooms in their houses.

My observation is that they’re somehow making it work. They are passionate about their new town. They love the cafes and restaurants in uptown Kingston They love the industrial charm of the Rondout riverfront. They’re looking in midtown to pioneer Kingston’s next great resurgence.

I

t’s not just Kingston. HITS has brought new blood, and new money, to Saugerties. High Falls is beloved by those who can afford it. Stone Ridge’s beauty is undeniable, though the high cost of living there leads most of my buyers to look in Olive or Kerhonkson.

Even Woodstock is getting younger. A party at a clients’ home this past fall showed me my fear that the former arts colony was becoming a retirement village for old hippies was unfounded. Everyone at the party was a local, and they were all under 40.

“Why do I never see you in town?” I asked.

“We’re home with our kids,” they said. “We’re busy!”

The Paul Green Rock Academy has created a tight new clique in town, and the promise of a music school means the hope of lots of young people at a rate not seen since the Sixties. My generation’s leather and head shops have been replaced by interior decor and upscale cafes.

Most of the housing inventory available in Woodstock is not affordable for the young Brooklyn expats. The new Woodstockers are coming from overseas. My clients looking to buy in Wood-

stock are from the UK. They’re young, they’re successful, and they’re spreading the word that Woodstock is a wonderful place to raise children.

Phoenicia, too, is changing rapidly. Word about spots like the Phoenicia Diner, The Graham and Company motel and Mama’s Boy coffee shop spread like lightning on the Internet. One good Instagram post can translate to thousands of people who now want to see what the buzz is about.

It’s not idle curiosity. They come. And they stay.

What do they complain about? Taxes. Taxes.

Taxes. Kingston, in particular, gets raspberries for that one. Saugerties and Stone Ridge, too.

What do they wish for? Better local mass transit. A more affordable way to get the city, where many of them still work. They wish there was a Metro North line on the west side of the river.

This isn’t just an Ulster County phenomenon.

Hudson may seem to be one amazing street of shops surrounded by a lot of fixer-uppers, but the real-estate market there is too hot to touch.

They’ve got the train. They’ve got style. And they’ve got the arts.

W

alkability is now drawing older residents who want an urban experience in the country. Rudy Huston, an agent with Hudson Town and Country Real Estate, cited Manhattan retirees in Hudson who rented two new luxury units downtown, one for their residence and a second for their offices. Another

“ARTS & CRAFTS” GEM Storybook style 1930’s Cape with abundant “Arts & Crafts” detailing, lovely wood floors, unpainted woodwork, original light fixtures, stonework pillars on gracious veranda, living & dining rooms, eatin kitchen, 3 bedrooms plus expandable second level, full basement, new exterior paint, new deck, detached garage PLUS TWO legal rental cottages for income or extended family ....$165,000

3156 Rte. 9W Saugerties, NY 12477 845.247.4444 Office 845.247.4447 Fax

Mary Ellen Flemming, Lic. Assoc. R.E. Broker • 845-399-5762 3927 Main Street, Stone Ridge, NY 12484

COLONIAL GEM - Quality constructed modern Colonial perfectly sited on 3+ New Paltz acres on a quiet dead end road.

Gracious floor plan features 31ft. living room with cozy fireplace, formal dining room, expansive EI kitchen o’looking large deck, 4 generous bedrooms including en-suite MBR, 3.5 baths, home office and bonus room PLUS walk out fully finished lower level with exercise room, rec room & add’l BR. HANDSOME! ................................ $429,000

Mary Ellen Flemming, Lic. Assoc. R.E. Broker • 845-399-5762 3927 Main Street, Stone Ridge, NY 12484

“Home Healthcare with Dignity”

30th Year Serving the HudsonValley Specializing in Certified Live-Ins/Home Health Aides, High-Tech RNs & LPNs

Pediatrics Through Geriatrics • Free Pre-Nursing Assessment Always a Nurse On-Call 24/7 • 31st Year Serving in Rockland • Hospital & Nursing Home Sitting • Accredited by Joint Commission & NYS Licensed Medicaid, Most Insurances & Long Term Care, CDPAP Mastercard, Visa & Amex

845-331-7868 • 845-638-4342 845-561-7900 • 914-244-0544 212-683-2250 • 201-541-7100 www.at-healthcare.com Affiliate Agency A & T Certified Home Care Covering Medicare / Medicaid patients over 65 or disabled persons 845-708-8182 • www.homecarerockland.com

older former weekender rented a neighboring unit, leaving her farm in the country in favor of an urban center where, as Huston put it, “you can walk to get your coffee, your groceries, and go out at night and still find people.”

Huston predicts Catskill and Kingston won’t be far behind Hudson. “I think anywhere along the Hudson from Westchester to Troy is a no-brainer,” he said. “Everyone’s getting priced out of New York City. This is where they’re coming.”

Catskill is being eyed as the last affordable character town ($150K can get you a stunning Queen Anne within a walk to Main Street), with all eyes fixed on the riverfront mill being transformed into a restaurant and arts space. A snarky new ad campaign focused on the Hudson market doesn’t hurt, either. “It’s a bridge,” reads the billboard. “Get over it.”

New real-estate companies are opening up now that there’s business to spare. Existing companies are expanding (my agency opened a Rhinebeck office in 2014). MLS memberships are rebounding from shocking lows just a few years ago.

It’s not a seller’s market, not yet. Part of the draw of the area, particularly of Kingston, is that prices are low. I sold a gorgeous home on one of Kingston’s most beautiful streets for more than $100K below the assessed value. But the couple that bought it is young. They’re thrilled with their new home, and they love their town.

Get ready. The new blood is here.

real estate

www.benjamincustommodulars.com info@benjamincustommodulars.com

Are You Caring For an Aging Parent or Loved One?

| 7

223 Boices Lane Kingston, NY 12401 845-336-2633 office 845-336-6711 fax weichertspiesman.com

Your locally owned Real Estate Company with a National presence serving Ulster, Greene and Northern Dutchess counties. Whether buying or selling, or for information give us a call.

COLUCCI SHAND REALTY, INC. We Bring You Home

Linda Majetich Hansen

Licensed Real Estate Associate Broker CRS, ABR, ASP, SFR UCBR, 2011 REALTOR® ASSOC .

845-255-3455 Ext. 102

c. 845-706-0625 f. 845-255-3221 www.ColucciShandRealty.com linda@tcsrealty.com

2356 Rt. 44/55, PO Box 400 Gardiner, NY 12525

PURE ENCHANTMENT - Historically significant church c.1898 in Cragsmoor art colony has been repurposed into a fabulous residence. Stunning interior features soaring beamed ceilings, polished concrete floors, fabulous country gourmet kitchen, en-suite MBR plus add’l BR with cozy nook, 45 ft living room, 26 ft family/ media room, bluestone patio & terraced gardens. Abutting conservancy lands insure integrity.

ONE-OF-A-KIND! .... $299,000

Mary Ellen Flemming, Lic. Assoc. R.E. Broker • 845-399-5762 3927 Main Street, Stone Ridge, NY 12484

WHERE CAN YOU FIND

ALMANAC WEEKLY?

Everywhere.

FROM BEACON TO HUDSON. FROM ELLENVILLE TO PINE HILL. ...AND EVERYWHERE IN BETWEEN. HUDSONVALLEYALMANACWEEKLY.COM | 845-334-8200

VACATION AT HOME – Tucked away on a quiet road just outside the village of Woodstock surrounded by similarly fine homes, this spacious contemporary is sited privately on over 4 acres. Light and bright, the open living/ dining/kitchen space with cathedral ceilings was designed for gathering & entertaining, and opens to the patio and heated inground pool. Rich walnut floors throughout the first floor extend into the master suite, office and two more bedrooms, all of which have doors to the outside & access to the hot tub. Second floor loft & two-bedroom suite offer additional space for family, guests & indoor recreation. A house for all seasons, there’s a wood burning fireplace in the living room and a gas fireplace in the master, while alongside the pool, the pool cabana offers a full bathroom and a shady place to get out of the sun. Dry basement has plenty of space for storage as well as a secure concrete vault. Additional storage space is located above second floor loft and two car garage. All systems are of the highest quality and have been impeccably maintained. (TEXT M440479 to 85377)

Jeff Serouya, CRS • Associate RE Broker • (845) 626-5000 mobile • http://jeffserouya.com

3927 Main Street, Stone Ridge, NY 12484

2015 8 | Winter Explore Hudson Valley

Still the crème de la crop

COURTESY OF CULINARY INSTITUTE OF AMERICA

The CIA goes locavore in the Hudson Valley

by Jennifer Brizzi he Culinary Institute of America is internationally recognized, sure.

But is it universally admired? How can such a sprawling entity — with locations in Singapore, San Antonio, Napa Valley and here in Hyde Park — maintain a commitment to locavore ideals?

“We strongly support Hudson Valley farmers,” says the school’s local communications manager,

T

Jeff Levine. “The college spends close to a million dollars a year on fruits, vegetables, mushrooms, dairy, eggs, honey, syrup, and meat from about two dozen farmers and producers, most within about 35 miles of campus. Those products are used throughout the college’s curriculum and in the on-campus restaurants. So not only do farmers benefit from having a market for what they grow and produce, and CIA students benefit from working with high-quality local ingredients, but the dining public also has an opportunity to benefit by enjoying the results of future chefs using those local ingredients in the dishes served at our restaurants.”

Beginning next month, he continues, the CIA’s farm liaison, Anthony DiBenedetto, will be meet-

100+ TV channels, free wireless internet, fitness area, pool table and guest laundry. Free Continental Breakfast. Handicap accessible rooms available.

1/4 mile to NYS Thruway.

Closest hotel to the village.

7 Terwilliger Lane, New Paltz • 845-255-8865 www.abviofnewpaltz.com

ing with each of the farmers to determine what the college’s needs will be for the coming growing season.

The CIA is not new to the locavore game.

“Purchasing from regional growers not only makes perfect gastronomic sense, it also supports the local economy and helps protect our environment,” reads a 2009 press release from previous CIA farm liaison and produce buyer Paul Wigsten.

“We embrace the locavore movement,” explains chef Cynthia Keller, an associate dean in culinary fundamentals at the Hyde Park campus.

“Being able to source locally as the population increases is important. Knowing our sources, considering our effects on land and community and looking at ways to be sustainable: it’s a movement we’re very active in. It’s this elaborate woven thing that everything we do focuses on.”

Keller describes an evolving curriculum that begins with teaching students how to identify the best ingredients and using what tastes good and what looks good, and moves on to creating more plant-based menus, with meats having more of a garnish role on the plate.

“Because of this we’re very active working with forward-thinking training of students as future experts,” she adds. “And we cross-collaborate with other research institutes, like Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Media Lab, examining the future of food.”

A pop-up restaurant called Pangea is being created by chef Waldy Malouf, senior director of special projects, in a campus dining hall. Open from January to May, it will feature multi-cultural meals with bold flavors. “It will be ‘plant forward’,”

Winter 2015 Explore Hudson Valley

| 9

COURTESY OF CULINARY INSTITUTE OF AMERICA

reveals Keller, “with vegetables and grains more the stars of the show.”

sation are also important.”

Where the school ranks The trickle-down effect The CIA is working hard to provide its students a more holistic education, maintains Keller. She believes this approach has had a big impact on the way all of us look at food. “What the chef does trickles down,” she says.

What about growing the food? “We don’t do our own farming,” replies Keller, “because we want to support local farms.” That doesn’t preclude a bit of location-appropriate gardening. Plots of edibles have sprung up around the campus, she says, “to grow some things not so easily acquired.” One is a beverage garden, with ingredients appropriate for things like infusions for specialty cocktails, and a linden tree for tea. It’s just for fun, not serious, she adds, “but the students are very involved.”

The CIA says it sees local sourcing and locavore leanings as far more than just a passing fad. It’s more of a fundamental change in the food world.

Is the CIA a leader? Do culinarians and potential culinarians around the world agree with the CIA’s self-assessment, as proclaimed on its website: “Today, the Culinary Institute of America is widely recognized as the world’s premier culinary college, with an industry-wide reputation for excellence and more than 47,000 alumni serving their professions as living testament to the quality of a CIA education.”

In the spring of 2013 The New York Times called the CIA “the West Point of culinary schools” in a report about a 90-student walkout on campus over what they considered the school’s lowering of admission standards and too-fast expansion. They complained that the previous restaurant experience required for admission had been dropped to accept out-of-the kitchen experience like waiting tables or working in a retail food shop.

Protestors wore nametags with the dollar figure of the amount they owed in student loans. One protestor who had graduated in 2005 called the school a “chef factory full of chef-bots … with a few skills and no work ethic.”

Earlier, in 2008, a previous protest cited “slipping academic requirements, shoddy equipment and a too-cozy relationship with the corporate food world.” The provost countered that admission standards had actually risen. The profession and the school, the provost explained, were in transition from “an autocratic master-apprentice model” to one where now “creativity and improvi-

The word on the street (and online) is that the CIA ranks at or near the top of the most highly acclaimed culinary schools. Students and grads on college ranking sites review the school as being the right school for creative, determined, dedicated, hard-working team players who embrace the challenge of a fast-paced comprehensive culinary education in a professional environment.

Not all the feedback is positive, however.

Some critics contend that professional success depends on not only attending a highly regarded culinary school like the CIA but also on the individual’s work ethic and desire to continue learning on the job. Advancement in the field after school may seem slow, requiring luck and perseverance. Future potential students are warned that with a degree the chances of getting a job are good. But one shouldn’t expect to start out as a well-paid executive chef. You have to work your way up.

A 2014 review of the best culinary schools in America remained upbeat about the CIA, ranking it as “one of the best culinary schools in America.” It pointed out that at the CIA 300 companies

10-Lb. Black Oil Sunflower Bird Seed L 106 118 1

20-Lb. Wild Bird Food L 501 272 1

www.hhoust.com

679.2115

recruit on campus every year and the school has plenty of high-profile alumni. The general consensus by posters online seemed to be that the CIA still rules, followed fairly closely by Johnson & Wales.

The culinary education playing field is becoming more crowded. The 2014 review touted both the Institute of Culinary Education (formerly Peter Kump’s New York Cooking School) and the International Culinary Center (formerly the French Culinary Institute) in New York City for graduating successful, award-winning chefs. It also offered positive reviews of the L’Academie de Cuisine in Washington, DC, the New England Culinary Institute’s two Vermont campuses, Johnson & Wales University in North Miami, Denver, Providence, R.I. and Charlotte, N.C., and the Auguste Escoffier School of Culinary Arts in Boulder, Colo. and Austin, Tex., plus Le Cordon Bleu, which has multiple campuses worldwide, including 16 in the U.S. It would appear that the CIA remains the crème de la crop as far as culinary schools go, and well worth the considerable investment required to attend. And lucky are we that many of its grads stick around to cook for us, putting plenty of our local bounty on the table.

2015 10 | Winter Explore Hudson Valley

The eye-opening joys of winter road trips There’s no better way to cure Cabin Fever... for some

By Paul Smart ack when the economy really tanked big-time during the 1930s, one of the great saving graces dreamed up as a way to keep creative types working, and everyday people up in their everyday spirits, was the creation of a series of guides to each state. These included fine essays with multiple photographs that described and analyzed each state’s history, economy and major urban areas. Best of all were a series of driving tours that gave mini-accounts of small towns and regions, complete with pocket histories, anchored to the nation’s new highway system, still young at the time.

Although nothing so visionary was activated after our own generation’s economy tanked six years ago, we still find the idea of listing field trips key to surviving challenging times in these parts. The old WPA guides still provide a great map basis for winter field trips.

There’s always uncertainty to long winter drives.

Fortunately, our local road crews know this, as do local radio stations and their weatherpersons.

And if worst comes to worst, there are still the remnants of a vital tourism industry along most of our highways.

Herewith is a handful of suggested local voyages. Don’t worry if you get lost. You’re never that far from home...

1. The Mohonk-Shawangunk Roundelay.

The great thing about the Gunks this time of year stems from the dramatic ridgeline’s mixture of white, snow-like rock formations and soul-brightening evergreens. No matter whether the sky’s a bright blue or European slate, there’s a grandness to the jaunt.

Leaving New Paltz head west on 299 towards cliffs, wide fields on either side, until you get to Route 44/55. Take a righ and head up and over the ridgeline and its many trails at the Mohonk Preserve and Minnewaska State Park, as well as a host of new viewshed turnoffs. Come down the other side into the Rondout Valley (crossing the fabled creek and its old canal), go all the way to Route 209. Take a right and head north back through Kerhonkson up north towards Stone Ridge. Take a right onto Route 213 at the light just before Stone Ridge, then another right just past the Depuy Canal House in High Falls, onto County Route 6A, the Mohonk Road, through hill and dale (where the great painter Marc Chagall once lived a spell in a borrowed farmhouse), then up and over the ridge line past the turnoff for the majestic Mohonk Mountain House and down towards New Paltz again.

There are many fine side trips along the way -- to

B

LP • A IN

Gu

ENDEA RS • VO

E

ide Service

DION OGUST

DAVID SLUTZKY

the sleepy-appearing but highly creative community of Gardiner (down 44/55 the other direction from up), over in once-busy Ellenville (south on 209), in old Stone Ridge or Kyserike/Alligerville, or a few miles further down Route 213 to Rosendale. Even cooler along this route are the many stops for noshing or shopping, from the Mountain

Climbing Snowshoeing Hiking

aily s ed l gd atin y Leve Provid ons r e s p t t i s l O n i e • ns pL l Ab pme • Al l Equi Grou Optio l & y a A e t • D iva ull • Pr lf & F • Ha

The Inner Wall

Birthday Parties | Scouting Events Summer Camps (845) 255-7625 | New Paltz, NY 12561 877-486-5769 www.TheInnerWall.com info@AlpineEndeavors.com Open Tuesday – Sunday www.AlpineEndeavors.com

Brauhaus and Mountain Deli where 299 meets 44/55, to a variety of spots along 209 (including Kelder’s Farm, Lydia’s, Lekkers, and several spots in Stone Ridge itself ), all that is High Falls, and the expensive but amazing Mountain House itself.

Two hours.

2. Woodstock and its Offspring. From the village green, with a good cup of something warm by your side, head up Rock City Road and straight through the stop sign and over Mead’s Mountain, passing the magnificent and one-of-a-kind KTD Monastery (Tibetan) before eventually coming to another stop sign where you make a left and then a quick right onto Church Road (passing the old Shady Church), again making a right onto Route 212 which you take up to the next stop sign in Mount Tremper, where another right will be taken past the Zen Mountain Monastery on the former plank road into Phoenicia. Coming back, head out to Route 28 and make a left, following the road through Boiceville. Bear right on Route 28A and wind toward Olivebridge. A mile before Olivebridge stay on 28A, bearing left past the New York City reservoir campus and aerator fountains, then left again and up to the dividing weir and out to Winchell’s Corner. Take another left there, and head up Route 28 through Boiceville again.

Make a right soon after the high school onto Piney Point Road, which eventually passes into Woodstock as Coldbrook Road. At its end, make a right onto Wittenberg Road, following it left in about a hundred yards straight back into Woodstock via Bearsville. Great side trips en route include Phoe-

Winter 2015 Explore Hudson Valley nicia, Woodland Valley (just beyond Phoenicia), West Shokan and the Ashokan campus (near that reservoir campus). Good eats can be had at Oriole 9, Shindig, Sunfrost and Cub Market in the Woodstock area, Brio’s, Sweet Sue’s and Mama’s Boy in Phoenicia, the Phoenicia Diner, Bread Alone and Goods’ Luncheonette along 28, plus Snyder’s Tavern in West Shokan (if you can spot it). Hour and a half.

3. Cradle of American Art. Start in Catskill and wander a bit through the old town, making sure to check out Main Street, the river down at its eastern end, and the cemetery where Hudson River school painter Thomas Cole is buried. Then head down Route 9W to Saugerties, past the nowclosed cement factories by the rail lines to Saugerties, itself home to another great downtown (Partition and Main streets). Hit the lighthouse, wander Seamon Park, and then come back by heading out 32 north until you see a turnoff to the right for Old King’s Highway (with signs identifying Lazy Swan Golf and Katsbaan Tennis). Take a left onto Schoolhouse Road (just past fields and a stone house, and a left on West Camp Road); make first right onto Charles Smith Road and follow through stop sign over creek (waterfall to the left). This becomes High Falls Road and you keep following, bearing to the left at High Falls Extension, until you again hit Route 32, where you make a right. Go through light, past the defunct Friar Tuck Inn, and then right on to Cauterskill Road (across from Heart’s Content Road), which you will follow for several miles as it winds towards Catskill (make a left after it goes under the Thruway and across a creek). When you come to a Y above the creek, take the lower road to the left, which becomes West Main, ending up in Catskill.

Great side trips along this hour drive include the hamlets of Glasco and Palenville, the Saugerties Lighthouse, and many creekside stops. Great eats in Catskill include Wasana’s and Maybelle on Main Street, Tango and Miss Lucy’s in Saugerties, Circle W in Palenville, or at the Lazy Swan.

4. Fox Country, reviving. This became a favorite long drive back for me when my kid was

Abundant.

Faith.

Painting.

Acceptance.

Family.

Peaceful.

Accessible.

Fishing.

Pool.

Accommodating.

Fitness.

Practical.

Active.

Flowers.

Premier.

Adventure.

Freedom.

Protection.

Affordable.

Friends.

Recreation.

Appealing.

Fulfilling.

Refreshments.

Art Studio.

Fun.

Reliability.

Assisted Living.

Games.

Respect.

Beautiful.

Gardens.

Rewarding.

Beneficial.

Growth.

Safety.

Billiards.

Happiness.

Satisfying.

Blissful.

Harmonious.

Scenic.

Calm.

Healthcare.

Security.

Camaraderie.

Healthy.

Sensible.

Cards.

Helpful.

Serenity.

Carefree.

Hiking.

Sharing.

Caring.

Hope.

Singing.

Classes.

Independence.

Snacks.

Cleanliness.

Inexpensive.

Spirited.

Comfortable.

Inspirational.

Spiritual.

Comforting.

Intelligent.

Stimulating.

Community.

Joy.

Stretching.

Companionship.

Kindness.

Successful.

Compassion.

Laughter.

Suites.

Computers.

Library.

Supportive.

Convenience.

Life Care.

Sweets.

Conversation.

Lifestyle.

Sympathetic.

Cooking.

Lively.

Theater.

Creativity.

Local.

Therapy.

Culture.

Longevity.

Trust.

Dancing.

Love.

Understanding.

Dessert.

Memory Care.

Unique.

Dining.

Mid-Hudson.

Value.

Economical.

Music.

Variety.

Educational.

Nature.

Wholesome.

Encouragement.

Nourishing.

Wise.

Enjoyment.

Nursing.

Wonderful.

Enrichment.

Nutritious.

Woodshop.

Excitement.

Original.

Woodland Pond.

Exercise.

Outstanding.

still a non-talking napper. Several times we ran across actual red-coated fox hunts while traversing this bucolic territory. Cross the bridge over the Hudson at Kingston to Dutchess County and head out east until you can take a right onto Route 9G South; take a short while until CR 19, Slate Quarry Road, heads out to the left, eastward, not far

| 11

after Burger Hill Park. Follow this road as it winds across Dutchess County. It becomes Bull’s Head Road and crosses the Taconic Parkway before eventually reaching Route 82, where one should make a left and head north, taking a side trip into the quaint community of Bangall, once home to Jimmy Cagney during his long retirement. Con-

SATURDAY, JANUARY 31, 11AM – 3PM Winterfest 2015 is Sponsored and Organized by the Wurtsboro Board of Trade

WURTSBORO, NEW YORK In Historic Sullivan County www.wurtsboro.org

www.scva.net

The 100 reasons why Woodland Pond is the best choice, but has only a few apartment homes left.

Come join us.

Woodland Pond is a continuing care retirement community that offers everything you look for now, and a full continuum of care, should it ever become needed. Call 845-256-5520, or visit www.wpatnp.org to find out more.

845-256-5520 100 Woodland Pond Circle New Paltz, NY 12561 | wpatnp.org

2015 12 | Winter Explore Hudson Valley

DAVID SLUTZKY

tinue back up 82 to Pine Plains, where you’ll reach up with 308, where a right will lead you towards SR 22 and Millerton (after a left onto 22 N). Take time to check out this cute hamlet, full of oldstyle shops from Saperstein’s department store to clothes and book emporiums and an old style movie theater. Eventually continue back up Route 22 until a road bears off to the left, Winchell Mountain Road (CR 60 at Irondale), which rises up a hill to a cemetery where one takes the first right onto Pulver Road, which if you stay with to the left at the next Y becomes CR 8, and eventually feeds into 82 again. Follow Route 82 north through Ancram and Ancramdale until it flows into Route 23, which should be followed to the Rip Van Winkle Bridge, where one then then take a left back onto SR 9G south through Germantown and Clermont towards that same Kingston bridge. Great side trips along the way include the Omega Institute at journey’s start, various back roads anywhere along the route, east on Route 308 from Pine Plains into the Stissing Mountain/Carvel estate wild lands

LAUREN THOMAS

Winter Clearance!

Mattresses attresses es Starting at $99 $ Sofas s for only $299

*We Have MOVED!

(memorialized in a special exhibit at the American Museum of Natural History in NYC), and especially into the hamlets of Germantown and Tivoli. Come back down 9G at the end (being sure to see the Bard College campus if you never have).

Great eats along this two-and-a-half-hour trip are available at the Red Devon in Bangall, Stissing House in Pine Plains, Taro’s Pizza or Irving House Coffee in Millerton, the Farmer’s Wife in Ancram, Otto’s Market in Germantown, or various spots in the center of Tivoli.

5. Hudson River History, Highlands & Hubris. This tour de force is a great mix of urban and rural, with some key historic views, plenty of 20thcentury detritus, and an overall sense of grand expanse that’s perfect for curing cabin fever blues.

Start out at Kingston. Cross the Hudson and then heading south at the first right, on to 103, River

LIVE LOCAL. READ LOCAL. NEWS THAT’S RELEVANT TO YOUR LIFE.

*Route 9 in Poughkeepsie Next to Friendly Ford and across from Red Lobster

Giving Their Customers More and Charging Them Less For Over 90 Years.

Poughkeepsie 845-204-9090 davisfurnitureonline.com

ULSTER PUBLISHING

NEW PALTZ TIMES • WOODSTOCK TIMES KINGSTON TIMES • SAUGERTIES TIMES ALMANAC WEEKLY 845-334-8200

Winter 2015 Explore Hudson Valley

| 13

DION OGUST

ANITA BARBOUR

borhoods, down towards the Cold Spring and Garrison riverfronts and their grand views of the military academy across the river, off to the USMA campus and great free military museum at Highland Mills, around Cornwall, and in the various riverside small communities of southern Ulster County. Great eats? That’s a long list with highlights including China Rose overlooking the river in Rhinecliff, the Culinary Institute of America at Hyde Park, Machu Picchu Peruvian restaurant on Broadway in Newburgh, and a whole host of great cafes in most towns.

Of course, this is only a start. We’ve left out the Greene County Mountaintop, reached from Route 28 via scenic Routes 214 or 42 in Phoenicia and Shandaken, or up either 23A or 23 from the Catskill/Saugerties area. We also love the long roundelay west on Route 28 out into the Margaretville-Andes-Roxbury farmlands, or up County Route 42 from Big Indian past Frost Valley to Grahamsville and Claryville, coming back through Peekamoose into Olive and the Ashokan Reservoir area. Or heading up into the Chatham-Kinderhook area of Columbia County, out to Millbrook, or just getting lost anywhere this time of year.

So much cheap gasoline, so little time. Just take a road map, a good app, or the confidence that you can never really get that lost.

LAUREN THOMAS

Road. Follow it until it ends at the Rhinecliff Road, where you’ll hang a right and head towards the train station and river. This becomes Charles Street and Morton Road (CR85), which you’ll follow as it eventually becomes Mill Road and leads you to Route 9. There you’ll want to make a right, head south through mansion-rich Hyde Park, and then past Poughkeepsie into the South Dutchess mall lands.

At Route 9D, just past the South Hills Mall, take a right and head in towards Wappinger’s Falls (where this publication gets printed!). Follow this route south through Beacon and beyond, eventually heading through the Putnam County riverside communities of Cold Spring and Garrison. When you get to the Bear Mountain Bridge make a right and cross the river, heading north on the west side along Route 9W through Fort Montgomery, the outskirts of West Point, and Cornwall (where the Hudson Highlands Museum makes for a great visit). Take a right at the signs for the George Washington Headquarters Historic Site in Newburgh, on to S. William Street heading east through an as-yet-ungentrified neighborhood to Liberty Street, where you’ll make a left and pass by the historic GW site. Keep heading north, over Broadway and through some historic districts, as the street eventually becomes Balmville Road and leads past the 325-year-old Balmville Tree, situated on the state’s small park and forest.

At Route 9W make a right and head north through Marlboro, Milton and Highland and eventually, before returning into Kingston, you’ll pass some of the grand old monasteries that still line the river across from the east shore’s fabled mansions. This three-hour-plus route includes great side trips into the grand mansions, up Beacon’s Main Street, or Poughkeepsie’s old neigh-

Warmth. Reliability.

Integrity.

OFFERING PROPANE & HEATING OIL

Get peace of mind with a dependable supply of fuel that's there when you need it.

Ask about our new customer specials!

1-800-PROPANE www.suburbanpropane.com

2015 14 | Winter Explore Hudson Valley

COURTESY CITY OF KINGSTON

Gentrifying the Hudson Valley Two cities, two stories: Kingston takes on Hudson

By Lynn Woods

N

owhere is a recent economic and cultural revival more evident than in Hudson and Kingston, two burgeoning “micropolitan” areas rising out of the ashes of a collapsed Hudson Valley manufacturing base. The fortuitous change of fortunes has been boosted by a combination of young urbanites priced out of the Big Apple and older second-home owners trading in weekends in the country for full-time residency in a small, friendly city.

For at least two decades, waves of migrating artists and New York professionals have been attracted by the two cities’ cheap housing prices, abundant space and sympathetic natural environment. The two Hudson Valley small cities have long lingered on the cusp of renewal.

It now appears that the sea change that has been long predicted has finally happened. Formerly ubiquitous empty storefronts are increasingly occupied by cafes, restaurants, antique emporiums and specialty stores. The newcomers are attracted by what they are familiar with. The quirkiness, sophistication, and in some cases the prices of Williamsburg and Greenwich Village are being transplanted to the hinterlands.

The shift, it now seems, is more than just a revival of retail. Both cities are redefining their economies and quality of life through creative repurposing.

The few abandoned factories left are becoming workshops for high-end artisans and cultural centers. Empty lots are being transformed into community playgrounds, gardens and even small-scale farms. Abandoned rail corridors are being gussied up as a system of pedestrian and bike trails within

COURTESY CITY OF HUDSON

walkable communties. Decrepit industrial waterfronts are being reborn as recreational magnets.

Planning efforts to create walkable communities are being fed by concerns about climate change and the finiteness of fossil fuels. The dream of a renewed sense of community has replaced the nightmare of suburban isolation.

But gentrification doesn’t stop with just pushing out the poor. Gentrification can threaten the very diversity, affordability, and creative expression that the newcomers claim attracted them in the first place. How will the factors that are turning New York City into two cities, one for the rich and the other for the poor, play out here?

Too hip for its own good?

INFORMATION OVERLOAD? Get news that’s relevant to your life.

ULSTER PUBLISHING

ALMANAC WEEKLY KINGSTON TIMES • NEW PALTZ TIMES SAUGERTIES TIMES • WOODSTOCK TIMES

845-334-8200

In Hudson, gentrification has already reached the point where it definitely has pushed out the poor people. It’s now threatening the first wave of artist immigrants as well. A two-million-dollar pricetag on a building for sale on Warren Street has set a new price high. Commercial rents may increase to the point of pricing out the quirky, individualistic retail stores that make Warren Street so appealing. While 15 years ago one could buy a property for $50,000, today all that’s available “is either over $500,000 or needs $100,000 worth of work,” said Sarah Sterling, a broker at Halstead Properties. Numerous articles in The New York Times have added fuel to the fire. After a slump four years ago, “all of a sudden we were discovered as the new hip town,” Sterling said.

Gentrification is now at work in other parts of the small city, pushing some of the newest would-

be arrivals to other Hudson Valley cities. “The divide has always been here, but it’s wealthier now than when we came,” said Linda Mussmann, who founded the alternative film center, Time Space Limited, with partner Claudia Bruce in a former bakery in 1991. When Mussman and Bruce arrived, Hudson was a very poor city: the cement industry was on the wane, the middle class had left, and the arrival of a Wal-Mart north of the city had seemed to kill off what retail was left on Warren Street.

Clumps of antique dealers from New York City, attracted by the city’s cheap space and nineteenthcentury architecture, arrived just in time. Today the retail mix has become more varied again, noted Mussmann, with “wine stores, book stores, houseware stores, and restaurants, a lot of which are high end, with big-ticket menus.” Mussman acknowledged the cumulative impact of the changes: “It’s an economic engine that’s gained momentum.”

Spurred by the opportunities available via the Internet, self-employed artisans and creative techies joined Hudson’s newcomers. According to The Albany Business Review, in 2010 Hudson had the highest self-employment rate in the state, with ten percent of the working population selfemployed, much higher than the national average of 6.5 percent.

Mussmann, who has run for the school board and for mayor, said she and Bruce have been committed to serving the community. TSL has offered kids’ programs and educational workshops, bailed kids out of jail, and helped teens get into college.

Winter 2015 Explore Hudson Valley

| 15

COURTESY CITY OF KINGSTON

“Our community needs a good deal of help and attention,” Mussmann said. “It’s not just about making money, but looking out for my neighbors.

Humanity is part of the deal.”

The local school system has a low graduation rate. Most of the newcomers send their school-age kids to Hawthorne Valley, Emma Willard, or Berkshire Country Day School. However, a number of programs designed to help boost education levels of local children are creating new opportunities, said Ellen Thurston, a three-term alderperson who now serves as county supervisor representing the Third Ward. Though the unemployment rate is low, many of the locals lack the skills needed to work in the new restaurants.

The new newcomers The Amtrak train station provides direct access to non-driving New Yorkers. Ridership on the Hudson-New York rail line has increased dramatically. Thurston says it’s now one of the busiest in the state. Hudson’s abundance of large buildings remains an attractive resource, providing storage space for the antique dealers, offices (most notably for Etsy, which now employs 75 at its sales center), and performance and event spaces. The Basilica, located on the waterfront, draws thousands for its annual Farm & Flea event. Club Helsinki, reflecting the city’s vibrant music community, is another arrival that gave Hudson a big lift. “There’s great opportunities,” said Mussmann. “The arts and cultural scene is pretty amazing for such a small place.”

Thurston, who arrived in Hudson from Manhattan in 1995, said that creative people other than high-profile artists are flocking to the city and its environs, too. She cites among the arrivals prominent people from the publishing and film worlds.

It’s not just Hudson, but the whole region that’s gentrifying, she said. “The whole-food movement is really big in Hudson. Nancy Fuller, who has a program on the Food Network called “Farmhouse Rules,” buys her kitchen implements in Hudson and patronizes the wine store. The demand for good food — which is available in abundance, though expensive — has helped the local farm economy blossom.

With half the property owners not paying taxes, the old Hudson desperately needed to broaden its tax base, said Thurston. It did. Where once she was surrounded by working-class homeowners, now “I’m surrounded by B&Bs,” joked Thurston.

Low-income renters were displaced when dilapidated multi-family homes were converted back into single-family residences. Driven out by higher taxes, some locals who owned property cashed in and moved a few miles north to Greenport.

Foster As a KidsPeace foster parent, you can make all the difference in the life of a child. fostercare.com

845-331-1815 200 Aaron Court Kingston, NY 12401 © 2012 012 12 2 KidsPe Ki Pe eace. e eace eac ace. W We e resp respect pectt our clie clients li nts nts’ t pri priv riivac acy y. The The mode mode odell repr represen p esen esentted ted in this his publ publi blicat icatio icati io ion is for illustrative purposes only and in no way w represents represen nts or endorses KidsPeace KidsPeace.

“The community is constantly in a state of flux, and one wonders what the word ‘community’ is all about,” explained Mussmann. Increasingly, she said, the divide is not just between the newcomers and the natives, but also between the original artists and the new arrivals.

For Hudson, the purchase of a building by art star Marina Abramovic proved a pivotal moment.

Abramovic stood up at a city Common Council meeting and said she hoped Hudson would turn into Park City, Utah. She also wanted a parking lot for 700 cars.

Mussmann’s reaction was that this was the worst thing that could happen. “It turns the tables against any kind of balance,” she said. Such unexamined assertions, she continued, “would have a huge impact on the community. Right now there’s a lot of Marina telling everybody what her plans are and not a lot of dialogue.”

Though Mussmann said she’s happy TSL is thriving and its audience continues to grow, she remains protective of the kind of community “where we worked hard to make a difference. I don’t want to be dismissed because she knows Lady Gaga.”

“We could be ruined by the all the publicity,” agreed Thurston. “I came to Hudson because it had an edge. I don’t want Hudson to get too trendy.”

Kingston gains momentum The population numbers is one main difference between Hudson and Kingston. Kingston is much bigger, with a population of 24,000 compared to 6600 for Hudson. While Hudson is compact,

Kingston sprawls. It takes a while to know your way around.

Kingston’s Broadway is a traffic corridor that connects the Stockade to the Rondout. It will soon be getting a serious upgrade, with new bike lanes, redesigned intersections, pocket parks, new benches and other amenities. A north-south freight rail line cuts the city in two. A significant chunk of the Rondout downtown was torn down in a 1960s urban-renewal project.

As well as a much deeper, more layered history than most places, Kingston also boasts a great diversity of historic architecture. The buildings range from the seventeenth-and eighteenth-century stone buildings in the uptown Stockade district whose streets were laid out by the Dutch, to the Rondout’s Italianate brick storefronts and the midtown tenements. Also along the route between the two districts are Victorian painted ladies and old brick former factories.

Kingston hit bottom in the early 1990s after the closing of the massive IBM plant in the neighboring Town of Ulster. The city has been attracting artists for decades, but recently the influx may have achieved critical mass. The Stockade district, which used to be spookily quiet at five o’clock in the afternoon, is again becoming a bustling center of cafes, restaurants, and shops. Fleisher’s Organic and Grassfed Meats and its butcher apprentice program has attracted national media coverage, as has the stately Stockade Tavern. “Lumbersexuals” congregate in the antiques-filled Outdated Café and BSP, a former theater which showcases musical groups. (The younger generation also consists

ENROLLING NOW 40 Park Lane Highland, NY 12528 P: 845.883.5151 F: 845.883.6452 Jo-Ann Frisina, M.S., CCC-SLP Certified School Administrator Program Director

~ Since 1996

How about a Belgian Hot Chocolate?

845-658-3355 • www.lemoncakes.com

Freedom

RELAX

to

12 month no interest financing on all Hot Springs Spas.

Fan Spa tasy mod els $ 3

,495 00

1606 Ulster Avenue, 604 Rte 299, Lake Katrine (Next to Adams) Highland (Next to Lowes) 336-8080 883-5566 www.aquajetpools.com • Family owned and operated for over 30 years

2015 16 | Winter Explore Hudson Valley

COURTESY CITY OF HUDSON

of kids raised in Kingston who left and chose to return, a promising development that suggests opportunities do exist for local youth.)

The downtown Rondout district, whose docks on the Rondout Creek attract numerous boats, including some very fancy yachts, in the warm months, is now home to a wine shop, artisan café and lunch bistro called Grounded, an art supplies store, upscale antiques emporia, a clothing boutique and several restaurants.

The Hudson River Maritime Museum, which shares a large maintenance barn built for the overwintering sloop Clearwater.

The Stockade District and the Rondout “are small and very walkable,”said Kevin Godbey, a Kingston native, former IBMer and editor of the Kingston Happenings online newsletter. “There’s appealing housing close by, so that you can walk to the night life, restaurants and shops.”

Raising all boats The city government is spearheading conver-

sion of an abandoned rail line into a rail-trail, which will enhance the sprawling midtown area of homes and industrial buildings where most of the city’s poorer residents live. Citizen-led initiatives, such as the Kingston Land Trust, which proposed the rail-trail, and the O+ Festival, which brings musicians, performers, and artists to the city over Columbus Day weekend in exchange for reduced or free medical and dental services — the event has been so successful it’s being exported to San Francisco and other cities — have been highly effective in improving the quality of life and attracting more newcomers. “We’re trying to raise all boats,” said Godbey. Nonprofit groups, including the Center for Creative Education, which offers hip hop and drumming workshops, and the Everette Hodge Center, which has a free after-school program and garden, are serving inner city youth.

Godbey said he doesn’t think Kingston is susceptible to the kind of intense gentrification that’s occurred in New York City. He advocates attraction of small but not tiny companies which would

Shifting focus How a creative class is growing in Kingston and other places

By Jennifer Schwartz Berky ack in 2007, Ulster County adopted a plan for sustainable economic development. Ulster Tomorrow. As one of four strategic areas it included creative and knowledge clusters. “… the clusters of skilled talent that may be the most beneficial factor in generating economic wealth in a region.”

Kingston has since seen a flurry of community and cultural activity, Many longstanding residents and transplants have started launching new businesses and revitalization initiatives.

An ambitious Greenline rail-trail network has been planned to converge in Midtown. A YMCA farm is joining the burgeoning urban agriculture movement in the Hudson Valley. Unique events such as the O+ Festival is celebrating the growing arts community. A “Made in Kingston” event recently highlighted the activity of what’s been dubbed the “creative sector.”

Similar movements are underway throughout the region, from Hudson and Catskill south to Beacon and Newburgh. Pundits point out how the creative sector can be a driver of economic development.

From 2001 to 2010, the occupational cluster of the arts, entertainment, publishing, and broadcasting for four Mid-Hudson counties – Putnam, Orange, Dutchess and Ulster – grew by 3244 jobs, a 32% increase from 10,235. In that same period,

B

Ulster County added 950 jobs, or an increase from 2709 to 3659. The percentage of jobs in this sector for the region is nearly double the national average.

Small businesses have also been shown to be the impetus for a majority of these new jobs, and for much of the region’s sense of innovation. Between 2000 and 2012, small businesses in Ulster County grew from by 317. Most of these were micro-businesses of one to four employees. The Small Business Administration reports that very small businesses create more jobs than any other firm size does.

Etsy, the Brooklyn-based e-commerce website launched in 2005,opened its office in Hudson three years ago, and the office has grown from eleven to more than 80 employees. “The office is continuing to grow, and we prioritize hiring from the Hudson Valley,” says Heather Jassy, vice president of member operations.

“The local creative, entrepreneurial spirit is a perfect fit for us, and many Hudson Valley artists and makers are among the more than one million sellers on Etsy,” Jassy explained. “Our goal is to share what we know about entrepreneurship, and to use our platform to empower local artisans. The Hudson Valley has such a rich cultural history around making, and we’re glad to help enable that in any way we can. Buyers want goods with individuality and meaning, and there are huge opportunities for creative businesses to grow.” n 2002, Richard Florida popularized the concept of the “Creative Class” as a sector of the economy consisting of science, technology, innovation, art, culture, music, design, entertain-

I

hire 30 to 40 people as one of the best ways to increase the city’s prosperity and build on the success of the city’s small fabricators. “Building a better Broadway would add to everything else that’s going on,” said Godbey. “Just putting in bike lanes will make Kingston look like a progressive city.”

While the prices in Kingston’s rental market is similar to Hudson’s, with few apartments available for less than $800, its real estate is still affordable (although the property taxes are extremely high). You can still purchase a house for about $100,000 — less if it’s in midtown — and the prices, along with the city’s walkability and the quality of its schools (one of the elementary schools offers a popular Montessori program and Kingston High School has outstanding music and art programs), are attracting hipsters, along with empty nesters, to the city. ”We’re on the cusp of better things,” said Andi Turco-Levin, a broker at Coldwell Banker Village Green and former alderperson. “We’re finding the partnerships to make better connections. We’re on the right path.”

Kingston hasn’t yet attempted the kind of dramatic leap into gentrification one witnesses in Hudson, but that could change with the advent of a new arts district in the area. “The thing I’ve noticed about midtown is how little it’s changed,” said Richard Frumess, who moved to Kingston in 1995 and is the president of R&F Handmade Paints, a manufacturer of encaustic paints and oil sticks that employs artists.

What has changed is the dialog among neighboring businesses, residents, and the city government. R&F Paints is part of a cluster of small manufacturers in Midtown that after getting to know each other collectively came up with the idea of the arts district, which has been embraced by the current mayor, Shayne Gallo.

Several factories in the area have been converted to affordable work and live lofts, while a former lace mill plant is in the process of being renovated with affordable housing units for artists by RUPCO, a nonprofit advocating affordable housing and community development. The organization also offers a program that helps first-time homebuyers by subsidizing their down payment, closing costs, and maintenance fees.

The proposed arts district, which would at-

ment, and the knowledge-based professions.

The terminology recognizes the economic role of creativity in a range of pursuits, arts-related or not. It is often used more narrowly to include cultural industries such as music and performing arts organizations, museums and galleries, broadcasters, advertisers, printers, design services, eating and drinking establishments, educational institutions, arts equipment makers and repairers, and publishing.

Clusters, which are geographic concentrations of companies and their surrounding support systems, nurture ecosystems for businesses. The cluster environment supplies specific services.

Educational institutions offer a prepared workforce. Government offices that provide technical assistance. Not-for-profit community organizations offer social networks for these businesses.

The urban or small-town atmosphere contributes quality of life.

Clusters serve an economic function as well.

They can raise productivity and reduce the cost of doing business. hen Scott Tillitt opened the Beahive “coworking” space in the heart of Beacon’s Main Street in an artisan-renovated 1907 Bell Telephone building, that city’s renaissance was being attributed to the 2003 opening of the Dia Art Foundation’s 240,000-square-foot contemporary art museum in a former Nabisco plant on the Hudson River. He attributed the revival largely to the artists and creatively inclined residents who started moving to Beacon in the decade that followed.

“Those residents have brought new energy and businesses, but they also bring new thinking that can impact larger societal issues,” he explained.

“They have the kind of broad perspective we need to address the intertwined challenges we face, connecting the dots between seemingly disparate ideas.”

Since then, Tillitt and a group of social entrepreneurs funded by the Local Economies Project of the New World Foundation have launched

W

Winter 2015 Explore Hudson Valley tempt to “brand” existing amenities, including an old movie house converted to a performing arts center, Kingston High School, several galleries, and the aforementioned arts-related manufacturers, will inevitably raise property values, noted Godbey. But he applauded current efforts to help spread the benefits to people of low or modest incomes.

Reasons for optimism Frumess, who sits on the city’s arts advisory committee, finds reasons for optimism. “Redesigning streets is not enough,” he said. “It’s what’s going to be there. Gentrification is an amorphous word. You can’t shake the class structure, but you can fight it. There is wiggle room, where you can reach out, and that solidarity is very important.”

Gregg Swanzey, Kingston’s director of economic development and strategic partnerships — he moved to Kingston in 1986 and formerly was captain and later executive director of Clearwater — said the city is sensitive about “doing the right thing.” He seeks a mitigating balance.

“There’s a tension between bringing businesses and more capital into the city and the impact of that on property values and market rates for the first-time homebuyer,” Swanzey explained. He’s wary of the kind of dramatic increase that’s occurred in Hudson, fearing a bubble. If and when the bubble bursts, it ends up leaving people underwater and unable to invest.

Godbey noted that the Kingston businesses “seem a lot more stable” than the stores in the past. “Positive indicators” that the city is finally turning the corner include a lot more events and music venues, he added. “The new people aren’t just opening up businesses and buying houses but are getting involved,” he said, citing the recent New Year’s Eve celebration in the Stockade District, hosted by local businesses, which attracted more than a thousand people to the Spiegeltent set up at BSP and the midnight ball drop.

Kingston’s gentrification “has taken a long time,” added Swanzey. “But mayor Gallo is really open to the changes, and the funding is available for connectivity and infrastructure. It’s about smart growth, connecting people not just by car but on

Re>Think Local, a nonprofit collaborative of locally owned independent businesses that is part of a national “localism” movement led by the Business Alliance of Living Local Economies (or BALLE). Its mission: “to co-create a better Hudson Valley: vibrant, sustainable, locally rooted and human scale, with equal concern for people, planet, and prosperity.”

Clustering facilitates productivity and innovation, wrote Jeremy Nowak, one of America’s leading thought leaders in urban development and civil society. Nowak’s strategic advice to businesses, social sector institutions, and innovative governments is to pursue a coordinated approach: “From non-profit performance space to galleries, to businesses that offer classes, to specialty supply shops, to the individual artist entrepreneur and contractor, neighborhood arts activity is an identifiable business sector. As economists who study business clusters recognize, geographical proximity and the interactions that emerge from related activities within a local area are important even in the age of electronic connectivity.” he US Economic Development Administration created an Innovation Index eight years ago which uses industry and occupational data to help decision-makers understand competitive advantages and to support new and emerging industries. It recommends support for regional knowledge economy components from within communities. Following what economists have been saying for decades, the EDA advised: “Rather than emphasizing incentives, subsidies and low-cost, low-skill labor, the new race is won by regions with the capacity to innovate and with the brainpower – education and skills – needed to create and sustain a competitive advantage over the long run. Successful regions build on their own unique qualities and advantages.”

Creative districts have become fashionable.

Nearly 100 such districts have already been designated or planned in the United States. Several are in the making in the Hudson Valley. Plans for a formal creative district have been brewing for at

T

| 17

Comparing counties When it comes to jobs, Brooklyn and Ulster head in opposite directions

eographic mobility is a complex phenomenon. It involves constant tradeoffs. Some people move to new places because of better job opportunities. Others move because of higher costs. Still others seek an improved quality of life, and yet others pine for better educational opportunities.

Many people head to big cities in pursuit of opportunity. They find all kinds of neighborhoods there and all kinds of living situations. Some stay.

Others flee.

There’s a middle course, too. It’s not unreasonable to want to partake of the wealth of the big city without living there. Why not straddle both town and country?

About a million residents of Brooklyn have jobs. The jobs number has grown by a remarkable 170,000 from 2002 to 2011, the last year for which census data is readily available.

According to a 2011 census count, 41 percent of all Brooklyn jobholders work in Manhattan, 37 percent in their home borough, and eight percent travel to Queens. That leaves 14 percent of Brooklynites, or about 140,000, working elsewhere. About 15,000 of these Brooklyn residents have jobs in the lower Hudson Valley (Westches-

ter, Putnam and Rockland counties) and more than 4000 in the mid-Hudson area (Dutchess, Orange, Sullivan, Ulster, Greene and Columbia counties).

With the healthy Brooklyn job market, the number of people commuting there for work from the other New York City boroughs has been increasing, too. Between 2002 and 2011, about 18,000 more Manhattan residents, 17,000 more Bronx residents, and 7000 more Queens residents went to work in Brooklyn.

Though the amount of commuting from lower Hudson Valley residents to Manhattan barely budged in the same decade, Hudson Valley travel to work in Brooklyn increased. Lower Hudson Valley residents working in Brooklyn increased by7000.

In the mid-Hudson Valley, 8500 more residents worked in Manhattan and 4500 more in Brooklyn by 2011. Clearly, not all the job migration is from the Big Apple outward.

Brooklyn’s hot. Many parts of it are gentrifying. People having trouble paying the ever-rising rents or tired of living in crowded apartments are restless. People seeking to start families or retire to the country are looking for alternatives. Those are the folks one sees at Hudson Valley realestate places every weekend.

Here’s a census statistic Ulster County politicians are unlikely to be boasting about. While the number of Brooklyn residents working in their home borough increased by 76,000 between 2002 and 2011, the number of Ulster County residents working in their own home county decreased by more than 10,000 (from 41,954 in 2002 to 31,446 in 2011), a result of both fewer jobs and longer commutes, in the same period.

foot and bike, while also improving resiliency.”

Flooding is a definite concern in the waterfront district, and the city has established a climatechange planning office. Developing Kingston as a recreational port and possibly installing high-

speed internet services are two initiatives that could further boost the city’s attractiveness to newcomers, Swanzey said. “What I’d love to see is more people investing. We’re changing people’s sense of what’s possible.”

least a decade.

In Kingston, established businesses such as Bailey Pottery and R&F Handmade Paints have been joined by a new crop of “makers” of crafts, furniture, apparel, and food. Industrial spaces such as the Shirt Factory and about-to-be-revived Lace Mills building as subsidized artist housing are providing relatively inexpensive, flexible spaces in which these creative cottage industries can grow and prosper.

Creative-district initiatives need to encourage synergies that will foster innovation, according to Nowak. They need to include education, talent networks, leadership principles, business and marketing needs, and “civic collaboration.” Creative placemaking allows for stronger connections and community transformation via heightened public involvement and interaction.

Richard Frumess, founder and co-owner of R&F Paints and a leader of the creation of Kingston’s new district, credits strong local collaboration, especially from the city’s current administration. “When we didn’t have it, there were scattered attempts to revive the area, but there wasn’t really any focus. The involvement

of community is very important to create the Kingston that is, not just a lot of outside wealth coming in to give it a makeover.”

By Geddy Sveikauskas

G

n her essay “Ulster County Ghosts” for The IBM Years, published last year, Gail Godwin harkens back to the days when times were good at the global computer giant’s Kingston plant. Before the layoffs began in 1993, many in this area thought the economic security brought by this major employer would last forever. Asked Godwin, “What happens to such a place and its people when the giant creature gets up, shakes itself off, and goes away?”

When the closures began hitting hard in 1994, governor Mario Cuomo famously advised longtime Ulster County Chamber of Commerce leaders: “Pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and move on.”

As the authors of the Innovation Index conclude, “Far too many places in rural America still have their eye on a 20th-century prize: recruiting businesses by giving away excessive financial incentives.”

This was not a recipe for success, they noted.

I

Hudson Valley Estate Sale H U D S O N V A L L E Y E S TAT E S A L E . C O M

Vintage Furniture & Furnishings for Every Room!

New Location: 853 Flashbush Rd. (Rt. 32), Kingston NY. Just South of Rhinecliff/Kingston Bridge We deliver Ask for details

New items arriving daily!

Open: Tue-Fri 11-6:30, Sat. 11-5:30, Sun 11-4 CLOSED MONDAYS

845-339-7800

2015 18 | Winter Explore Hudson Valley

Winter’s great for family fun Try these family activities around the region

By Erica Chase-Salerno “Not knowing when the Dawn will come, I open every Door.”

— Emily Dickinson

JANUARY This winter, I invite your family on some new adventures. Try some new activities and visit some off-the-beaten-path places in the spirit of Janus, who represents transitions and new beginnings, and for whom January is named.

The Challenger Learning Center in Airmont offers public planetarium programs on the second Sunday of every month, and public simulated space missions on the third Sunday. This month a Return to the Moon mission is scheduled for Sunday, January 18. My kids had a blast doing this activity, each getting time in both mission control and in the “spacecraft.” Sessions begin at 2 p.m., and the cost is $10 per person, $5 for seniors. Ages 8 and below must be accompanied by a parent.

Reservations are recommended. 225 Route 59, Airmont. 357-3416. http://www.lhvcc.com.

Minnewaska State Park Preserve offers guided snowshoe outings all winter long, such as the Sunday, January 18 2.5-mile trek to Awosting Falls or the Monday, January 19 2-mile hike, plus an allages family outing on Monday, February 16. 5281 Route 44/55, Kerhonkson. Pre-registration is required at 255-0752. http://nysparks.com. Afterwards, indulge in the Alternative Baker’s Belgian hot chocolate, 407 Main Street, Rosendale. 6583355. http://www.lemoncakes.com.

On Monday, January 19, celebrate Martin Luther King, Jr. Day with acts of service where children of all ages can help! Honor that decluttering resolution by collecting spare mugs and cups for The Lunchbox soup kitchen, or buy a few canned items to give to the Dutchess Outreach food pantry. Both are located at 29 North Hamilton Street in Poughkeepsie. http://www.dutchessoutreach.org. Write and deliver greeting cards to seniors at area nursing homes, such as Ten Broeck

Mountain Laurel Waldorf School Parent/Child through 8th grade Open House

for prospective families

Sat. Jan. 24, 2015 10am - Noon

LAUREN THOMAS

Commons at 1 Commons Drive in Lake Katrine. http://www.tenbroeckcommons.com. Or donate items not covered by food assistance programs, such as toiletries and disposable diapers, to area charities.

Bring Common Core history themes to life and take advantage of free entrance days at U.S. National Parks on Monday, January 19 and again from Saturday, February 14 through Monday, February 16, including the Franklin D. Roosevelt site, 4097 Albany Post Road, Hyde Park, 229-9115, ext. 2010. http://www.nps.gov/hofr/index.htm.

Also the Vanderbilt Mansion, 119 Vanderbilt Park Road, Hyde Park. 229-9115, ext. 2010. http:// www.nps.gov/vama/index.htm. Learn more at http://www.nps.gov/findapark/feefreeparks.htm.

The Ashokan Center’s Hoot features quintessential Catskills music, nature, and dance from Friday, January 30 through Sunday, February 1.

The family day is Saturday, January 31, with performances including Elizabeth Mitchell & You Are My Flower, all-ages crafts with FiberFlame, and a variety of parent-child activities, plus onsite trails, blacksmithing, and more. Suggested donation of $30 to $60 per adult, additional fees for food and lodging. 477 Beaverkill Road, Olivebridge. 657-8333. http://www.homeofthehoot. com.

Kingston’s WinterFest is “snow or no,” so if there’s ground cover this free family-friendly event is on for Saturday, January 31, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.! Enjoy snowshoeing lessons and hikes, animal tracking, winter survival, and arts and crafts, and more at Hasbrouck Park. 379 Delaware Avenue, Kingston. 331-1682. https://apm. activecommunities.com/kingstonparksandrec/ Activity_Search/winterfest-january-31/649.

born in Esopus as Isabella Baumfree near the historic plaque along Route 213. You can travel her famed trail from slavery to freedom, following this map: http://www.esopus.com/brochures/sojourner_trail.pdf.

Live the life of “Frozen” movie good guys Kristoff and reindeer Sven by cutting ice out of the pond and transporting the blocks by sled to the ice house at the Hanford Mills Museum’s Ice Harvest Festival on Saturday, February 7 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. See ice fishing, blacksmithing, storytelling, horse-drawn sleigh riding, ice sculpting, the snowman village, and more. Kids 12 and under are free. 51 County Highway 12, East Meredith.

607-278-5744. http://www.hanfordmills.org.

You don’t have to go far or break the bank for a getaway that feels like you really got away, if you go to Frost Valley! Frost Valley is open yearround, but family weekend from Friday, February 13 through Monday, February 16 is a great way to recharge during the winter. Every day is filled with activities for all ages. You can take all of your meals in the dining hall so no cooking required, and you just choose your lodging, from dorm style to swanky inn-like accommodations. 2000 Frost Valley Road, Claryville. 985-2291. http://frostvalley.org.

Chinese New Year on Thursday, February 19 brings in the year of the goat, so how about stopping by the Forsyth Nature Center in Kingston to visit some real goats like my favorite, Mario, and the other resident animals? 157 Lucas Avenue, Kingston. 339-3053. http://forsythnaturecenter. org. For animal fun in Dutchess County including the adorable red pandas, check out Trevor Zoo, 113 Millbrook School Road, Millbrook. 677-3704. www.trevorzoo.org.

FEBRUARY

Snow sports

Honor local history this month by exploring some of the inspiring life of orator, self-freed slave, and powerful abolitionist Sojourner Truth,

Winter can and should be a time of introspection, hibernation, and taking it easy. In case your kids didn’t get that memo, channel those energy levels into snow sports! Look what Windham

UNPLUGGING Where students discover their strengths, recognize their responsiblity to others and envision the full possibility of their lives.

16 S. Chestnut St. New Paltz (845) 255-0033 - www.mountainlaurel.org

DOES NOT MEAN DISCONNECTING. CONNECT TO YOUR COMMUNITY.

ULSTER PUBLISHING

NEW PALTZ TIMES • WOODSTOCK TIMES KINGSTON TIMES • SAUGERTIES TIMES ALMANAC WEEKLY 845-334-8200

Winter 2015 Explore Hudson Valley

| 19

COURTESY JUST JUMP, HUDSON

Mountain offers for all ages of kids this year: 5-minute jaunts of independent snowmobiling for ages 6 and up, and under 120 pounds. Open weekends at $12 per ride; tubing, ice skating, and zip lining, open weekends at varying price levels. For skiers and snowboarders, check out the big air bag for practicing big jumps. All ages, open weekends at $10 per day; and every level of terrain park. 19 Resort Drive in Windham. 518-734-4300. http:// www.windhammountain.com.

Choose your own ice skating fun! For traditional Catskills style, it’s Mohonk Mountain House, complete with fireplace and hot cocoa.

1000 Mountain Rest Road, New Paltz. 255-1000, http://www.mohonk.com. Or go big at McCann Ice Arena for lessons, hockey, and DJ skate night.

14 Civic Center Plaza, Poughkeepsie. 454-5800. http://www.midhudsonciviccenter.org. Try comfortable Kiwanis Ice Rink in Saugerties for skate helpers, drop-in hockey, warm lobby areas, and a great outdoor wooden playground. 6 Small World Avenue, Saugerties. 247-2590. http://kiwanisicearena.com.

If you’ve got enough snow for sledding, remem-

ber that due to renovations, only the smaller sledding hill at Mills Mansion is open this season.

Check out Almanac Weekly’s Paul Smart’s sledding guide: http://www.hudsonvalleyalmanacweekly. com/2013/01/03/a-sledders-guide-to-the-midhudson-valley. Afterwards, warm up with a hot decadent treat at The Hudson Chocolate Bar, like The Angelina for serious chocolate lovers, or a Vanilla Steamer. 135 Warren Street, Hudson. 518828-3139. http://www.hudsonchocolatebar.com.

Have you discovered cross-country skiing?

Mountain Trails Cross-Country Ski Center is a great option for quiet nature trails, lessons, and equipment rentals, including pull sleds so even the youngest children can come along for a ride.

6198 Route 23 A, Tannersville. 518-589-5361. http://www.mtntrails.com. Later on, Last Chance Antiques & Cheese Cafe offers a variety of fare and has a children’s menu. 6009 Main Street, Tannersville. 518-589-6424. http://www.lastchanceonline.com.

Snow-free fun

ing the winter months.

Bounce! for the therapeutic powers of playing trampoline dodgeball against your own kin or just soaring solo. For all ages. Save time by completing the waivers online. 2 Neptune Road, Poughkeepsie. 206-4555. http://bounceonit.com/poughkeepsie.

Hudson Valley Raceway for thrilling slot car racing on three tracks, best for ages 5 and up.

Haviland Shopping Center, 870 Violet Avenue, Hyde Park. 838-5333. http://hvraceway.net.

Inner Wall for all levels of indoor rock climbing.

234 Main Street, New Paltz. 255-7625. http://theinnerwall.com.

Just Jump for indoor bounce fun from ages 1 to 12, Columbia Plaza, 350 Fairview Avenue, Hudson. 518-828-1982. http://justjumpny.com.

YMCA in Kingston gives a $10 day pass for indoor swim and more, $3 for 12 and under. 507 Broadway, Kingston. 338-3810. http://www. ymcaulster.org.

Hudson Valley Seed Library is for when you’re ready to think spring! http://www.seedlibrary.org.

Here are some more ideas for indoor action dur-

COURTESY MOHONK MOUNTAIN HOUSE

2015 20 | Winter Explore Hudson Valley

Next power outage, make sure your home is the one with the lights on.

Generator Sales, Professional Installation, Servicing & Repairs Berlinghoff Contracting, Authorized Dealer

ELECTRICAL SERVICES Residential & Commercial Renovations New Construction Repairs & Additions KOHLER Generator Sales, Installation & Service Professional Quality Service

(518) 398-0810 40 Myrtle Avenue Pine Plains, NY

www.berlinghoffelectrical.com