Serving Rhinebeck and Neighboring Towns
Issue 83 | August 18, 2023
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Within Your Four Walls
At the Pilot we consider sustainability and community to be core pillars of what we cover. You can see that in the two features linked below. The first, about mid-Hudson air quality, will take you to a place you may not expect – within your home's four walls. Climate change is impacting that oxygen, too. Fortunately there are some low-tech and affordable ways to amend that air quality that we hope you'll find helpful from this story.
Our other feature is about the Southlands Foundation. Longtime Rhinebeck citizens may know about this one-time compound right on the edge of town formerly owned by the ultra-wealthy Dows family. But if you don't, you probably should. Today it’s become a 200-acre horse farm where parents can take their kids riding. And the farm teaches children with autism and helps adults with addiction and mental health challenges as well.
Next week we debut our how-to guide to the Dutchess County Fair – and also look at how locals strategize to avoid the Fair’s traffic challenges!
As always, thank you for reading and engaging with the Pilot.
– Michael Frank, sustainability writer for the Pilot, sitting at the Executive Editor’s desk this week while Eric Steinman takes a long-overdue vacation
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The Indoor Air We Breathe
Notice all those heavy rains lately? They're causing an unexpected and unwelcome change in indoor air quality, one we should all know about.
The good news is that most of the solutions are accessible and (reasonably) easy to implement.
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Learn to Ride a Horse at Southlands!
The former Dows family compound, Fox Hollow Estate, is just south of Rhinebeck between Route 9 and the Hudson River. This is a 200-acre horse farm with a 40-year teaching tradition. Any family or group of friends can go ride there, and we took a gallop over to give you a look at their work.
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Are You a Journalist or a Writer?
The HV Pilot needs writers to cover local news, local business, local real estate issues, and all things local and interesting to our thriving community.
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Cannabis Market Stop-Gap // The State of New York has, by all accounts, botched the roll-out of legalized recreational marijuana. This is a perishable crop; cannabis growers throughout our region have been sitting on weed grown last year, but due to multiple lawsuits, dispensaries have been unable to open in the Mid-Hudson region. To help salvage this year’s crop and keep local farmers afloat, in July the state’s Cannabis Control Board approved the sale of recreational marijuana at festivals and pop-ups. And this past weekend the Village of New Paltz led the way, holding New York State’s first-ever open-air pot farmers’ market directly behind a court where people used to be prosecuted for possession and other pot-related crimes.
The New Paltz market will take place weekly from now through the end of December, and the founder of one farm, Oak Queens LLC, in Accord, Jens Verhaegh, pointed out that it might well prove a better model than the dispensary system, “where we don’t ever get to meet the customer.” Verhaegh, standing in his tiny booth cheek-by-jowl with several other local growers, said for decades farmers’ markets in the Mid-Hudson have demystified agriculture and they “create passion for buying local.” Which is nice—but so is cash.
Unhoused in Dutchess // According to reporting in the Poughkeepsie Journal and a Dutchess County release this past week, the county executive’s office is now exploring plans for two facilities in the City of Poughkeepsie to house homeless people. The first would provide emergency housing at 26 Oakley Street. That location had originally been scrapped by the county in part because repair costs proved too expensive and because it was contested by stakeholders as well as city and state politicos who represent the Fifth Ward neighborhood. According to the Journal, these representatives say they weren’t informed about the Oakley Street reversal. The release says the County is applying for a $15 million grant from the state to retrofit that location, and to convert the former Hudson River Psychiatric Center into transitional/low-income housing. But the decision now pits city officials against the county, and could lead to legal action.
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Trees Under Attack // Spongy moths, caterpillars that love to attack oak trees but are also happy to chew on the leaves of maple, apple, willow, birch, and pine trees, now have invasive species company. The DEC recently warned about a new threat to elms – the zigzag sawfly. As first reported by the Times-Union, the East Asian pest that was first spotted in St. Lawrence County last summer has since migrated to the Mid-Hudson region. Its name is apt—it cuts a zipper pattern into leaves, easily visible from the ground. While there are mitigation techniques to slow spongy moths attacking your trees, the DEC, along with the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, is still studying the zigzag sawfly to find possible remediation measures.
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LOCAL EVENTS!
The HV Pilot continues to grow and serve the community. Check out our new events page with local happenings updated continuously.
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"Correct Me If I'm Norm"
This week Norm's guests are Allison Chawla, Dana Hoey & Michael Slaby, each of whom has, during mid-life, begun classes in religion: two at Harvard Divinity School and one at Union Theological Seminary.
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This Week
Honky Tonk in Staatsburg
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Friday, August 18 through Sunday, August 20
Summer Sidewalk Sale organized by the Rhinebeck Chamber of Commerce and Enjoy Rhinebeck.
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Saturday, August 19, 2-4PM
Ice Cream Social with the Rhinebeck Democrats Club. “Have some free ice cream and some good conversation.” More info about the club at rhinebeckdemocratsclub.org. At 50 Violet Place, Rhinebeck.
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Saturday, August 19, 4PM
Summer Reading Bookend Party with live music featuring the Ulsterados (Ulster County’s “officially unrecognized” honky tonk band), line dancing, games, prizes, food, and drinks. Fun for the whole family. Organized by Starr Library. At Black Snake Brewing Co., 148 Creek Rd., Staatsburg.
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Saturday, August 19, 5-7PM
Rhinebeck Arts Walk Wine Reception and viewing of works by painter Evelyn LaStella. At Gallery 71, 71 East Market St., Rhinebeck.
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Saturday, August 19, 5-7PM
Opening Reception of TRIO exhibition: works by Judith Hoyt, David Thelen, and Karl Dempwolf. At Albert Shahinian Fine Art, Upstairs at 22 East Market St., Rhinebeck.
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Friday, August 25th, 8:00PM, through Sunday, August 27th, Noon
“Beyond Delicious: Transforming the Future of Food,” a conference aiming to “inspire regional farming, diversify culinary culture, and effect change in food systems.” Speakers include “an all-star line-up of food innovators, restaurateurs, policy activists, farmers, and chefs,” including Mark Bittman, Maame Boakye, Ruth Reichl, and Sean Sherman. Tuition is charged on a sliding scale, up to $375. Organized by Omega Institute and Glynwood Center. Details at eomega.org. At the Omega Campus, Rhinebeck.
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Saturday, August 26th, 9:00AM - 11:30AM
Dirty Gaia presents “Worm Alchemy: Building Soil Health through Vermiculture.” $10. Click on flyer at Morton Library Calendar to register. At Morton, Rhinecliff.
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Saturday, August 26th, 2:00PM - 3:00PM
“Slavery, Segregation & Staatsburgh: From Black Service to White Servant.” Staatsburgh staff will explore the transition from a Black presence during the early 19th c. to the absence of Black people at the estate during the Gilded Age. Attendees will also explore the development of a free Black community in the surrounding hamlet. FREE. Reservations required, at https://parks.ny.gov/staatsburgh. At the Staatsburgh State Historic Site, 75 Mills Mansion Drive, Staatsburg.
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Wednesday, August 23, 7PM and continuing “as long as the weather holds up into September.” Adult Kickball and Volleyball. FREE. No signup needed. Presented by Clinton Rec. At Fran Mark Park, 337 Clinton Hollow Rd., Salt Point.
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Rhinebeck Rec is now offering Aqua Zumba (Wed. evenings) at the Town Pool and Adult Pick-up Soccer (Wed. PM and Sunday AM) at the newly refurbished soccer field. Register for all the sessions or pay a drop-in fee as you go. Click here for details.
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Now through August 20 – “Apocalypse Sky,” works by artists whose lives were transformed by the HIV/AIDS crisis during the 1980s and 1990s, including Keith Haring, Nan Goldin, Robert Mapplethorpe, and others. Vassar.edu/theloeb. At Vassar’s Lehman Loeb Gallery, 124 Raymond Ave., Poughkeepsie.
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Now through September 20 – Register for 2023-24 EMT training for people “of all ages and career stages.” No fee IF sponsored by a NYS-certified EMS agency. Trainings run through February 2024, Mon/Wed. 6PM-9:30PM; some Saturdays 8AM-11:30AM. For info. call Cheryl Hilbrandt, 845-876-0448 X136, or email chilbrandt@ndpems.com. At Bard College.
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Now through August 31 – Exhibition and sale of paintings to benefit Southlands Farm. At Montgomery Row Art Space, Upstairs at 6423 Montgomery St. (Rte. 9), Rhinebeck.
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Now through November 26, “Indian Theater: Native Performance, Art, and Self-Determination since 1969,” a show of over 100 works by Native American, First Nations, Metis, Inuit, and Alaska Native artists. See details at ccs.bard.edu. At Hessel Museum, Bard College.
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Town of Clinton Food Drive, to restock the food pantry at Pleasant Plains Presbyterian Church. Drop off canned goods and non-perishables at the Town of Clinton Clerk’s office, 1215 Centre Rd., Rhinebeck, Mondays-Thursdays, 9AM - 4PM, or at the Church, 2 Fiddlers Bridge Rd., Staatsburg. | |
Call for submissions: artworks inspired by the Rhinecliff Train Station, to be exhibited at Morton Library, Rhinecliff, later in 2023. Contact Chadkleitsch@gmail.com to submit a piece.
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Monday, August 21st
Town of Rhinebeck Planning Board
Rhinebeck Town Hall, 80 East Market St.
6:00PM
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Tuesday, August 22nd
Rhinebeck Central School District Board Meeting
At the School Library, 45 North Park Rd.
7:00PM
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Wednesday, August 30th
Rhinebeck Bulkeley Middle School New Families Orientation
45 N. Park Rd, Rhinebeck
11:00AM
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A web page has been added to the Rhinebeck Village website, providing ongoing information about the development project at 6 Mulberry St., also known as the Brogan Center.
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A copy of the draft Noise Ordinance discussed at the August 14 Rhinebeck Town Board meeting is available as part of the agenda for that meeting on the Town website.
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The Rhinebeck Town Conservation Advisory Board (CAB) is looking for new members for two-year terms. No experience necessary. The CAB provides assistance to the Town Planning Board in reviewing proposals that may negatively impact Rhinebeck’s natural environment. If interested, contact the Town Clerk.
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"Linus"
Linus (aka “Liney”) lives part-time in Rhinebeck and will turn 17 years old this November. He is a sweet and quirky little maltipoo. "Liney" enjoys sleeping on his (faux) fur blanket, eating scraps of table food, and riding in the car.
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