Community

By Jay Braman Jr.
The owners of the Peekamoose Restaurant & Tap Room in Big Indian found themselves smack dab in the middle of kitchen heaven recently when they joined a team of celebrity chefs to cook for the hundreds of thousands that attended House Beautiful’s Kitchen of the Year event at Rockefeller Center.

House Beautiful is a monthly magazine with 5.6 million readers that features information on inspirational and informative aspects of the home with a focus on decoration, paint and fabrics, kitchens, furnishings and home technology.

By Brian Sweeney
Ireland, Wales and England were the destinations for a group of Margaretville Central School students on a recently completed nine-day excursion.
“We really had a spectacular time,” commented MCS history teacher Brigitte Nagle, organizer of the trip.

The trip was not sanctioned through the school, but was independently organized by Mrs. Nagle and offered to students. The travelers were responsible for their own trip expenses.

North Blenheim — The New York Power Authority’s (NYPA) Blenheim-Gilboa (B-G) Visitors Center, in partnership with Mine Kill State Park, is hosting a summer environmental program inside the pool complex at Mine Kill State Park on Wednesday, July 25, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.

The admission-free, family-friendly event will teach participants how to identify trees and plants to discern which are edible and/or medicinal. Pack swimsuits and enjoy a swim at the park pool to make the most of the day.

Highmount –  The Belleayre Festival Opera presents the world’s most popular opera, the Puccini masterpiece “LaBoheme” on Saturday, July 28 at 8 p.m.

Donald Westwood’s spectacular new production, designed exclusively for the Belleayre Music Festival, features a cast of today’s most gifted young, internationally-known opera stars, led by Diana McVey, Violetta in last season’s magnificent “La Traviata.” The production will be performed in Italian with SuperTitles.

By Brian Sweeney
Restrictions on antler sizes will be expanded to the Catskills during the 2012 white-tailed deer hunting season, the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation has announced.
The Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) unveiled a number of changes of last week as part of its Five-Year Deer Management Plan.

By Jay Braman Jr.
Pine Hill area firemen, who have responded to their last alarm, were honored in Pine Hill Sunday with a heartfelt ceremony led by Lowell Smith, the chief of this little hamlet’s hook and ladder company.

Just outside of the firehall on Main Street there now stands a beautiful, pewter colored bell atop new stonework.

A residential burn ban has been implemented through October 10 in upstate and western New York, it was announced this week by Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

Wildfire danger across New York has been heightened by spring and summer rainfall amounts that are only 25 percent of averages. Sunday’s steady rainfall brought a bit of relief, but the drought conditions remain.

By Brian Sweeney
Delaware County was the prime location for a horror movie remake “We Are What We Are” that recently wrapped up filming.

Shooting began in mid-May and continued through June. The original “We Are What We Are” was made in Mexico as “Somo Lo Que Hay” and released in 2010. The new film is in post-production and will be in theaters next year.

By Jennifer Kabat
While ad honchos are busy rebranding the Catskills, trying yet again to get away from the Borscht Belt image that they think bedevils the region, the Catskills themselves seem to be doing just fine on their own, at least in our neck of the woods. Long known for food with local farms and farmers’ markets like the Round Barn now celebrating its 20th anniversary, in Delaware County this summer local restaurants are springing to life – or back into it.

Delhi — Delaware County Electric Cooperative’s (DCEC) Board of Directors has announced the selection of Mark Hilson Schneider as the cooperative’s CEO and general manager.

Schneider succeeds Greg Starheim, who will be taking on the role of president at Kenergy Corp., a large distribution cooperative based on Henderson, Kentucky.