Margaretville

Margaretville — Barns, those icons of rural life that have long defined the landscape of the Catskills, will be the focus of the History Tent at the Ninth Annual Margaretville Cauliflower Festival to be held rain or shine Saturday, Sept. 29 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the village park, Margaretville.
The Historical Society of the Town of Middletown will present the results of a three-year photographic survey of 210 standing barns in Middletown and contiguous areas of Roxbury, Hardenburgh, Andes and Halcott.

By John Bernhardt
There’s no place like home. That may have been the motto of this fall’s annual Nelson and Cohen soccer tournaments. Margaret- ville’s girls’ and boys’ soccer teams followed similar scripts in keeping this year’s tourney championship trophies at home.

It was ladies first, with the Lady Devils paving the way during tournament play. The girls dominated visiting Coleman in opening round play of the Cohen Classic Thursday night with a 7-0 win, setting the table for a 9-0 boys’ rout of Tri-Valley in Nelson opening round action the following night.

By Brian Sweeney
The bridge spanning Swart Street in Margaretville bridge is scheduled for replacement next April, Mayor Bill Stanton confirmed this week.

The bridge has sustained damage from floods in 2004, 2006 and was again hard-hit by the historic August 28, 2011 flood. The latest flood blew a hole in the bridge just below the area that had been repaired on the southern end of the bridge.

After the latest flood, the bridge was initially set up for one-way traffic until additional damage developed and the entire structure was shut down.

By Geoff Samuels
There’s more to a sidewalk than meets the eye! On Wednesday, Sept.12, the Margaretville Village Board held a special meeting to address questions about new sidewalks that are slated to be installed in the village next month.

Mayor Bill Stanton and Village Trustee Iris Mead explained to the small group that grant money had been received from the Smart Growth Program for this project, including new street lighting and new trees along Main Street.

Margaretville — Opening this Thursday at the Longyear Gallery is “Plein Air Paintings,” an exhibit featuring the work of one of Longyear’s founding members, Margaret Leveson, accompanied by a group show of all Longyear Gallery artists. The artist’s reception will be held Saturday, Sept. 22 from 3 to 6 p.m.

Margaretville — Pickin’, singin’ and dancin’ will make the East Branch Valley ring on Saturday, Sept. 29 when the home-grown Catskill Mountain Boys, and the Blue Ribbon Cloggers are featured at the Ninth Annual Margaretville Cauliflower Festival.

The festival runs from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the village park behind Freshtown.
The Catskill Mountain Boys (also known as Aurora North) is a bluegrass band that includes Todd Pascarella, John VanBenschoten, Mike Herman and Henry Hermann.

Short in numbers but big in heart, Margaretville girls’ soccer coach Toni Smith is pleased with her team’s early season start. Saturday, the Blue Devils played without substitutes, dropping a 2-1 overtime decision in the championship game of the Downsville tournament. The loss was Margaretville’s first against two victories in the young season.

By John Bernhardt
On the soccer field, it’s almost as if Kyle Short and Matt VanValkenburg can read each other’s minds. The Margaretville strikers work in unison perfectly executing give-and-go touch passing sequences and choreographing well timed lead passes to vacated spots on the field.
The end result: the dynamic Blue Devil duo has teamed to net 10 goals in Margaretville’s first three contests.

Margaretville — A year ago Hurricane Irene put the Margaretville Food Bank out of business for more than three months. But thanks to the Interfaith Council and devoted volunteers it was up and running, in a somewhat diminished capacity, in November of last year serving their client base.
Under direction of new coordinators, Joyce St George and Frank Canavan, the Margaretville Food Pantry reopened on August 20 at a new location on Route 28 under a new name, “The Community Pantry.”

Helping others

By Geoff Samuels
The Village Pub in Margaretville is open again, thanks to the great renovation efforts of Robin and Nadine Tischmacher.