News

Opening this week is a new collective show by the Longyear member artists, featuring Transitory Horizons, a solo exhibition by Ann Lee Fuller. The artists’ reception will take place at Longyear Gallery on Saturday, September 27, from 4 to 7 p.m.
Ann Lee Fuller describes her work as being “a combination of literal and abstract, a meeting of contrasts.” Her well known work is inspired by the shifting weather of the Catskill Mountains rural landscape with its transitory horizons and unique moments of light created when sky meets land.

James Krueger will give a free one-hour concert/reading entitled “Autumn: A Celebration of the Season in Words and Song” at the Skene Memorial Library on Saturday, Sept. 27 at 2 p.m. Hailed by judges as “an extraordinarily talented writer with a real talent for poetic imagery,” Krueger is a two-time honor award winner in the Great American Songwriting Contest.

More than 40 people joined Alan Dee and Frank Buffone at their New Kingston residence Saturday afternoon for a “Farm Country Rally for Gillibrand.” Representative Kirsten Gillibrand is running for reelection to New York’s 20th U.S. Congressional District.

Fall foliage enthusiasts are invited on a guided hike through Frost Valley YMCA’s Model Forest in Claryville on Sunday, Oct. 5 starting at 1 p.m. Members of Frost Valley’s Natural Resources Department will lead the free hike, which has been scheduled to coincide with the height of autumn’s splendor.

By Jay Braman Jr.
Locals residents, business owners and employees of Belleayre Mountain Ski Center came out in droves Saturday morning to a rally put on by the Coalition to Save Belleayre, the organization that blew the whistle on what many consider to be life-threatening budget cuts proposed for the state-run facility.

By Jay Braman Jr.
Following an announcement last week that the annual Belleayre Mountain Ski Center Fall Festival was being cancelled, the state Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) quickly followed up with another announcement, saying that the popular event would instead be moved to Arkville.
The 29th annual Belleayre Fall Festival will be held Columbus Day weekend, but at a new location thanks to a partnership announced last week by the DEC and the Delaware and Ulster Railroad. The festival will take place on October 11-12 at the Delaware and Ulster Railroad on Route 28 in Arkville.

By Matthew J. Perry
A public hearing held last Wednesday in New York City provided a forum for renewed calls of opposition to gas drilling within the city’s watershed system and its filtration avoidance agreement.
“This is an industrial activity that is incompatible with the delicate watershed where nine million New Yorkers get their drinking water,” said City Councilman James Gennaro, a primary organizer of the hearing. He has requested that the state place a year-long moratorium on gas exploration within the watershed.

By Brian Sweeney
The transformation of the Margaretville A&P into a Freshtown Supermarket has been pushed back to late January, the store owners announced last week. Daniel Katz, a partner in PSK Supermarkets which is planning the new store, said the work to convert the A&P into a Freshtown store is now scheduled to begin on January 22. This work was initially supposed to start this month.
“In order to create a smooth transition, we have agreed to a lease extension with A&P. This will hopefully ensure that the store closes for only a minimal period of time,” Mr. Katz told the News.

By Julia Green
Despite some confusion that initially indicated that the Greater Margaretville Cham-ber of Commerce would be holding meetings to discuss a proposed name change, the chamber officially adopted its new name – the Central Catskills Chamber of Commerce last week, following discussions with an attorney.
The decision to change the name was approved by a majority of the members voting. A total of 41 votes were submitted, with 34 of those falling into the “yes” column. The chamber currently has 124 members.