Catskill Mountain Region SEPTEMBER 2020 COMPLIMENTARY GUIDE catskillregionguide.com THE CATSKILL MOUNTAINS WELCOME YOU! With a Special Section: Route 28: The Catskill Mountain Scenic Byway September 2020 • GUIDE 1 2 • www.catskillregionguide.com IN THIS ISSUE www.catskillregionguide.com VOLUME 35, NUMBER 9 September 2020 PUBLISHERS Peter Finn, Chairman, Catskill Mountain Foundation Sarah Finn, President, Catskill Mountain Foundation EDITORIAL DIRECTOR, CATSKILL MOUNTAIN FOUNDATION Sarah Taft ADVERTISING SALES Barbara Cobb Steve Friedman CONTRIBUTING WRITERS & ARTISTS Billie Chernicoff, Joan Oldknow, Tamas Panitz, Jeff Senterman, Sarah Taft, Margaret Donsbach Tomlinson & On the cover: Photo by Francis X. Driscoll, francisxdriscoll.com Robert Tomlinson ADMINISTRATION & FINANCE 4 WE WILL DANCE AGAIN: A Virtual Production to be Candy McKee Released Online on September 12 Isabel Cunha, Justin McGowan & Emily Morse By Joan Oldknow & Sarah Taft PRINTING Catskill Mountain Printing Services 6 THE POLLINATOR PAVILION AT THE THOMAS COLE NATIONAL HISTORIC SITE DISTRIBUTION Catskill Mountain Foundation 10 WOODSTOCK FILM FESTIVAL: 2020 Edition Moves to Drive-Ins and Online EDITORIAL DEADLINE FOR NEXT ISSUE: September 10 The Catskill Mountain Region Guide is published 12 times a year 12 THE CATSKILL MOUNTAINS WELCOME YOU! by the Catskill Mountain Foundation, Inc., Main Street, PO Box 924, Hunter, NY 12442. If you have events or programs that you would like to have covered, please send them by e-mail to tafts@ 21 ROUTE 28: THE CATSKILL MOUNTAINS SCENIC BYWAY catskillmtn.org. Please be sure to furnish a contact name and in- clude your address, telephone, fax, and e-mail information on all correspondence. For editorial and photo submission guidelines WINDHAM MANOR send a request via e-mail to [email protected]. 28 The liability of the publisher for any error for which it may be held legally responsible will not exceed the cost of space ordered CATSKILL MOUNTAIN REGION GUIDE PHOTOGRAPHY or occupied by the error. The publisher assumes no liability for 31 errors in key numbers. The publisher will not, in any event, be PORTFOLIO: Autumn Hiking in the Catskill Mountains, liable for loss of income or profits or any consequent damages. The Catskill Mountain Region Guide office is located in Photographs by Francis X. Driscoll Hunter Village Square in the Village of Hunter on Route 23A. The magazine can be found on-line at www.catskillmtn.org by clicking on the “Guide Magazine” button, or by going directly 38 TODAY BUILDS TOMORROW: What’s With Beef? to www.catskillregionguide.com By Robert Tomlinson 7,000 copies of the Catskill Mountain Region Guide are distributed each month. It is distributed free of charge at the Plattekill, Sloatsburg and New Baltimore rest stops on the A GREENE COUNTY GARDEN IN SEPTEMBER New York State Thruway, and at the tourist information offices, 39 restaurants, lodgings, retailers and other businesses throughout By Margaret Donsbach Tomlinson Greene, Delaware and Ulster counties. Home delivery of the Guide magazine is available, at an additional fee, to annual members of the Catskill Mountain 40 STRING DANCES: Foundation at the $100 membership level or higher. ©2000 Catskill Mountain Foundation, Inc. Paintings by Tamas Panitz, Poems by Billie Chernicoff All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or part without written permission is prohibited. The Catskill Mountain Region Guide is not responsible for unsolicited manuscripts. All photo- 48 THE GREAT OUTDOORS IN THE CATSKILLS graphic rights reside with the photographer. By Jeff Senterman 54 DONATE TO THE CATSKILL MOUNTAIN FOUNDATION THE CATSKILL MOUNTAIN FOUNDATION 55 THE FOURTH ANNUAL SUGAR MAPLES CENTER FOR 7971 MAIN STREET, P.O. BOX 924 CREATIVE ARTS POTTERY FESTIVAL HUNTER, NY 12442 PHONE: 518 263 2000 • FAX: 518 263 2025 WWW.CATSKILLMTN.ORG 56 PLEASE SUPPORT OUR ADVERTISERS September 2020 • GUIDE 3 The Catskill Mountain Foundation presents a production of the Orpheum Dance Program Nikita Boris. Photo by Rachel by Neville Boris. Photo Nikita We Will Dance Again A Virtual Production to be Released Online on September 12 By Joan Oldknow and Sarah Taft n Saturday, September 12, 2020 at 7:30 pm, Catskill adjusted so that the kids could continue to dance. About two OMountain Foundation’s Orpheum Dance Program will weeks before the shutdown she started making changes, begin- present We Will Dance Again, a pre-recorded live performance ning each class with a group hand washing session, and pulling consisting of ballet solos and duets performed by professional everyone off the barres and spacing them on the floor. Class no dancers at the Orpheum Film and Performing Arts Center in longer ended with the traditional handshake and curtsey. When Tannersville, NY. Also participating in this virtual performance it became clear in March that no gatherings of any kind would will be Orpheum Dance Program alumni dancers performing be allowed, Victoria downloaded Zoom and began to teach her their own choreographed contemporary pieces, with profession- dance classes online. Community parents and students adjusted als and select students from Victoria Rinaldi’s community ballet to this “new normal” in an impressive way: parents erected barres classes dancing outdoors in the final scene of A Midsummer in their living rooms, moved furniture and rearranged schedules, Night’s Dream. so that their children could attend the Zoom classes. Victoria’s former dance students, too, away at college and at We Will Dance Again the cusp of stellar careers, suddenly found themselves in quaran- Dance has always been a way to bond, celebrate and show emo- tine, with no dance opportunities in sight. The Orpheum Dance tion. In March, when all of our lives were altered seemingly Program’s Spring Recital in May was cancelled. Sydney Henson’s overnight, dancers had to find alternative ways to share their gifts competition in Youth America Grand Prix finals in April and her with each other and with the public. Victoria’s Community Ballet summer intensives at Royal Ballet London, Princess Grace Acad- Class was no exception. Knowing how important these classes are emy Monaco and Dutch National Ballet were all cancelled. Ste- to the young people of the mountaintop, Victoria immediately phen Colon was accepted to the New York State Summer School 4 • www.catskillregionguide.com of the Arts, but that was cancelled. Orlando Harbutt and Freeda Handelsman had been selected to participate in the prestigious Springboard Danse in Montreal, which was also cancelled. A Midsummer Night’s Dream, scheduled for August at the Orpheum Film and Performing Arts Center, was cancelled. Undaunted, these young pre-professionals attempted to work hard on their own during the shutdown by taking classes online or dancing alone in a studio. Their hearts and bodies wanted to dance, but their motivation was starting to wane. When these students found themselves back home this sum- mer, they wanted to take advantage of the online classes being offered by their former teacher … and Victoria was more than happy to oblige! They began their own online classes, which were Sydney Henson supplemented with socially-distanced private quarantine sessions. Once the focus and motivation of regular classes returned, Dance and the arts have always sustained humanity through- the question remained: when will we perform again? Perfor- out history. People dance for many reasons, but maybe dance mance, and sharing the gift of dance with others, remains close expresses what we feel in our hearts, “We Will Dance Again.” to the hearts of every dancer. With no possibility of a full indoor or outdoor performance, the idea of solo, duet and small socially- The Details … And How to Register distant groups participating in a pre-recorded performance event With underwriting provided by Catskill Mountain Foundation online began to take shape. We Will Dance Again was born. and private sponsors, tickets to We Will Dance Again will be avail- able online at no charge to viewers. Your support for the Or- About the Performance pheum Dance Program is appreciated. Online release of this event Dancers who will perform in We Will Dance Again come from far will be on Saturday, September 12, 2020 at 7:30 pm. To make a and wide for this live virtual performance opportunity. Anabel donation or to receive a link to this performance, please register at Katsnelson and Carlos Gonzalez from American Ballet Theater will www.catskillmtn.org. perform the Act II pas de deux from Swan Lake. Nikita Boris and Eli Gruska will perform Grand Pas Classique. Currently a member About Catskill Mountain Foundation of the Cincinnati Ballet, Nikita danced the Sugar Plum Fairy in The Catskill Mountain Foundation’s (CMF) aim is to provide The Nutcracker in 2015 and 2016, and danced the role of Hermia educational opportunities in the arts for youth and lifelong learn- in A Midsummer Night’s Dream in 2019. Dawn Gierling Milatin of ers, to bring the experience of the arts to the Catskill community, New York Theater Ballet returns to dance the role of Titania with and to support artists and art organizations in the development of Marko Micov of Milwaukee Ballet as her Oberon. They will be their work through residencies. Since its founding in 1998, CMF joined by students from the Orpheum Dance Program, who will has presented hundreds of music, dance, and theater performanc- appear in the finale of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. es; screened over 1,000 films to tens of thousands of audience Orpheum Dance Program alumni dancers in We Will Dance members; provided studio arts classes to thousands of students of Again include Orlando Harbutt and Freeda Handelsman, who all ages; and served thousands of art-loving patrons in its gallery will perform their own contemporary choreographies. Orlando and bookstore. performed the role of Nutcracker Prince in 2015 and 2016, and Since 1998, CMF has raised, generated, and invested close to has spent the last two years at Julliard.