Catskill Mountain Region FEBRUARY 2020 COMPLIMENTARY GUIDE catskillregionguide.com Winter in the Off the Mountains Slopes IN THIS ISSUE www.catskillregionguide.com VOLUME 35, NUMBER 2 February 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 Joan Oldknow, Jeff Senterman, Sarah Taft & Margaret Donsbach Tomlinson ADMINISTRATION & FINANCE Candy McKee Isabel Cunha, Justin McGowan & Emily Morse PRINTING Catskill Mountain Printing Services courtesy Photo iStock.com/lightphoto DISTRIBUTION Catskill Mountain Foundation On the cover: EDITORIAL DEADLINE FOR NEXT ISSUE: February 10 The Catskill Mountain Region Guide is published 12 times a year 2 ARTS LEADER: by the Catskill Mountain Foundation, Inc., Main Street, PO Box 924, Hunter, NY 12442. If you have events or programs that you Crystal Wei, Executive Director, Mt. Tremper Arts would like to have covered, please send them by e-mail to tafts@ catskillmtn.org. Please be sure to furnish a contact name and in- clude your address, telephone, fax, and e-mail information on all WATER/WAYS CONCERT AT ASHOKAN CENTER correspondence. For editorial and photo submission guidelines 4 send a request via e-mail to [email protected]. The liability of the publisher for any error for which it may be held legally responsible will not exceed the cost of space ordered 6 ICE HARVEST FESTIVAL AT HANFORD MILLS MUSEUM: or occupied by the error. The publisher assumes no liability for errors in key numbers. The publisher will not, in any event, be Winter’s Coolest Tradition liable for loss of income or profits or any consequent damages. The Catskill Mountain Region Guide office is located in Poems by Mackenzie Kristofco and Dianne Sefcik Hunter Village Square in the Village of Hunter on Route 23A. 10 POETRY The magazine can be found on-line at www.catskillmtn.org Curated by Robert Tomlinson by clicking on the “Guide Magazine” button, or by going directly to www.catskillregionguide.com 7,000 copies of the Catskill Mountain Region Guide are distributed each month. It is distributed free of charge at the 14 SPECIAL SECTION: Plattekill, Sloatsburg and New Baltimore rest stops on the New York State Thruway, and at the tourist information offices, WINTER IN THE MOUNTAINS, OFF THE SLOPES restaurants, lodgings, retailers and other businesses throughout Greene, Delaware and Ulster counties. Home delivery of the Guide magazine is available, at an 26 EAT DRINK 28: A Food & Wine Lover’s Dream additional fee, to annual members of the Catskill Mountain Foundation at the $100 membership level or higher. Located in the Heart of the Catskills ©2000 Catskill Mountain Foundation, Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or part without written permission is prohibited. The Catskill Mountain Region A GARDENER MAKES SAUERKRAUT Guide is not responsible for unsolicited manuscripts. All photo- 27 graphic rights reside with the photographer. By Margaret Donsbach Tomlinson 30 THE GREAT OUTDOORS IN THE CATSKILLS By Jeff Senterman 32 CATSKILL MOUNTAIN REGION GUIDE THE CATSKILL MOUNTAIN FOUNDATION Photos by Susan Phillips 7971 MAIN STREET, P.O. BOX 924 PHOTOGRAPHY PORTFOLIO HUNTER, NY 12442 PHONE: 518 263 2000 • FAX: 518 263 2025 FEBRUARY AT THE CATSKILL MOUNTAIN FOUNDATION WWW.CATSKILLMTN.ORG 39 February 2020 • GUIDE 1 ARTS LEADER Crystal Wei Executive Director, Mt Tremper Arts “[MTA] has become a quietly thriving offshoot of the city’s contemporary performance world: a magnet for adventurous urban artists and a devoted local audience.” —The New York Times “There’s a sense that 2020 is going to be a momentous year, and we’re certainly looking at it that way at Mount Tremper Arts. The season is full of artists who turn the corner through experimentation, a certain fearlessness, and an overwhelming commitment to their vision and craft. Our Watershed Laboratory season is at its very core a collaborative endeavor, and this year we’re partnering with friends throughout the Catskills to present the joyful theater group Circus Amok. It’s our most ambitious endeavor yet. Our eight other projects in 2020 also encapsulate what I see as our most important role in the community: to encourage us to consider different perspectives, engage with each other through shared performance experiences, and to strengthen the notion that we are all part of this symbiotic mycorrhiza network. In the words of our co-founders, ‘an experience can be transformative; a question can offer insight; and a simple conversation can be a doorway.’ So come on over for an adventure and have your Watershed moment—we’ll talk about it all at the post-show campfire over s’mores.” Mount Tremper Arts (MTA) is an artist-founded laboratory space dedicated to supporting artists in the creation and presentation of new works of contemporary art. Founded in 2008 by visual artist Mathew Pokoik and choreographer Aynsley Vandenbroucke, MTA cultivates generative artistic communities while making experimental contemporary art accessible to its diverse local community. Mount Tremper Arts is located at 647 S Plank Road in Mount Tremper, NY. For more information, call 845 688 9893 or visit mount- tremperarts.org. 2 • www.catskillregionguide.com What If your ad were here? Your Potential Customers would be seeing it! Get the scoop on advertising. Call 518-263-2072 February 2020 • GUIDE 3 Left: Betty and the Baby Boomers; Right: Jay Ungar and Molly Mason Water/Ways Concert at Ashokan Center Performances by Betty and the Baby Boomers, Jay Ungar & Molly Mason, and Film with Tobe Carey he Hudson River Maritime Museum is pleased to partner Tobe Carey with the Ashokan Center to host a “WaterWays Concert” T Tobe Carey is an independent film producer, director, and pho- in conjunction with the Smithsonian Institution’s “Water/Ways” tographer. He is president of Willow Mixed Media, a not-for- traveling exhibit, on view now at the Hudson River Maritime profit arts organization working on issues of social concern. The Museum through February 23, 2020. documentary Deep Water is the story of a city desperate for pure Taking place on Sunday, February 9, 2020, the WaterWays water and the reluctant rural area that was forced to provide it. Concert will begin at 3:00 pm and will feature performances Today, the Watershed provides billions of gallons of pure water by Jay Ungar and Molly Mason, as well as Betty and the Baby to New York City. Hundreds of vintage photographs, rare films Boomers. Water-themed music will be the focus of the concert. and interviews with historians and residents make Deep Water a The concert will take place at the Ashokan Center, located at 477 compelling and moving documentary. Beaverkill Road, Olivebridge, NY. Included in the afternoon program will be a showing of an Jay Ungar & Molly Mason abbreviated version of the documentary film, Deep Water, which Jay Ungar & Molly Mason are masters of music and storytelling. recounts the history of the Ashokan Reservoir. Filmmaker Tobe Jay’s fiddling is brimming with playfulness, drama, soulfulness Carey will be present to offer commentary and answer questions. and technical verve, as he explores the many musical styles and Tickets are $20 for adults, $5 for kids (13 & under) and will idioms that he has made his own. Molly’s total mastery and in- include light refreshments and FREE admission to the “Water/ ventiveness on piano and guitar, along with her rich and expres- Ways” exhibit at the museum. Wine, beer, and hard cider will also sive vocals, reveal the deep emotions that flow in the duo’s veins. be offered via cash bar. For those interested in making a day of the program, at noon Betty and the Baby Boomers that same Sunday, February 9, 2020, Adam Bosch of the New Having taught and sung about the river for over 30 years, Betty York City Department of Environmental Protection will lead a and the Baby Boomers are considered by many to be the voice winter hike along the new Ashokan Reservoir trail and discuss the of the Hudson River. The group wraps distinctive four-part har- history and modern uses of the reservoir. This program is free and monies and sparkling guitar and Dobro licks around songs from open to the public. Pete Seeger, Phil Ochs, and others who inspired their generation, To register for these and other programs related to the Water/ as well as contemporary and original material in that tradition. Ways exhibit, visit hrmm.org/waterways or call 845 338 0071. 4 • www.catskillregionguide.com About the Water/Ways Exhibition Catskill Mountain Foundation presents Water/Ways is part of the Smithsonian’s Think Water Initiative to raise aware- RUSSIAN NATIONAL ness of water as a critical resource for life through exhibitions, educational resources and public programs. Inaugural BALLET THEATRE funding for the New York State tour was ELENA RADCHENKO, ARTISTIC DIRECTOR provided by the Smithsonian Institution, COMPANY OF 50 Hadley Exhibits, Inc., the Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor, the Hudson River Valley National Heritage Area, and the New York State Canal Corporation. Water/Ways was inspired by an SLEEPING exhibition organized by the American Museum of Natural History, New York, and the Science Museum of Minnesota, St. Paul, in collaboration with Great BEAUTY Lakes Science Center, Cleveland; The Field Museum, Chicago; Instituto San- gari, Sao Paulo, Brazil; National Museum of Australia, Canberra; Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, Canada; San Diego Natural History Museum; and Science Centre Singapore with PUB Singapore. The exhibition is part of Museum on Main Street, a unique collaboration between the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service (SITES), state humanities councils and museum associations across the nation, and local host institutions. To learn more about Water/Ways and other Museum on Main SATURDAY, MARCH 28, 2020 Street exhibitions, visit museumonmain- street.org.