Community

Highmount — A free Jazz Improvisation Percussion Workshop for students, taught by three of the genre’s rising stars, is being held this week by the Belleayre Music Festival.

The first annual Student Jazz Workshop, to be held August 9 and 10, provides an outstanding opportunity to study with one of the most important young artists in jazz, vibraphonist Stefon Harris. The program offers serious music students a two-day emersion in jazz improvisation with Chris Earley and Mike Treat, followed by a master class with Harris and public performance at

By John Bernhardt
Times have changed but kids remain the same. Given the opportunity to explore and play the game, many youngsters still fall in love with the game of baseball.

With the proper guiding hand, today’s youngsters still discover the simple joys of the game; the twack of a fastball slamming into a catcher’s mitt, the electricity of a solid hit running through the bat and into the fingers, fielders focused and ready balanced on the balls of their feet anticipating the ball moving their way, big league dreams in the imaginations of Little Leaguers.

Margaretville — The 44th annual Margaretville Hospital Auxiliary Antiques and Crafts Flea Market will be held this Saturday, Aug. 4 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the village park behind Freshtown Marketplace.
The event, which annually draws a large crowd, will be held rain or shine and there is ample free parking.

The flea market will feature over 100 arts and crafts and antique dealers showing a wide variety of items. There will also be a chicken barbecue, refreshments, a bake sale, a quilt raffle and a free health fair.

By Joan Lawrence-Bauer
With projects delayed and frustration mounting, some taxpayers have begun to wonder where their ever-increasing tax dollars go. 

As the region approaches the first anniversary of Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee, residents of Margaretville and Fleischmanns in particular, face stalled reimbursements for cleanup and recovery costs and big hits to their village budgets, in addition to town, and county costs. 

Margaretville — The Historical Society of the Town of Middletown (HSM) is happy to announce that a new database of headstone inscriptions from the Margaretville Village Cemetery, and five more years of vintage Catskill Mountain News have been posted online.

Hig mount –  Opening weekend of the Catskill Mountain Jazz Series at the Belleaye Music Festival features two diverse tribute shows by some of the top names in the genre.
New York City’s Hottest Tribute Jazz Band  Ed Palermo’s Frank Zappa Little Big Band gets the series off to a rousing start, blending jazz and rock, on Friday, Aug. 3 at 8 p.m. This show will be held in the Belleayre Jazz Club in the Overlook Lodge.

Roxbury — Starting August 9, Todd Mountain Theater Project with Roxbury Arts Group will be presenting a one-woman tour de force by Deb Margolin: Good Morning Anita Hill It’s Ginni Thomas I Just Wanted to Reach Across the Airwaves and the Years and Ask You to Consider Something I Would Love You to Consider an Apology Sometime and Some Full Explanation of Why You Did What You Did With My Husband So Give it Some Thought and Certainly Pray About This and Come to Understand Why You Did What You Did Okay Have a Nice Day.

Highmount — The Third Annual Belleayre Mountain Car Show, to benefit the Belleayre Conservatory, will be held on Saturday, Aug. 18 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Belleayre Mountain in Highmount.
The show will be held in the Overlook Lodge parking lot. There will be trophies, music, food, and goodie bags to the first 100 cars to register.

By Jay Braman Jr.
New York State Senator James Seward (R-51st) took a tour of the Belleayre Mountain Ski Center Tuesday to get acquainted with both the facility and the local officials in the area.

Seward’s 51st Senate District is changing shape in January and will then include the towns of Shandaken in Ulster County and Middletown in Delaware County where Belleayre is located.
The senator, who was first elected to the senate in 1986 and is up for re-election this year, said that he asked for a chance to view the premises and discuss the challenges currently facing the ski center.

By Jennifer Kabat
Living in New York City’s watershed, it can be hard to find sympathy for the City’s Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) Cops when people have “DEP get off my back” bumper stickers on their cars, the scars of having land taken by eminent domain still seem fresh, and the city is always trying to buck their property tax assessments.