Seeds Of Resistance! Calling All Hudson Valley Creatives!
Submit to our Zine!
Creators of all kinds and ages are encouraged to submit
Submission Deadline: April 1, 2024 at 11:59pm
Size Parameters: 8.5 x 5.5” and 300 DPI
Link to Submit >
Learn how to use Narcan and potentially save a life!
Join the Council for Addiction Prevention and Education of Dutchess County for a free Narcan training session at the Howland Public Library in Beacon on Tuesday, December 19, at 12:30 pm.
Learn how to recognize the signs of an opioid overdose and how to administer Naloxone, a medication that can reverse opioid overdoses. A free Naloxone kit will be provided for all attendees 18 and older at the conclusion of the training. Registration is recommended to ensure there are enough Narcan kits available.
Beacon is filled with opportunities for kids and families to attend a variety of classes, from Mommy and Me, to drop-off art classes, to various vacation Camps, reading camps, gaming camps, and so much more! This inspired ALBB to create a Kids Classes Guide; for people who attend classes in town as well as anyone who drives to neighboring areas for popular programs. We highlight Guide Updates on the blog in different articles and keep this list updated throughout the year.
We recently updated our Kids Classes Guide with a bunch of classes for toddlers, kids, and teens. Classes from writing, reading, and gaming to babysitting classes, arts & crafts classes, music classes, and outdoor classes. You can check it all out here > but if you want a quick sneak peek, keep scrolling down!
Let's Ride! Car Engineering
Day: Monday, July 11, 2022
Time: 3pm
For children 4 years old - 5th Grade. Join us to put together a simple car kit! Supplies are limited. Registration is required. Paid for in part by Dutchess County. Register by using our online registration form.
Register here >
Introduction to Babysitting
Day: Monday, July 11, 2022
Time: 10:30am
Interested in babysitting? Join us for this 3-hour course where you will learn interviewing tips, communication skills and the basics of childcare. Topics will include ages and stages of young babies and toddlers, safety and first aid tips, feeding and caring for children, including diaper changing. Certificates of completion will be distributed to those who complete the course. Paid for in part by Dutchess County. Registration is required. Register by using our online registration from.
Register here >
Tiny Tots
Days: Fridays in July of 2022
Time: 10:30am
Starting July 8, 2022. For ages 6 months to 4 years old. Join Miss Stephanie in the Community Room for 15 minutes of songs, finger plays and stories, plus some play time for you to share with your child. Meet other parents and caregivers. Register for a reminder email by using out online registration form.
Register here >
Summer Stories
Day: Tuesdays from July 5th - August 9th, 2022
Time: 3pm
For children in PreK-2nd grade. Join Miss Stephanie in the Children's Room for this weekly family storytime! Stories are geared toward children who are in PreK-2nd grade, but all ages welcome. Register for a reminder email by using our online registration form.
Register here >
The classes listed above are a quick preview. Check out all of the classes added to the Kids Classes Guide here! A Little Beacon Blog on all updates, be sure you are subscribed to our free newsletter!
Is your amazing class or business not on this list? If you have a class or workshop you'd like to submit for consideration, please submit it to editorial@alittlebeaconblog.com. To enhance your listing with pictures and to get it featured in our weekend newsletter, click here for details.
Businesses are sponsoring A Little Beacon Blog’s Business Directory because they value you - our readers - and want to reach you! This is a great way to find out about businesses you know you need, but didn’t know how to find - like doula services and evidence based care childbirth classes from Juniper Birth!
Jennifer Polk is a Birth RN, Doula, Certified Lactation Counselor and Evidence Based Birth Instructor. That’s an empowering combo! She also has experience in and offers Single Parent By Choice classes. Recommend her to your friends today!
As has been constant during this pandemic, the Beacon City District School (BCSD) Superintendent Matthew Landahl has kept the community updated with COVID shifts as cases ebb and flow. In his weekly Superintendent Update email sent on December 30, 2021, he stated that the district might receive a shipment of rapid self-tests before school starts on Monday, and if so, he explained what the process would be.
The line at Rombout Middle School to get COVID-19 home tests from the first shipment was long but moved swiftly.
On New Years Day, like a warm hug, Dr. Landahl sent a robo-call and text to the public school community announcing that the rapid tests had arrived, and would be distributed to BCSD students on January 2, 2022, at Rombout Middle School from 1:30-3:30pm. He requested volunteers to come to help organize people and hand out the tests.
Caregivers were instructed to write down their children’s names and ages for record keeping purposes. Those who did not write down the name had to pull into a special name-writing parking spot. Those who missed the distribution could register online to have their child take home a test in their backpacks the following school days.
At 1pm, cars already lined Matteawan Road early, backed up past the middle school, gradually to Verplanck Avenue with more cars wanting to turn right from Wilkes Street. This kind of traffic buildup usually only occurs on nights of a choral concert where students from several BCSD schools are performing at once. But that was in the pre-pandemic days when audience sizes were not limited.
The volunteers had opened up early, and the line moved briskly. One car did break down and needed a jump (note to self: juice the USB-powered jumping cube for just such an occasion…and find the USB-powered jumping cube somewhere in the car or shed).
Two pathways were created to receive handouts of COVID-19 home tests for BCSD students.
Several Board of Education Members attended the event, making sure it ran smoothly. Dr. Landahl walked between volunteer parking attendants and acted as a shuffler of cars after they were given one test box per student, answering questions from parents as parents and caregivers pulled away.
Dr. Landahl’s instructions were guidance. He encouraged caregivers to help students take the tests Sunday evening, before the first Monday of school back after the winter holiday, but stressed that taking the test was not mandated. Nobody has to take the test to go to school.
If one tested positive with this test or any test, Dr. Landahl encouraged people to email himself or the Deputy Superintendent, Ann Marie Quartironi with the update. No need to update them if the test was negative (yay you!). While rapid tests have questionable false negatives, they are so far a part of this pandemic.
A negative test result from an at-home rapid test sent home to BCSD students. Now everyone gets to experience the test-strip based anxiety of a home-pregnancy test!
Dr. Landahl reported that 60% of the BCSD students were given test kits during the Sunday distribution. The remainder of the students who did not make it to the distribution can sign up to get a test kit put into their backpacks via a special link that was emailed to caregivers.
While some caregivers were worried about supplies running out, New York’s Governor Hochul seems committed to having students tested on the regular. Other states like Ohio are far ahead of New York in this initiative, having provided home test kits to students and libraries since before Thanksgiving 2021.
PS: Kids are calling this “the boogie test” because you got to swab as much snot as possible!
After Governor Hochul’s announcement of her “Winter Sure Plan,” at least one shipment of rapid home tests arrived to Beacon via Dutchess County via New York State. All municipalities were sent one shipment. The City of Beacon decided that the Beacon Police Department would hand them out. The Beacon Police Department posted an announcement on their Facebook Page. ALBB ran an article promoting their message.
The demand was so great, that supplies lasted only a few hours. By the next day, or day after, the Beacon Police removed their Facebook post. Mayor Kyriacou never made a robo-call or text or email to announce that test kits had arrived, and City of Beacon never published any announcement to their website, as the Mayor stated they would at a City Council Meeting toward the end of the year.
The Communications Department of Dutchess County who is normally very responsive to questions, was on vacation during this time, so did not return requests for shipment schedules when ALBB reached out.
If the City of Beacon received any additional shipments, it is unknown how they would have made that announcement, based the way they did not announce the first shipment.
However, on the City of Beacon’s website, you can learn about the Inauguration of new City Council Members that happened January 1 had been closed to the public out of an abundance of caution for COVID, and the proper way to dispose of a Xmas Tree (just make sure no lights or ornaments are on it, don’t put it in plastic, and leave it nekid and natural on the curb for the Highway Department to pick up…they will take it to the Transfer Station to turn into mulch).
The Howland Public Library in Beacon will be running “Tails & Tales”, the 2021 children’s Summer Reading Program, between July 8 th and August 20th. This summer, they’ll explore the world of animals and stories with book logging, fun prizes, and exciting virtual programs for children ages 4 to 11. Beginning June 16 th, children can go into the library for a Summer Reading starter kit, including a book log and a FREE book!
The library will supply paper logging sheets, and kids can log all the books, ebooks, & audiobooks that they have been enjoying between the dates of July 8th and August 20th. They’ll receive special prizes each time they show us titles they added to their book logs.
The Howland Public Library also invites everyone to visit, the Ball of Beasts, a fantastical soft sculpture display created by artist Adam Izen for our children’s room. Children can even have a chance at winning one of the animals to take home. Stop by to enter the contest!
Virtual programs include favorites like Animal Embassy, Traveling Lantern Theare, and Dinosaurs Rock. Check the library’s calendar https://beaconlibrary.org or follow them on Facebook to see all of the free Crafts on the Go! Kits, events, and virtual programs geared for the whole family throughout the summer. Story Times! Music! Theater! Animals!
Contact: Ginny Figlia, Head of Youth Services, 845-831-1134, x.103 or youth@beaconlibrary.org.
Hi, Everyone!
This TuneUp webinar from ALBB’s sister media education and empowerment company, Tin Shingle, is about what to pitch to the media right now in July. No matter what you do, some power is in your hands to compel the media to write about what you hope they will cover.
This TuneUp episode is chock-full of ideas on what to do. Including how to pitch 4th of July Independence Day in a different way - as in - introduce some more forefathers and foremothers ancestors to the usual lineup. This is how to connect Juneteenth with July 4th - both Independence Days. It’s an educational opportunity on many levels.
For this weekend only, Tin Shingle has opened up this TuneUp for Hudson Valley friends to stream free. Normally all TuneUps are free for members of Tin Shingle or are sold separately. www.TinShingle.com/tuneup.
WHAT: This is Beacon: Youth Podcast Workshop
HOSTS: Howland Public Library and I Am Beacon
LOCATION: Beacon Recreation, 23 West Center Street
DATES: 4 Fridays, July 9, 16, 23, 30, from 4:30-6pm
AGES: Grades 7 -12
Registration required
email Michelle at community@beaconlibrary.org
The Howland Public Library has partnered with I Am Beacon to offer another podcast workshop. The producers behind the podcast workshop are I Am Beacon Board Member Brandon Lillard, who works with kids of all ages to teach them how to produce a podcast.
Calling all teens! Speak Out and Be Heard! Did you ever wonder what it takes to create your own podcast? The Howland Public Library in Beacon has teamed up with Brandon Lillard, host of the ”This is Beacon” podcast for a 4-session podcast workshop for students in grade 7 and up.
In this cooperative learning experience, participants will learn by doing. Students will discover what it takes to produce their own podcast from start to finish, from writing scripts and conducting interviews to adding music and editing.
The This is Beacon: Youth Podcast Program is mentorship program that will provides teens the opportunity to explore of topics relevant to the challenges that they are facing and create and share their work with an audience as they learn about communicating through electronic media.
The free workshop will take place on 4 Fridays, July 9, 16, 23, 30, from 4:30-6pm at Beacon Recreation’s outdoor pavilion, 23 West Center Street, Beacon, NY. . To register or to learn more about this great opportunity, email Michelle at community@beaconlibrary.org. Registration is required as class size is limited.
ALBB's Business Directory is a Deep Dive List of services you need right now in Beacon and the Hudson Valley. There is a lot of talent here in the 12508 and beyond and we want to highlight all of them. Check out the Business Directory HERE.
Rizzi performs thorough Pre-purchase buyer home Inspections, pre-listing seller home inspections, annual home maintenance inspections, multi-family / investment property inspections. Find out more HERE.
Samantha Cuello Consulting is a full-service marketing and communications firm with 10 years of experience in the high-end home space—working with interior designers, D2C retail brands, B2B trade brands, and media companies. Find out more HERE.
“Hi! I’m Jennifer Polk (she/her) and I’m a Labor & Delivery RN, Certified Lactation Consultant, and Evidence-Based Birth® Instructor. An Evidence-Based Birth® Instructor is a birth professional specially trained in how to help families get evidence-based care." Find out more HERE.
Heads Up Learning is a tutoring service run by Laura Head, a former public school teacher in NYC for Grads 3rd and 4th, who recently moved to Beacon to open a virtual tutoring service. Laura knows the public school curricula and how units tie together. She specializes in courses in French literacy, English literacy, and offers academic support for Grades 1-9. Says Laura: “Students learn best when given the opportunity to make discoveries, find patterns, and think critically about new ideas, which is why their curriculum is built on student-centered pedagogies, and themes of citizenship, activism, and environmentalism.” Find out how Laura can help your child in reading, math and more HERE.
Want to join but don't see a category/sub-category that fits your biz? Not a problem! We can add it just for you!
The Compass Arts Creativity Project recently created art kits for 72 Rombout Middle School and Sargent Elementary School students in Beacon, New York. The Community Foundations of the Hudson Valley provided funding for the packs, which included a journal with a variety of art supplies along with writing/drawing prompts curated by Compass Arts educators and community collaborators.
The kits are intended to give children the space and tools to connect with their voices and inspire creativity and self expression amidst the challenges of remote and hybrid learning.
Compass Arts partnered with Karen Pagano and the Beacon City Schools Food Services to distribute them alongside lunch pickup. This means that art kits arrived via school buses with food drop-offs.
The 2021 winter programming continues to prioritize access and inclusion. As we head into an uncertain winter, Compass Arts Creativity Project intends to create online program offerings to meet the community’s need for social connection, creativity, and self expression through the arts. The Saturday Arts Series will be a 10 week series of online arts workshops and performances held during the coldest days of winter, from January 16th - March 20th. With grants and donations, they expect to offer a tiered pricing structure, from Free to $25 per participant, allowing members of the community to benefit from the arts regardless of their ability to pay.
Compass Arts Creativity Project’s mission is to create healthy, just, equitable, and resilient communities through classes, performances, and events rooted in exploration, collaboration, creation, and play. Started in 2011 as a small business, Compass Arts became a non-profit corporation in 2019 and received its 501(c)(3) designation in fall 2020 in order to expand its offerings and amplify its impact.
To learn more about Compass Arts and unite with them in this vital work, you can join their end of year fundraising campaign launched on Giving Tuesday, December 1st, and donate at www.CompassArts.org/donate.
Pictured here are the new co-owners of The Underground Beacon. Albert Mas (front left) and Michael Lioce (front right). Behind them are Violet Mas, Courtney Mas, Ash Lioce, Marvel Anne Lioce, Dom Lioce, and Lita Lioce.
Photo Credit: The Underground Beacon
Beacon’s famed comic book shop, The Underground Beacon, has been saved by a customer, after the shop announced via Instagram that they would be closing due to a terminally ill family member and raising rent on February 16, 2020. That family member was owner Albert Mas’ mother, Anne, who passed on Sunday, February 23, 2020. “She was the true matriarch of the family,” says Albert’s wife, Courtney Mas, of her mother-in-law. Albert and Courtney have a young daughter, Violet Mas, who has grown up with the shop since it opened in June 2018.
According to an article in the Highlands Current, Albert and Courtney had enough money saved to take the shop through 2019, but after holiday sales slowed, and with his mother’s declining health, the boxes of comic books stored in a corner that held $20,000 worth of inventory was daunting as customer tastes change and can make inventory obsolete.
Albert told the Highlands Current that writing the announcement to close was one of the hardest things he has ever done. The flip side, however, of the announcement was how the community came out to help the shop, which warmed Albert’s heart. “I didn’t expect the magnitude of the positivity that I got from people,” he told the Highlands Current. “I was in a dark place, and it changed my whole attitude.” Note that in the announcement post, a somber black-and-white version of the normally colorized version of the shop’s logo was used.
Flip the page to a new chapter, and in walk Michael and Ash Lioce and their 3 children (Marvel Anne, Dom, and Lita), loyal customers of The Underground Beacon. It turns out, Mike, a freelance television editor and comic collector, had a secret dream of owning and running a comic book shop. With the start of his growing family, his children rekindled his desire to collect and explore comic books. In Albert’s announcement to close, he did state he and Courtney were open to a partnership or buy-out. A new dream was born.
Michael and Ash heard about the closing during an event. “We learned about the story from a friend at a toddler’s birthday party. That friend had heard through their social media. Though we follow the store in social, for some reason, it didn’t come up in our feeds,” Michael and Ash told A Little Beacon Blog. “As soon as we found out, we reached out to Albert and Courtney. Our emotions were panic and excitement. We wanted to be involved and wanted it to be a family venture. We are so grateful that the Mas’ were happy to partner with us. It has always been a dream of Michael’s to start a comic book store. He dipped his toes in a couple of times, but timing and money never quite worked out.”
After a few nail-biting days of The Underground Beacon posting hints of a continuation, and that the regular Wednesday comic book release days and Friday “Magic The Gathering” days were still on, The Underground Beacon announced on Sunday that the new partnership is official.
As for the location, are they staying? “Usually comic shops grow into a place this big,” Albert told the Highlands Current. “But when I was looking for spaces, this was the best one for the best price… It’s my dream space.”
Also on Sunday, The Underground Beacon has confirmed to a A Little Beacon Blog that they are staying in their current location at 462 Main Street in Beacon.
The best way to discover what is available is to go in, but there are several ways to use the comic book shop:
Wednesdays: comic book release days
Fridays: “Magic The Gathering” days
Skateboard designs and repairs: A new skateboard vendor is scheduled to come in April to do design and repair.
Kids’ birthday parties: The shop has a back room where many of the events take place, including kids’ birthday parties. A hit for indoor parties and shared video gaming experiences.
Toys and collectibles: Everything from collectible action figures to board games to books to cards.
Video game tournaments, comedy shows, etc.: Events galore at the shop. Keep stopping in to learn about them, and follow on social media. But don’t depend on digital - go inside in person!
Hooray! We’re so glad to see The Underground staying.
With severe weather events becoming more frequent and more extreme, it is more important than ever that New Yorkers are prepared for disasters. Remember the macroburst storms that came through the area last year? How can we forget! The NY Citizen Preparedness Corps Training Program teaches residents to have the tools and resources ready to go, to prepare for any type of disaster, respond accordingly and recover as quickly as possible to get back to pre-disaster conditions. The City of Beacon will be hosting a Citizen Preparedness Training Class on Thursday, August 8, 2019 at 6:30 pm.
The class will cover training for natural and human-made disasters, and will include active shooter training. Participants will be advised on how to properly prepare for any disaster, including developing a family emergency plan and stocking up on emergency supplies.
Training will take place at the Lewis Tompkins Hose, 13 South Avenue in Beacon. To RSVP, contact Collin Milone at (845) 838-5010 or email cityofbeacon@cityofbeacon.org. For more information about this training and other training events, visit prepare.ny.gov/.
This Sunday, April 28, Firefly Yoga and Juice Bar in Fishkill, NY, will be hosting a special two-hour Partner Yoga workshop hosted by guest instructor Irene Auma, from Peace Within Prison Yoga in Kenya. Irene has been touring the United States, teaching special classes and workshops to raise money for the nonprofit she started, Peace Within Prison Yoga.
Irene became a certified yoga instructor through the Africa Yoga Project and is also a Baptiste Yoga certified instructor. Her inspiration to become a yoga teacher comes from wanting to “improve the lives of thousands of inmates who are in dark places and bring humanity, compassion, strength and humor to their lives. I stand as hope and may they have hope.” Hence her founding Peace Within Prison Yoga.
Peace Within Prison Yoga seeks to promote peace and reconciliation among citizens of Kenya by encouraging self-awareness and acceptance of individuals. The mission is to create a peaceful environment through yoga and meditation that transforms the lives of those within the criminal justice system. A majority of the persons in prison have low levels of education. For any offender, their status quo in society automatically changes once they get imprisoned. They are considered outcasts or outlaws. The reality after release is that life is much harder than it was before imprisonment.
Their goal is to bring yoga to prisons in Kenya, where Irene is from. She shares, “My team and I volunteer to teach to yoga in prison from one location to another, at Athi River Men’s Prison to Machakos Women's Prison once a week, and Lang'ata Women's Maximum Security Prison three times a week with each of these classes reaching 40 to 60 students per class! My goal is to continue to expand by adding prison yoga programs to all 147 prisons.”
Partner Yoga invites openness, patience, communication, trust and balance into your yoga practice and relationships. You and your partner will help each other to relax physical, mental, and emotional tensions. When you are physically supported, not only do you experience a yoga posture differently, but you also begin to allow yourself to trust someone else. No previous yoga experience or partner is necessary; bring
a friend, a loved one, a sibling, a neighbor, or simply yourself.
The workshop will be Sunday, April 28 from 1 to 3 pm at Firefly Yoga and Juice Bar, 992 Main St., Fishkill, NY. You can visit their website at www.fireflyfishkill.com to sign up and get more information.
Firefly Yoga and Juice Bar is a sponsor of our Adult Classes Guide. It is with the support of businesses like theirs that A Little Beacon Blog can bring you coverage of news, local happenings and events. Thank you for supporting businesses who support us! If you would like to become a Sponsor or Community Partner, please click here for more information.
Welcome to our new Sponsor of A Little Beacon Blog’s Adult Classes Guide, Firefly Yoga and Juice Bar! With their support, we are able to show you inside their beautiful studio, feature regular and special classes, and promote to this Guide in general, showcasing many small businesses in it. See all the pictures and offerings by hitting our Adult Classes Guide right here!
A Little Beacon Blog has partnered with Kim Beller, founder of The PEACE Project, an interactive art project to spread peace, equality, and love in the community and across the world.
“In December 2016 I began folding peace cranes with the community in Wilmington, NC, where I lived,” says Kim. “After completing the folding of 1,000 origami peace cranes, I strung the peace cranes and they were hosted by different businesses and restaurants in and around Wilmington to promote peace, love and equality. Previously, I organized the folding of 1,000 cranes with my daughter’s school, with a home for autistic children, and for my mom during her battle with cancer (her cranes hang in the Lower Cape Fear Hospice in Wilmington). This event in Beacon will be my fifth time folding 1,000 cranes for peace!”
One thousand peace cranes will be folded, and strung into strands of 100 each, and they will be hosted by different businesses and restaurants in the Hudson Valley to promote Peace - Equality - Love.
All are welcome to this free community event to fold origami peace cranes. No experience is needed - Kim will guide you through the folding process and provide origami paper. Please bring a friend!
The PEACE Project 2019
Day: Sunday, February 10, 2019
Time: 12 to 2 pm
Location: A Little Beacon Space, 291 Main St., Beacon, NY
Information >
Sponsored by Antalek and Moore Insurance Agency.
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The City of Beacon entered into a contract with Legal Services of the Hudson Valley to provide increased access to Beacon tenants facing eviction. They may also be able to help with sources of rent arrears assistance. Call the paralegal, Steven Mihalik at 845-253-6953 to inquire.
Dutchess County Helpline. Open 24/7 to take your calls, listen, and give you resources.
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