Happening This Weekend - 10/6/2017
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Summer may be over for lemonade stands, but it's just starting for the newest farm-fresh favorite activity to hit Beacon - vegetable stands. Fleeting vegetable markets have popped up in Beacon for a few years now, with the green truck from Green Teen (a program connected to Common Ground Farm) parking in designated lots, as well as appearing at the Beacon Farmers Market (of course) on Sundays.
Now, thanks to an initiative from the Beacon Parks and Recreation Department, Hudson Valley Seed (an education-based food-growing program that is woven into Beacon City Schools' curriculum), and Common Ground Farm, kids from Beacon's After School Program (A Little Beacon Blog first wrote about the program here) will be running "Crop Shops," pop-up vegetable stands during the students' Food Fridays, rotating Fridays among South Avenue, J.V. Forrestal, and Sargent elementary schools.
In the After School Program, each weekday has a theme, such as baking, karate, yoga, or bird-watching, run by a business or nonprofit from the Beacon community. During the program's first quarterly session, Fridays are designated Food Fridays, and the kids learn to make snacks. Thanks to this program, the kids will also learn commerce as they run the vegetable stands. "Staff from the After School Program as well as Hudson Valley Seed will be on hand to make sure the kids have a great experience and learn about produce, small business and salesmanship," says Nate Smith, the Recreation Department's assistant director. "Please be patient while a second grader figures out your total and makes change!"
The kid-run vegetable stands are open to the public, and will rotate among three of the Beacon district's four elementary schools. (Glenham Elementary isn't participating right now.) The stands, which will spend two Fridays at each school, will be open from 4:45 to 6 pm. Half of the stands' proceeds will go toward the After School Program's Tuition Assistance Program, which offers a 50 percent discount to students who qualify for the Free Lunch Program. Kids in roughly half of the families in Beacon qualify for free lunch program.
Here's the lineup. Check back with this article to make sure you're going on the right day!
OPEN HOURS
Fridays, 4:45 to 6 pm
10/6 and 10/13 – South Avenue
Front entrance near the disabled parking
10/20 and 10/27 – Sargent
Lower cafeteria entrance
11/3 and 11/10 – J.V. Forrestal
In front of main entrance
We're so happy to partner with edible Hudson Valley to be their Beacon meeting destination when their editorial team converges from all corners of the Hudson Valley. (It's like a group of superheroes coming together.) After one booking at A Little Beacon Space (you can rent our space!), they wanted more. Paging through their issues, you will now see A Little Beacon Blog ads saying "Hi!" to you. High fives to media friendships! Especially in this day and age, media outlets can be friends with each other to get more of the good word out.
We've had a magazine/business crush on the edible brand for a while, and we read several other city editions as well. The first one I picked up was edible Columbus, and edible Cleveland is pretty good, too! What is even neater is that edible Hudson Valley's new publisher, Jennifer Solow, is also the author of the book The Booster, published in 2006. This was exactly when I started my first blog just for fun, and she sent me a copy of the book with the nudge to "write a good review if you like it, and if you don't like it, eh, up to you what you do!"
Full circles are great, and encourage us to keep up the work.
The Touch-A-Truck fundraiser is happening on Saturday, September 30, from 10 am to 3 pm at Glenham Elementary School, put on by the Glenham School PTO. Tickets are $5 per person or $20 per family. Kids will be able to do the following fun things:
It's a dream day for your kids. Drop by after you test drive a Ford at Beacon High School for the Drive4U fundraiser, to benefit the high school and Rombout Middle School. It's a win-win for families and Beacon City Schools.
The opportunity to donate the easiest $20 you've ever contributed is happening today at Beacon High School from 10 am to 3 pm. Freedom Ford, located on Route 52 and owned by Hudson Valley native Rick Brownell, has applied for and was granted partnership in a nationwide program from Ford called Drive 4UR School to donate $20 for every test drive taken in a Ford vehicle today from the parking lot of Beacon High School.
Freedom Ford can raise up to $6,000 for Beacon High School and Rombout Middle Schools, if you get behind the wheel of Freedom Ford's vehicles in the high school parking lot. Proceeds will be donated to two fundraising initiatives:
Says Rick Brownell of the initiative: “We have been serving the Hudson Valley for over 75 years. When this became available for Freedom Ford to apply for the Drive 4UR School Program, it was a no-brainer for us to partner with Beacon High School and Rombout Middle School to help raise funds for the schools and for the kids. It was just the way I was raised, to always give back when you can.”
The event takes place today, Saturday, September 30, from 10 am to 3 pm at the Beacon High School, located at 101 Matteawan Road, Beacon, NY 12508. Participants test-drive the cars, and Freedom Ford makes the $20 donation per driver up to a total of $6,000.
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After spending my entire life living in rented apartments, 2017 was the year that I became a homeowner! Back in the spring, I went to an open house for a two-bedroom, two-bathroom condominium that was move-in ready. I made an offer two days later. With all the excitement that surrounds buying a new home, there were some things I overlooked - like insurance. Oh yeah, I need that, don’t I? When you rent an apartment, you could have renters insurance, but it’s not required. I never had renters insurance, but now that I’m buying a home, this is necessary. I've seen so many commercials on TV - with the little green guy, with Flo, and with the guy who played Jay Jonah Jameson in the Spiderman movies - but how do I know which insurance to go with?? Where do I even start?
And then I remembered our friends at Antalek & Moore! Through them, I learned that I don’t need homeowners insurance, I need condo insurance - there is a difference. Like homeowners policies, condo policies typically provide structural coverage for a condo’s structure, personal property, and liability. The structural coverage they offer, however, is usually different from that provided by homeowners policies, because condo owners don’t own freestanding houses.
The protections that condo insurance policies provide for condos’ structures vary. Some policies don’t include much protection for a condo’s structure, while other policies afford a lot of coverage for cabinets, appliances, plumbing, wiring, flooring, and similar items. Whatever isn’t covered by a condo association’s master policy ought to be insured with a condo policy. Thus, a condo owner normally needs to purchase much less coverage if their condo association has an all-in master policy than if the association maintains a bare walls-in master policy.
I connected with Terry Williams from Antalek & Moore and suggested that I bundle condo insurance with our current auto policy (I was purchasing the condo with my boyfriend). Not only was Terry easily available by phone and email to answer any questions we had, she was involved in the closing process. She was able to negotiate an even better annual rate than what was originally quoted to us. She was even okay with me dropping into their office for a quick “Hello!” just so I could meet the face behind the emails and phone calls. After we closed, she was still involved with making sure we were getting the best coverage possible, while dropping other coverage we were paying for that we didn't need.
Choosing to go with Antalek & Moore when buying my first home was a great decision and I’m happy to have someone like Terry working with me and looking out for our best interests.
Antalek & Moore is a sponsor of A Little Beacon Blog, and this article was created with them as part of our Sponsor Spotlight program. It is with the support of businesses like this, 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.
UPDATE: We have sold out! Tickets might be on sale at the door if some people don't show, and if there is standing room only.
We are super excited to reveal A Little Beacon Blog's better business side tonight in the Main Street Summit happening at The Telephone Building. Many Beaconites have known Scott Tillitt, founder of BEAHIVE, for a long time, and I got to know him better as my physical neighbor in The Telephone Building when I moved in. Last spring, he approached me to partner up on this summit idea he had. Saying yes was a no-brainer. Small business issues are my jam, which I normally exercise through content and programs I develop at my company Tin Shingle, which is also on the lease at the building. Helping people live their lives on their terms, which can include running a business and producing enough income to provide for yourself and your family (family of kids, pets, aging parents, etc.), is a major driver of why I develop programming for businesses and was happy to partner on this event.
First of all, there will be wine, beer and snacks during a Cocktail Connection at the beginning and end of the evening. While I was walking the mile of Main Street distributing flyers, telling any business owner I could reach about the event (sorry if I didn't get to you! but that's why we have newspapers and the Internet, to get the word out!), they told me I needed to lead with the wine part. :)
Next, Scott will moderate an interactive panel of city leaders from the Chamber of Commerce (Pat Moore, partner at Antalek and Moore), BeaconArts (Kelly Ellenwood, current president and city-wide volunteer) and City Council (George Mansfield, owner of Dogwood and City Council member-at-large). We picked this lineup for their direct experience as business owners, as well as with business owners in different capacities. The audience will participate by sharing their questions and thoughts, hopefully making for good discussion. We really appreciate their time this evening.
Then, we will break out into riveting roundtable discussions: Jason from Drink More Good will be facilitating the Staffing and Expansion table. He's got a lot of initiatives running out of his shop, so the insight gleaned will be beneficial. Galia Gichon from Down to Earth Finance is my friend from my NYC days, and I've imported her all the way from Connecticut in order to connect with her table about Business and Personal Finances - from having a retirement plan to different funding options. Myriam Bouchard of Coherence Collaborative will be facilitating on Operations - successful business always comes down to the best systems! I will be facilitating the table on PR and Marketing, pulling from my experience as a website/newsletter producer at InHouse Design Media and teacher of how to get the good word out (your good word about your business) from Tin Shingle.
While pounding the pavement, I got a few questions. Mainly people were excited about the event, and in the enthusiasm, two people said they wanted to go but asked why it wasn't free. This is a good question! And there are several answers:
Heck yes! In my other capacity at Tin Shingle, we do have several events planned. From classes, to member meetings, to weekly webinars. Upon moving to Beacon and experiencing the thrill from in-person events, Tin Shingle introduced a new level of membership - Community. It's our most affordable level of monthly membership, and will include one in-person meeting a month. I just needed to get through the early newborn days before getting back into event hosting. Even simple member meetings take coordination!
Every Wednesday at noon Eastern time, Tin Shingle has free webinars online. They are called Training TuneUps. I record them live from 291 Main Street, but you can call or click into them from your phone or computer. They include interviews with business owners in all industries, training sessions in the best ways to use Instagram, how to get PR, and so much more.
Seriously, get on Tin Shingle's newsletter if you haven't yet. If you need motivation for running and growing your business, you'll want to get hooked in. The newsletter and loads of our articles telling you how to do things are free.
Tickets to tonight's summit at this point are very limited, and you can buy online here. We only have a few more available online, and are reserving a few for people who didn't see this note and show up at the door.
Maria Amor, Real Estate Salesperson
Arthur DeDominicis, CPA
Storm King Art Center
FUELING MAIN STREET FOOD SPONSORS
Oak Vino
Pandorica
Chateau Lagrezette
Beacon Craft Beer Shoppe
MEDIA SPONSOR
See you soon, or see you at the next business event that A Little Beacon Blog or Tin Shingle are a part of!
UPDATE: We have sold out. We want to accommodate as many as we can. Anyone coming by looking for tickets at the door, we have standing room only, and ask that you stand toward the back for the panel. Decisions on tickets at the door will be based on if people don't show, and how much room there is. The main panel is in the Beahive room, with standing room in the hallway and in A Little Beacon Space. After the panel we will break out into the roundtable discussions, which should have more room at each table in different rooms of the building (including the upstairs and downstairs). Thank you!.
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After being away from the office for some time in order to be all-in for my new baby's first months of life, I was in the office today, in back-to-business fashion. My dear friend Charlotte dropped in, as she does from time to time, to catch me up on all of the film-making news in the area. (She is, after all, the #1 lookalike for Paul Newman's wife and has appeared in several things.)
We were discussing the Spirit of Beacon Parade, and how I'm on the Unofficial South Avenue Parade PTA Float-Building Committee, and how I need to find a few certain things today (top-secret, of course, until Sunday!), when Charlotte had the great desire to know what everyone's favorite memories were of Beacon or of the Spirit of Beacon Day.
The theme of this year's parade is Beacon Spirit of the Past 40 Years. Please share your favorite memory here in the Comments! If you have a picture you want to share, email it into us at editorial@alittlebeaconblog.com for consideration to be published in an article!
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Third Annual Theater Day
Where: Beacon High School Theater
101 Matteawan Road, Beacon, NY 12508
When: Saturday, September 16, 2017
Time: Check-in at 8 am
Register: Email beacononstage@gmail.com
Coming to a high school theater near you... The Third Annual Theater Day opens its doors at the Beacon High School Theater on Saturday, September 16, 2017 to students from high schools in and around New York State. Tickets are free for a day of performance and technical workshops, including free breakfast and lunch, sponsored by Beacon High School, Spackenkill High School, Arts Mid-Hudson, BeaconArts and the Beacon Performing Arts Center.
Take a look behind the curtain of the agenda of workshops we've included below, and you will see why the region's high school musicals are so impressive. There have been other productions since, but A Little Beacon Blog explored Peter Pan in 2016 and the amount of student-produced work that went into it. The experience that students of Beacon High School theater come away with is irreplaceable. Hands-on work in set design, costume design, music, PR, and more are in addition to what the actors experience. Only 250 participants can sign up by emailing beacononstage@gmail.com and providing your name, school, and grade.
The day is designed to provide educational theatrical guidance in various fields while kids can interact with students from different schools, while talking about one of the things they love most: THEATER!
Theater Day offers high-quality workshops for students, led by talented, working professionals in many different theater disciplines ranging from acting, dance, auditioning, scenic painting, special effects makeup and much more.
Examples of some of the workshops include:
Modern and Theatrical Dance
Fosse Dance Workshop
Audition Technique Intensive
Musician Intensive
Acting - Drama vs. Musical
Your Personal Acting Coach - One-on-One Evaluation
Lighting Design and Application
Set Design
Set Construction
Acting Shakespeare for the High School Student
Costume Design and Execution
Art Color and Design for the Stage
Improvisation and Theater Games
Publicity
Vocal Techniques
The Student Stage Manager
Makeup and Hair
What Shows Work and What Shows Do Not Work For High School
Musical Theater Today?
8:00 am: Students are invited to begin the day for breakfast and check-in. During breakfast, the students will sign up for two morning workshops. There will be large charts set up in one of the hallways for students to sign up to attend morning workshops of their choice.
8:30 am: Group meeting in the theater for a brief kick-off and housekeeping.
9:00 am - noon: Two morning workshops!
Noon - 1:00 pm: Lunch! At this time, students can revisit their sign-ups for the afternoon sessions.
1:00 - 4:00 pm: Afternoon sessions
4:00 pm: Re-group in the theater for wrap-up, presentations and some fun theater activities. Some of the activities from the day might be presented so everyone gets a feel for all the workshops that took place.
Eating a compassionate, plant-based diet is likely one of the best things you can do for yourself and the planet. If you already set the vegan table, are thinking about it, or are simply curious to learn more, prepare to be inspired and entertained at the first-ever Hudson Valley VegFest taking place on Saturday, September 23, and Sunday, September 24, at Gold's Gym in Poughkeepsie.
After two years of planning by activists Sande Nosonowitz and Rebecca Moore, the weekend festival spotlights innovators and influencers making waves on the plant-based culinary front, in the arenas of food justice, with compassion for animals and environmental sustainability.
"This celebration is for everyone - you'll absolutely be able to take in the energy that will be inspiring, joyous and life-changing," says Sande Nosonowitz. "If you are veg-curious - come explore, enjoy, eat and immerse yourself in the vegan vibe. If you are already vegan... well, welcome to paradise in Poughkeepsie," she continues.
Adds Rebecca Moore: “It really is time that the Hudson Valley and Dutchess County get a fun festival featuring delicious food that goes beyond just appealing to our palates - that cares more and wants change that fosters growth, that highlights innovative products and lets inspiring speakers teach, and that brings out the best in all of us."
Plant-based food companies, including Mindful Kitchens, which produces a delicious line of seitan-based charcuterie right here in Beacon, are on the lengthy VegFest vendor list. Lagusta’s Luscious, one of the Hudson Valley’s innovators with a national following, will be there with their stunning line of artisanal vegan chocolates.
Other vendors will present beautiful non-toxic health and beauty products and cruelty-free clothing lines. Organizations working hard to forward a more humane and compassionate world will discuss their important work and outline avenues for involvement and volunteering.
Cooking and fitness demonstrations will abound, and an impressive lineup of luminaries in the plant-based world, like best-selling author and inspirational vegan guru Victoria Moran, will take the stage. Celebrated vegan pastry chef Fran Costigan, known as “the queen of vegan desserts” will instruct and entice festivalgoers with her marvelous confections.
The festival is September 23 and 24, from 10 am to 6 pm both days, at Gold’s Gym at 258 Titusville Road, Poughkeepsie, NY. Their huge indoor space known as “The Net” covers over 42,000 square feet – ample space for the festival and attendees. VegFest tickets are $10 per adult, while children 10 and under enjoy free admission. For detailed information on the festival, including vendors and speakers, check out www.hvvegfest.org.
There's a book signing happening this Sunday, September 10, for Toss Your Own Salad by Eddie McNamara at the outdoor Beacon Farmers Market on Veterans Place (next to Towne Crier Cafe). McNamara's cookbook features meatless recipes. Now, I'm a meat and potatoes kind of gal, but I'm always looking for ways to jazz up a salad instead of wasting food in the fridge. Sometimes it's a lack of creativity or fear of knowing what to do with veggies, aka salad-tossing-block (think writer's block, but for making salads). Those days might be numbered.
The vegetable-forward timing is right as we enter the season for autumn detoxes and The Harvest, but something else caught my attention when people interested in this book signing sent emails to A Little Beacon Blog about it. The author, Eddie McNamara, is an ex-NYC cop, having entered the force right after college. He then spent several months after 9/11 helping out at Ground Zero, which led to his desire to retire due to PTSD, and he took up cooking. Eddie started a blog of the same name as his book, and I investigated a bit to get to know him. Here he is below, during a stop on his book tour:
His writing is hilarious and makes salad-tossing actually sound tough - as tough as the tattoos on his arm - as well as delicious. For any man wanting to eat more salads, this is the cookbook to get. Get it online (I prefer Barnes & Noble simply because Amazon is trying to take over the world) or find a signed copy at the Beacon Farmers Market. You might also check Beacon's local bookstore, Binnacle Books near the library, to see if they have a few copies). How tough is this guy? If his cop background wasn't enough, he even has a skull and crossbones in his blog logo! Not that salad-making has to be gender-specific at all. The literary approach to his salad-making is just so funny, you must read his blog. His style reminds of me of the Ink and Coffee blog, penned by our very own Marilyn Perez, an editor here at A Little Beacon Blog.
"Toss Your Own Salad" was just added to a 12 Must-Read Summer Cookbooks list at People Magazine. In Eddie's words: "People Magazine said you MUST READ my book. Bieber, every Kardashian, Drake, and J-Lo agree."
So with those endorsements, enjoy it, and maybe talk to him on Sunday. His people claim he will be providing recipes on the spot: If you give him a vegetable that you want to eat, he'll tell you how to prepare it and what will best accompany it. For the carnivores in the room, fear not, you can always toss some hamburger, fish or chicken into salad recipes while still getting more veggies into your life.
Happy Second Saturday, Beacon and fans of Beacon! Fall is in the air - schools are back in session, leaves are crunching, and there's just something invigorating about all of it. Make like the kids this weekend and work on expanding your horizons: Seeing a variety of art is a most excellent way to learn new things. Check in with nature at Theo Ganz, Catalyst and Matteawan, or find your softer side at Clutter. Practice civic engagement with two interactive art projects at the Howland Library. It's the final weekend for two exhibitions (Cathouse FUNeral and Beacon Institute)that blend history and art in very different ways. Don't miss out!
Get the scoop on all the Second Saturday happenings around town in our Guide to Second Saturday Art Gallery Showings!
As always, a huge, big thanks to BeaconArts (BACA) for the tireless efforts promoting Saturday. And another huge, big thanks to A Little Beacon Blog's advertising partners, without whom this production would be exceptionally difficult. Please support the businesses who support us!
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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.