It’s always a good sign when there’s a BOX OF CANDY 🍭 outside your door. Getting ready for Beacon’s Hocus Pocus Halloween Kids Parade on Sunday! Check A Little Beacon Blog’s Events Guide for details. Thank you to Katy Hope from Beetle and Fred for hooking us up with this stash of candy - and for the door-to-door delivery!!
Luxe Optique came to Beacon about two years ago. It wasn’t the first glasses store that owner Laurie Riehle had opened - and it won’t even be her last. Prior to coming to Beacon with her loyal crew, Laurie sold her optics shop in Warwick, NY, but couldn’t sit still. She moved into 183 Main Street, the spot on the corner of Main Street and Cliff Street that had been the location of School of Jellyfish, the curious combo shop that was half sustainable architecture teachings, and half hot chocolate bar and source of an award-winning truffle (really, it was a place to present green architecture with bait of really good chocolate - it worked).
After a time, the building that housed Luxe Optique went up for sale, and Laurie went for it. She bought the building, which included two storefronts. At the time, Beacon Pilates was upstairs (they have since moved to West Main Street by Brett’s Hardware, with better parking - and you can always find their outpost at All Sport) and Bellus on Main, one of my personal favorite boutiques while they were here for high-end shoes.
Luxe Optique are collectors of distinct lines of hand-crafted glasses, and have fantastic eye doctors to give eye exams to adults and kids in their store for glasses and contact prescriptions. You can see how Luxe Optique quickly got crowded with their ever-growing number of frames for kids and adults, and the eye exam office. Luxe Optique began an expansion into the second storefront. For now, the original side of the store on the left is under construction, and the new side on the right is open!
Look for the following enhancements when the work is complete:
A larger selection of children's frames - getting a thorough eye exam is really easy.
A larger selection of sophisticated affordable brands to make sure everyone has access to good quality eyewear, no matter the budget.
A private lounge that patients can book (for free) to secure time with an optician like Ryon, Christos, Julia, or Laurie herself so they can receive the best experience possible.
And an overall facelift!
Keep your eyes on these folks - and get some new glasses and an exam to see everything better.
P.S.: Luxe Optique is known for making super-fine adjustments to glasses. For those with particularly tricky prescriptions, going there is like therapy for your glasses while the pros adjust them.
Editorial Note: Luxe Optique is a sponsor of A Little Beacon Blog, but this article is not a part of their campaign. Their expansion is part of the energy and Shopping Guide Shuffle on this end out town. Do see their listing with more pictures in our Shopping Guide.
You’ve driven by it countless times - the construction going on at 143 Main Street, the building that formerly held the office for Shane Hobel’s The Mountain Scout Survival School. Prior to that storefront, the space was the location for the art gallery Fovea before it moved across and up the street to the second floor of Hudson Beacon Glass.
Slated for a Saturday, November 10, 2018, grand opening, Utensil Kitchenware, owned by Emily Burke, will move from her location on the east end of town to this larger, fully renovated space on the West End. Emily and her architect husband designed it specifically to fit the kitchenware store.
The store has always held a cozy collection of pretty much any kitchenware item you needed - or didn’t know you needed - and now will offer an interactive demonstration space so that you can learn how to use the gadgets that Emily has discovered. The front doors have been expanded to be double doors, the front windows enlarged. If you’ve walked by, you may have seen exciting red ceiling beams on the inside.
The building Utensil originally opened in is currently for sale. Says Emily of her new location: “I am really excited about this new chapter. Although I will miss the East End, I think the community will like the new location too. I secured a long-term lease at 143 Main Street a very fair rate. The building owner is a great guy who really cares about Main Street, the tenants and building renovations.”
Newest shop, Darry'l’s Contemporary Women’s Clothing, opened in former Nella’s Bellas, which had been Global Home.
Photo Credit: Katie Hellmuth Martin
Fun Fact for Beacon Trivia Lovers: This is not Emily’s first time working on this end of town. She worked at the home decor shop, Global Home, before it pulled up its pins several years ago. That location was later occupied by Nella’s Bellas, and now Darryl’s Contemporary Women’s Clothing. (A brand new shop… looks like they are also in Rhinebeck and NYC on Amsterdam of the UWS… We are investigating!)
There’s a lot going on at this end of town - referred to often here as “the west end of town near the train” - from building renovations to business relocations. This change started when a large swath of property - 20 parcels - changed hands from the Piccone family (see our coverage in “Top Nabisco Pressman Starts Over At Age 54 To Open Salon - Mr. Bell’s Story”) to new owners in one of the largest real estate deals in Beacon’s history.
Colorant, now located at 146 Main Street started out inside of Beacon Healing Massage as a pop-up shop, turned perma-pop-up shop, and now has a permanent home across the street in the space formerly occupied by Miss Vickie’s Music.
Photo Credit: Katie Hellmuth Martin
Storefront shops always come and go on any Main Street, but taking a moment to reflect on what’s going on, not only has their been an ongoing Shopping Guide Shuffle since the summer, but there are building improvements as well.
At first blush, one might think that a bunch of new businesses are moving in. However, Beacon businesses already located here, for the most part, are simply moving around. The first major move and renovation was to Colorant’s space, which used to be a seasonal pop-up shop in Beacon Healing Massage’s space, which is right next door to the (now former) Mountain Scout office. Beacon Healing Massage’s new neighbor will be Utensil.
Colorant transitioned into a perma-pop-up in the Beacon Healing Massage space, and then officially moved out and across the street into the studio where Miss Vickie hung her musical shingle - but not before that space was totally renovated for Colorant. Miss Vickie has since moved to another location owned by the same people a few blocks up, down the alley near the shoe cobbler and Mr. Bell’s barbershop.
Miss Vickie’s Music, down the alley near Mr. Bell’s barbershop.
Photo Credit: Katie Hellmuth Martin
reMADE, the boutique carrying handmade Hudson Valley items recently closed, yet the space has re-opened as a new store - Lewis and Pine. The new shop, however, occupies half the space. The store was essentially two stores inside with an existing wall and door separating the two. This can make for an awkward layout - or not - depending on how you set it up. The space will now be two storefronts.
Says Liz Ferrera, owner of reMADE and PAX Studios of her decision to close the shop: “For me personally, the decision to close reMADE was primarily ‘life getting in the way.’ More specifically, aging parents and my desire to learn all that I can from them while I have the opportunity. The maker community in the Hudson Valley is just incredible! The craftsmanship and creativity that I saw being produced just blew me away. Educating people on the benefits of handmade will continue to be my passion.”
A survival training workshop on the Mountain Scout property in Hopewell JuncTion.
Photo Credit: The Mountain Scout Instagram
The inside of the Mountain Scout office was really neat, and was set up as if you were outside in the wilderness. The Mountain Scout trains in survival tactics in the wilderness and taps into primitive stuff we humans otherwise may have disconnected from thanks to modern technologies. The true training takes place on several acres of land that Mountain Scout owns in Hopewell Junction, just 5 minutes from I-84 or the Taconic.
The big, tan Mountain Scout passenger van you see driving around Beacon is part of their offerings of shuttling clients to and from the Beacon train station to their land in Hopewell Junction for workshops or private trainings. His classes are just so neat - you should check them out for survival tactics for kids or adults, including Family Emergency Planning.
There are incredible finds! So many shops, galleries and eateries. We have a few articles slated to tell you about them, but a lot of good stuff. Loopy Mango (giant yarn), the No. 3 Reading Room for extremely rare art books and interesting print things not found in art galleries or book stores, The Vault for creative cocktails and one of the best baby kale Caesar salads, and Jeffrey Terreson’s curious dimensional paintings.
Eat up our write-ups of all of the shops in A Little Beacon Blog’s Shopping Guide, and the eateries in our Restaurant Guide. Don’t miss our Brunch Guide, of course!
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This just in!
There’s a new Women’s Wednesday Night Volleyball League happening at the Rombout Middle School Gym from October 2018 through May 2019.
According to a press release from the Beacon Recreation Department, there are existing teams, and they are looking for an eighth team. New players are welcome. We have a few questions about this development, and are finding out more. When we do, we’ll post it here! So come back and refresh this article every now and then.
Day/Time: Wednesdays, 6:30 to 9 pm
Questions? Email these folks: Mark Price at the Beacon Recreation Department - mprice@cityofbeacon.org - or Joanna Matias, jmatias8@optonline.net.
Love these little cuties every time they get put out at night in the storefront window of Beacon Fine Jewelers. They are part of the collection of miniature things that the son (of the father-son team) 🔥 fires up inside in the back of the store.
Not sure where this store is? 284 Main Street. Beacon Fine Jewelers are in the middle of Main Street, across the way from EnotecaAma. We profiled them last Holiday season, so check them out!
Really good gift ideas are in store for collectors in your life... or the real life fairies 🧚♀️ you find in your house... We’re just sayin’.
Photo Credit for All Photos: Katie Hellmuth Martin
This year, we changed it up a little bit with photo coverage of the Chamber of Commerce and Dutchess Cruisers Car Show. Engines!
I don’t know how engines work, but during the car show, hoods are usually open for spectators to take a peek inside, so there must be something very creative about them. There was one cylinder in the middle of the ... under the hood part (lol, not sure what the whole area under the hood is called) and I asked the car owner what this large circle did (see picture below of smooth circle in the middle). It’s the air filter! Then I noticed that all of the cars had them, but in different forms. Some thicker, some smaller, and some in cone shapes. But all of them were part of the show.
Beacon is usually equated with modern art. But, you know, these super custom cars are art. This hobby for some requires a passion and a curiosity to tinker and fiddle and figure things out. That’s what the car show is all about. Some even had screaming Halloween decorations! That’s what my kids were looking for - the Halloween-decorated cars.
Can you see the rat on top of the car? Pictured here is the trunk of the car - a convenient coffin. Boo!
This air filter looks a little taller…
I don’t know if that cone-shaped thing is an air filter, but looks like it’s in the same family…
Hadn’t seen this Joker car yet… Did you peek inside to see how he decorated the interior roof?
We only saw a smidge of the car show, as it stretched from the beginning of Main Street at Route 9D, all the way to Fishkill Avenue. Can’t wait to see the creativity next year’s show offers.
Until next year...
The Queen of Halloween has flown into Beacon on her broom to take over A Little Beacon Space with her collection of mostly handmade Halloween things. You may have read about her in the Poughkeepsie Journal’s Halloween highlights article.
You'll find little coffin boxes she has decorated, a collection of original Halloween children's books she has written, pins she designed and had produced, pendants she polished, and pottery she pressed. She must like working with mediums in alliteration.
Don't miss the selfie-screen with the ghosty pumpkin path!
LIMITED TIME MAKE 'N TAKE
There is a Make 'N Take offering in this shop, but you must sign up in advance here at this website (it's in the right-hand side column). Saturday is booked, but there may be openings on Sunday. Inquire with the proprietress of this shop, Donna, inside.
WHERE: 291 Main St., Beacon, NY 12508
The Telephone Building
First Floor, First Door
WHEN: October 13th-14th
Saturday: 10 am to 8 pm
Sunday: 10 am to 5 pm
Take pics if you love or buy something, then share them with our Instagram, @alittlebeacon!
Happy Second Saturday, October edition!
Happy Second Saturday, folks! This mid-October weekend is jam-packed with gallery openings (and one closing 😥) as well as so many non-art events. The common theme? Community. Head out to the galleries. (Our Guide gives an overview of each exhibition or screening we track down.) Talk with your neighbors, visitors, or the artists. Buy their work if you're in a position to - get a jump on holiday gifting, maybe? Then head out again on Sunday, with the Car Show on Main Street and the Pumpkin Festival at Pete and Toshi Seeger Riverfront Park. Get the artsy-tartsy scoop here in our Art Gallery Guide, and read about all of the amazing non-artsy things in our Event Guide.
Some familiar Beacon faces highlight this #2Sat. At Scenic Hudson's River Center (the big red barn at Long Dock Park), Eleni Smolen of TheoGanz Studio has curated a selection of works by Hiro Ichikawa, a Hudson Valley painter, printmaker, and nature lover who passed away early last year.
At No. 3 Reading Room and Photo Book Works, revisit Melissa McGill's starry Bannerman Castle installation and read writer Sam Anderson's reflections, in Reverse Punctuation Constellations.
Matteawan Gallery will be closing after the current show, Eleanor White's Bittersweet, wraps up next weekend. (Read more here about Matteawan and what’s next.)
Brief descriptions in our Gallery Guide can't possibly do justice to all of the artists exhibiting around town, so you really should check them out yourself. If you're inclined, report back and let us know what you loved seeing. Comment here, on Facebook, on Instagram, or Twitter. We'd love to hear from you.
Did you notice this eye-catching, colorful flier while walking down Main Street? The Underground Beacon, located at 462 Main St., is offering a four-week class on Learning To Draw Comic Books. This is a unique art class offered for adults and can be found in A Little Beacon Blog’s Adult Classes Guide.
The classes are taught by Dezi Sienty, a freelance illustrator, designer, editor, and letterer specializing in comic books. He also taught at Dutchess Community College.
You can find more art classes as well as other types of classes for adults in A Little Beacon Blog’s Adult Classes Guide.
Are you hosting a class in Beacon you would like to see added to the guide? Submission Guidelines for classes you'd like us to consider adding to these guides can be found here.
Or we might find them on a flier. But don’t wait! Might be too late.
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Hey there, reading anything good these days?
If you want to know where to find your next book, and where to go to mix it up with other literary types, this new ALBB Guide to Writerly Happenings has you laced up. Every couple of weeks we’ll round up the best events happening in our growing local community of writers and readers and the people who love them.
Sunset Reading Series presents another stupendously located and top notch reading at The Chapel of Our Lady Restoration in Cold Spring on Sunday, October 7, at 4 pm when Sam Anderson, local author and New York Times Magazine Critic at Large, will read from his widely and wildly acclaimed book BOOM TOWN The Fantastical Saga of Oklahoma City, Its Chaotic Founding, Its Apocalyptic Weather, Its Purloined Basketball Team, and the Dream of Becoming a World-Class Metropolis.
This event is being co-hosted by Split Rock Books, who is also kicking off their inaugural book club event on Thursday, October 11, from 7 to 8 pm with If Beale Street Could Talk by James Baldwin. The film adaptation of this book, by Moonlight director Barry Jenkins, is due out in November. They are also having a storytime for kiddos with Bear and Wolf author Daniel Salmieri on Sunday, October 14 from 10:15 to 10:45 am.
If you are looking to join a writing group, on Monday, October 8, or Monday, October 15, you might check out Words & Womyn. This fresh weekly workshop from the Wyld Womyn, a new space on Main Street, is described as “a safe space that welcomes anyone female-identifying to sit and soak in the power of thought and prose.”
The night before, you could also get your book club on with Binnacle Books’ ongoing book discussion at Denning’s Point Distillery. On Wednesday, October 10 at 7 pm that group will be diving in to There There, by Tommy Orange.
Get Lit Beacon continues to work the room at Oak Vino in Beacon on the second Sunday of each month! Have a glass of wine and enjoy the salon there on October 14 at 5 pm. Katie from A Little Beacon Blog will be on hand to answer questions about local news media, as well as Brian PJ Cronin (Update: Danielle Trussoni, a memoirist and novelist, was slated to speak, but won’t join in this month). You can sign up to read for 5 minutes yourself. Get the lineup here.
Later in the month, the Beacon Library is hosting a discussion of the much-acclaimed book Everything I Never Told You, by Celeste Ng, so start reading now if you want to get in on that on Tuesday, October 30, from 2 to 3 pm. The discussion will be led by Dr. James Cotter as part of the NEA Big Read program.
For monthly open mic nights check out The Falcon Underground in Marlboro, the Wherehouse in Newburgh, The Howland Cultural Center in Beacon and Fiesta Friday in Poughkeepsie.
Farther afield, but well worth the drive, are two favorite bookstores that host loads of writerly happenings: Golden Notebook in Woodstock, and Rough Draft Bar & Books in Kingston.
We’ll see you back here in a couple weeks with more upcoming events. Tell us where to go and what to read in the meantime, if you like - email phoebe@alittlebeaconblog.com.
Many thanks to ReAttached Team at Hanson Real Estate Partners, who have joined A Little Beacon Blog's Real Estate Guide as sponsors to show you a selection of their retail and commercial properties in Newburgh. If you were at Newburgh OPEN Studios this month, you may have experienced the buzzing energy over there - and gotten a creative itch to dig in. There's even a home for sale - a "TLC Heartthrob" on Beacon Street - in Newburgh! Check them out!
The ReAttached Team at Hanson Real Estate Partners invests in America’s livable urban spaces. They help creative and motivated individuals define their ideal lifestyle, and understand how owning or leasing real estate in Newburgh, New York, can accelerate people’s personal, professional and financial growth. See all of the ReAttached listings and call them for tours!
Sarah Beckham Hooff founded the ReAttached Team at Hanson Real Estate Partners after living abroad for 10-plus years, working as an environmental scientist, grant writer, social activist and performer. Three weeks after she discovered Newburgh, NY, she packed up and relocated. Shortly after landing, she founded a performance and recording studio in what was then an abandoned hair salon.
Inspired by other creatives’ interest in rediscovering and reinventing “downtown" American living, she founded a trilingual (Spanish, Russian, English) real estate sales team to support creative investors who think like homeowners, and motivated homeowners who think like investors. In 2018, Laura Suárez joined the Team as a licensed real estate agent, to facilitate transactions with Spanish-speaking clients.
This just in from Dutchess Tourism!
Film production has been picking up in the Hudson Valley, with a new film production facility going up in Newburgh (as we discovered through this commercial/retail Real Estate listing, thanks to the tip from Sarah Beckham Hooff). CineHub in Beacon has been a great resource for filmmakers over the years. Residents of Beacon have already experienced film production. Now a wider range of businesses can get in on that call for “Action!” by serving as an amazing backdrop location to films and television shows filming in Dutchess County.
You and your business can get in on the fun and benefit from the filming boom that has hit the area. Dutchess Tourism provides film location assistance to location scouts and producers, and they are working to expand their database so they can respond more quickly to requests. The types of locations they seek span from homes and local businesses, to farms and warehouses.
You can be added to the recommendation list by filling out this film location form. Hosting a film or photo shoot can increase your exposure as well as provide some economic benefit. The Hudson Valley Film Commission has estimated that in 2017, the direct regional film spending was over $30 million.
You can learn more about the benefits of being a part of filming in New York State, such as earning tax credits, by clicking here.
Hey - it’s Katie from A Little Beacon Blog here, taking over this part of the article. While the fame and glory of having your home or business be in a film or television may be appealing, there are a few items you’ll want to be aware of as you negotiate your way through an experience. Disclaimer: My husband is a Location Manager, and I have worked as a Production Assistant on jobs, where I carried around a walkie-talkie and basically relayed messages and told people where the bathroom was. (The film production life wasn’t for me… the way-too-long hours were a deal-breaker.)
The filmed part that your house or business is in may end up on the cutting room floor. The film production may have spent a ton of money on it, but for whatever reason, it got cut out.
A “Union Production” can be a different ballgame than a production who doesn’t need to be union. This means that everyone in the film crew is in a union. It’s a “union job.” Members have to follow certain rules, and had to achieve certain milestones to get into that union. Pay scales may be different, and budgets may be different. To work with a job not in a union is fine, and may help a low-budget film production do some big things. It also helps people who aren’t in a union to get valuable experience.
Insurance: The film job should have it! Should something go wrong in your home or business, the production company may pay you directly to have it fixed, or their insurance company may pay. The job should have insurance in case this happens. Wishing for damage? Like, are you hoping for a new wall for your kitchen, and crossing your fingers that some piece of crew equipment would ding it pretty badly? Bad idea. You really don’t want to deal with the back and forth - it’s not worth it!
Check in with your neighbors. A film production gathering is a big deal. Sometimes they park on the street, sometimes they close a street. If it’s a night shot, there will be lights at night. You’ll want to talk to your neighbors to let them know if something will be going on.
Everything is negotiable. Usually in New York City, if someone’s apartment is getting filmed in, the owners of the apartment get paid, and the building itself gets paid. Not that a Producer or a Location Manager would like to pay everyone, but it’s good to know that for inconvenience, a price could maybe be negotiated for others.
Speaking of negotiation, read the contract. Know your contract well, and ask for things to be included in it that are important to you. Did they go past a filming date? Or an hourly end time? That should cost extra (them paying you). So, think of scenarios that might call for additional compensation, and ask questions.
You’ll be tight with Locations and the Art Departments. The Art Department will be the ones messing up your place, and cleaning it up again. They should return it to the state they found it in. Again, this should not be viewed as a free way to get a new paint job. The Locations Department will be with you from the beginning, and possibly after the Art Department has left. The Locations Department will be the ones giving you the check, delivering the contract, and working with the Art Department to make sure things are done right - as you want them.
The tiny counter at All You Knead Bakery is always filled with curious, good-smelling things that come fresh from the oven in the larger space in the back of the shop. This Sunday morning at 8:30am, fresh crumb cake sat warmly next to these gooey cinnamon buns. Not included in this picture were the salty pretzel bagels.
Tempting as this all was, I was on a mission for their chocolate croissant - which I found and devoured in four bites because it is so soft and generously filled with dark chocolate. I couldn’t leave without a blueberry scone, too, just in case anyone around me got hungry a few hours later after our Sunday errands. Turns out, I’m the lucky one who got hungry.
All You Knead Bakery is in the middle section of Main Street, just before Rite Aid and past Key Food if you’re walking from the train. It’s across the street a bit from the Howland Public Library. It’s located behind a simple wooden screen door. If you see their sidewalk sign out, you know they are open.
On Sundays they are also at the Beacon Farmers Market, just down Main Street. There, you’ll find a similar range of baked goods, but you may also find chicken pot pies, which I’m learning have quite a following. They also sell retail in stores like Adams Fairacre Farms, and you may find them in one of those Taste NY stores off the Taconic.
Mission next Sunday? Chicken pot pie.
Mountain Stream Budo: Adult Martial Arts Classes
Mountain Stream Budo: Kids Martial Arts Classes
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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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Beacon Record & CD Fest
Beacon Sloop Club Annual Pumpkin Festival
The Hallowstyle Pop-Up Shop is open! For Halloween lovers, shop for all kinds of Halloween things, from jewelry to childrens' books. You can even take a selfie in front of the Halloween path (baby not included)!
