Frozendale in Rosendale
As befits the mid-Hudson’s self-anointed Festival Town, Rosendale makes a very big deal indeed of its annual winter holidays kickoff event: Frozendale, which happens next Saturday, December 13. The extravaganza of free activities, exhibits and entertainment, complimentary refreshments, special sales and contests, all brought to you by the hamlet’s downtown businesses, begins at 9:30 a.m. with a free class at Yoga Yoga and winds up with a live performance of It’s a Wonderful Life, Golden Age of Radio-style, starting at 8 p.m. at the Rosendale Theatre.
Described by organizer Jesse Scherer of Catskill Mountain Massage as a “community-generated festival,” this year’s Frozendale brings back some elements that proved popular in Decembers past and adds a few new twists. Some folks may have worried that the recent relocation of Rosendale’s Town Hall from Main Street to the Rondout Municipal Center would mean an end to the tradition of town officials handing out collectible mugs filled with hot cocoa; but they’ll be back, for this one day only, from noon to 5 p.m. (or until the mugs run out). Also returning will be the fabulous mac-and-cheese contest hosted by the Big Cheese, which begins at 5 p.m. The judges will be the actual town justices, Bob Vosper and William Pape, with gift certificates from local businesses as prizes for the winning entries. “Anyone who can melt cheese can compete in this annual competition to see who makes the best macaroni and cheese in Rosendale,” say the organizers.
Food is an important component of Frozendale, with free snacks on offer all up and down Main Street. The Alternative Baker and the Ultimate Luau Gallery will set out New York apple cider and homemade cookies, and Visions of Tibet will serve hot tea. Even way out on the edge of town, at the corner of Cottekill Road, Victoria Gardens will be serving hot cider and treats from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., with handcrafted wreaths and tree ornaments on display. A Happy Hour for hot toddy-lovers is scheduled at the 1850 House Inn and Tavern from 4 to 6 p.m., though some will want to head out early to follow the Rosendale Improvement Association Brass Band and Social Club down to the Big Cheese for the mac-and-cheese bakeoff.
Live music will accompany many of the day’s events, such as Jeff Entin and Tom Blum performing on the porch of the newly opened restaurant the Garden House, which will be offering samples of its amazing wood-fired pizza. At the Rosendale Café you’ll be able to listen for free to music, poetry and book readings from Geneva Davis, Andrea Maddox, Sarah Perotta, Shamsi Ruhe, Ione and Lisa Barnard-Kelley while you decorate cookies.
It wouldn’t be a downtown Rosendale event without Cathy and Bill Brooks, whose barbershop will play host to Santa Claus and his elves and serve as the point of departure for the free hayrides that set out every half-hour all afternoon. At 10:30 a.m. Ann Van Damm will read holiday stories for children at the Rosendale Library, where the Frozendale Holiday Booktique will just be getting underway, featuring inexpensive gifts, decorations, books, hand-knitted clothing and quilts for sale until 3 p.m., along with gift basket raffles. Always a popular component of Frozendale, the Winter Gift Sale promises to be bigger than ever, with vendors located at the TRANSnDANCEnDRUM Center, the Creative Co-op, Guts ‘n’ Glory Ink and a crafts-for-Currents sale at Hudson Valley Current. Many other Main Street businesses, such as Soiled Doves, Paws and Tail Pantry, Visions of Tibet and Boom, Baby! Boutique will offer sales, gift certificates, raffles and stocking-stuffers.
Rosendale Retro is hosting a little kid art show, featuring hundreds of superhero drawings for sale at $5 each. Roos Arts, whose current gallery exhibit is titled “Zine! Zine!” will feature a related hands-on workshop from noon to 6 p.m., where anyone can stop in to make ‘zines, paper crafts and ornaments. Country Wisdom will sponsor a potato-print wrapping paper workshop from 2 to 5 p.m. Next door to Yoga Yoga at 11 a.m., you can join the Nowist Society Meeting with Doug Motel and explore “the now” through story, silence, games and chocolate. And the Rosendale Theatre will open its doors for a free 2 p.m. singalong matinée screening of Oliver (1968). Immediately following the film, Amy Trompetter’s Redwing Blackbird Theatre will perform a traditional (but family-friendly) Punch and Judy handpuppet show.
And what do you do with all your purchases, your cocoa mug, handcrafted decorations and other tsatskes picked up along the way? Why, put them in your eco-friendly, reusable canvas shopping bag with the Frozendale logo: a brand-new item that will be given away to visitors this year. “People can pick that up and use it to shop,” says Scherer, waxing enthusiastic about the coming event. “I think it’s going to be really good. Everyone has been really into chipping in.”
For more information, call Jesse Scherer at (914) 466-1517 or Laurie Giardino at (646) 209-7444, or check out “Frozendale in Rosendale, 12/13/14” on Facebook.
Caroling & tree-lighting in Gardiner hamlet this Friday
For about ten years now, the Town of Gardiner has had its own special community gathering to kick off the winter holiday season with caroling through the streets, a tree-lighting ceremony, refreshments and merrymaking. That tradition returns to the hamlet this Friday evening, December 5, when participants are asked to assemble at 7 p.m. sharp at Gardiner Gables.
“We go through the streets of Gardiner singing carols, as far as the Reformed Church. Then we turn around and walk back to Town Hall, where we have the tree-lighting. The Gardiner Day Committee gives out baked goods and hot cocoa.” So says Jewell Turner, a Gardiner Day Committee volunteer better-known as the deputy town clerk — although she cautions that this event, like Gardiner Day itself, is not run nor funded by the town government. “It’s just something we like to give back to the town. It’s a fun night. It’s basically for the kids, but we have a lot of grownups who like to get involved.”
Participants are asked to bring a flashlight and dress appropriately for the weather. A Toys for Tots collection will be held, so contributions of new, unwrapped, child-appropriate gifts will be welcome. “It’s open to anybody, and there’s no charge,” says Turner, who describes the event as “short and sweet.” And Santa Claus will be there!
Light up the Hamlet in Highland
Folks in Lloyd may be wondering whether the annual Light up the Hamlet event will be returning on schedule this year to downtown Highland, with its packed roster of ingenious holiday activities for kids. No press release had yet gone out as of the New Paltz Times’s deadline for this issue, and the Light up the Hamlet announcement on the Events and Beautification Committee page of the Town of Lloyd website has simply read “Details Coming Soon!” for quite a while now. But according to committee chair Kate Jonietz, Highlanders (and their eager children) have no need to worry: Santa Claus is coming to town next Friday, December 12.
“We haven’t released the information yet because the former place that we used for Santa’s Workshop wasn’t available anymore. We had to find an alternate location, and that’s just being finalized now,” Jonietz explained. “It’s the former Sawyer Savings Bank, at the corner of Vineyard and Main, right in the hamlet.”
Last year, to discourage long lines at Santa’s Workshop, the committee devised a scavenger hunt format that staggers the children’s arrival times, called Passport to the North Pole. Kids pick up their Passports and visit different stations in the hamlet to complete various fun activities in order to get their passport stamped and gain entry into Santa’s Workshop. The approach proved successful enough that it’s being repeated this year — although, said Jonietz, Passport headquarters will be in a different location this year: From Stage to Screen.
Kids seeking passport stamps will have opportunities to participate in Santa’s Cookie Toss at the Veterans of Foreign Wars post; check out the Living Nativity and Craft Fair at the Methodist Church; and stop for hot chocolate at Toastie Warm. The cast of the current production of Winnie the Pooh’s Christmas Tail will be on hand at From Stage to Screen, which will also be downtown Highland’s dropoff location for new unwrapped gifts for the Toys for Tots campaign. “If you bring your toy in, you can have your picture taken with the whole cast in costume,” Jonietz said.
As if that weren’t enough to keep kids busy, Operation ELF (Elf Location Finder) will also be underway. Kids will be able to pick up “mission paperwork,” help track down some renegade elves who are playing tricks on Santa, fill out their forms and submit them to be entered in a prize drawing.
Light up the Hamlet in Highland begins at 6 p.m. next Friday, December 12 with Santa himself arriving by firetruck at 6:15 p.m. to greet the spectators and ask them to “energize the elves” to light up the hamlet. Santa’s Workshop will open immediately following the tree-lighting, and kids can scamper off on their passport-stamping and elf-finding missions. At 7 p.m. the Poughkeepsie-based Evergreen Chorus of Sweet Adelines International will perform songs of the season. The busy evening of fun is scheduled to wind up at 8:30 p.m.
Light up the Hamlet is free and open to all. For more information about the event, call Kate Jonietz at (845) 691-2144.
