The onset of a snowstorm dampened the turnout but not the Carnival spirits of dozens of families who attended the Mardi Gras celebration on March 3 at the Elting Memorial Library. The walls of the library’s community room were covered with wallpaper evoking the ornate cast-iron balconies lining the streets of the Big Easy; display cabinets were filled with Mardi Gras masks; and book aisles were festooned with purple, gold and green decorations.
Kingston is at the forefront of efforts to combat domestic violence with an innovative new program that combines offers of help with an escalating series of sanctions aimed at dissuading perpetrators from further abuse.
Two of the major events this weekend in the ongoing Women’s History Month Kingston events will try to work through the complexities of being both female and a minority.
Faye Dunawaywith and Warren Batty, the leaders of an infamous Hollywood cult, will die at the Oscars. Was it murder? Every star in Hollywood has a motive. But who had the opportunity? Figuring that out — in between cocktails, hors d’oeuvres and dessert — will be your pleasurable assignment when you attend Mayhem at the Oscars, a benefit for this year’s High School Scholarship Fund awards from the New Paltz United Teachers on Saturday, March 9, 7 p.m., at the New Paltz Jewish Congregation Community Center.
Traditionalists won out in a recent vote that pitted the current policy against one that would give individual churches more autonomy. Local churchgoers say the church has been a “big tent” and fear it’s moving in the opposite direction.
Sunday, March 10: Part of what makes the Montgomery Place gardener Alexander Gilson (1824-1889) remarkable is the fact that he was born into slavery. After being freed, Gilson eventually opened his own nursery business, and had a cultivar of ornamental plant that he had bred named after him: Achyranthes verschaffeltii, var. Gilsoni.
Sunday, March 10: The City of Kingston is gearing up for its 32nd annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade, preceded by its 31st annual Shamrock Run. Both follow essentially the same two-mile Broadway course, which is mostly flat but ends with a long downhill approaching the Rondout riverfront. The run is believed to be the largest between New York City and Albany.
A lot of very good football players have come and gone at New Paltz High School in the past 20 years. Some of the very best truly stand out. One thinks of Travis O’Dell, James Mach, Brandon Egan-Thorpe, Gordie Pine, Kevin Murphy, Joe Judge, Alex Dumas, Khariff Laboy, Guy Soumah, Joey DiMarco, Jon Diaz, Jimmy Verney, and this year Kenny Verney, Tanner Johnson and Mike Pisciotta. Though players come and go in high-school ball, one important feature of New Paltz football has stayed constant. Head coach Tom Tegeler, who has been running the show since the 2000 season, is arguably the best coach in the Section
New Paltz Women in Black and various campus groups will march along Main Street on Saturday, March 9 to celebrate International Women’s Day. The action will celebrate the many advances women have won through struggle and signal the hard work needed to eliminate the remaining obstacles to full equality.
“I want people to see how intimate and amazing the partnership can be between a person and a horse. And I know that even very disabled people can do it,” said Nancy Rosen, owner of Frog Hollow Farm in Esopus. The founder of Horses for a Change, a therapeutic riding program for people with disabilities, Nancy offers lessons for riders at all levels of ability.