Blogs Connect Kingston Community and Businesses

September 6th, 2010

Blogs, Facebook and other communication tools of the Internet are enabling Kingston residents and businesspeople to stay informed and connected. While kingstonhappenings.org reflects the vibrancy of both new and existing businesses in the city, two other blogs also are an important part of the Kingston community. kingstondigitalcorridor.com is a resource for independent creatives, while kingstoncitizens.org provides a forum in which residents can not only get updates on new developments and on-going issues of concern, but also post their comments, as well as find out all they need to know about their ward. It’s a grassroots communication tool that’s proved invaluable in forwarding the public dialog on everything from the community gardens initiative to new resources related to local history.

Of course, forward-looking local businesses are also using the Internet to get new clients and build loyalty among existing customers. Rick Whelan , president of graphic design firm Ditto Does It, (who also designed the Kingston Happenings site) is an example of an entrepreneur who not only relies on print mailings, e-mail blasts and his website to communicate with customers, but also his blog on Facebook.

Kingstondigitalcorridor.org

Kingston’s been a magnet for the high-tech creatives—especially designers, engineers, writers, filmmakers, and other professionals connected to the web. The Kingston Digital Corridor evolved as a way for that community to better connect and support each other. The initiative consists of a website, blog and monthly meet-up at a local venue, including Keegan Ales, Mint, and (next month) the former Ashokan Architecture offices above Hudson Valley Coffee Trading on Wall Street, which is being transformed into a gallery and cultural salon space.

Anywhere from 20 to 60 people attend the casual, networking sessions, which encourage the sharing of local resources. “Instead of people going to New York to find the services they need, chances are they can find them right here,” said Mark Marshall, a media producer who is on the steering committee of the Kingston Digital Corridor. Marshall said the group also recently signed up with  Facebook and Linked in, enabling members to post full profiles, get updates on recent activities, and post their comments. Last March, for example, the KDC worked with the county executive’s office on Kingston’s application for Google Fiber to Communities, in which the Internet giant will install a super-fast fiber connection to a few select communities.

Kingstoncitizens.org

As the blog for the organization of the same name, kingstoncitizens.org uses citizen journalists to report on important local issues as well as provide a forum for comments by the public. Recently, for example, the blog reported on the ground-breaking for the Carnegie Library (it will be renovated as a tech and performance oriented education center for young people) and plans by the Clearwater to berth in Kingston during the winter. It also includes links to Yahoo groups for each city ward—posting upcoming meetings and contact information for the aldermen—as well as the Victory Gardens program, Kingston Land Trust, and Shop Local initiative (which subsequently has been taken over by kingstonhappenings.com).  The blog also is on Facebook.

Contributors include Lowell Thing, who writes about local history, and Kate Lawson, who writes on the local environment. The blog is currently maintained by Rebecca Martin, a Kingston resident who founded the Kingston Citizens’ group four years ago. Martin encourages residents to contribute. “We’re asking citizens who are good writers to choose a topic in the city that interests them and have them blog,” she said. “We want to make it into a citizen journalists’ site. Our role is to connect people to what’s happening and get a dialog going to move things in a new direction.” Contact Martin at rebbytunes@earthlink.net for more info.

Ditto Does It

A year ago, Kingston resident Rick Whelan established a Facebook page for his graphic design firm Ditto Does It, posting items related to innovative design, such as a jeweler who works with laminated paper and a retrospective of the work of design pioneer Paul Rand. He also posts his new projects on the page, in addition to his website, and recently created a graphic element for a “real time case study” of one of his projects, which has a clickable link on his website, with weekly updates.

The page attracts 25-30 followers a week, and has prompted a couple of projects: after Whelan completed a job for a client, the client followed Whelan on Facebook and came up with two additional projects for the design firm. He also does postcard mailings and sends out premium items, such as this summer’s “personal cooling device”—a colorful paper fan with a green theme that created a little bit of a buzz: Two prospects who received the fan raved about the novelty item on Whelan’s Faceback page.

Whelan said that e-mail and Facebook (also a way he and his wife, Susan, communicate with their teenaged and grown children) are essential in today’s world, where many people no longer answer the phone. “It’s a different way of educating clients about my stuff,” said Whelan, who estimates he spends about two hours a week on the blog and Facebook updates.

KingstonCorridor.com

The Kingston Corridor runs from the NY State Thruway entrance at the Washington Avenue Circle, through the historic uptown district, the neighborhoods, shops and light manufacture and fabrication, the high school, hospitals, library of the Mid Town area  and down to the Rondout district ending at the waterfront of the Rondout Creek which enters into the Hudson River.

Gerald Berke started this blog to strengthen the ties along the Corridor, seeking it’s improvement, pedestrian and bicycle traffic, seeing that it is user friendly and highlighting the places and activities along it’s 3 mile length.

It is about the city of Kingston connected and unified while remaining indefatigably unique in all it’s diverse parts, wards, neighborhoods, peoples.

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Community Builders

August 30th, 2010

Midtown Kingston is home to three non-profit organizations that help make it a vibrant community: the Kingston Library, the Center for Creative Education, and the Everett Hodge Center. Each offers activities and services to residents of Kingston that greatly enrich the quality of life in the city.

The Kingston Library, located on Franklin Street in a former public school, is not just a place to check out books—though that continues to be an important part of its mission, of course. Library trustee Ed Pell also organizes art exhibitions, featuring a different artists each month. The garden has also become a center of creative activity, with three resident artists occupying the Habitat for Artists shed, part of a program that provides intimate studio space designed to interact with the community.

The library hosts two story hours during the week—one for toddlers, the other for preschoolers—an origami-folding class twice a month, a weekly Wednesday evening bridge club, and two monthly book groups, one of which is led by a former college professor (the book for September is Dostoyevsky’s Crime and Punishment) and the other focused on classics and religion. Other groups that meet at the library are geared to knitting and stress reduction through meditation. On September 11, a math circle for middle and high school students will be starting up, meeting the second Saturday through December, led by Japheth Wood, an instructor at Bard. And on September 18 at 10:30 in the morning the Robert Rivest Mime theater will perform a mime entitled “Go Green and Make a Scene,” for ages preschool and up.

New books, including those on the New York Times best seller use, are displayed on a shelf near the entrance, and one can check out books on cassette, music CDs, and even movies on DVD and in video. The library’s 19 computers, all connected to the Internet, and free Wifi keep the neighborhood connected.

Creative Center for Education, located at 20 Thomas St., is greatly expanding is after-school art and technology courses, according to executive director Ev Mann. A new “Whisper” booth in the computer music lab will enable kids to make their own recordings, and from 3-6 every Monday through Thursday kids can do their homework, get tutored, and follow up with a calls in visual arts, dance or drumming. Honor Society students at the high school and Vassar collect students serve as volunteer tutors.

On the second floor is the dance studio, where four different groups learn and perform hip hop, as par tof the energy Dance Company, and the POOK drum studio. POOK’s 15 members, ranging in age from eight to adult, will perform as the benefit for the Kingston Land Trust on September 22. Adult classes in salsa and hip hop are offered Monday night. On the third floor is the visual arts studio, where classes are offered by Bonnie O’Hara and others. A class in fashion design might be offered in the near future.

The Center will be having its big fall recital on November 13 at the high school auditorium. Next door, ground has been broken on the historic Carnegie library, which approximately in a year will open as the Center’s facilities for high school students.

The Everette Hodge Community Center, on Franklin St., continues its Friday evening Rewards for Excellence program, which teaches kids how to use the computer and encourages them to use their talents. It’s overseen by community services director Sandra Thompson-Hopgood and volunteer Donald Waters. The center has 40 computers, all with Internet access.

Also on Friday, starting at 6 pm, is Food for Thought, free healthy meals—such as vegetable lasagna and turkey loaf–for kids of all ages; from 40 to 50 children show up every Friday, and some wouldn’t be having dinner that night if it weren’t the program. Pizza pies have been donated by Mario’s Pizza and Di Bella’s Pizza Shop, and various volunteers have also donated food, including Rebecca Martin, Noelle Sheber, Ulster County clerk Nina Postupack, and Jeanne Edwards (who also volunteers as a server and helps coordinate the meals). Kingston Natural Foods, in the Rondout, has contributed nutritious eats, Rainbow, in Port Ewen, has brought in ice cream, and Broadway Lites Diner has also been supportive. Dedicated volunteers oversee the delivery, serving, and clean up. The center is in desperate need of a freezer and refrigerator, so take note if you’ve got an extra one lying around.

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Passport to Kingston’s Museums

August 17th, 2010

The same buildings and sites that served to influence Kingston’s past are now poised to influence the city’s future. Instead of housing governments, industry and businesses, these historic properties are boosting Kingston’s growing allure as a cultural destination. Kingston is home to numerous small museums whose diversity and accessibility offer exactly the sort of experiences sought by heritage tourists: places, artifacts and activities that authentically represent the stories and people of the past and present.

A recent partnership among several local historic sites and the Kingston Visitor Center has yielded a new tool for further enticing visitors into all of the city’s small museums. Called a “Heritage Passport,’ this new pass provides discounted admission to seven Kingston museums. Visitors simply purchase a passport for $14 at the Rondout visitor center and show it at each participating museum to gain entry. Use of this single fee pass yields a savings of $10 over the price of individual museum admission fees.

Kingston is a New York State Heritage Area, as well as part of the Hudson River Valley National Heritage Area (which funded the creation of the Heritage Passports) and also benefits from the promotion and marketing associated with those programs.

According to the National Park Service, studies have consistently shown that cultural heritage travelers stay longer and spend more money than other kinds of travelers. So, a healthy growth in attendance at local museums can be expected to translate into economic benefit for local businesses.

Senate House State Historic Site

Built in 1676 as the simple stone house for a merchant, the building was the site in 1777 of a meeting of rebellious New Yorkers who gathered to form the state’s first government. After meeting for only a month, the Senate and the rest of the newly formed State government fled Kingston to escape British troops, which then burned the Senate House and much of Kingston in retribution. Since the late 1800s, the building has served as a museum of New York’s early government, and life and art in the Hudson Valley 200 years ago.

The historic site comprises three buildings located on three acres in Kingston’s historic Stockade District The treasures housed in the museum include major art works by John Vanderlyn and other members of the Vanderlyn family of Kingston, dating from the 1720s through the 1870s, as well as paintings by other notable artists.

Friends of Historic Kingston Museum and Fred J. Johnston House Tour

Also located in the 1658 Stockade National Historic District, these museums give visitors a view into other chapters in Kingston’s history.

The Friends of Historic Kingston Museum features changing exhibits which focus on eras throughout Kingston’s entire history, and that highlight “the ordinary workings of daily life that give [the] city its soul and unique texture.” Displays include photographs, art works, artifacts and memorabilia. The museum also frequently mounts retrospectives of the work of major regional artists. The museum nurtures the continuity of Kingston’s story and promotes its relevance to the present by featuring presentations by contemporary artisans, and lectures and book-signings by local historians and authors,

The Fred J. Johnston House is an 1812 Federal style house on the corner of Wall and Main Streets. Home and showroom of a nationally known antiques dealer, the house is now open for public tours. Visitors view eight rooms of 18th and early 19th century furnishings and decorative arts.

Volunteer Fireman’s Hall & Museum of Kingston

The former 1857 home of the Wiltwyck Hose Company, this museum features antique firefighting artifacts and apparatus, including an 1898 steamer.

Ulster County Office Building, Clerks Gallery

Unusual exhibits in an unusual space, the Archives Gallery on the second floor of this unassuming office building is the place to go to see authentic records chronicling Ulster County history. Exhibits installed here can include birth, death and marriage records, land deeds and antique maps, as well as regionally unique records like reproductions of original hard-copy records written in Dutch from 1658 through 1709 and the English translations of same, and records that illustrate the formation of government from the Charter of the Dutch Court at Kingston dated 1661 through the current Ulster County Charter.

The current exhibit, open through the end of August. is called “Who Counts? We Do! The 1905 Census of Ulster County,” and features printed reports with the names, ages, relation and occupation of the over 86,600 residents counted in 1905. Samples of original 19th century Ulster County census records are also on display. The walls around the exhibit are covered with lists of the names, ages and occupations of 1905 Ulster County residents.

Hudson River Maritime Museum

The Hudson River Maritime Museum is the only museum in New York State exclusively preserving the maritime history of the Hudson River. The museum presents a new exhibit every year that focuses on different aspects of Hudson River history.  A permanent display of larger artifacts, such as ice yachts, shad boats and other small boats, a steam hoisting engine, various boat models and exhibits on Hudson River industry are housed in a former boat shop next to the museum gallery.

The museum also maintains an extensive collection of paintings, prints, photographs and ephemera, vessel blueprints, artifacts and a variety of ship models.

Other activities at the site include visiting vessels such as the sloop Clearwater, exhibitions, a lecture series, children’s workshops, waterfront programs and themed festivals. Boat rides on the Lark to Rondout II Lighthouse depart from the museum’s dock. School programs at the museum involve 2,000 school children a year.

Trolley Museum of New York

The real draw for this museum is the hour-long trolley ride along Rondout Creek out to the Hudson River. The journey takes visitors past ex-industrial sites in Rondout out to the still bucolic Kingston Point Park and provides views of Rondout II Lighthouse and the river from Turkey Point to the north and Esopus Lighthouse to the south. In the shed and yard at the Trolley Museum, visitors will find static displays of trolleys, subway and rapid transit cars from the United States and Europe. The gallery features photos and memorabilia from rail and trolley service in Kingston and other Hudson Valley towns.

The museum is on the original site of the Ulster and Delaware Railroad yards at Milepost 1. The main building is built on the foundation of an early 1900s engine house.

Old Dutch Church & Museum

The city’s oldest institution, the congregation was organized in 1659. The 1852 Renaissance Revival style church was designed by Minard LaFever The churchyard contains tombstones dating back to 1770, and the grave of New York’s first governor, George Clinton, an Ulster County native. The steeple bell is traditionally believed to have been cast in Amsterdam in 1794 from molten copper and silver items given by families at baptismal rites.

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Tour Boats Abound in Kingston’s Waterfront

July 20th, 2010

There’s lots to do in Kingston, and many of the activities right now are centered along the waterfront. From early May to the end of October, Kingston has several tour boats that take people out on sightseeing cruises or can be chartered. The largest is the 300-passenger Rip Van Winkle, owned by Hudson River Cruises, followed by the 80-passenger Teal, owned by North River Cruises. Blue Dolphin Cruises’ 1962 Hatteras cruiser and Hudson Sailing’s trimaran sailboat are both available for private charters, for groups up to six.

The Rip Van Winkle goes out twice a day six days a week for three-hour narrated tours to the Vanderbilt estate, in Hyde Park, and back. When it isn’t being chartered, the Teal takes one-and-a-half hour tours of the Hudson during the weekend. Both boats do weekend evening music cruises, featuring a live band or DJ. The boats of all four companies are available for charter to celebrate a special birthday, anniversary or other event, or to impress a client or reward staff if you’re a business. Some of the companies also partner with local restaurants, which either rent out the boat or cater the food.

Sandy Henne, owner of Hudson River Cruises, has been in the Rondout for 30 years, before there was even a dock. “We tied up to a guard rail at the end of the parking lot,” she said. She purchased the 300-passenger Rip Van Winkle cruise boat in 1986. In July and August it goes out on scheduled tours twice a day six days a week, in addition to a Friday evening cruise with live bands. The company also schedules four murder mystery cruises over the summer, and the boat is available for private charters.

Last week the passengers included people from the Netherlands and Australia. On one music cruise, an Australian Aborigine—he was a friend of a band member—played his didgeridoo during intermission. Henne operates a second boat, the Lark, a launch that’s taking people Thursdays through Sundays to the Rondout Lighthouse for tours (a docent from the Hudson River Maritime Museum, which manages the lighthouse, is onboard). Although she hasn’t done much marketing, the tours are picking up.

Henne also hopes to be operating service on the Lark between Kingston and Rhinecliff soon. She’s waiting to get approval from Rhinecliff two officials. On August 6 there’s a big event with Obama for which she hopes to be transporting dignitaries across the river.

The cross-river service would be mostly geared to tourists. In general, she said the Rondout could use more focus, to maximize its potential. “The new walkway is helping a lot. If you build it, they’ll come,” she said. Parking, however, remains a problem. On a weekend, “between the Teal and our boat and everybody at the restaurants, there’s no place to park. We tell people to come early.”

Teal and Blue DolphinThe Teal, which is owned by Joe Thomas—he and partner John DeForest own parent company North River Charters –does mostly charters, for weddings, birthdays, anniversaries, Sweet Sixteen parties, and the like. Businesses also charter the boat, although the economic downturn has led to a falloff in company picnics. The 80-passenger vessel also does sightseeing tours on weekends when it isn’t being chartered and evening music cruises; call 750-6024 for times. The boat has a full bar and serves snacks on the public cruises.

Thomas, who’s owned the boat for five years and worked on it for eight—it’s been docked at the Rondout since 1993—said the walkway has brought a lot more foot traffic to the area (although on the downside, there have also been more incidences of vandalism). Local restaurants such as The Steelhouse and Ship to Shore also on occasion rent out the boat, catering all the food, selling tickets, and conveying customers from their establishment to the boat, benefiting both businesses. “I’d love for the businesses to know we’re down here,” said Thomas. “The restaurant trips are going very well.” One of the biggest challenges is the limited season. “It’s just a matter of bringing more people down there and maximizing those couple of months,” he said.

Scott Herrington, owner of Blue Dolphin Charters, takes up to six people out on the Hudson for private trips on his antique, 34-foot Hatteras Sports Cruiser. It has a small cabin with a galley and a head (toilet), and the boat has been chartered for a special birthday or anniversary celebration. It’s also popular with sightseeing tourists and even book authors. The longest trip was eight hours—down to New York City—though Herrington has taken the boat on his own as far as Montauk and Massachusetts. Sometime a family will bring along fishing rods, though Herrington doesn’t do official fishing trips anymore. Meals can be catered from a local restaurant.

Herrington also charters to businesses, for example an insurance company that’s rewarding a client or staff. “We do lots of trips with the Maple Ridge Bruderhof,” he said.

Herrington also owns the Kingston City Marina. “I believe very strongly in the waterfront,” he said. “We have tried to work with the city to build a park that’s for everyone. People are now coming in much greater numbers.” He’s made improvements to the marina and collectively advertises and markets the area with other businesses. “It’s a very cooperative business group.”

Dan Feldman, owner of Hudson Sailing, does charters on his racing 28-foot trimara, a three-hulled sailing boat that can accommodate up to six passengers. The standard trip is three hours, and clients often enjoy a swim and picnic on the cruise. Because the boat is so light, it can sail even in the slightest breeze. If the weather is bad, he’ll reschedule a trip.

Many of his customers are celebrating a special event, and many are people from the city up for the weekend. He’s listed in a couple of travel guides but many people find him simply by Googling “sailing on the Hudson.” A couple of times he’s picked up people from New York City arriving by train from the dock in Rhinecliff.

Word of mouth is helping spurring his business, which is growing, despite the fact Feldman does little advertising.  “Someone who leads a stressful life comes up from city, has a drink, eats, relaxes on the trampoline and goes to sleep. They’re in heaven,” he said. “People have told me it’s like a mini vacation. All you hear is the wind and waves. A family came out this season and e-mailed me to thank me. They said the kids said it was the best thing they did as a family.”

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Why The King’s Inn Matters

July 13th, 2010

One look at the King’s Inn and a reasonable person asks, “Does no one care what this neighborhood looks like?” It turns out a lot of people care.  The 20 architects who have volunteered for the Business Alliance of Kingston’s July 16 design charrette have formed 10 teams, comprising local residents and business owners and a slew of newfangled green building professionals, a number of whom received their training at our own leading green-tech institution, SUNY Ulster. Some of the professionals are local, some are not, but you don’t need to be from Kingston to recognize the S.O.S signal the King’s Inn is sending out.

Will we find the answer to this blight over bagels, coffee, sketch pads and easels? Not sure, but when The Business Alliance conducted five focus groups this spring – tapping the wisdom of more than 100 residents, building owners, restaurateurs, artists and business owners – we heard over and again that “someone should do something, NOW.”  When we pressed for specifics, we heard that Kingstonians want to embrace their evolving image as friendly to the arts, and as an incubator for a re-purposed economy fueled by solar and green tech companies. Anything to encourage more artists and other professionals to move here would be a good thing, they said. Artists certainly include creative people like the Digital Corridor advocates and the cluster of New Media people bustling around in 721 Media Center in the Ellenbogens’ lovely space. They’re here already, we just need to encourage and improve the environment that drew them here so that others will follow.

We’ve been told it’s premature to host a design charrette when there’s no developer in sight. We can’t dress up the King’s Inn when potential investors come looking; it looks awful. What we can do is demonstrate the tremendous human capital that’s invested in Kingston, even if our real estate hasn’t caught up yet. Developers need to see market potential for an investment, and on Friday we’re going to illustrate that we’re here, we welcome others here, and we want this place to work again. We recognize the serious financial strain the city is under, but more drug stores and dollar stores are not the answer; let’s look at some new, fresh ideas for what could work.

Pat Courtney Strong
President, Business Alliance of Kingston

http://www.businessallianceofkingston.org/8.html

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Kingston Businesses Show Art

June 1st, 2010

Galleries aren’t the only place to view art in Kingston. The city is adorned with public artworks, such as Todd Samara’s painting on the front of the Hudson River Maritime Museum and Henk Dikj’s artwork in Block Park. The most recent example is the Habitat for Artists installation at the Kingston Library, a portable studio where you can view artists on site making their work.

Businesses are also showing artists, from opticians and physicians that display local art on their walls to retail shops that are using art to beautify the premises as well as give artists another place to show their work.

Ken Darmstadt, owner of Darmstadt Doors on Cornell Street, has transformed the entire second floor of his business into a series of gallery spaces. More than a dozen artists were featured in the recent show, “The Art of Spring.” The galleries are both large and intimate, with comfy couches inviting people to linger.  Catskill Art & Office Supply began showing work by individual artists in its storefront last April. The watercolors of Nathan Milgrim, a former textile designer who has exhibited in New York City (his works are part of the collection of the State House in Albany) will be displayed in June.   “With the Featured Artist Series, I hoped to establish a better connection between local artists and the community at large,” said store manager Nick Peluso. “By giving artists an opportunity to display their work in Catskill Art’s storefront windows (an attractive setting accessible to everyone in the busy Uptown business district, day or night), we can bring attention to the incredible creative energy happening in our midst.”

Dolce Café and Mint, owned by Alessandra Tecchio, showcase the fauve works of Samara, who is featured in the July-August edition of American Artist. The brick walls of Dolce are the perfect backdrop for Samara’s poetic scenes of the Rondout, which include monumental, birds’ eye views as well as night scenes. The café also displays the lyrical works of Samara’s late partner, Leslie Miller.

The Wall Street branch of Ulster Savings Bank started exhibiting artwork in March, with the display of colorful posters created by elementary school children last year for the Hudson-Fulton Quadricentennial Celebration. For the months of June and July, the bank will be exhibiting the art of Howard Miller, a New Paltz-based artist. “This gives an opportunity for the public to see local artists and introduce ourselves to the community,” said branch manager Bernard Feeney. “We’ve been uptown for 158 years, and we’re an old-style bank,” whose columns and wood paneling are an attractive setting for art.

Other businesses that exhibit local artists are Ship to Shore, Coldwell Banker Village Green Realty, on Fair Street, and Seven 21 Media Center. Everywhere you look, Kingston is blossoming with art!

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Fleisher’s Expands

May 25th, 2010

Jessica and Joshua ApplestoneFleisher’s Grass-Fed & Organic Meats has developed several sidelines built upon its successful retail business, which specializes in sustainable meats sourced from a 50-mile radius. It has expanded to sell soap stocks (made from tallow) and prepared foods. It wholesales to eight restaurants in New York City, making a delivery one day a week. It also offers a six-week butcher shop training program for $10,000; so far, eight students have graduated, and the class is booked through February. Several graduates have opened butcher shops of their own, according to co-owner Jessica Applestone.

 “We’re bringing back a lost art,” said Applestone. “We learned our trade from Tom Schneller [former owner of Schnellor’s, an uptown butcher shop that closed a decade ago]. He’s the resident butcher at the CIA [Culinary Institute of America].”

 Applestone said that she and her husband, Joshua, whose grandfather was a butcher, also have served as consultants to a butcher shop opening in L.A. It just goes to prove that being one-of-a-kind can start a trend, leading to all sorts of opportunities.

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Natural Foods Store Opens in the Rondout

May 25th, 2010

Jennifer McKinley-Rakov conceived Kingston Natural Foods Market as a complement to the local buying club she started a couple of years ago, offering local baked goods, specialty ice cream and other diary products. However, she also sells a respectable selection of produce. Right now the store is stocking red leaf lettuce, kale, spring onions, apples, pears, avocados, cabbage, zucchini, arugula, and pea shoots. The grand opening on June 5 from noon to 6 pm will feature a cooking demo. Local farmers are also invited, to help educate people about why their produce is of higher quality than what you’d buy in the supermarket.

McKinley-Rakov said the Rondout community has been very supportive, donating equipment and helping with payment plans. The business will be staffed by family members, including her mom and husband, Paul Rakov. “Every day I come in, I’m so incredibly grateful to the community that helped me get this together,” she said. “It’s really fun, to meet new people and talk about food.”  The store is open Sunday and Monday 10-3 and Wed-Sat 10-6.

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In Kingston, the Music Never Stops

May 4th, 2010

On any given night, but especially on the weekends, Kingston resounds with music.  Strolling down the street past that open restaurant or tavern door, one hears the sultry strains of a jazz singer drifting on the air,  the twanging notes of a rockabilly band, or perhaps the throttle of an electric guitar, which sounds darn good. Whatever your taste, you’ll hear something that catches your fancy, making that evening out especially memorable.

Several of Kingston’s restaurants feature live music on weekends, such as The Steel House Restaurant.  Frank Guido’s Little Italy often enlivens its happy hour with a combo. Savona’s features jazz singer Nancy Tierney, newly arrived from northern California, once a month. Mint has showcased well-known jazz singer Rebecca Martin and singer-songwriter Mark Brown. Other businesses are also getting into the act. Half Moon Books, for example, features musicians during the First Saturday gallery openings. Artie’s, the bar on North Front Street, also entertains its patrons from time to time with noteworthy local acts. 

Keegans At Keegan Ales and The Basement, however, music takes center stage. The microbrewery, located at 20 St. James, features music five nights a week. According to Tommy Keegan, who opened the brewery in 2003 (the pub followed four years later), Wednesday is devoted to bluegrass and Americana, Thursday is the same, with a little rock ‘n roll mixed in, Friday and Saturday is “straight up rock and roll,” and Sunday is a mix: the first Sunday of the month is tango dancing, with lessons offered from 2 to 3 p.m., and the third Sunday is jazz, with a 15-piece band playing classic Big Band tunes as well as fusion compositions. There’s usually no cover–though the musicians are tops.

Keegan’s has three beers on tap: Old Capital, Mother’s Milk, and Hurricane Kitty (named after Keegan’s grandmother, who got the nickname from the cops). The brewery also makes seasonable beers—one, Joe Mamma’s Milk, has become so popular it’s being made year round (it’s infused with coffee and brown sugar, to increase the alcohol content and won Best Beer in New York State from the TAP New York festival competition.) Keegan’s also serves food—burgers, salads, nachos. It opens at 4 p.m. on weekdays, 11:30 a.m. on Friday and Saturday and 1 p.m. on Sunday.

The Basement, a mysterious storefront at 744 Broadway, just before the turn off to Albany Avenue, cooks on weekends. Last Saturday, Pearl, featuring famous 1980s singer Meatloaf (Pearl is Meatloaf’s daughter), took the stage. Guitar player Scott Ian hails from the famous heavy metal band Anthrax. Another nationally known band that recently played The Basement is The SuperSuckers, who play rockabilly.

It never hurts to solicit a famous band, said Kevin Rowe, who does the booking and marketing. “We send an e-mail to the band or tour manager, and if we get a reply, we work with them,” said Rowe. The Basement rents out office space across the street at Seven21 Media Center, where Rowe does the bookings. Bands also rent out rehearsal space at the center. (Rowe has long-term plans to establish a recording studio at Seven21.)    

Sometimes the headliner is featured on a Tuesday or Wednesday. “A lot of times we’ll get a touring band coming through the middle of the week,” Rowe said. Most nights feature both a touring band and a local act. Admission ranges from zero to $12, with $5 the standard. The Basement serves wine and beer and “top shelf liquor,” according to Rowe. Most shows start at 9 p.m.

Rowe said the March 19 show for Murphy’s Law, an old punk band, sold out. But local bands can also hold their own. Nightmares for a Week, for example, is an up-and-coming band that “just got into the alternative press as one of the top 100 bands of the year,” according to Rowe.

Owner Robert Stango opened The Basement three years ago. Rowe, a native of Cleveland who was living in Georgia, spent three days in Kingston while traveling with a band from Detroit. He liked Kingston and asked Stango if he had a job. Stango hired him, and the 25-year-old Rowe has been loving his life in Kingston ever since. “Everyone I’ve met has been the kindest, nicest people ever,” said Rowe. “There’s a lot of history in this town, and I want to see it do well.”

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Mint – Tapas and Wine Bar

April 5th, 2010

Mint, a stylish, low-key tapas and wine bar just opened at One West Strand, the site of the former Downtown Café. “We wanted to open up something with a nice atmosphere, a place to come for cocktails and tapas-style food,” said Alessandra Tecchio, who operates Mint with her sister, Ileana. Alessandra is also proprietress of Dolce café, around the corner, and she is now extending her culinary talents to the night crowd.

The food has a distinctly Mediterranean accent, not surprising considering the sisters’ native city is Venice, Italy. There are 10 tapas and 5 desserts on the menu, ranging from $3 to $12. Sample dishes include prosciutto on homemade focaccia with fig conserve (figs carmelized with onions in balsamic vinegar), a kale or white bean bruschetta, and a cheese fondue, with ham, bread, and fruit. There’s also a chocolate fondue, with berries, pound cake, pretzels, and macaroons. Other desserts are tiramisu and strawberries with mascarpone and limoncello.

The wines are French and Italian, along with an Argentine vintage, and include Cabernet Sauvignon, Cote du Rhone, and Fume Blanc. Mint opened with a performance by internationally known jazz singer Rebecca Martin, who also happens to be a Kingston resident. “Right now we’re doing music once a month,” with plans to expand the live performances to twice a month.  Mint is open Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday from 5 to 11 p.m. and Friday and Saturday from 5 to midnight.

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