WELCOME Hudson Valley Goldsmith To ALBB's Shopping Guide!

Voted Best of The Hudson Valley, Hudson Valley Goldsmith has been in New Paltz for the last 10 years and has now opened a 2nd location in Beacon!!!

They are a full-Service Jewelry Store Specializing in Custom and Repairs. They create custom one of a kind fine jewelry including engagement and wedding rings using recycled precious metals, conflict free diamonds and unique gemstones.

Their workshop is headed by David who started making fine jewelry as a teenager. He is a graduate of SUNY New Paltz, receiving his BFA in Metals. He also worked as a stone setter and fabricator making high end jewelry for Tiffany and Co. They have been working hard to make sure their new Beacon boutique is well stocked with silver and gold jewelry, both with and without diamond and colored gemstones. You can see many of their original designs in their storefront where they also carry the work of several other designers. They pride themselves on having a range of styles from classic and trendy to totally unique, and at a wide range of prices!

Check them out in person or online here >

PS* We compiled a Shopping Guide that includes every single shop in Beacon for your shopping and bookmarking pleasure! If you run a shop or boutique in Beacon and want to sponsor this guide, See here about how to be a regular sponsor and supporter of this publication!

Level 2 Includes the following:

• Storefront Photo: A square photo (your choice) of your business placed in the shopping guide + Logo.

• Photo Gallery: A few pictures of your establishment.

• Event Listings: List any and all of your events.

• Newsletter Weekend Feature: Guaranteed placement in our weekend newsletter, known as the “Happening This Weekend Guide,” but during the pandemic, has been renamed to the “Retail Therapy Guide”

• Weekly Instagram Post: We will pull a photo from your Instagram every week & re-share it to our Instagram! Sometimes, we will come in & take photos of things we love in your shop & share them with our readers as well. *If you have a photo & specific writing that you want us to share, please email it to us by Wednesday of each week.*

Remembrance Comes From Unexpected Places - The Story Of A Ring For Memorial Day

Photo Credits: King and Curated

Memorial Day remembrances stretch deeply into many people’s stories. A shade of grief or worry might emerge from a radio essay by a mother of a grown son, as she remembers when he departed for his first tour of duty, when she noticed that he needed a shower as she hugged him goodbye, triggering a memory of her giving him a bath as a baby. A memory she quickly dismissed.

This story is of a woman, Ashley, getting her engagement ring reset so that she could wear it as an everyday ring, as told by King and Curated, the Beacon jeweler who redesigned it, via two Instagram posts here and here. To show another side of remembrance on this Memorial Day Weekend, we have republished the story here, with tiny edits for clarity.

When Ashley came for her custom appointment, she brought an engagement ring and explained it was from her husband who had since passed. I didn’t pry. I didn’t want to bring up anything that would possibly upset her. She explained that she kept wearing it after he had passed, but when people would compliment her on it or ask her about her husband, she would either be honest and tell them he passed, or she would find a way to thank them and avoid mentioning it to not make things awkward.

It’s very hard to find the words to comfort loss like that. You never really know what to say. I just told her I was sorry to hear that, and she made sure to continue to tell me that was why she wanted to reset it.

Along with [this ring was a ring from] her mother-in-law. [She wanted to combine rings]. She wanted it to look like a ring she could enjoy every day, [so] that she would have Nate and her mother-in-law in one ring mixed with new stones.

She wanted it to represent the growth since his passing while at the same time memorializing him. She didn’t want it to look like an engagement ring anymore. So we made sure the diamond was offset by colorful stones to complement both the sapphire from her mother-in-law and other stones we hand-picked for her. We added sprinklings of diamonds in between to add texture-like pattern to break up the modern settings of the larger stones.

As our conversation continued, I asked her when she needed it done by. She said she was going on a trip to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro and she would like it to be done when she got back. I was impressed! I asked who she was going with. She said she was going with TAPS. I didn’t know what that was and she explained. “TAPS - Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors. They support anyone [who] has lost a special someone in the military (spouse, child, friend, sibling, etc). They supply grief counseling, host workshops, retreats, expeditions, etc. Basically they help you not feel alone. To help you understand that someone out there is going through the same thing that you are and that TAPS is here to help. It's an incredible organization with awesome resources.”

Then my heart sank. Ugh. As fate would have it, Ashley’s new ring was handed off yesterday. She came in excited, got happy and emotional. And then told me - out of all the times this ring could be given to her in its new setting of past, present, and future - that Memorial Day weekend, when we celebrate those who make the ultimate sacrifice, couldn’t have been a more fitting time.

It’s been 6 years since Nate’s passing.

The Dutchess Reformed Church of Beacon, 1113 Wolcott Avenue (9D).
Photo Credit: Google

For more information on TAPS, including how to use their resources or to donate, visit their website here. To participate in remembrances and to show appreciation in Beacon, you can attend Beacon’s Memorial Day Parade at 1 pm (line up at noon at City Hall on Route 9D). The parade starts on 9D (Wolcott Avenue) at City Hall, then heads up Main Street.

The Memorial Service at Beacon’s Memorial Building at 413 Main St. (across from Chase Bank) will follow the parade, at approximately 2 or 2:15 pm, “to give everyone a chance to get here,” says parade organizer Tony Lasseter.

Beacon’s Memorial Building, 413 Main Street, Beacon, NY.
Photo Credit: Katie Hellmuth Martin

Shopping Guide Shuffle: 3 New Shops in Beacon! LaMere, Underground Beacon, and Artifact

Updates have been made to A Little Beacon Blog’s Shopping Guide! Some of these shops moved in several months ago, and some a few weeks ago. Take a look at these fresh collections and experiences waiting to delight you inside:

La Mere Clothing and Goods

436 Main Street, Beacon NY
This shop moved in when Matteawan Gallery moved out. We had a mourning period for the art gallery for a bit, and are embracing this new space! April has been quickly setting up and sharing on the shop’s Instagram page all of the styles catching her eye. Inside the shop, you’ll find fashion, from cheetah print to bobble sweaters (what is a bobble sweater? you’ll want one, check it out). LaMere Clothing and Goods has brought more fashion options to the ladies in Beacon. Located in the cute storefront with stairs in front in a small building on your way to the east end of town. Welcome!

Photo Credit: Screenshot of @lamereclothingandgoods

The Underground Beacon

462 Main Street, Beacon, NY
This destination for comics moved in when Lauren and Riley moved out of its original space, as the established Beacon boutique moved to the other (western) end of Main Street. The Underground Beacon is on fire with what they offer, which includes board games, a gameroom to play Magic and other real person-to-person games, a video game console on the wall, and most recently, skateboards. As you can see from this screenshot of their Instagram, they sell unusual games too, like this Golden Girls-themed Checkers and Bingo set. Obviously this is on your holiday gift list!

Photo Credit: Screenshot of @thebeaconunderground

Artifact Beacon

17 East Main Street, Beacon, NY
Not totally new to Beacon anymore, but still under a year old, is Artifact Beacon, the shop with uncommonly beautiful jewelry, art, home décor and more. They are in the space formerly occupied by Gwenno James’, who used to sell the silk scarves that she designed in the building. Artifact continues with the art by bringing you even more of it. If you get some familiar vibes while you’re shopping, it’s because you may have shopped Artifact’s selection before, when they first popped up in A Little Beacon’s Space in the Made and Given Pop-Up Shop! They had so much fun setting up and running a shop, that they put roots down on the far east end of town. Find Artifact Beacon on your way to Dogwood. If you’re staying at the Roundhouse, this is an easy shopping destination to pick up some amazing goods.
Pro tip: If you’ve been curious after seeing the Instagram page of Beacon Mercantile, who makes small-batch, natural, cruelty-free candles and apothecary goods including colored lip balms, then you will be happy to find this line carried in Artifact Beacon!

Photo Credit: Screenshot from @artifactbeacon

Photo Credit: Screenshot from @beaconmercantile

Fairies Are Here...The Cutie Night Collection That Comes Out At Beacon Fine Jewelers

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’.