New Events Guide Logo, and Updated Events for December!

Hello!

We are always updating behind the scenes at A Little Beacon Blog  - updating our Things To Do In Beacon Guides with information submitted to us and from other great sources like BeaconArts and the Beacon Free Press. The Events Guide originated as an Annual Events Guide to showcase the events that happened year after year, but we have recently expanded it to include not-so-annual events, or brand new events that may be annual in the future. We want you to have an easy destination to direct your friends to who are visiting and say: "What should we do? What is going on that weekend?"

Well, here you have it, complete with dates, times and links in the Event Guide! And don't forget A Little Beacon Blog's Pop-Up Guide for the unique shopping events! And December kicks off with  a lot of holiday events that are sure keep you in the holiday spirit! Fortunately, many of the events are spaced out on different days or even hours if you wanted to stop at one, and leave early to get to another one. Choices choices!

Here is our new logo for A Little Beacon Blog's Events Guide! Thank you Allie Bopp for the design!

As always, if you have an event you would like to submit, please email it with flyer to editorial@alittlebeaconblog.com

If your business would like to sponsor the Events Guide, please click here to visit our packages page. A Little Beacon Blog's coverage of the many wonderful things happening in and around Beacon is made possible by our sponsors of every level! We thank them very much for their support!

Food Pantries and Soup Kitchens for People in Need in Beacon

One of the first meals served in the new Soup Kitchen at the Tabernacle of Christ Church A/G at 483 Main Street. Photo Credit: Tabernacle Church of Christ.

The Salvation Army's restructuring of its soup kitchen prompted a fresh look at food pantries and soup kitchens in the area, and the opening of a new one. While these sources are on the radar for many, including the Sloop Club who hosts an annual event in December to raise money for pantries, donating to food pantries and soup kitchens may not be at the top of the list for others. Furthermore, food pantries can go underused, according to Deaconess D. Williams of Springfield Baptist Church, who says: "Many miss out because they simply don't know that help is available."

This Thanksgiving, we have organized a list of sources for people to donate to and eat from.

If you organize a food pantry or soup kitchen, or provide free meals in another way, please email this information to editorial@alittlebeaconblog.com to be considered for this list.

Whether you are looking for a warm meal, canned goods, or friendly community, or you’re in a position to help by donating food or time, the following organizations in and near Beacon would love to see you. Contact organizers for information about the most up-to-date ways to participate.

Soup Kitchens & Feeding Programs

Soup Kitchen

Tabernacle of Christ A/G Church

Organized rapidly this November and already served its first meal, this soup kitchen is open to all and serves a hot meal. Several organizations pitched in, including Common Ground Farm, My Bread Is Your Bread, Dutchess Outreach, Tabernacle of Christ Church A/G, and In Care of.

Tabernacle of Christ A/G Church 
481 Main Street

Beacon, NY
DAYS/TIMES - Free Meals

11am-12pm Monday - Thursday

Coordinators for eating or donating:
Candi Rivera and Kundi Glasson: (845) 728-8196 incareof.beacon@gmail.com 
Currently seeking donations for commercial-grade stove and refrigerator. For the interim, Ella's Bellas has donated a household refrigerator until the commercial-grade version is secured.
Donations: https://www.gofundme.com/kjb4buzw 
To Volunteer: http://vols.pt/Bd35tD 



Welcome Table Soup Kitchen

Photo Credit: First Presbyterian Church.

First Presbyterian Church 
50 Liberty Street 
Beacon, NY
DAYS/TIMES Free Meals

10-12pm Fridays and Saturdays. In the summer, you may spot the Green Teens' green bus selling very affordable produce from the parking lot.

Coordinator for eating or for donating: 
Rose Quirk: (845) 600-5389

Seniors Feeding Seniors Ministry
Free meals and baked goods for seniors

Springfield Baptist Church 
8 Mattie Cooper Square
Beacon, NY

DAYS/TIMES - Free Meals

The last Saturday of each month at 12pm. 

DAYS/TIMES - Baked Goods

Every Wednesday (845) 813-4093

Coordinator for eating or for donating: 
Penny Jackson: pjackson6@hvc.rr.com

Senior Program
Salvation Army, Beacon Corps

Salvation Army Beacon Corps

372 Main Street
Beacon, NY
DAYS/TIMES Free Meals for Seniors
Tuesday & Thursday, 11-1:30pm
DAYS/TIMES for Donation of Food
Tuesday - Thursday by using the back door by the parking lot. Not the side door by the bank's parking lot, but the very back door directly behind the church. Walk straight back and step over the chain that blocks cars from short-cutting through to avoid the light, or if by car, use the Fishkill Ave. / Rt. 52 entrance.

The Salvation Army in the church at 372 Main Street, which is in the middle of town across the street from the Yankee Clipper Diner, recently restructured its soup kitchen to be open to senior citizens only.

Pastor Kisser studied the people walking into the church, and noticed that in Beacon's current renaissance, the fastest-growing demographic using the service was seniors. Pastor Kisser explains: "Due to budget constraints, the cook for the soup kitchen was let go, and the program director and the seniors stepped in to volunteer to help feed each other. The program continues to feed 20-25 seniors per session on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 11-1:30pm." Earlier this week, the kitchen served its Thanksgiving meal to seniors, who enjoy the community time with each other.

Important to the Salvation Army is helping people eat in groups for social interaction. While the soup kitchen program is dedicated to seniors, during the Thanksgiving season, the Salvation Army does offer food vouchers to all people. Says Pastor Kisser: "In an effort to preserve the family, we give out vouchers to enable families to buy food at their own grocery stores and prepare it at home so that the family can sit down together in their own environment."
Coordinator for eating or for donating: Rhode: (845) 831-1253
Seniors should call or walk in to sign up for the program.
Donations of food can be made Tuesdays - Thursdays by using the back door off the parking lot.
Financial donations can be made online and designated to Beacon, as well as answering the seasonal mail that comes. When you designate Beacon, the location at 372 Main Street is the recipient. And of course, when you see the bright red kettles at supermarkets, money goes to your local Salvation Army. You could also drop off a check at any time to the building.

Food Pantries Open To All In Need

St. Andrew’s Food Pantry

St. Andrew’s Church
17 South Avenue, Beacon
DAYS/TIMES - Pickups

10am-11am Saturdays

Contact for eating or for donating: 
Pat Lassiter: (845) 831-4711

St. Luke's and St. Andrews Food Pantry

Contact for eating or for donating: 
Rev. John F. Williams: (845) 831-2643

Salvation Army, Beacon Corps
372 Main Street
Beacon, NY
The emergency food pantry is open to all.
DAYS/TIMES - Pickups
Starting at 9am on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. Appointments are required.
Call to make an appointment, or stop in:
(845) 831-1253
DAYS/TIMES - Donations of Food 

Can be made Tuesdays - Thursdays by using the back door off the parking lot.

Springfield Baptist Church
Food pantry

Springfield Baptist Church 
8 Mattie Cooper Square
Beacon, NY

Coordinator for eating or for donating: 
Deaconess Joan Cook: cjoanochorios@aol.com

Food Pantry

New Vision Church of Deliverance 
831 Route 52
Fishkill, NY
This food pantry serves fresh produce from Common Ground Farm. Says Common Ground: "Fresh produce is tough to find at food pantries because it is perishable, so it doesn't store as long as canned foods or dry goods. But of course, it is much healthier (and tastier). That's why we harvest that same day and deliver directly to our pantry partners." This pantry is in Fishkill, NY, and is a few doors from the diner, on Beacon's side of I-84.

11am Thursdays

Fishkill Food Pantry

First Reformed Church
1153 Main Street
Fishkill, NY (just before Route 9)
DAYS/TIMES - Pickups

Monday - Thursday 9am to 12pm 
Tuesdays: open until 2pm

Contact for eating or for donating: To access the pantry, make an appointment by calling (845) 896-4546. Call the same number to donate or volunteer. 


I Am Beacon

While not a food pantry, it is a source that delivers food to people in need during Thanksgiving. Key Food is a major partner in this drive, by way of collecting donations and storing turkeys until they are delivered.

A very special thanks for the rapid responses of organizers on the eve of Thanksgiving to compile this article:

• Catherine Sweet of A Little Beacon Blog for pounding the keyboard and making phone calls to find programs.
• Joyce Hanson with the Beacon Sloop Club for delivering information on food pantries in the area. Beacon Sloop Club is hosting a Cajun Holiday Party fundraiser with proceeds going to the Beacon Food Pantry and Beacon Sloop Club. Read about this and other upcoming events in A Little Beacon Blog's Annual Events Guide.
• Deaconess D. Williams of Springfield Baptist Church for clarifying and providing contact information.
• Kundi Glasson for helping to rapidly organize the Soup Kitchen at Tabernacle of Christ Church A/G and providing its newest details as they develop. 

 

Beacon Reads Bookstore Makes Magic Happen for Howland Public Library

Quietly tucked away next to the Howland Public Library is Beacon Reads, a bookstore managed by Friends of the Howland Public Library. For a long time, it has been Beacon's only bookstore (and now has a new neighbor). Beacon Reads is a bookstore that you may have browsed through primarily on the sidewalk, where they put free books out on their rolling cart. But inside are a wealth of books of all kinds, from cookbooks, to finance books, to graphic design books, and many more.

What's more, however, are the contributions that Beacon Reads bookstore makes to the Howland Public Library, by way of Friends of the Howland Public Library. The bookstore exists to fund the library, and their efforts have yielded new public computers for the library by matching funds from the Gates Foundation. Beacon Reads is also a big supporter of the Beacon Bees in the Battle of the Books event, a regional teen literature competition in which Beacon has been very successful, taking first place in 2015, and third place in 2012! Friends of the Howland Public Library pays for the bus to the main regional event, which has been held all over the Hudson Valley, including in Carmel and Hudson. And that's not all: Friends of the Howland Public Library raises funds for the physical state of the library, too. Their accomplishments include matching construction grant funds to improve the library facade, and ongoing work to complete that project. (One famous friend of the library especially liked the whimsical mural: Tyra Banks gave it a shout out on Twitter!)

Best yet? Beacon Reads is open 7 days! Except when they aren't, if a personal matter comes up for the volunteer staff. Stop by on dry days, and you can take a goofy picture as a wise old owl!

A Bookhouse Grows In Beacon - Little Free Library at Polhill Park

In the true spirit that warms Beacon on the windiest of days, a new community offering has popped up at Polhill Park, the triangular park located at the intersection of Main Street, Wolcott (9D), and South Avenue. While at first glance, the structure looks like a giant birdhouse, it is actually a shared reading experience for little people by way of a little bookhouse.

Beacon's most well-known library opened in 1862, and at the time was called the Howland Circulating Library. (Offering only private membership at the start, it was later made public, at the behest of a donor.) The genesis of a Little Free Library is rooted in Lisa Marie Martinez, a professional spatial organizer for her business Space Therapy by Lisa Marie. She recirculates a lot of physical possessions for clients who have emotional attachments to the objects and, rather than sending the objects to the dump, would prefer to see them used by someone else. The catalyst for the project happened after Lisa returned from studying in Havana, Cuba, where books were scarce: "Books were sacred, they were shared, they were community property, and everyone had access to them."

When Lisa moved to Mexico, her local library had few children's books. She wished for a shared box of books like she had seen at a natural foods store during her college years at Plattsburgh State University, where people would anonymously place and take items from this box that they needed or wanted to give. The universal-mind took over, and as Lisa did her research to figure out how to bring this concept to Beacon, she discovered Little Free Library, an international project started after one man built a tiny model of a one-room school house to hold books as a tribute to his mother, a former school teacher who loved reading. He put the structure in his front yard, and the concept took off (there is much more to this story here). Little Free Library has been recognized by the Library of Congress, and is on its way to reaching its goal of 2,510 little free libraries to promote literacy in children and adults, and in libraries all over the world. If you haven't noticed one of these little libraries before, maybe you will now. Certainly others will know about this first one in Beacon, as it is officially registered with Little Free Library, putting Beacon on that map with a lot of other heroic locations.

While most books are for children, you will find some for adults. Lisa hung a Community Log, a journal for visitors to capture thoughts or expressions of love for a good read.

The bookhouse was designed and built by Keith Decent, and the materials donated by Hudson Valley Maker & Artisan Cooperative.

Every library needs an architect to design and build it, and this one was taken on by Keith Decent and the group he is affiliated with, Hudson Valley Maker & Artisan Cooperative, who donated the materials and extra sets of hands. Lisa's directions to Keith were simple: Make the structure accessible to readers of all sizes, including those who use wheelchairs, so that as many people as possible would be able to use it. Lisa spent the summer meeting with members of the City Council, Mayor Randy Casale, the City Administrator, the Building Department and other groups to get permission to install the structure on City of Beacon property. "Once the word got around that this was just a small box with books, people who were unfamiliar with the concept really encouraged this and the City approved of the installation," recalls Lisa.

Lisa's project has led to more initiatives, including requests for more Little Free Libraries around Beacon, and volunteers from the Beacon Police Department to get involved with the "Kids, Community and Cops Program," an initiative also affiliated with Little Free Library to build healthier communities through police involvement in literacy.

Hats off to everyone involved in this project, and be sure to share what special books you find - in the little journal, and in social media! Tag #littlefreelibrarybeacon and @littlefreelibrary in your literary pursuits! Make sure to tag #alittlebeaconblog, too, because we want to see what moved you!

Beacon's Hocus Pocus Halloween Parade for Kids is Biggest Yet in 2015 - With Pictures of Costumes!

Reservoir & Wood was one of many businesses participating in the Hocus Pocus Parade.

Record numbers took part in the Hocus Pocus Halloween Parade of 2015, a signature event of Beacon's Halloween festival, A Very Beacon Halloween (a joint event from the Beacon Chamber of Commerce and the City of Beacon). Ron Iarossi, a board member on the Chamber and owner of Beacon Creamery who led the parade, confirms: "The parade was biggest one we have ever had. We had about 800 kids and just as many adults, for a total of 1,500 to 2,000 people." When the parade paused at Teller Avenue, participants who glanced back could see wall-to-wall people on Main Street, from Beacon Pantry to Hudson Beach Glass. Iarossi says that the number of people concentrated during the parade is normal. What was different this year? More people started at the official line-up of the parade, and still more joined in at different points on Main Street.

The Hocus Pocus parade pauses along Beacon's Main Street for kids to trick-or-treat from businesses. From this stop at Beacon Pantry, paradegoers could be seen all the way back to Hudson Beacon Glass.

Dueling Banjos? Adorbs.

Several duos of Little Red Riding Hood and her Wolf were out, but these two take our first prize!

A very serious wolf.

Cat Woman and Dog.

Little Darth Vader!

Baby R2D2 in the wagon of Tom and Andrea Cerchiara.

Yellow as a primary color in this year's parade!

Ms. Jenny, a teacher at Rose Hill and queen of crafts!

Paul Yeaple, of Poppy's, with kids!

Meet the Abrams/Blair family: The Avengers!

Businesses were ready for the crowd, and eager to give treats to the kids.

Locomotive Crossfit and Oak Vino were ready for the trick-or-treaters!

Beacon Bath & Bubble were happy to fill up pumpkins with treats.

The art gallery Back Room Gallery drew a few characters!

The Beacon Bagel was busy - as usual!

Wee Play Tot Park At Memorial Park Gets 3 New Umbrella Shade Structures

Photo courtesy Wee Play Community Project Graphic treatment Katie Hellmuth Martin

Umbrellas were installed over the summer of 2015 to complete a project that has been in the works for years, and was a major wish-list item for parents, family members and caregivers who bring babies and toddlers to the Tot Park at Memorial Park.

The Wee Play Community Project, a longstanding volunteer group that works and advocates for the City of Beacon's playgrounds, as well as youth programming (some of which you can experience at Howland Public Library and at the University Settlement Camp), has been saving every dollar donated by the community as well as funds taken in during their main annual fundraiser, the Ree Play Sale. A total of $7,285 was donated via the Ree Play Sale, held in May. The remaining balance of $12,515 was matched and provided by the City of Beacon Recreation Fund. The Wee Play Community Project also provided funding for two new benches and a permanent ride-on toy, totaling $2,700.

In their press release, Wee Play Community Project thanks the many community members and volunteers who have helped make the Ree Play Sale a success year after year, and states: "Community support has been essential to the completion of this major improvement to the park."

Wee Play also thanks the Beacon City Council, Mayor Randy Casale and Recreation Director Mark Price for their endorsement of the project, and for approving the use of the Recreation Fund to complete it.

Trees planted years ago begin to add shade as they grow. Photo credits: Katie Hellmuth Martin

Shade provided by umbrellas and trees.

As the sun moves, so does the shade from the umbrellas. Shade from trees is already increasing, as shown in the above picture of the shadow cast on the sandbox from a young tree.

View from under the red umbrella as tree shadows are cast, making patterns.

View from under the yellow umbrella.

The Tot Park at Memorial Park began with a bare landscape, with trees and herb gardens added and maintained by Wee Play over the years. The park has evolved to incorporate nature and permanent shaded structures during very hot days, creating different experiences within one space.

Upcoming + Annual Events in and Around Beacon - Places to Go, Things To Do You Don't Want to Miss

If you feel like you're the last to know everything, then bookmark this page and synch it into your calendar, because you're about to be on top of where to go and what to do in and around Beacon, NY and the Hudson Valley. If you have an event you'd like to submit for consideration, please email editorial@alittlebeaconblog.com.

Once an event passes, it will be moved to the bottom of this page, and then updated later in the year when the date is picked by the venue host.

Last Updated: 10/6/15

UPCOMING & ANNUAL EVENTS, PARADES & FESTIVALS

3rd Annual Pink Kiss Breast Cancer Awareness Event
October 10th, 2015
6pm-9pm
Location: Lorraine Tyne, 161 Main Street
Shop, drink and pose on the red carpet of Pink Kiss, a collaborative fundraising event from designer Sarah Graby and the jewelry store Lorraine Tyne. Sarah Graby features her collection of head scarves called "Sparkle My Head Scarves" to celebrate Breast Cancer Awareness month. Complimentary cocktails, glam styling sessions and giveaways await you. This year marks our 3rd year the event is raising money for the Hudson Valley's "Miles Of Hope" Organization.
Free, yet donate!

City of Beacon Pumpkin Carving Contest

Saturday, October 10, 2015

10 am

Location: Pavilion at Beacon Memorial Park

Kids 15 and younger can compete for Top Carver in two age divisions (13 to 15, and 12 and under). Parents should supervise children at all times! Supplies will be provided, but are limited. Sign up ahead of time at City Hall. Organizers insist, no professionals, please.

New York State Sheep & Wool Festival

October 17th - 18th, 2015 

Location: Dutchess County Fairgrounds | Rhinebeck, NY 12572

A lovely sheep and wool festival happening at the Dutchess County Fairgrounds. Learn about and enjoy the animals, find wool fashions like mittens, gloves and sweaters, and shop the market.

Information >

Buy Tickets Here >

Beacon Sloop Club Pumpkin Festival

October 18th, 2015
12pm-5pm

Location: Pete and Toshi Seeger Riverfront Park

The Beacon Sloop Club holds or participates in several festivals and events each year to raise funds for the clubs activities and bring awareness to many environmental and social issues.

Information >

City of Beacon Hocus Pocus Parade
Sunday, October 25, 2015
12:30 pm
Location: Main Street, Beacon
Costumed kids start lining up at Peace Park (South Avenue/9D and Main Street) at 12:30 for a parade down Main Street at 1. Trick-or-treating at businesses follows the stroll. Don't forget to check in at the Beacon Flea, too! They'll have some treats for the little goblins.
Information >

Pumpkins in the Park
Jack O'Lantern Lighting

Carving: Tuesday, October 27 to Friday, October 30, 2015, 3 pm to 6 pm
Lighting: Friday, October 30, 2015, 6 pm to 8 pm
Location: Long Dock Park, Beacon waterfront
On afternoons Tuesday to Friday, visit Long Dock Park to put your carving skills to use on pumpkins provided by Scenic Hudson. Stick around Friday evening, when the jack o'lanterns will be set aglow and displayed throughout the park.
Information >

Santa Spottings on Main Street

December 2015

Location: Main Street Shops

Santa comes to coffee shops and restaurants around Beacon. Where will you visit him?

Information >

LOTTERY, SEASON PASSES & SIGNUPS

Scenic Hudson Kayak Storage

March 30 - April 17, 2015

This lottery signup is annual, and we covered it here on the blog.

Sign Up Details >

Beacon's New Pool at the Settlement Camp

Registration Starts March 1st, 2015

Season Starts June 29th, 2015

Registration Form >

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EVENTS THAT ALREADY HAPPENED

These events have passed. Look for them next year!

We move them to the bottom of this Guide to get ready for next year!

City of Beacon's "Easter After Easter" Egg Hunt

Saturday April 25th, 2015

11am - 2pm

Location: Memorial Park

According to the City, Easter is coming later. "Same great fun and better weather! Join us for our a little bit later than Easter Egg Hunt and Spring Fling at Memorial Park."

Information >

Beacon Barks Parade

Saturday April 25th, 2015 (rain or shine)

10am - 3pm

Location: Main Street

The 9th Annual Beacon Barks! parade being held on Saturday, April 25, 2015, on Main Street in Beacon.  Beacon Barks! is the street festival for people who love animals, live music, great food, and having fun in the heart of Beacon. Festivities begin at 10:00 am and conclude at 3:00 pm.  Show appreciation for animal shelters, rescue and welfare organizations. It’s free, fun, family-friendly!  Bring your four-legged family members, too!  Local shops and restaurants open their doors to participants (both canine and otherwise) for tasty snacks & treats.  A variety of service providers (such as groomers, vets and many others) offer information and advice on caring for your best friend. Usually held the 3rd week in April of every year.

Information >

Ree-Play Sale
Friday, Saturday, Sunday
May 1, 2 3, 2015
9am - 1pm

Location: The University Settlement Camp Theater
724 Wolcott Avenue  (Rt. 9D across from Craig House)
The Ree-Play Sale is one of Beacon's most well known, well attended annual sales for baby and kids gear in the region. Donations pour in from families from all over, and the pickings begin on May 1st for three short days. Those who volunteer to sort the gently used items for sale do get pre-shopping privileges. For sale are gently used baby’s, children’s, and maternity clothing, toys, furniture, outdoor play equipment, bicycles, strollers and other baby-gear, etc.

The Ree-Play Sale the primary fundraiser for its parent organization, Wee Play Community Project,  an advocate for the City of Beacon’s playgrounds, which promotes excellence in children’s and youth programming, and builds an organized coalition of community parents.
Information >


Stony Kill Plant Sale: Vegetable and Herb Plant Sale and Spring Celebration
May 2nd, 2015
11am to 3pm
Location: 79 Farmstead Lane, Wappingers Falls, NY 12590
Get ready for the spring season with vegetables and herbs that were grown in Stony Kill's greenhouse.  Live music – food – children’s activities –  information – demonstrations – gift shop – tours of the farm animals in the barn – tours of the Verplanck Tenant Farmhouse – and much more!
Information >


Obercreek Plant Sale
May 2nd, 2015 10am to 4pm (also on May 9 and 10) 
May 3rd, 2015, 1pm to 5pm
Location: 59 Marlorville Road Wappingers Falls, NY 12590
The Obercreek Farm Standis selling their Certified Organic vegetable and herb plants for your home garden!  They are growing over 60 varieties, traditional and heirloom; check out the line-up below:
Information >

Common Ground Farm Seedling Sale

May 9th, 2015

10am to 3pm

Location: 142 Main Street, Common Greens Garden @ Tito Santana Taqueria

Find Common Ground Farm at the Common Greens Garden at Tito Santana Taqueria on Second Saturday in Beacon for their annual seedling sale, just in time for Mother's Day! Seedlings will include: flowers, tomatoes, cucumbers, melons, kale, greens, herbs and more! All grown by hand & with love in organic potting soil at Common Ground Farm.

Information >

Beacon Open Studios

May 16th - 17th, 2015

Location: Shops, Studios and Residences

Beacon Open Studios is a community supported project by artists, volunteers, individuals, and local business. Studio spaces are created around the community where you can drop in during daytime hours. As you walk around town, you will see the big red circle dot that identifies a studio space in a shop or home.

Information >


HEfeSTUS Iron Pour
May 23th, 2015
2pm to 10pm
Location: Hanna Lane (near the Tallix Complex, where parking is available)

Woa. This is an event you don't see very often, so you're going to want to go. It is live casting of hot metal during a day of food from local eateries and live music. Hefestus Iron pour began in 2013 with the idea of bringing together art, history and community.  This year’s all-day festival will include sculpture casting workshops, musical entertainment, local food and several thousand pounds of molten iron.  Local artist and students will be casting iron sculpture from an outdoor furnace in a spectacle of metal and fire that is not to be missed.  Casting is the process in which metal is melted in a furnace and poured from a container or ladle into a mold of ceramic shell or bonded sand. During  Hefestus 2014, over 50 iron castings were poured into molds designed and carved by attendees.
Information >


Beacon Riverfest In The Parks Series (Free)
May 25th, 2015
4pm to 6pm
Location: Memorial Park
Bring a picnic and make sure you're wearing your dance shoes as the first of four free summer concerts kicks off this Memorial Day Weekend. The band is "The Big Takeover" and you've enjoyed their reggae style before in Beacon.

For Goodness Bake

Saturday, June 6th, 2015

Location: Catalyst Gallery 137 Main Street

FOR GOODNESS BAKE (FGB) is an annual pop-up bake sale held in Beacon, New York. Founded in 2013 by friends and Beaconites Kristen Cronin and Tara Tornello, FGB is dedicated to raising funds and awareness for worthy causes within the Hudson Valley. Each FGB bake sale is held for one day only. Scores of the Valley's best professional and amateur bakers donate baked goods for the sale. Past beneficiaries have been the Children's Organ Transplant Association and the Kids R Kids Feeding Program. Once the last doughnut, cookie, or muffin has been sold, FGB closes up shop, hands over 100% of the proceeds to the beneficiary, and vanishes. Like superheroes, but with aprons instead of tights.

Information >

Beacon's City-Wide Yard Sale

Saturday, June 13th, 2015

9am - 3pm

Location:All Over Beacon!

Participating in the yard sale can happen one of two ways - you can register your address as an official yard sale and get on the map (try calling the City of Beacon at (845) 838-5000, or just put stuff out on your yard and tag it. People will surly be driving by and will stop.

Information >

Strawberry Festival

Sunday, June 14th, 2015

12noon - 5pm

Location: Pete and Toshi Seeger Riverfront Park

Strawberry shortcakes, music, vendors. what more do you need in the summer? The Beacon Sloop Club holds or participates in several festivals and events each year to raise funds for the clubs activities and bring awareness to many environmental and social issues.

Information >

Cider Week

June 12th - 21st, 2015

Location: Many different events and locations. See the full lineup here.

Cider-lovers rejoice, there is a Cider Week for you! Circulate around all of the events during this week, and increase your knowledge and appreciation of cider pressed in this region. Cider is another old beverage renewed in our day. It was made, stored, and consumed all over the U.S from early times. But eventually, Temperance politics and Prohibition ended legal sales. Apple growers had to replace their cider orchards with “Apple Pie orchards”. Bitter, sour, weird apples that could make great cider lost all value in the States. But real cider is not brewed. There’s no grain, no cooking, and no fast route to high quality. Serious cider is all apple juice, pressed from superior cider varieties. It represents the land that grew that fruit. It takes time and patience. Great beer can be made in weeks; great cider, not. The most complex cider is tannic, like red wine. Its gold color means people tend to chill it. But serious cider from the right fruit deserves to be tasted at about 60F. Also, cider tannins offer antioxidant effects, but with far less alcohol than red wine. Founded by Glynwood, Cider Week was created to revive New York's orchard heritage. The website serves to connect cider makers from New York’s Hudson Valley to buyers from top restaurants, bars, and retail shops across the Hudson Valley region, New York City, and beyond. Through growing awareness of craft cider, Cider Week helps to bring profitability to local orchards while reviving heirloom apple varieties.

Information >

All Events >

Beacon Riverfest In The Parks Series (Free)

Tuesday, June 16th, 2015

6pm to 8pm

Location: Green Street Park (on the other side of Fishkill Creek, this is a park located in the base of a sloping hill)

Bring a picnic and make sure you're wearing your dance shoes! The bands are "Bad Mother Factory" and "Knock Yourself Out."

Local Cider Market & Tasting at Historic Huguenot Street House

June 20th, 2015

Noon - 4pm

Location: Historic Huguenot Street House, 88 Huguenot Street, New Paltz, NY 12561

This cider event in New Paltz is included in this Guide because of the historical value and richness you will get out of attending it. As part of both New York State’s Path Through History Weekend and Hudson Valley Cider Week, Historic Huguenot Street will host a local cider market and tasting on Saturday, June 20. The market will feature 9 Hudson Valley cider makers, including: Hudson Valley Farmhouse Cider (produced at Breezy Hill Orchard and Stone Ridge Orchard), Warwick Valley Winery & Distillery (maker of Doc’s® Draft Ciders, Warwick), Glorie Farm Winery (Marlboro), The Standard Cider Company (owned by Brotherhood Winery, Washingtonville), Aaron Burr Cidery (Wurtsboro), Orchard Hill Cider Mill (located at Soons Orchard, New Hampton), Kettleborough Cider House (New Paltz), Pitchfork Hard Cider (Poughkeepsie), and Angry Orchard (opening a new facility in Walden). As part of the market, Historic Huguenot Street and Kettleborough Cider House will be introducing a historic crab apple hard cider, brewed by Kettleborough in collaboration with HHS. The cider’s use of crab apples is true to how the early founders of New Paltz would have brewed their own cider, which was a popular colonial drink.

Information > 

Beacon Riverfest Music & Food Festival

Sunday, June 28th, 2015

Noon to 8pm

Location: Riverfront Park (on the other side of the train station)

An entire day of live music and food! A large lineup of bands are playing on 3 stages in Riverfront Park. Kids under 10 get in free, and tickets are available for purchase for adults. Enjoy music, food and crafts. The bands include Sierra Leone’s Refugee All Stars, Tracy Bonham, Sidewalk Chalk, Schwervon, Decora, Gato Loco, Jenny Dee & The Deelinquents, What Moon Things, Breakfast In Fur, Shana Falana, M Shanghai String Band, and Simi Stone.

Information >

4th Of July Fireworks, Memorial Park

Saturday July 4th, 2015

NOTE: There is no parade on Main Street.

11am Reading of the Declaration of Independence

A reading of the Declaration of Independence will take place, on Saturday, at 11:00am at City Hall.

3pm till dark

Location: Memorial Park, Beacon

Presented once again by a collaborative community effort by the City of Beacon, Beacon-Fishkill Kwanis Club, The Costellos and I Am Beacon. Bring the whole family to enjoy! Fireworks begin at dusk.

Information >

For even more Things to Do for July 4th Weekend in Beacon, NY, see our Pools, Picnics and Fireworks Roundup!

Beacon Riverfest In The Parks Series (Free)

Saturday July 11th, 2015

6pm to 8pm

Location: The Beacon Pool - POOL PARTY! (at the Settlement Camp, 724 Wolcott)

Bring a picnic and make sure you're wearing your dance shoes! The band is "PONTOON."

Beacon Riverfest In The Parks Series (Free)

Thursday July 16th, 2015

6pm to 8pm

Location: South Avenue Park

Bring a picnic and make sure you're wearing your dance shoes! The band is "Jeremy Baum Trio."

Beacon Riverfest In The Parks Series (Free)

Thursday July 23rd, 2015

6pm to 8pm

Location: Long Dock Park (near the train station, but far to the left near paths for Dennings Point)

Bring a picnic and make sure you're wearing your dance shoes! The band is "The Stacks."

Beacon Jazz Fest

Saturday July 25th, 2015

12noon - 6pm

Location: The Pete and Toshi Seeger Riverfront Park

Celebrating Music, Hudson Valley Distilleries, artisan crafts & culture of the Hudson Valley, the Inaugural Beacon Jazz Festival will take place on Saturday, July 25 from noon to 6 PM at The Pete and Toshi Seeger Riverfront Park in Beacon, NY. Presented by Six String Productions, the festival will offer a wealth of musical talent, many with long associations with Beacon and the surrounding region, in addition to great Jazz this event will also double as a Hudson Valley distillery tasting event.   Local craft breweries, cideries and wineries will be represented along with local artisan chefs providing food to complement the event. Musical artists you can expect to hear include Sun of Goldfinger, Karl Berger/Ingrid Sertso Quintet, International Brass & Membrane Corps, Mike Dopazo & The HV All-Stars. The Beacon DJ Grady Salter will also be spinning classic jazz selections all day between acts.

In addition, Hudson Valley distilleries, Wineries, and Cideries, include Dennings Point Distillery,  Hudson Valley Distillery, Albany Distillery,  Dutch Spirits, Taconic Distillery, Tuthilltown, Harvest Spirits, Brotherhood winery, Naked Flock cidery , Bad Seed Cidery will be offering free tastings of their renowned spirits, cider and wine throughout the festival. Other local business providing food and drink at the Beacon Jazz Festival include More Good, Tito Santana, Beacon Bread, The Hop Express, plus many more.

More Information >

Firefly Feast

Saturday, August 1st, 2015

4pm - 9pm

Location: 4 Hanna Lane
The second annual Firefly Feast will have local food, drinks, and music all to benefit Common Ground Farm (kids 12 and under are free!).
More Information and Buy Tickets>

The Butterfly Festival

Sunday, August 8th, 2015

11am - 3pm (Rain or Shine!)

Location: 79 Farmstead Lane, Wappingers Falls, NY

Visit the Verplanck Memorial Perennial Garden and learn all about butterflies! Visit the butterfly tent and have a one on one experience with these wonderful creatures! Food – gift shop – children’s activities - information – demonstrations – and much more! (Free)

Information >


The Beacon Sloop Club Annual Corn Festival

Sunday, August 9th, 2015

12noon - 5pm (Rain or Shine!)

Location: Pete and Toshi Seeger Riverfront Park

The Beacon Sloop Club holds or participates in several festivals and events each year to raise funds for the clubs activities and bring awareness to many environmental and social issues. This free festival features fresh picked, ready‐to‐eat local‐grown Hudson Valley sweet corn on the cob, hot chili, watermelon, cold drinks, and other summer treats. Music throughout the afternoon and many free kids activities! (Free)

Information >

The Hairdressers Disco Ball

Sunday, August 23rd, 2015

7pm-10pm

Location:  Mid-Hudson Civic Center

For 2015, the Hairdresser’s Disco Ball and Charity Hair Show goes to the Oscars! Get ready for a blockbuster red-carpet-worthy runway show featuring over-the-top, highly creative hair styles and costumes inspired by Academy Award-winning movies and Hollywood stars. The big show raises funds for HVCS’ HIV/AIDS programs and services and takes place on Sunday, August 23, 2015 at 7:00 pm at the Mid-Hudson Civic Center in downtown Poughkeepsie. You may see your favorite stylist from Beacon participating!

Tickets and Information >
Facebook page for fabulous photos >



Dutchess County Fair

August 25th - 30th, 2015 

Location: Dutchess County Fairgrounds | Rhinebeck, NY 12572

Only one of the best fairs around! Folks from far and wide come to ride the Farris wheel and other rides. A fun date night or night out with the family.

Information >

Buy Tickets Here >

September 12th 2015
9am Registration, 10:30am Walk Begins

Location: Long Dock Park, Beacon NY

Benefiting Hope and Heroes, who funds the life-saving work on childhood cancer and blood disorders at Columbia University Medical Center. Presented by Jessica Salomon, a mother of a Sickle Cell Disease survivor, and Event Coordinator to bring awareness to the community one step at a time.

Information >

Hudson Valley Hoptember Harvestfest 
September 12th 2015 

Location: 1167 Noxon Road | Lagrangeville, NY 12540

"Celebrating Everything Hoppy!" The event will feature 30 plus local brewers, music by "Buckeye Rooster, and our Hop smoked BBQ by the award winning "Bacon Brothers" as well as many other Hop Infused Delights

Information >

Buy Tickets Here >

Hudson River Craft Beer Festival
September 19th 2015 

Location: Riverfront Park

This four-hour event will showcase over 200 releases from some of America’s best craft breweries. Attendees will sample beers in an atmosphere filled with live music, delicious food available for purchase, and great vendors.

Information >

Buy Tickets Here >

Beacon Independent Film Festival  

September 18th-20th 2015

Opening Night Friday, 7:30pm

Location: Beacon's University Settlement Camp on Wolcott Avenue (aka 9D)

The Beacon Independent Film Festival (BIFF) showcases creative films in a unique venue, nestled among the trees at the foot of Mount Beacon, NY.

Information >

Spirit Of Beacon Day 2015 Attracts Free Concert From Dar Williams, Slam Allan, and Others

Beacon's largest parade, the Spirit of Beacon Day, this year will have a major free concert for music lovers which kicks off a new arts project and destination.

The Spirit of Beacon Day Parade, this year on Sunday, September 27, 2015, is traditionally one of the biggest parade celebrations in Beacon, with floats of kids, parents and teachers from the school district driving down Main Street, followed by marching bands, fire engines, flying candy, even local dentists like Beacon Dental who have marched down handing out tooth brushes. After the parade, which usually is on a sparkler of a day with bright sunshine, and crisp, early Fall air softly swooping through the town at the base of Mount Beacon, the people of Beacon get to enjoy visiting tables of businesses, indulging in a little facepaint as a fundraiser of a local church or Beacon girls softball team, getting hypnotized by drum circles, and even watching dancers from many different nationalities like this one from Arts Mid-Hudson after last year's parade.

Missing from the day will be a live performance from Pete Seeger, who usually performed with members of his band in the middle of Main Street for all to hear. This year, however, a special live free concert will be taking place at the Veterans Place near the Post Office at 3pm - featuring major folk musicians from the area including Tom Chapin, Dar Williams, Bruce Molsky, Susan Wright and Slam Allen. The concert is part of an announcement of a new arts project: The American Center for Folk Music (ACFM).

The center is targeted to be located in Beacon and its primary mission is said to be "the presentation, celebration and study of folk music, and the ongoing support of folk musicians and music educators," according to a press release sent out by the Towne Crier, a 40-year old live music venue that relocated to Beacon and is now a central part of the City's burgeoning music scene. The Towne Crier's founder, Phil Ciganer, is providing logistical assistance with the project.

The American Center for Folk Music's co-founder David Ross, a former director of the Whitney Museum of American Art as well as an art educator and musician, has this to say about Sunday's free concert and about the foundation of the new center: “Folk music’s extraordinary heritage is something we feel needs to be taken seriously, and celebrated," said Ross. "For those of us in Beacon and in this region, it is a way of preserving the memory and continuing the work of Pete Seeger, the great American musician who is a hero to all of us who believed that music has the power to change the world for the better.”

Says Ross, "The American Center for Folk Music wants to be an integral part of the local community as well as a national destination for musicians, tourists and scholars alike."  Seems like a good idea to plant the seed on Spirit of Beacon Day, as hopefully one more rich addition to the culture that is once again taking shape in Beacon's long history of giving back and educating.

The "Welcome to Beacon" Sign - Who Are The Artists Behind The Letter Blocks?

The letter blocks at the top of the train station are the first hint that major creativity and involvement await visitors and prospective new residents when they exit the train to head up to the town of Beacon. Where did these letter blocks come from? Who designed and built them? Was it a city commissioned project? Those have often been my questions since I moved to Beacon in 2010, and it’s time we found out. Art awareness is especially high during the spring and summer months with projects like Beacon Open Studios, Windows on Main, and Beacon3D, so we wanted to explore the origins during this high-art season.

Like most notable projects that just appear around Beacon, the “Welcome to Beacon” sign was not a city-funded art installation. However, it has roots in city leader George Mansfield and others. To find out the origins of the “Welcome to Beacon” sign, we first went to BeaconArts for a clue. Kelly Ellenwood, Vice President of the BeaconArts Community Association, referred us to Kalene Rivers, co-founder of Open Space, an exhibition space created to explore passions for art, culture and design. Kalene and her partner Daniel Weise had a history of organizing and curating public art in Beacon like Electric Windows.

Open Space was approached years a go by city councilman George Mansfield when he was running for his first term, after he had placed a large campaign sign in the very spot that the letter blocks are currently installed today. The owner of the property gave George permission to place his sign there. According to Kalene, “After the election, George had the idea to continue to utilize the space for art. Partly inspired by a ‘You Are Beautiful’ project, we decided that an eclectic ‘Welcome to Beacon’ sign would be wonderful in this location. George and I invited fifteen artists to create the first round of letters back in 2010.”

If you have been familiar with Beacon since then, you will know that in 2014, the “Welcome to Beacon” sign got a total refresh with new designs for each letter. Personally, the blocks inspired the first design for A Little Beacon Blog’s original logo (has since had its own redesign), so I was especially interested in the new design and who the creators were behind each look.

Kalene, with the ongoing permission of the property owner, again asked fifteen new artists to participate. Says Kalene, “Heidi Harrison and Chris Janks graciously volunteered to assist in the production, and the second round of letters were completed in November of 2014. George Mansfield and Patrick Freeman come down to the site on a cold morning and carefully installed the new sign. We had an unveiling on November 15th and it has proudly welcomed people to Beacon ever since.“

We have the names of each artist behind a letter in a spread below. If you follow the #BeaconNY community on Instagram, you may have gotten to know the styles of a few artists, and you have probably guessed which artist did what letter. Before you read the names, see if you can guess which artist did which block! Otherwise, satisfy your curiosity right here!

Jessica Wickham

Emily Sylvester

Kalene Rivers

Andrea Moreau

Ed Benavente

Dharman Abdu

Rick Rogers

Theresa Gooby

Carla Goldberg

Dylan Assael

Fabhaus

Katrina Zezza

Jon Reichert

Joe Pimentel

Chris Janks

#TBT Throwback Thursday: The Unofficial Restoration Of The Dummy Light By Erica Hauser

This little bit of Beacon trivia for #TBT is courtesy of the yarnbombing incident, which inspired people to post memory photos of local artist, Erica Hauser, taking it upon herself to restore the Dummy Light down on the far East End of Main Street, across the street from 1 East Main. Erica serves on the board of BeaconArts, who has been an organization that attracts residents of Beacon to its board who take it upon themselves to improve their surroundings.

According to an article in Philipstown, Erica wrote to the City to ask about any restoration plans of the Dummy Light, but not much of a response was generated. So she got some paint and a safety vest and...painted it.

Erica Hauser, restoring the paint on The Dummy Light Photo by Erica Hauser.

Rain, Rain, Come Again...Beacon's Drought Makes Brown Lawns En Vogue

Those who may have lamented the constant downpours and repeat rainy days in June, which put a slight dent in the kickoff of summertime pool and waterpark memberships, may be wishing for those rainy days to be back. The rain in July only yielded 1 inch of rain, according to an article published this week by Brian PJ Cronin in the Philipstown Paper, and April was a light month for rain.

On one of his famous hikes, Brian hiked up Mount Beacon to take pictures of the Beacon Reservoir to reveal the mud that is baking in the sun, which is usually covered by water. The Beacon Reservoir is about to hit 60%, according to weekly measuring and reporting by Beacon's Water and Sewer Department.

Therefore, a Stage 1 Drought Alert has been issued for Beacon with the following voluntary recommendations:

• Using a car wash to wash your car, not washing it with a hose.
• Refrain from watering your lawn; lawns will go dormant if not watered and return when moisture returns.
• Refrain from washing streets, sidewalks, driveways or exteriors of structures with a hose.
• Fix leaks.

Water usage makes a big difference to the Reservoir. As Brian pointed out in his article when he brought up the last time a Stage 1 Drought Alert was issued in November 2013 during an Indian summer, that the Reservoir rapidly recovered after "temperatures dipped, snow fell, and outside water use dropped dramatically."

So here's what you can do to preserve the green in your yard and keep water in the Reservoir:

• Keep the weeds for a bit. There is a strip of bright green in our yard...why? It's weeds! We never seeded the area after digging around it to widen the driveway. So hey crabgrass that just won't die - you have a purpose for the moment of making our yard look good.
• Brown lawns are cool. It's un-cool at this point to water your lawn. So just go with the new, sandier shade of lawn!
• Hay mulch the garden. Naysayers of the hay mulching method may want to change their minds and accept the very few sprouts of new hay that pop up through dried hay, and just lay the hay down thick. This hay mulched garden has only been watered twice all season with a watering can.

This hay mulched garden has been watered 2x with a watering can all season. If we have no grass, we at least have giant butternut squash leaves.

Hello little baby butternut squash! And hello healthy weed that needs to be covered in more hay mulch.

Candlelight Vigil to Protect The Hudson River From PCBs If GE's Cleanup Stops

From Schuylerville to Pier 63 in Manhattan, Scenic Hudson is hosing a Candlelight Vigil to encourage GE (General Electric) to continue the clean-up of our most treasured natural and economic resource: The Hudson River. Says the EPA: "During a 30-year period ending in 1977, when EPA banned the production of PCBs, it is estimated that approximately 1.3 million pounds of PCBs were discharged into the Hudson River from two General Electric (GE) capacitor manufacturing plants located in the towns of Fort Edward and Hudson Falls, New York. In 1984, 200 miles of river, between Hudson Falls and the Battery in New York City, was placed on EPA’s National Priorities List of the country’s most contaminated hazardous waste sites."

Oftentimes taken for granted as a river to boat on, or a river to gaze upon from a highrise apartment in New York City or from the mountains of the Hudson Valley, the Hudson River was once an economic engine, as well as a major mode of transportation and war strategy during the Revolutionary War, which is why Newburgh was the headquarters of the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War, as well as a very wealthy town for industries who shipped between Newburgh and New York City (which...honestly may have contributed to the pollution of the river). The economy thrived during a time of high shipping, which is why so many of the philanthropic names you see on streets, parks, buildings and librarys are related to wealthy families with shipping businesses. Not to mention its history with the Native New Yorkers before Dutch and British settlers came here and renamed it.

GE was ordered to clean up the Hudson River in two phases, the second of which we are in now, which may be coming to an end, despite "leaving behind millions of pounds of heavily contaminated sediments that eventually will flow past Beacon and Newburgh," according to Scenic Hudson.

Tonight, in a dual event at Long Dock Park, which is right next to the Pete and Toshi Seeger Riverfront Park who were both extremely instrumental in spearheading the cleanup of the Hudson River through song and public pressure, Scenic Hudson has organized a Candlelight Vigil to keep the pressure on GE and governments to stay on the clean-up. Beacon now has public floating riverpool that Toshi and Pete Seeger envisioned and set up in the Hudson River. Riverpools were actually quite common in New York City until the river became too polluted.

When you go to the free Riverfest concert tonight, you will easily be able to participate in this activism to show your support for a cleaner Hudson River. You can also visit Scenic Hudson's website to sign a petition, volunteer or donate.

Going To The Dump: What Happens at Beacon's Transfer Station/Recycling Center

The Town "Dump", Now Known Is The City of Beacon The Transfer Station for Recycling Dropoff

Living next to a neighbor who has lived in Beacon for over 20 years and has a pickup truck, I hear about trips to "The Dump" quite often. In fact, my husband and I have pickup-truck-envy because we would also like a large pickup truck to cart loads of stuff we clean out of our house and yard to The Dump whenever we want to. My other neighbor is a hay-mulching urban gardener in his teeny back yard, and got himself a baby pickup truck to visit The Dump to pickup free dirt and mulch. In my fifth year of living in Beacon, I decided to be a Big Girl and go to The Dump myself to see what it was all about.

First of all, it is no longer called "The Dump", since it is not a static place of trash getting dumped and left behind (or at one point long ago, burned). In fact, when the garbage men come to pick up your trash, the trash gets dealt with by Royal Carting, a company contracted with the City of Beacon, and is not taken to The Dump at all.

This spot has been renamed to "The Transfer Station," or the "City of Beacon Recycling Center," depending on which city-issued flyer you are looking at. The sign outside the building reads "City of Beacon Recycling" and the official page for it at the City's website has it named The Transfer Station.

Busy Bodies At The Transfer Station

The Transfer Station is quite a busy spot. In fact a whole Richard Scary story with all kinds of bulldozers and conveyor belts could be illustrated about The Transfer Station because of the type of waste that gets re-purposed there. Leaf piles and grass clippings get turned into dirt. TVs and electronics have their own special dumpster bin that gets picked up by Royal Carting for a fee that the City of Beacon pays.

Royal Carting then takes some of that scrap to AW Scrap Processors on 9D to melt for scrap metal, the money of which is then paid to the City of Beacon, according to then Highway Superintendent Anthony "Zep" Thomaselli.

Photo Credit: Katie Hellmuth Martin
A view of the compost pile of leaf clippings in the back, with a bulldozer to turn it. In the forefront is the dumping pit for furniture.

The Dumping Challenge: Taking A Chair To The Dump!

To see how it all worked, I challenged myself to take our old chair that was soaked in cat pee to The Dump aka The Transfer Station. The Transfer Station is located down Dennings Avenue, which is a right turn at the intersection near the basketball courts if you are leaving Beacon and passing the Beacon Dental complex on your left. You'll drive through a residential area, and then keep your eyes peeled for the Transfer Station on your left. I actually drove right past it because I saw a sign that read "City of Beacon Recycling" as pictured below. If you drive past The Transfer Station, you'll dead-end into a parking lot that you've been to before when you wanted to hop onto the walking trail around Dennings Point along the train tracks.

Being that we don't have a pickup truck, fitting the chair into the car was tricky, but I made it. The first step is to drive onto a large scale that is operated by Dave "Zeek" Secor. My first question to Dave was: "Is this The Dump? Am I in the right place?" to which he replied "Yes." Dave then asked me if I had lived in Beacon for a long time, only because old-timers are becoming the only ones still calling it The Dump.

Car on a red scale to be weighed before dumping its trash.

Dave's next question to me was to verify if I'd paid all of my City taxes. Residents of

Beacon do get to dump 250 pounds of material free of charge within a date range each year

if they have paid their taxes. Anything over 250 pounds for the year will be charged to the resident by the City of Beacon. This includes furniture, TVs, and extra trash that otherwise would have been collected in your trash can. The limit does not include grass clippings and brush, which is free. This year of 2015, the date range is May 19th - September 26th. The reason for the limit is that Beacon does pay Royal Carting to pick up this material, so hundreds of pounds of extra trash from your home or summer "Clean The Shed" project cannot be a total free for all.

Dave "Zeek" Secor on the right, and retired Water Department employee Ralph Durso who likes to visit old buddies.

Next step is to back up you car and...dump your stuff! The furniture goes into this bin that faces the giant mound of decomposing leaf bags on the left, and dirt on the right that was previously leaf piles and grass clippings. TVs and other things go into another bin.

Get ready to dump!

Here's a video of me actually tipping the chair into the dumpster. And be sure to subscribe to our YouTube playlist,

Real Live Scoop

!

MARY, MARY QUITE CONTRARY, WHERE DO THOSE GARDEN BAGS GO?

In the Summer, there is a lot of yard cleanup going on, and you may drive past bags of grass clippings and weed pickings left out on the street. And they may sit and sit. That is because in the Summer, there is no official pickup schedule by the City of Beacon to pick up these bags, like there is in the Fall when City of Beacon trucks are picking up leaves from October to the first snowfall, says Thomaselli. "We have so much to do, that we try to collect the grass clippings on rainy days. For the whole month of April, however, we do pick up brush and bags frequently. And in January we pick up Christmas trees." There is a number you can call to let the City of Beacon Recycling know about your grass clippings that need picked up, and that number is 845-831-0932. Otherwise, you can drive your yard waste to City of Beacon Recycling building on Tuesdays, Thursdays or Saturdays within designated hours posted on their website in special biodegradable paper bags, and dumping it is free.

Piles of brush compost (left), mulch (center) and the final stage of dirt (right).

DIRT DESSERT

If you needed a lot of dirt in your back yard to start a new garden, or to make a flower bed deeper at the base of a tree that is otherwise solid roots, then The Transfer Station / City of Beacon Recycling Center is the place to pick up such dirt. Located in the far back of the lot is a very tall mound of dirt that is the result of months and months of decomposing leaves, brush and grass clippings. Those brown bags you see on the side of the road - those all make it to The Transfer Station and get dumped into the tall pile of biodegradable bags, turned a bunch of times, and then transferred to a giant sifter to sift out most trash that accidentally made it into the leaf bags. However, collecting the dirt has become so popular, that the dirt itself is getting rare because it is in high demand from residents and  local farms and organizations like

Green Teen

who take it by the truck-load to plant their garden initiatives all over town, including at Tito's and at South Avenue Elementary School.

So as you are out weeding your flower beds and gardens, and mowing the lawn, you can feel like you are doing an even better job, and

giving back to your fellow neighbors, because those clippings can turn into golden dirt for others! If you are feeling extra proud of what you just dumped, take a picture of it and tag us on

Instagram!

Fill 'Er Up! The Beacon Pool at the Settlement Camp is Happening!

UPDATE [5/17/16]: The Beacon Public Pool at the Settlement Camp is opening for the 2016 Season!

UPDATE: The pool is full of water! Day and Season Passes are selling, and the Pool Party on July 3rd was fun!

The Beacon Pool drained, clean and being filled with fresh water. New black fencing has been installed.

Rumors of the resurgence of the Beacon Pool at the Settlement Camp have been swirling for years, and even in the month of June 2015, the projected opening date of the pool, people were still asking: "Is the pool really opening?"

To find our own answers, we sent a camera crew out to the site one weekend, unannounced, to see if the pool was really on track. Note: the camera crew was myself and my sleeping son in his car seat, with Frisbee disk gamers barely noticing our unexpected activity near the course.

Over the years, various individuals tried to help it make a comeback with deflated attempts and membership price-points, so you can imagine everyone's skepticism at it really happening. However, we discovered a major clue that the pool was on track: new picnic benches, freshly cut and bolted, were lined up side by side, awaiting placement.

New picnic benches at the Beacon Pool to accommodate large crowds who can bring their own food.

So I got on the phone with Mark Price, the City of Beacon's Recreation Director, and asked him my tough reporter question: "Is there any chance that the pool won't open?" Mark was giddy in his answer. "It's opening! On Monday, June 29th it will be open! We need to wait to drain the pool until closer to the open date, but we are replacing the fence and dusting everything off."

Beacon's pool has quite the courtyard wrapping around it and almost feels like you're at an English estate or in the woods in an Alice in Wonderland scene with strange creatures lurking under mossy stones. In fact, you may encounter a snake or two, as young teenagers have recalled to me from their early days of going to the pool in the summer and loving it. To add to the pastoral experience, The Green Teen Team has planted 200 sunflowers on the uphill side of the property, near the Maintenance Building.

The courtyard at the Beacon Pool immediately in front of the pool.

The picture above is the courtyard immediately in front of the pool. There is another courtyard to the left of the pool, and all of that is available to the public to enjoy. You can bring your own food and drink, and Mark has dreams of hosting food trucks. In fact, Mark has given us permission to tell you that he has visions of a "juried showcase" of different food vendors, and to contact him if you're interested. Which is really exciting because the food scene in Beacon is so good!

Don't you want to stroll down this yard in English attire? Or play rugby or croquet?

So why this year for the pool? Mark credits the healthy economy. "Municipal budgets have recovered, so purse strings got loser. As a country, things are coming back a bit." As noted by Mayor Casale in a recent press release, the opening of the pool is happening because of joint efforts by the City Council and other city departments working together.

A picture of the pool in Spring 2015...making us wonder if it would open. Weeks later, that murky water was gone, the pool cleaned, weeds picked, and fence was replaced.

This year the pool has filled up so to speak, with a lot of registered interest. As of early June, 120 families had registered, and various kid camps had signed on to host a day or two a week at the pool. "It has been heartbreaking to watch the pool not being used." Which is all about to change this Summer of 2015. The Beacon Riverfest is also hosting a concert there on July 11th for an official "Pool Party" with the band PONTOON playing.

Lying under the trees, floating by on the water, this is your view when you look up at the sky, relaxed.

Pool season passes are $50 for adults, $30 for children, and $100 for the family, with day passes available for $3 for adults and $2 for children and seniors. The registration form is here for download. The Beacon Pool is located at the Park at University Settlement Camp, 724 Wolcott Avenue. The pool itself is 140 feet by 50 feet and progresses in depth from 2 feet to 8 feet deep making it perfect for swimmers and water lovers of all ages. There will not be a lap lane, just a "have fun pool". On Friday, July 3rd, 2015 at 12:00 noon there will be a Big Splash Pool Opening Celebration. Take pictures of your fun times and share them with us on Instagram! Tag @alittlebeacon and use the hashtag #beaconnypool.

Keep your eyes peeled for the "Entrance" sign for the Beacon Pool on 9D! The entrance is just one dirt road in the middle of the woods.

[UPDATED 7/6/15]

The Hours of the Beacon Pool are:
MONDAY: CLOSED
TUESDAY: 12pm to 7pm
WEDNESDAY: 3pm to 7pm
THURSDAY: 3pm to 7pm
FRIDAY: 12pm to 7pm
SATURDAY: 12pm to 7pm
SUNDAY: 12pm to 7pm

PS: The title of this post was inspired in part by Dan Aymar-Blair.

Tragic Crash on Mt. Beacon is Remembered During Path Through History Weekend

The history in this region is inspiring, and at times tremendously sad. This weekend on June 20th, 2015 as part of

Path Through History Weekend at I Love New York, a hike will commence up Mt. Beacon at 10am to remember the six Navy personnel who were killed thirty minutes after leaving Wright Caldwell Airport in Caldwell, NJ en-route back to the Quonset Air Naval Base in Quonset, RI after their Navy Beechcraft Twin Engine Transport plane crashed near the northwest ridge of Mt. Beacon in the Town of Fishkill, NY. The hike will end at the crash site.

The Friends of the Mt. Beacon Eight are responsible for organizing this walk to remember the men who died in the crash, which happened on November 11, 1945, just two years before November 11th officially became Veterans Day, in addition to already being Armistice Day, the official end of World War 1. The mission of The Friends of Mt. Beacon Six is to remember all of the men who died that day.

The plane crash happened at noon on a foggy day with "swirling rain," according to a recent article in the Poughkeepsie Journal, right after the pilots had radioed the Stewart Airfield in Newburgh as they flew over, asking for directions and weather conditions. If you have seen Mt. Beacon on a rainy or foggy day, you know it can be quite thick up there.

The crash killed all 6 men on board immediately as it was engulfed in flames and black smoke. The fog was so thick, that it took searchers 15 hours to find the wreckage. When night fell, the dying fires from the crash illuminated the location.

John Ferro's article in the Poughkeepsie Journal has a very detailed account of the crash.

The article also highlighted one man, Commodore Dixie Keifer, who was not from this area but had been awarded the Distinguished Service Medal by Beacon native James V. Forrestal, who was the last Cabinet-level United States Secretary of the Navy and the first United States Secretary of Defense. Forrestal also once served as city editor of the Poughkeepsie News Press, a predecessor of the Poughkeepsie Journal. The article explores Dixie's service, heroism, and incredible threshold for pain while saving others during times of suicide plane attacks on his navel carrier and other crucial moments of survival. His life ended instantly here, after serving in World War II and rising up the ranks past captain to become commodore. His muddy cap is depicted in the picture above, which was published at the Poughkeepsie Journal.

The other men are mentioned in the story, and I'll repeat them here to help with the Friends of the Mt. Beacon Eight's mission of remembrance:

• Lt. Cmdr. Dr. Ignatius Zielinski, 45, of Salem, Massachusetts. Zielinski was assistant medical officer at Quonset and a medical examiner in Salem County prior to entering the service.

• Lt. Lloyd P. Heinzen, 23, of Colorado Springs, Colorado. Heinzen was the senior pilot of the plane. During eight months of combat in the Pacific, he shot down eight Japanese planes, earning the title of "ace."

• Lt. Hans K. Kohler, 25, of Garfield, New Jersey, the plane's co-pilot.

• Clarence Hooper, 23, an aviation machinist's mate third-class from Greensboro, North Carolina.

• David O. Wood, 23, a seaman first-class from North Franklin, Connecticut.

This is one more reason to gaze at the mountain in awe and appreciation for this land, what others have given for our country, and the moments we live in now. Hikers are meeting at the Scenic Hudson Fishkill Ridge Parking lot at 10:00am to commence up Mt. Beacon to the crash site.