Howland Public Library's 2019 Halloween Costume Exchange Is Coming Up

The Howland Public Library always has something up its sleeve! And this time, it could be a witch’s sleeve, as the library hosts an upcoming Costume Exchange happening Thursday to Saturday, October 3 to 5, at the library.

The Costume Exchange

Do you have a Halloween costume from years past in good condition that you have outgrown? Trade it in for one that’s new-to-you for 2019!

Local families are invited to participate in Howland Public Library's Annual Halloween Costume Exchange. Donate a new or clean and gently used children's costume, and take home another costume in exchange.* 

Swap days are Thursday, October 3 and Friday, October 4 from 2 to 5 pm, and Saturday, October 5 from 12 pm to 3 pm. Families can stop by to donate, swap, or pick up during any of those times. 

 For more information, contact Michelle Rivas at community@beaconlibrary.org. The Howland Public Library is located at 313 Main St., Beacon, NY. 

*The fine print: Children's costumes only. Library will accept clean costumes with no stains, holes or runs. HPL reserves the right to turn away costumes. We cannot guarantee you will find a suitable costume in the exchange.

"Perfectly Puzzled" Exhibition Of Work By Adult Artists In Anderson Center For Autism Expressive Outcomes Program

Photo Credit: An artist with Anderson Center for Autism

From a Press Release from the Howland Public Library:

The Howland Public Library in Beacon is pleased to host Perfectly Puzzled, an exhibition of work created by adult artists in Anderson Center for Autism Expressive Outcomes program. Perfectly Puzzled will be on display at the Howland Public Library from Second Saturday, July 13, through Saturday, August 3. A Second Saturday artists’ reception will be held on July 13 from 5 to 7 pm. 

About Anderson Center for Autism Expressive Outcomes Program

In 2004, Anderson Center for Autism established Expressive Outcomes, a program to engage Anderson adult clients in the arts. The program provides adult artists with opportunities to experiment in visual, spoken, and performing arts. Visual art exhibits take place throughout the year. At these exhibits, artists discuss their inspiration, techniques, and ideas surrounding their art. Artists are encouraged to explore new creative realms based on their interests and goals, and are assisted in displaying their work in community galleries and other venues.

About The Art Projects And Expressive Opportunities

Projects are expressive and playful in nature, demonstrating the artists’ enjoyment working in different media, textures, and with each other on collaborative projects. Over time, artists have developed more sophisticated pieces while continuing to collaborate. Distinct artists have emerged, independently creating unique artwork. Some of the artists have been motivated by their success to enter their works in outside exhibits.

Expressive Outcomes offers new opportunities for artists to express themselves and develop new skills, including music, movement, and theater. This program connects the artists with other artists, arts organizations, and the broader community, widening our individuals’ network and bringing new opportunities to our adults. For more information go to AndersonCenterforAutism.org or follow the artists on Facebook, at www.Facebook.com/ExpressiveOutcomes. 

The Howland Public Library is located at 313 Main St., Beacon, NY 12508. The Community Room Exhibit Space is open during regular library hours. Please note, the gallery may not be accessible during some library programs. Please consult the library calendar at beaconlibrary.org.

Nancy Drew Inspired Art Show To Open At Howland Public Library For Women's History Month

Nancy Drew Inspired art: At left, Anna West’s “Good Girl”; Top Right, Jean Noack’s “The Secret”; below Right, “Nancy Drew” by Philomena Kiernan
Photo Credit: Anna West (left) and Philomena Kiernan (right).

Imagine our delight when A Little Beacon Blog’s Second Saturday Guide editor Catherine Sweet and I received the press release that a group art show opening at the Howland Public Library will showcase works inspired by Nancy Drew in recognition of Women’s History Month.

The Howland Public Library presents “The Mystery of Nancy Drew, a Group Show.” The exhibit will be on view in The Community Room Exhibit Space from Second Saturday, March 9, through Saturday, April 6, 2019. An artists' reception will be held on Saturday, March 9, from 5 to 7 pm.

Nancy Drew Inspired Jean Noack’s “The Secret”
Photo Credit: Jean Noack

Nancy Drew As The Inspiration

The first Nancy Drew books were published in 1930 under the pen name Carolyn Keene, and are still in print today (with several different authors publishing under that pen name). The first 23 of the original 30 books were written by Mildred Wirt Benson, who shaped Nancy’s brave and adventurous character.

Mildred was a ghost writer for the series and was not revealed as its author until the 1970s, according to this article at Smithsonian.com. Mildred was the daughter of a doctor who made house calls, and often traveled with him on his work. Keen on being a writer, Mildred was a journalist whose beat was local crimes and city corruption. She hung out at the city courthouse to find most of her stories. To learn a lot more about Mildred, read this article at Smithsonian.com.

Jan Dolan’s entry in the show imagines a “girl sleuth” dream team of Agatha Christie, Miss Marple, and Nancy Drew.
Photo Credit: Jan Dolan

Over time, the fictional character of Nancy Drew, the independent girl sleuth, has become a culture icon. The exhibit features artwork by over 20 local women artists inspired by the classic Nancy Drew Mystery Stories.

The exhibit at the library was curated by Jan Dolan and Michelle Rivas of the Howland Public Library. “This show is dedicated to all the real-life independent and creative problem-solving women in our community,” said the curators in their press release.

CoMFY At It Again

The show is the fifth annual exhibit from the group CoMFY, a collective of women artists from the Beacon area. Last year their show was inspired by Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s short story “The Yellow Wallpaper.” The group formed in 2011 when local artists Kat Stoutenborough and Jennifer Blakeslee invited some friends to a local coffee shop to talk. Inspired by their discussions about balancing life and their creative pursuits, the women began meeting on a regular basis. The group has grown and transformed over the years. “While the women do not meet in person as often as they'd like to,” the library’s press release states, “the support network created has endured.”

Find The Show

The Howland Public Library is located at 313 Main St., Beacon, NY 12508. The Community Room Exhibit Space is open during regular library hours. Please note the gallery may not be accessible during some library programs. Please consult the library calendar at beaconlibrary.org.

Find The Books In Beacon

You can order almost any Nancy Drew book you want from Beacon’s local bookstore Binnacle Books, or stop into the library’s volunteer-powered bookstore, Beacon Reads, to see if they have any. And of course, check the Howland Public Library to borrow a few.

Photo Credit: “Nancy Drew,” by Philomena Kiernan

Art & Feminism Wikipedia Edit-a-thon At The Howland Public LIbrary

“How To Edit Wikipedia” is an event at the Howland Public Library to encourage women to make edits in Wikipedia, the content producers of which are traditionally men.

WHAT: Art & Feminism Wikipedia Edit-a-thon
WHERE: Howland Public Library
DAY: Saturday, March 2, 2019
TIME: 11 am to 3 pm

Happening today is the (so far) annual Wikipedia Editing event at the Howland Public Library during Women’s History Month. The class is provided as a means to encourage women especially to come out and edit Wikipedia, the group-sourced encyclopedia of the Internet. This local event is organized by local library advocate, Ms. Rajene Hardeman, as part of the international annual Art+Feminism campaign. As of last year, only 9% of the edits or contributions made to Wikipedia were made by women.

This can change! Half of the battle is probably not knowing where to start with how to edit. This class aims to change that. A tutorial of how to enter Wikipedia to make an edit kicks off the day, and from 12 to 3 pm, an open edit session happens, where people can sit and edit.

All people are encouraged to attend, regardless of gender, and bringing your own laptop is encouraged.

Last year, our writer Catherine Sweet wrote about the event for A Little Beacon Blog, and explored the gender gap in who is making the edits in this globally used information center.

Writerly Happenings: New Literary Guide for Book Lovers & Writers

Hey there, reading anything good these days? 

If you want to know where to find your next book, and where to go to mix it up with other literary types, this new ALBB Guide to Writerly Happenings has you laced up. Every couple of weeks we’ll round up the best events happening in our growing local community of writers and readers and the people who love them.

Writerly Happenings in Cold Spring

Sunset Reading Series presents another stupendously located and top notch reading at The Chapel of Our Lady Restoration in Cold Spring on Sunday, October 7, at 4 pm when Sam Anderson, local author and New York Times Magazine Critic at Large, will read from his widely and wildly acclaimed book BOOM TOWN The Fantastical Saga of Oklahoma City, Its Chaotic Founding, Its Apocalyptic Weather, Its Purloined Basketball Team, and the Dream of Becoming a World-Class Metropolis.

This event is being co-hosted by Split Rock Books, who is also kicking off their inaugural book club event on Thursday, October 11, from 7 to 8 pm with If Beale Street Could Talk by James Baldwin. The film adaptation of this book, by Moonlight director Barry Jenkins, is due out in November. They are also having a storytime for kiddos with Bear and Wolf author Daniel Salmieri on Sunday, October 14 from 10:15 to 10:45 am.

Writing Groups In Beacon

If you are looking to join a writing group, on Monday, October 8, or Monday, October 15, you might check out Words & Womyn. This fresh weekly workshop from the Wyld Womyn, a new space on Main Street, is described as “a safe space that welcomes anyone female-identifying to sit and soak in the power of thought and prose.” 

The night before, you could also get your book club on with Binnacle Books’ ongoing book discussion at Denning’s Point Distillery. On Wednesday, October 10 at 7 pm that group will be diving in to There There, by Tommy Orange. 

Get Lit Beacon continues to work the room at Oak Vino in Beacon on the second Sunday of each month! Have a glass of wine and enjoy the salon there on October 14 at 5 pm. Katie from A Little Beacon Blog will be on hand to answer questions about local news media, as well as Brian PJ Cronin (Update: Danielle Trussoni, a memoirist and novelist, was slated to speak, but won’t join in this month). You can sign up to read for 5 minutes yourself. Get the lineup here.

Book Talks in Beacon

Later in the month, the Beacon Library is hosting a discussion of the much-acclaimed book Everything I Never Told You, by Celeste Ng, so start reading now if you want to get in on that on Tuesday, October 30, from 2 to 3 pm. The discussion will be led by Dr. James Cotter as part of the NEA Big Read program.

Open Mic Nights That Literary Types Might Like

For monthly open mic nights check out The Falcon Underground in Marlboro, the Wherehouse in Newburgh, The Howland Cultural Center in Beacon and Fiesta Friday in Poughkeepsie.

Farther afield, but well worth the drive, are two favorite bookstores that host loads of writerly happenings: Golden Notebook in Woodstock, and Rough Draft Bar & Books in Kingston.

We’ll see you back here in a couple weeks with more upcoming events. Tell us where to go and what to read in the meantime, if you like - email phoebe@alittlebeaconblog.com.

Beacon Team Wins Battle of the Books - A Multi-County High School Reading Competition

The finals at this year's High School Battle of the Books on Saturday, August 18, 2018, culminated in a tight battle between kids from Beacon and teens representing neighboring libraries: Cold Spring and Wappingers. "The three-round final ended with Cold Spring and Beacon in a tie. Everyone was on the edge of their seats when the two teams met for the tie-breaking round," according to the press release from the Howland Public Library. Beacon answered the tie-breaking question correctly to become the 2018 Mid-Hudson Library System's third annual High School Battle of the Books champion.

Battle of the Books is a national summer reading program for middle- and high-school students in the five-county region of the Mid-Hudson Library System. The program began in 2005 as a way to encourage middle school students to read during the summer. In 2016, the program was extended to reach high school students as well. Congratulations to Butterfield Library's team, The Evil Latin Teachers, who were the second-place winners, and to Grinnell Green Grapes, who took home third place.    

Beacon Team Is Two-Time Champions, Five-Time Winners!

This is the Beacon team's second championship at the high school level, and their fifth win overall since the competition began in 2005. This year, 13 public libraries in the Mid-Hudson Library System's five counties (Putnam, Dutchess, Columbia, Ulster, and Greene) competed in this nationally recognized literature contest in which teens answer trivia questions based on books they read over the summer.

Individual library teams worked through the summer with their coaches to prepare for this final regional battle. Mini-battles were played throughout the summer to practice for the big event. Over 60 students in grades 9-12 participated, while coaches, family, and friends cheered them on. "The teams all proved to be winners when it came to knowledge, team spirit, and good sportsmanship," according the Howland Library's press release.

Join Next Year’s Battle of the Books Team

To find out when the Howland Public Library is recruiting for next year’s time for both Middle and High School age kids, subscribe to their newsletter and to A Little Beacon Blog’s newsletter. We usually put information like that in our Kids Classes Guide, as a helpful reminder of signup dates.

Special Thank You from The Howland Public Library

A message from the Howland Public Library:

A big thank you to the host venue, SUNY Ulster and Matt Pavloff, HS BOB chairperson. Congratulations to all of the volunteers and families who came out to support the teams, and the coaches and librarians who worked so hard throughout the year to make this special event possible.

The Howland Public Library team would like to give a special shout out to Harry Thorne for his help coaching the team and the Friends of the Howland Public Library who generously sponsor the Beacon team every year. Last but not least, many thanks to Pizza and Stuff for keeping the team's hungry minds fed all summer.

Community Created Post-It Note Art at Library for Windows on Main - Needs You!

Photo Credit: Howland Public Library, used to give an idea of how the wall could look. Pictured is a Giant Robot Post-it Note Art Wall for illustration purposes.

Do drop into the Howland Public Library most anytime, now through Saturday, August 11, to make your piece of Post-It Note Art for the library's Post-It Note Community Art Wall. The Community Art Wall is part of this year's Windows on Main Street public art installation, in which the Howland Public Library is participating. People of all ages are invited to create a Post-It Note sized creation for the Community Art Wall.

Windows on Main Street is an annual exhibition that pairs artists with storefronts along Beacon's Main Street. This year, 26 Main Street businesses are participating, and for the library's exhibit, you're invited to be one of the contributing artists. The exhibit will be up for one month.

A rainbow of sticky notes and a ton of art supplies will be available at the library to inspire you. This is a great impromptu summer activity as you're looking for free things to do in Beacon on Main Street. Please note, the Post-it Note art maker station may not be open during some programs at the library.

The library is located in the middle of Beacon's downtown at 313 Main St., near Glazed Over Donuts.

Photographers Wanted -> Howland Public Library & Spirit of Beacon Day Committee Wants to See Your Spirit!

PHOTO CONTEST
Submission Deadline: August 1st, 2018
Exhibition Dates: September 8 – October 6th, 2018
Submission Rules & Details >

The Spirit of Beacon Day has been a part of the community since 1977, always held on the last Sunday of September. Over the past year, they have gone through a lot of changes - including a new website! The event is organized and run by a volunteer committee with help and donations by local citizens and businesses, alongside the support of the City of Beacon. The Spirit of Beacon Day is set for Sunday, September 30, with a rain date of Sunday, October 7.

Spirit of Beacon Photography Contest

This year, the Howland Public Library and the Spirit of Beacon Day Committee are looking for photographs that best capture the essence of The Spirit of Beacon. They are looking for images  capturing what makes the community so unique. Is it the mountainous backdrop? Our connection to the Hudson River? The historic architecture? The colorful, vibrant, and diverse community? The backyard gardens and/or chickens? What makes Beacon Beacon, in your eye?

How to Enter the Photo Contest

Photographers of ALL ages and skill levels are invited to submit their original photos by the deadline of Wednesday, August 1. Photos should be submitted with a certain format and naming structure. Read more about the submission requirements here. 

Selected photos will be displayed in the Community Room Exhibit Space at the Howland Public Library during the month of September as part of the Spirit of Beacon celebration. A reception for the community will be held on (Second) Saturday, September 8. 

You can get more details and information on how to register at the library's website.

High School Students Can Get Writing Help In Writing Lab Thursdays at Library

Beacon High School students looking for help with writing projects can stop by the High School Writing Lab on Thursdays, after school from 2:30 to 4 pm, at the Howland Public Library. Support, assistance, and encouragement will be available for students in grades 9 to 12 who are working on school or personal writing projects and college essays.

Drop-ins are welcome; no registration is needed. Facilitator Jess Conway is an instructor at Teachers College, Columbia University.

To see more opportunities like this one for kids, see A Little Beacon Blog's Classes for Kids Guide.