The well known adage “There is strength in numbers” can be clearly seen through the web of facilities throughout the Mid-Hudson Regional Library System including six libraries providing the sort of resources that grow strong communities and solid, well developed citizens who, in turn, support their towns in many ways.
NorthEast-Millerton Library Director Rhiannon Leo-Jameson says that while each library has unique qualities which makes it special, they are also banded together as members of the system which provides a number of shared services and information. Libraries can learn about everything from regulations to up coming state budget plans and the latest trends in publishing.
By sharing ideas, each library has an opportunity to grow and continue to be responsive to the current desires and needs of patrons.
Leo-Jameson explains that at a time when budgets can be tight, not every library can provide the latest best sellers nor an expansive selection of specialty publications or DVD’s. However, thanks to a robust interlibrary loan system which had recently been upgraded, patrons can search an online catalog and request material from libraries other than their own with items delivered within a day or two and streamed material available immediately.
A huge reading tree became the center of the children’s room at the RoeJan Library in Hillsdale in late August. Assembled by library patron and carpenter Jim Germain, the popular feature contains a bench where parents can sit and read to their children as well as shelves to display books to tempt young imaginations. Kate Shannon
She says that as the very expensive ebooks have been increasing in popularity, shared resources are particularly helpful. Individual libraries purchase copies of material with the items being available on a first come first served basis to that library’s patrons, but others are welcome to join a waiting list that is computer monitored to keep access fair.
While most patrons find a home at their local libraries, library cards are connected through the Mid-Hudson System and so are valid throughout the region and card holders welcome at all the networked locations. With a few exceptions, patrons have access to traditional material as well as various other items through the increasingly extensive “Library of Things” which the libraries have developed.
All boast a wide range of regularly scheduled programs for patrons of all ages which are listed on their web pages, as well as special programs which are presented though out the year.
Locations and websites include: Amenia Free Library, 309 Route 343, Amenia, amenialibrary.org; Millbrook Library, 3 Friendly Lane, Millbrook, millbrooklibrary.org; NorthEast-Millerton Library, 75 Main St., Millerton, nemillertonlibrary.org; Pine Plains Free Library, 7775 S. Main St, Pine Plains, pineplainslibrary.org; Roeliff Jansen Community Library, 9091 NY-22, Hillsdale, roejanlibrary.org; and Stanford Free Library, 6035 Route 82, Stanfordville, stanfordlibrary.org.
Young patrons spent a recent Saturday at the North-East Millerton Library preparing for their future world by learning to create robots. Above, Devon Johnson was delighted with her art robot.Naomi Schmid
Celebrating its 45th year, the Grumbling Gryphons will perform at HVRHS Friday, Aug. 1, at 7 p.m.
“We’re a touring company that is participatory,” Elias said with her trademark storytelling cadence. “Even when there’s no pre-performance workshop, it’s still participatory. Always.”
Founded in 1980 “in a little basement apartment on the lower east side with co-founder Vanessa Roe,” said Elias,Grumbling Gryphons (recipients of the 2003 Connecticut Governor’s Arts Award) has long occupied a unique niche: part performance troupe, part educational outreach, part community ritual. Whether dramatizing Greek myths, Native American legends, or original tales about bees and bogs, the company’s ethos centers on inclusion, transformation, and hands-on engagement.
This summer’s camp offers children ages six and up five fast-paced days of storytelling, acting, mask-making, and rehearsal. The first three days will take place at Elias’s own home studio — a tucked-away space filled with costumes, puppets, and instruments — before moving into full performance prep mode.
“In the ideal world, we would have more time,” she laughed. “It’s a lot of pressure to be performing for the public after five days. But we’re going to do our best.”
The gala performance, she explained, is a kind of theatrical mosaic — scenes and excerpts from Grumbling Gryphons’ vast repertoire, some showcasing seasoned adult performers and others giving campers center stage. The cast will include returning campers, newcomers, and guest artists drawn from the Gryphons’ decades-spanning circle of collaborators including mask maker and artist Ellen Moon.
“We’re still figuring out exactly what we’ll do,” said Elias, “but it’s kind of like a smorgasbord… a celebration. And it’s open — if anybody wants to get their kids involved, or even volunteer, we welcome you.”
Photo provided
Elias’s own theater background winds through early improvisational schools, Viennese dance traditions, and experimental spaces like Henry Street Settlement. As a child on Long Island, she studied with jazz pianist Ivan Fiedel and dancer Rosalind Fiedel, eccentric mentors who nurtured her taste for the surreal and spontaneous.
“Mr. Fiedel was a character,” she recalled. “He would smoke a cigar… and take the cigar in his ear and the smoke would come out the other end. I don’t know how he did it.”
Elias built Grumbling Gryphons with this sense of magic — not as a traditional company, but as a living, evolving story in itself. Whether working with preschoolers or middle-schoolers, audiences in botanical gardens or historic town halls, the Gryphons invite kids to become creators — to chant, to improvise, to embody archetypes from ancient lore or environmental parables.
And that’s what this summer’s camp and gala are all about. “It’s more than theater,” Elias said. “It’s myth, poetry, movement — it’s about building self-esteem, imagination. It’s about transformation.”
For more information, to register a child for the 2025 Summer Theater Camp, or to inquire about volunteering, visit grumblinggryphons.org
