Copake Repair Cafe Sept. 28

Bill O’Neill, a volunteer lamp fixer, will be among the experts at the Repair Cafe, Saturday, Sept. 28 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Copake Park Building at 305 Mountain View Road in Copake.
Photo by Kate Shannon
Bill O’Neill, a volunteer lamp fixer, will be among the experts at the Repair Cafe, Saturday, Sept. 28 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Copake Park Building at 305 Mountain View Road in Copake.
COPAKE — When the volunteer fixers arrive at a free drop-in Repair Cafe such as the one scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 28 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Copake Park Building at 305 Mountain View Road in Copake, they come with a wealth of knowledge and sense of community that enhances the experience for those on both sides of the repair table.
Cafe organizer Fran Colombo, Outreach Coordinator for the Roeliff Jansen which is co-sponsoring the event with the Climate Smart Committee says the event is more than an opportunity to extend the life of damaged items and aid in sustainability, it is a chance to chat and get to know one another.
One of the fixers, retired lawyer Bill O’Neill of New Lebanon, who specializes in lamp repair, began this second “non-profession” about 5 years ago when a fellow volunteer for county meal deliveries suggested he give it a try.
O’Neill’s main focus is rewiring and replacing sockets. But he is equally enthusiastic about providing information, especially on the newer, confounding LED lights which he says are safer because they produce less heat and are more energy efficient and economical.
The chats may be his favorite part. He says, “One of the things they (the organizers) do is ask people to stay with us when the repair is being made so we can explain what we’re doing and why we’re doing it. There are lot of reasons to like Repair Cafes. You get some time to meet new people. You get to talk to them. You get to find out why the lamp is important to them.”
Citing his latest stint at a Cafe in Chatham, O’Neill said, “My first client was a young lady who was very concerned about getting her grandmother’s lamp fixed. It represented a lot to her and her family. And that’s really very, very satisfying when you can do that for somebody.”
Unlike O’Neill, who began his lamp journey by fixing a few around his own house, Moy Wong, also of New Lebanon, became a bike expert as a teenager when he decided to ride his bike to school instead of relying on buses in New York City.
A college course on computers led to his combining technical knowledge with that gained from working part time in a bike shop. Now he delights in “demystifying” for owners the way the various bike parts work together to keep the vehicles functioning and out of the landfill.
Another long time expert is Copake seamstress and knitter Leslie Wood who replaces buttons, mends split seams and hems whatever might need adjustment.
She says with everyone talking to everyone, “It’s very much a community thing ... A sort of hug fest.”
Volunteers helping to facilitate this second year event are Wendy Garfield, Ray Ginther, Colleen Lutz, Lena Leonardson, Bob Callahan and Harry Stenger.
In addition to O’Neill, Moy and Wood, fixers include: Nicole Landaw, Mimi Coleman, and Deb Macheski for jewelry; Mark Maljanian for general fixes; Doug Craig for knife sharpening; Jamie Nicholson for sewing and electrical device issues; and Andrew Soltano for small appliance general repair and advice.
Ukraine Emergency Fundraiser at The Stissing Center in 2022 raised over $120,000 for Sunflower of Peace.
The spirit of Ukraine will be on display at the Stissing Center in Pine Plains on Sunday, July 27. Beginning at 5 p.m., the “Words to America from Ukraine” fundraiser is set to showcase the simultaneous beauty of Ukrainian culture and the war-time turmoil it faces, all the while fundraising in support of Ukrainian freedom.
“Words to America from Ukraine” aims to remind and spread awareness for the suffering that often gets forgotten by those who live in comfortable worlds, explained Leevi Ernits, an organizer for the event. “We are trying to make an attempt to remind people that we are human, and we are connected with human values,” she said. “With very few words, poetry can express very deep values.”
Sponsored by the Town of Stanford, Friends of Ukraine, L.E. Design LLC, Bartelby & Sage, Oblong Books and Borshch of Art, the fundraiser will host the recitation of war-time Ukrainian poetry. Readings will include the works of Vasyl Sagaydak, Oksana Lutsyshyna, Serhiy Zhadan, Victoria Amelina, Marjana Savka, Ostap Slyvynsky, and Mariana Harahonych.
“Poems are fishhooks into our souls,” added Mark Lagus, another event organizer, explaining why poetry was chosen for the main event.
Guests will also enjoy a performance by Ukrainian Village Voices, a New York City- based band dedicated to preserving and promoting traditional Ukraining Folk music. The evening will also feature speakers Jed Sunden and Maria Genkin, along with a live auction. Food and drink will be provided by Bartelby & Sage, a sustainable, local and female-owned company.
All ticket proceeds, bids, and donations will go directly to Razom for Ukraine, a U.S.-based nonprofit. Razom, meaning “together” in Ukrainian, has the mission of “contributing to the establishment of a secure, prosperous and democratic Ukraine,” through “creating, inspiring, and collaborating on initiatives that motivate people to think, partner and do.”
Tickets, donation opportunities, and more information are all available by visiting www.wordsfromukraine.org
Celebrating its 45th year, the Grumbling Gryphons will perform at HVRHS Friday, Aug. 1, at 7 p.m.
The Grumbling Gryphons Traveling Children’s Theater is preparing to celebrate its 45th year — not with fanfare, but with feathers, fabric, myth, chant, and a gala finale bursting with young performers and seasoned artists alike.
The Gryphons’ 2025 Summer Theater Arts Camp begins July 28 and culminates in a one-night-only performance gala at Housatonic Valley Regional High School on Friday, Aug. 1 at 7 p.m. Founder, playwright, and artistic director, Leslie Elias has been weaving together the worlds of myth, movement and theater for decades.
“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
Attendees practive brushstrokes led by calligraphy teacher Debby Reelitz.
Calligrapher Debby Reelitz came to the David M. Hunt Library to give a group of adults and children an introduction to modern calligraphy Thursday, July 17.
Reelitz said she was introduced to calligraphy as a youngster and has been a professional calligrapher and teacher for more than 25 years.
She said there is no age barrier to learning the basics. “Once children can hold a pen or pencil, they can do it.”
Reelitz said her 5th-grade teacher introduced her to the art.
Then her mother pressed her into service doing the lettering for “4-H certificates and gift cards.”
Reelitz handed out a sampler and blank sheets of paper and then turned to the easel for demonstration purposes.
She noted that the letters (I,T,H,L,E and F) on the top row of the sampler were not alphabetically arranged.
Rather, they comprised a “latter family” of similar shapes.
Soon enough the entire group of six adults and three children were concentrating and turning out decent versions of the letters
Reelitz alternately demonstrated and encouraged the novices.
“Remember, this is not an instant gratification skill.”
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