Elm Drive School students dig in to observe National Arbor Day

Elm Drive School students dig in to observe National Arbor Day

First Grade students at Elm Drive Elementary School lined up to take turns at shoveling soil to secure the roots of a sugar maple tree planted at their school on Friday, April 25. Dennis Gendron of Twin Brooks Tree Farm was ready to assist as needed with proper shovel technique.

Photo by Leila Hawken

MILLBROOK — With each shovelful of soil that covered the roots of a newly planted sugar maple tree at Elm Drive Elementary School, First Grade students continued a long-standing tradition in observance of National Arbor Day on Friday, April 25.

By his estimation, Dennis Gendron, owner of Twin Brooks Tree Farm, has annually contributed a tree to the Village of Millbrook’s annual observance for twenty years. Gendron had prepared the spot where the young tree would thrive, fluffing up the pile of soil to make the shoveling easier for the children.

“It’s a joint effort,” said Gendron as he prepared for the event. The Village Highway crew will look after the care and watering of the tree for the next year.

The new tree is planted on the school’s property to the rear of Village Hall.

“We always try to plant the trees near the Village Hall, close to the kids,” said Mike Herzog, Climate Smart Task Force member.
Village Trustee Julia Bucklin, a history educator, told the children that Arbor Day was first celebrated in 1872, making them a part of a very long tradition.

Mayor Peter Doro read an official proclamation speaking to the children’s connection to the natural world and encouraged attention to planting trees.

Then it was the children’s turn to participate in finishing the planting, each child taking to the shoveling task with purpose and diligence, appropriate to the occasion.

Latest News

Webutuck graduates embrace their bright futures

The 71st annual Commencement at Webutuck High School on Saturday, June 21, was a time of celebration for the class of 2025. Classmates Luis Cabrera, left, of Wassaic and Alex Hernandez of Millerton, paused for a photo in the moments following the ceremony marking their milestone achievement.

Photo by Leila Hawken

AMENIA — A variety of paths will lead the 45 members of the graduating class of 2025 in vastly different directions. To mark the milestone, they assembled with family and friends for their Commencement ceremony at Webutuck High School on Saturday, June 21.

Pride in school and individual achievement was a clear theme as well as the joys of the moment. The weather was sunny and mild for the event held under a huge tent filled to capacity. The view of the far-off hills was silently symbolic.

Keep ReadingShow less
Juneteenth and Mumbet’s legacy

Sheffield resident, singer Wanda Houston will play Mumbet in "1781" on June 19 at 7 p.m. at The Center on Main, Falls Village.

Jeffery Serratt

In August of 1781, after spending thirty years as an enslaved woman in the household of Colonel John Ashley in Sheffield, Massachusetts, Elizabeth Freeman, also known as Mumbet, was the first enslaved person to sue for her freedom in court. At the time of her trial there were 5,000 enslaved people in the state. MumBet’s legal victory set a precedent for the abolition of slavery in Massachusetts in 1790, the first in the nation. She took the name Elizabeth Freeman.

Local playwrights Lonnie Carter and Linda Rossi will tell her story in a staged reading of “1781” to celebrate Juneteenth, ay 7 p.m. at The Center on Main in Falls Village, Connecticut.Singer Wanda Houston will play MumBet, joined by actors Chantell McCulloch, Tarik Shah, Kim Canning, Sherie Berk, Howard Platt, Gloria Parker and Ruby Cameron Miller. Musical composer Donald Sosin added, “MumBet is an American hero whose story deserves to be known much more widely.”

Keep ReadingShow less
A sweet collaboration with students in Torrington

The new mural painted by students at Saint John Paul The Great Academy in Torrington, Connecticut.

Photo by Kristy Barto, owner of The Nutmeg Fudge Company

Thanks to a unique collaboration between The Nutmeg Fudge Company, local artist Gerald Incandela, and Saint John Paul The Great Academy in Torrington, Connecticut a mural — designed and painted entirely by students — now graces the interior of the fudge company.

The Nutmeg Fudge Company owner Kristy Barto was looking to brighten her party space with a mural that celebrated both old and new Torrington. She worked with school board member Susan Cook and Incandela to reach out to the Academy’s art teacher, Rachael Martinelli.

Keep ReadingShow less
In the company of artists

Curator Henry Klimowicz, left, with artists Brigitta Varadi and Amy Podmore at The Re Institute

Aida Laleian

For anyone who wants a deeper glimpse into how art comes about, an on-site artist talk is a rich experience worth the trip.On Saturday, June 14, Henry Klimowicz’s cavernous Re Institute — a vast, converted 1960’s barn north of Millerton — hosted Amy Podmore and Brigitta Varadi, who elucidated their process to a small but engaged crowd amid the installation of sculptures and two remarkable videos.

Though they were all there at different times, a common thread among Klimowicz, Podmore and Varadi is their experience of New Hampshire’s famed MacDowell Colony. The silence, the safety of being able to walk in the woods at night, and the camaraderie of other working artists are precious goads to hardworking creativity. For his part, for fifteen years, Klimowicz has promoted community among thousands of participating artists, in the hope that the pairs or groups he shows together will always be linked. “To be an artist,” he stressed, “is to be among other artists.”

Keep ReadingShow less