The 6th annual Harlem Valley flamenco festival visited Millbrook winery Friday, Aug. 2. Peter Basil, left, Ricardo Sanchez, center, and Hector Marquez, right, performed flamenco music on their guitars and drums while visitors drank wine and ate oysters. Creative Director Anna Librada said the Flamenco Fest’s next event is September in Hyde Park.
Leila Hawken
Residents celebrated their Fall Festival at The Fountains by joining in an annual tractor-drawn wagon ride on Wednesday, Oct. 7. They were on the first of three scheduled rides throughout the day, where residents toured the former Hope Farms and campus of the Greer School that once stood on land that is now The Fountains. Narrating the tour was Marcia Berry, Housekeeping Director at The Fountains, whose mother-in-law, Jan Berry, attended Greer School.
Residents celebrated their Fall Festival at The Fountains by joining in an annual tractor-drawn wagon ride on Wednesday, Oct. 7. They were on the first of three scheduled rides throughout the day, where residents toured the former Hope Farms and campus of the Greer School that once stood on land that is now The Fountains. Narrating the tour was Marcia Berry, Housekeeping Director at The Fountains, whose mother-in-law, Jan Berry, attended Greer School.
Graham Corrigan
MILLBROOK — The Millbrook Diner’s owners, Debbie and Thanasi Theodoropoulos, celebrated 35 years of ownership this week, continuing a tradition of serving the community that began when the diner opened in 1929.
Known then as the Millbrook Deluxe Diner, it was purchased as a prefabricated structure and moved from Westchester County.
The current structure, with its chrome silver exterior, carved figurehead, and neon lettering, has sat at 3266 Franklin Ave. since 1952.
Currently, the diner is open from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. each day. Over the years, the iconic diner has hosted a number of luminaries such as James Cagney, Mary Tyler Moore, and as recently as 2026, Justin and Hailey Bieber.
The couple took over from Donald Peters, who had been the proprietor for 10 years. The couple were in their early 30s at the time, and had never lived in Millbrook before. “We took over without knowing how wonderful this place would be for us,” said Thanasi Theodoropoulos.
With its cheery interior, generous outdoor seating options, and reasonable prices, the Millbrook Diner has become a bedrock of Millbrook’s eateries.
Theodoropoulos is originally from Greece, where he graduated from the Culinary Institute of Athens. He came to the United States and started working at Hyde Park’s Town & Country Diner — now known as the Eveready Diner — in 1986. That’s where he met and fell in love with his wife, Debbie.
The first few years owning the diner were difficult. It was Theodoropoulos’ first time working as an owner rather than an employee. “But the good thing,” he said, “was that the people of Millbrook embraced us. Throughout the years, they’ve loved us and we love them.”
The couple brought their own flair to the menu, while keeping the classics intact. Customers can find Greek classics like souvlaki, gyros, and moussaka alongside pancakes and burgers at the Millbrook Diner. They also sell olive oil from Kardamas, Theodoropoulos’ hometown in western Greece. His father has been making the oil for more than 40 years on a family farm near Olympia.
But while diner food has a reputation for having a staple menu, the Theorodopoulos’ have had to adapt with the changing times. “We’ve tried to add more healthy items,” Thanasi said. “People want more healthy things now, but maybe 60% of the menu are items from the past — like the reuben. You cannot change that. But now we have a turkey reuben in addition to corned beef and pastrami.”
More than three decades in business is quite an accomplishment, but “we’re not ready for retirement,” said Thanasi. “We’re still young, and we will be here for the people of Millbrook the same way they’ve been there for us.”
Leila Hawken
AMENIA — Another in a series of seasonal gift basket raffles, the Amenia Free Library has a tempting array of baskets that can be won by purchasing raffle tickets at the library desk. On sale since Sept. 30, tickets are available singly for $5, or five tickets can be had for $20.
The drawing will be held at 3:30 p.m. during the Harvest Festival scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 17.
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Millerton News
The Amenia Fire Company will hold its monthly Pancake Breakfast on Sunday, Oct. 18, from 7:30 to 11 am.
The breakfast will once again be held at the Amenia Firehouse on Mechanic Street.
The meal is all you can eat with a menu of pancakes, French toast, eggs and omelettes, home fries, bacon, sausages and beverages. Diners can eat in or take out.
The firehouse is located at 36 Mechanic St., Amenia. Adult tickets are $12, Seniors & under 12 are $11. For information send an email to: administrator@ameniafire31.org
Nathan Miller
The apartment building at 7-9 Main St. has been vacant since a fire in January.
MILLERTON — A Main Street apartment building that has been vacant since a carbon monoxide scare in January is being auctioned off following the property’s foreclosure.
The residential apartment building at 7-9 Main St. will be sold at an auction on Monday, Oct. 26, at 2:30 p.m. in the rear lobby of the Dutchess County Courthouse in Poughkeepsie.
The auction comes more than six months after a March ruling that found owner Chris Rapaj was behind on mortgage payments for the property and owed $625,621.25 to lenders. It marks a closing chapter in a fraught period in the building’s history that climaxed with its evacuation in January caused by a faulty furnace.
Rapaj purchased the building in 2023 with plans to renovate the property. The renovations never came, however, due to concerns from village zoning officials over the building’s compliance with density restrictions and a lack of available parking onsite. Millerton’s Zoning Board of Appeals made its final ruling on the matter in summer 2025, denying variances that would have exempted the property from parking requirements and increased the legally permitted number of units on the property to nine up from six.
The apartment building dates to 1900, according to Dutchess County Parcel Access. The building is currently configured into 12 units with a total floor area of 9,696 square feet. Zoning Board of Appeals members determined that configuration had never been formally approved, and that level density would be too high for the village to condone. Village zoning code requires 5,000 square feet of lot area per residential unit. With 12 units, the lot at 7-9 Main St. only affords 636 square feet of area per unit.
Rapaj later amended his requests, providing six-unit and nine-unit versions of the building’s layout. ZBA members ultimately rejected both of the proposals in June 2025 over the property’s lack of space for off-street parking.
In January, dangerous carbon monoxide levels forced an evacuation of the building. A basement furnace had caught fire, spewing gases and smoke and prompting authorities to rule the building uninhabitable until the furnace was restored. A sign on the door warning against entry has been present since the January fire.
Rapaj has been facing the foreclosure suit since 2023, when his lender first filed documents at Dutchess County Court. Court proceedings continued until March, when the judge presiding over the case ruled to hold an auction for the building.
Millerton News
Jam Food Shop will soon open a location in Sharon at the former home of BBQ smokehouse When Pigs Fly South.
SHARON, Conn. — After closing its counter at Sharon Farm Market on Oct. 3, Jam Food Shop announced it will open a new location in Sharon as well as a shop in Salisbury.
Owner Colin Kennedy described the announcement as a “plot twist.” He had previously said the popular local deli would leave Sharon and move to Salisbury, but now plans to operate a shop in each town.
“We understand the importance of convenience, so why not give that to Sharon if we can?” Kennedy said.
The Sharon Jam Food Shop will be located at 29 W Main St. in the former building of When Pigs Fly, a BBQ restaurant that closed down mid-July. Though it will be smaller than its Salisbury counterpart, the store will still offer Sharon residents the same food, just with more limited seating.
Kennedy is actively renovating the former Neo Bar and Restaurant at 19 Main St. in Salisbury to become Jam’s primary location, including a whole new seating area.
At the Salisbury Fall Festival, Kennedy hosted a raffle for attendees to guess the opening date of the new storefront, which he previously estimated to be sometime in October. As of now, Kennedy has no official start date for either location, but said both will be open ASAP.
“Our family always dreamed of expanding and opening a second location. While we are beyond excited to open our doors in Salisbury, it was difficult to see and hear the disappointment from the locals that have supported us for so long,” Kennedy said. “
This is a new, exciting chapter for us that will allow us to be creative beyond the confines of the Sharon Farm Market and we can’t wait to serve you all!”
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