Hot sun + hot cars equals golden trophies

A lineup of vintage classics at Sunday’s Amenia Lions Classic Car Show with hoods up, showing off the power plants within.
Photo by John Coston
A lineup of vintage classics at Sunday’s Amenia Lions Classic Car Show with hoods up, showing off the power plants within.
AMENIA — The sun was high and bright at the Four Brothers Drive-in Theatre on Sunday, Sept. 17, beating down on 76 show cars competing in the Amenia Lions Club annual Classic Car Show.
Three judges walked the lines of entries, deciding winners in categories that spanned years from 1942 and earlier and up to the present. There also was a category for trucks and a People’s Choice.
Alex Dumond of Gardiner, New York, won the People’s Choice trophy for his 1979 Chevy C10 pickup, which was hauling a 1980 Yamaha GT80 bike in the truck bed and was fitted with a hitch-mounted two-seater hanging chair stand.
Troy Brazee, 17, a senior at Webutuck High School, won second place in his category for his 2005 Corvette, which has an air suspension system.Photo by John Coston
Car shows can draw the whole family and Sunday’s event at the Four Brothers Drive In was no exception. The intergenerational parade of car buffs ranged from babes in strollers to seniors with walkers.
The generation that grew up yearning for an Edelbrock manifold for their V8 could be overheard explaining how it could make a difference in performance to an unsure onlooker. Same with MAG wheels, a common treatment for Sixties muscle cars.
“You know you’re old when you go to a car show and you see a 40-year old car that you sold to someone when it was brand new,” Al Benson of Pine Plains said, pointing to a vintage Cadillac convertible.
Troy Brazee, 17, a Webutuck High School senior from Amenia, entered his 2005 Chevrolet Corvette in the show. Troy couldn’t be at the beginning of the show because he had to work at Daisy Hill Farm in Millerton.
His Corvette drew attention because it appeared to sit right on the ground, due to an air suspension he had installed. General Motor came up with the name Corvette to liken it to a small warship, and Troy’s ride — squatted on the ground — did look lethal.
The judges awarded him Second Place in the 2001-2023 category, and he arrived in time to receive his trophy.
For Troy, the day started picking crops on a 80-degree Sunday and culminated as he received his trophy to everyone’s applause. A victory lunch followed with his family at Four Brothers.
In 2023, the Club raised $3,500 from the car show that benefited our local fire companies and expects to do as well this year thanks to community support from car enthusiasts and sponsors like Associated Lightning Rod, Jack’s Auto Service, GK Electric, Wes’ Autobody, Maplebrook School, Interstate Batteries, BCI Generator Sales & Service, Boardman Generators, J. Andrighetti Remodeling, Welsh Sanitation, Car Quest, Hufcut Funeral Home and Four Brothers Drive-in and Pizza
A Ford with the all-steel dash in red and white. Photo by John Coston
1942 & earlier: 1st - Mark Thomas from LaGrangeville with his 1934 Ford Model 40 Roadster; 2nd - Arthur Coleman from Hillsdale with his 1933 Pontiac 2;
1943 - 1960: 1st - Tony D. Gian from Wappingers Falls with his 1955 Studebaker President Speedster; 2nd - Richard Taylor from Sharon, with his 1957 Chevrolet Bel-Air;
1961 - 1980: 1st - Megan Chamberlin from Amenia with her 1971 Dodge Demon 340; 2nd - Walter Robinson from Pawling with his 1965 Ford Mustang;
1981 - 2000: 1st - Gary Nielsen from Hillsdale with his Ford Bronco; 2nd Terry Dunne from Lime Rock, CT with her 1990 Mosler Consulier GTP;
2001 - Present: 1st - Denny Smith from Pleasant Valley with his 2002 Chevy Impala LS Sport; 2nd - Troy Brazee from Millerton with his 2005 Chevy Corvette.
Trucks: 1st - Alex Dumond from Gardiner with his 1979 Chevrolet C-10; 2nd - Tony Lasko from Poughkeepsie with his 1936 Chevy Pick up;
Motorcycles: - Tommy Alexander from Poughkeepsie with his 1939 Ural Patrol
Best Car Club Representation: Harlem Valley Car Club
Best in Show: Russell McRoberts from Amenia with his 1969 Ford F-100
AMENIA — Sidewalk construction that will extend the town sidewalk to Beekman Park got underway this week along Route 44.
On Wednesday, August 20, the crew was checking excavation lines.
Work is expected to continue for the next three to four weeks. Residents should anticipate minor traffic delays.
Sidewalk construction that will extend the town sidewalk to Beekman Park got underway this week along Route 44. On Wednesday, August 20, excavation began. Project Manager Don D. was at the controls of the excavation equipment.Photo by Leila Hawken
In light of rising local interest in the centuries-old game of Backgammon, Wednesday afternoon backgammon instruction and play sessions are being offered at The Hotchkiss Library of Sharon. The first such session was held on Wednesday, Aug. 13, attracting two enthusiastic participants, both of whom resolved to return for the weekly sessions.
Expert player and instructor Roger Lourie of Sharon, along with his equally expert wife, Claude, led the session, jumping right into the action of playing the game. Claude chose to pair with Janet Kaufman of Salisbury, a moderately experienced player looking to improve her skills, while Lourie teamed himself with Pam Jarvis of Sharon, who was new to the game.
In 2023, Lourie formed Backgammon of Northwestern Connecticut with two objectives: to promote the game in the northwest corner of the state and to teach it to children and adults interested in learning. In addition to the Wednesday sessions at The Hotchkiss Library, an informal, casual group meets at Le Gamin in Sharon every Saturday morning from 9 a.m. to noon.
Acting as co-chairman is Ed Corey who leads the Le Gamin sessions, offering advice and instruction. Both Corey and Lourie play competitively and have distinguished themselves by winning tournaments. There are no fees for participation at either Hotchkiss or Le Gamin. Children, ages 8 and up, are welcome to come and learn the game, along with adults of any experience level.
Lourie says that he can teach a person to play competitively in three lessons.
Sessions at The Hotchkiss Library will continue until the end of the year and perhaps beyond, depending on interest. Lourie will be the instructor until mid-November, when expert player Ed Corey will assume responsibility for the sessions at the Hotchkiss Library.
“We’re hoping for more people and also to see youngsters participating and learning the game,” Lourie said.
“The beginner can be the expert with the right dice,” said Lourie, explaining that it is a game combining chance and strategy. An understanding of mathematics and probability can be helpful.
Lourie summarized the randomness of dice and the strategy of poker. “I want to know the proper etiquette,” Kaufman offered, intent on knowing more about the proper moves, although her play indicated a credible level of skill.
Stopping in to observe the Hotchkiss session, executive director of the library, Gretchen Hachmeister said, “We know that people come to library game sessions. People love games, getting together to learn something new.”
Lourie learned the game under extremely unusual circumstances — as a detainee in a Soviet prison during the1960s missile crisis, while working in Naval Engineering to decipher code for the U.S. Office of Technological Security.
Imprisonment was not terrible, he said. There was predictable questioning by day when he repeated daily the details of his cover story. But at night, the guards — many the same age as the detainees — had finished their shifts and of interrogation.They unplugged the cameras to brew tea and the backgammon games would begin. That was how Lourie learned the game and became an expert.
Board games date back 5,000 years to ancient Mesopotamia. Modern backgammon goes back to 17th-century England, having evolved from a 16th-century game called “Irish.”It grew in popularity in the 1960s, leading to formation of a World Backgammon Club in Manhattan. And then in 2023, Backgammon of Northwestern Connecticut came to be.
To learn more about the Backgammon sessions at The Hotchkiss Library, visit: www.hotchkisslibraryofsharon.org or contact Lourie directly at Rlourie@gmail.com.
Pantry essentials at Dugazon
You are invited to celebrate the opening of Dugazon, a home and lifestyle shop located in a clapboard cottage at 19 West Main Street, the former site of The Edward in Sharon. The opening is Wednesday, Aug. 27 at 11 a.m.
After careers in the world of fashion, Salisbury residents Bobby Graham and his husband, Matt Marden, have curated a collection of beautiful items that reflect their sense of design, love of hospitality, and Graham’s deep Southern roots. Dugazon is his maternal family name.
“My Louisiana roots come from my mother’s family in Baton Rouge via New Orleans where many of my memories of cooking, food, antiquing, flea markets, hospitality, entertaining, originate,” Graham said.“Being raised in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, enhanced the importance of community, family, friends and regional cultures, forming the essence of Dugazon.”
Graham and Marden sat on the front porch telling the story of their shop’s evolution. With its wicker loveseats and geraniums in bloom, the old porch invites visitors to linger.
Matt Marden and Bobby Graham open Dugazonat 19 West Main St.in Sharon on Aug 27. Jennifer Almquist
“Bobby has been talking about Dugazon ever since our first date 21 years ago,” Marden said smiling. “I could not be more thrilled that his dream has finally become our reality.”
Graham laughed, then shared their hope that Dugazon embodies the spirit of lagniappe, a French concept of “adding a little extra to bring unexpected kindness, generosity and delight into everyday life.”
Marden worked at Staley-Wise Gallery in New York City. “Town & Country” recruited him to cover men’s fashion. He became fashion director of “Details” magazine and later style director for “Esquire” magazine.
Graham spent 24 years at Condé Nast as a Fashion and luxury advertising sales executive for “Vogue,” “GQ,” “Vanity Fair,” “AD,” and “The New Yorker.”
Within their light-filled shop, unique antiques and vintage cookbooks mix with kitchen necessities such as wooden spoons and cutting boards. Dugazon is bursting with elegant and functional items ranging from designer John Derian treasures to Louisiana hot sauce, luxurious table linens from Milan-based La Double J, and pantry essentials including Café Du Monde beignet mix, Mam Papaul’s jambalaya fixings, and various jams.
Scandinavian 19-inch tapered candles from creators ester & erik are available in 30 colors. Other offerings include vivid naïve paintings by New Orleans-born artist Alvin Batiste, who now works out of Donaldsonville, Louisiana, and paper goods designed by Marden’s first cousin, Carey Marden Shaulus.
Alvin Batiste paintings and ester& erik candles on display at Dugazon.Jeff Holt
“Dugazon becoming a reality has been a lifelong dream that comes from deep in my creative soul,” Graham said.“My experiences and memories from my roots, family and friends is what Dugazon is all about. Being able to share this with the world means everything to us.”
Dugazon opens Wednesday, Aug. 27 at 11 a.m.and will be open Wednesdays through Sundays 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Closed Mondays and Tuesdays.
Phone: 860-397-5196
Instagram:@dugazonshop
Website:www.dugazonshop.com