Want to feel closer to your community? Volunteer.
The Salisbury Association has published this resource guide for volunteer opportunities. Find copies at the Academy building in Salisbury or online at www.salisburyassociation.org.

Want to feel closer to your community? Volunteer.

On Sunday, August 13 The Lakeville Journal will hold its 2nd Annual Community Fair. We hope it’s a lot of fun, and we also want to spread the word about all the ways people can get involved in this place we call home. Volunteers are the lifeblood of our community.

Many of us already know this. We volunteer at the fire department, the ambulance corps, the library, the food pantries, our churches and synagogues and environmental groups.

Nearly 30 organizations are coming on August 13 to show us what they are doing and how you can help them. They have many missions: Preserving local culture, supporting land conservation, strengthening education and youth development, fostering economic growth, providing social services and healthcare services, creating affordable housing and encouraging civic engagement.

Some of the organizations attending include:

21st Century Fund, Five Points Arts, Great Mountain Forest, Habitat for Humanity, The Little Guild Animal Shelter, Music Mountain, Noble Horizons, Salisbury Community Dog Park, Salisbury Congregational Church, Crop Walk/ Salisbury Congregational Church, Salisbury Family Services, Salisbury Rotary Club, Sharon Playhouse, SOAR Enrichment, The Corner Food Pantry, The Moviehouse, The Salisbury Forum, Salisbury Winter Sports Association, Project SAGE, Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation, Housatonic Child Care Center, Lakeville Community Conservancy, Taconic Learning Center, Sharon Hospital, The Jane Lloyd Fund, The Lakeville Hose Company, Salisbury Volunteer Ambulance Service, The Salisbury Housing Commission, The Salisbury Housing Trust, The Salisbury Housing Committee, Sharon Social Services, Geer Village

There’s lots of volunteer work to do. See you on August 13!

And thanks to our sponsors Elyse Harney Real Estate and Northeast Ford.

Latest News

'Gather' at Troutbeck

Romane Recalde speaking about her new business at Gather.

Natalia Zukerman

Hosted by Jason Klein and Sascha Lewis, an ongoing series called “Gather” at Troutbeck in Amenia brings together a curious crowd of local entrepreneurs, artists, and others with a story to tell for an intimate midday chat. On Thursday, Jan. 16, floral designer Romane Recalde, owner of the newly opened Le Jardin in Amenia, took center stage to share her journey from modeling in Miami to cultivating flowers in the Hudson Valley. Gather is a place to share stories, swap advice, and celebrate some of the unique businesses that make our area vibrant — all with a delicious lunch on the side. The gatherings are unconventional in the best way, with no agenda beyond good conversation and community building.

Recalde’s story isn’t just about creating a flower shop; it’s about a complete reinvention of self. “I hated Miami so much,” said the French-born Recalde, recalling her time in Florida before moving to New York. She worked as a model in New York, and eventually met her husband, James. Their pandemic escape to Turks and Caicos turned into a six-month stay, which in turn led them to Millbrook and finally to their home in Amenia, where Recalde’s connection to nature blossomed.

Keep ReadingShow less
Mad Rose opens ‘Assembled’ exhibition

Mad Rose Gallery’s “Assembled” exhibition opened Saturday, Jan. 18, with a public reception.

The eclectic exhibition — on view until March 2 at the gallery on the intersection of Routes 22 and 44 in Millerton — gathers together work from a group of diverse artists with decades of experience between them. The exhibition itself is true to the name, featuring photographs, sculptures, drawings and mixed media works in all shapes and sizes.

Keep ReadingShow less
The fragile bonds of family: a review of Betsy Lerner’s 'Shred Sisters'

Betsy Lerner’s 'Shred Sisters' is written with such verve and poetic imagination that it’s hard to fathom how it could be the author’s first novel. Ms. Lerner, 64, has worked for three decades as a literary agent, editor, and non-fiction writer, but at some point during the Covid pandemic — without any forethought — she sat down and typed out the first line of the novel exactly as it now appears in the book, and then completed it without telling anyone what she was up to.

The novel takes place over twenty years — from the 1970s into the ’90s — and is a kind of guide for that era. It reads like a memoir accompanied by some bouncy dialogue, but is actually a work of what’s called autofiction in which Lerner mixes her own experiences — including her own struggle with mental illness — with things she simply makes up. The fictional narrator is Amy Shred, the younger of two sisters in an upper-middle-class, secular Jewish family living in the suburbs of New Haven, Connecticut.

Keep ReadingShow less
Lazy, hazy days of...winter?

This small stream is fishable, despite the wintry conditions. It probably won't be a pleasant or productive experience, but it can be done.

Patrick L. Sullivan

When syndicated columnists run out of ideas they do one of two things.

First they collect the last couple year’s worth of columns and call it a book. These are published to great acclaim from other syndicated columnists and show up in due course in gigantic, ziggurat-shaped mounds at Costco for $4.98 a pop.

Keep ReadingShow less