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Generous spirit, generous community

Generous spirit, generous community
From left, back row, Millbrook Village Trustee and President of the Millbrook Business Association Kevin McGrane, Village Highway Superintendent Bob Collocola, Debbie Flanigan, Town Clerk Mary Alex, Forza Gym  owner Lori Decker, Abby Alex, and kneeling in front, Ivan Hernandez are among the volunteers who have been helping Millbrook Diner owners Debbie and Thanasi Theodoropoulos, not shown, through Serving Millbrook, distribute meals. 
Photo by Judith O’Hara Balf

MILLBROOK — Millbrook Diner owners Debbie and Thanasi Theodoropoulis have been donating hot meals seven days a week to the community through the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. By mid-May, after nearly a month of giving away meals, more than 3,100 dinners had been served. 

Produce, eggs and milk have also been made available to residents in need from Locust Hill Farm, Marona’s Market, Stonewood Farms, Blue Barn BnB owner Joan LaCasse and others. 

A GoFundMe page, and donations from so many people in the town and village, have made it all possible. Other volunteers not shown in these photos include: Mike Flanigan; Morgan Varavaldi; Emma Sweeney; Leah Cornell; Ann Leady; Irene and Bill Wing; Lisa Lacey and her children, Matty, Stephen and Benjamin; and Robin Alexander. Also helping, Grace Church; and Dutchess County Legislator Deirdre Houston (R-25).

— Judith O’Hara Balfe

Millerton News

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The Millerton News - October 22, 2026

The Millerton News - October 22, 2026

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Cornwall Historical Society celebrates Connecticut’s Black patriots

Cornwall Historical Society celebrates Connecticut’s Black patriots

On Saturday, Oct. 24, at the Cornwall Historical Society, author and genealogist John Mills will breathe new life into the stories of some of Connecticut’s more underappreciated patriots. The reason these heroes were forgotten? They were Black.

At a time when white colonists were fighting for their own liberty and political independence, many Black men who fought alongside them remained enslaved. Some risked their lives only to return to bondage. Though enslaved people were promised freedom from both sides of the Revolutionary War in exchange for their service, Great Britain, too, was still deeply dependent on slavery. For Black people in America, the war presented both extraordinary risks and uncertain paths to the freedom that white colonists were demanding for themselves.

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Madi Long
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Big ideas come to Lenox for inaugural field festival

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Provided

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From Friday, Oct. 23, through Sunday, Oct. 25, Lenox, Massachusetts, will host the inaugural field festival, a three-day gathering of writers, artists, scholars and cultural figures at Shakespeare & Company. Billed as a festival of ideas, entertainment, learning and discovery, field brings together an impressive roster of voices to explore everything from the deeply personal to the profoundly political.

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Rubin started teaching yoga classes at the Union in West Cornwall, a space designated by the town of Cornwall as a community hub with couches, Wi-Fi, occasional events and a growing yoga class schedule. She was adjusting well but missed one important thing about city life: a casual coffee shop.

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No matter where they are in the world, musicians seem to find other musicians. There’s a shared language, a shared experience of being on stage and performing, and a shared enthusiasm for making those melodies by themselves or together. Such is the case with Norfolk and Brooklyn-based cosmic Americana band Sons of Astro.

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