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What’s happening

This week’s newspaper is filled with information that is vital for anyone who calls eastern Dutchess County home. Our reporters have been out on the scene writing up accounts of meetings, reporting on projects that are planned in coming days and those that are farther out. They also have been attending events that the residents have enjoyed in these last few weeks of summer, and writing about them. Our reporters tell the stories in words and pictures that fill our pages every week. It is the living history of our villages and towns.

We also realize, too, that we live in a world in which the average person checks their phone every 12 minutes. The result of all of our personalized searches can be that we become interested in a certain set of things. Getting a reader’s attention has to be worth their time. We strive to make the newspaper worth your time and we’re committed to the belief that it’s vital for residents of the village, the town of North East and the surrounding towns to know about the happenings in their backyards.

Last Thursday, the Eddie Collins Memorial Park Revitalization Committee presented plans for phase two of Millerton’s community park. (See story here.) Phase one was completed in 2022. The next phase, which includes plans for a swimming pool that was favored by residents in a 2016 survey, has a scheduled completion date of 2025. The timing of the project depends on the work on a planned sewer system that will extend to the park.

Both these projects — phase two of the park and the village wastewater project — are on the front burner of civic interest. They will determine much about the quality of life in the community. This summer the Webutuck Little League returned to play on the field at the park. At last Thursday’s meeting, the attendees listened as the speakers discussed the pool plans, and the air was filled with the attending sounds of basketball players on the new Eddie Collins courts and children in the refurbished playground.

Plans are afoot to bring a Dollar General store to Millerton that would include a produce section and parking for 40 cars. It would be located just east of the Talk of the Town Deli on Route 44. That would be big news for a town without a grocery store.

News can come in small bites, too. A stretch of sidewalk on Maple Avenue is slated for construction. A summer concert series wraps up in Amenia.  Pine Plains volunteers build a new trail on Stissing Mountain from Thompson Pond to the fire tower.  These are just a few of the stories in this week’s edition. Our reporters are on the lookout for what’s happening, what’s coming and writing about it for our readers.

Latest News

Crowds fill downtown Millerton for Fine Art Festival

Crowds went undeterred by scattered showers during the final day of Millerton’s Fine Art Festival on Sunday, Sept. 6.

Photo by Nathan Miller

MILLERTON — Main Street turned into an open-air artisans’ market Saturday and Sunday, Sept. 5 and 6, for the Voice of Art’s Fine Art Festival, drawing crowds from across the tri-state region to downtown Millerton.

The Fine Art Festival drew artists from across New York and Connecticut, selling paintings, photographs, jewelry and other fine art goods. Artists had tents set up along the Harlem Valley Rail Trail and in the front yard of the Millerton Inn on Main Street, providing two hubs for visitors to meet artists and shop.

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Amenia to hear public comment on proposed smoking ban

AMENIA — Town officials are seeking public comment on a proposed ban on smoking and vaping on town-owned property.
The Amenia Town Board will host its first public hearing on the proposed local law at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 17, at Town Hall on Route 22. Town Board members voted unanimously to move forward with the regulation in August.

The proposed law would prohibit smoking or vaping tobacco — as well as cannabis products — in town-owned parks and other public recreational areas. The ban would apply to Town Hall and its surrounding grounds and parking lots, the basketball court, Beekman Park, Fountain Square, the Mygatt, Leedsville and Bangall-Amenia Road cemeteries, and the town highway garage and salt shed.

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Historic Festival parade brings vintage cars, racing legends to Northwest Corner

Stilt walkers Cynthia Rauschert and Timothy J. Walsh wave vintage cars into downtown Falls Village during the Historic Festival Parade on Thursday, Sept. 3.

Photo by Madi Long

FALLS VILLAGE — Millerton resident Rob Cooper was among hundreds of spectators who turned out Thursday, Sept. 3, to watch more than 130 vintage cars parade through the Northwest Corner at the start of Lime Rock Park’s Historic Festival 44.
Cooper, a vintage-car enthusiast, called the annual parade and the festival that followed quintessential events for the region’s automobile community.

“It’s the most amazing parade,” Cooper said.

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Frank G. Hufner

Frank G. Hufner

SHARON — Frank G. Hufner, 80, of Sharon, Connecticut, passed away peacefully after a long battle with cancer on Sept. 6, 2026, at Sharon Health and Rehabilitation Center. He was the loving husband of Linda (Panelli) Hufner.

Frank was born on Sept. 23, 1945, in Bridgeport, Connecticut, the son of the late Frank H. Hufner and Charlotte (Kaimer) Hufner. He was raised in Monroe, Connecticut and a graduate of Masuk High School.

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Frederick J. Bate III

Frederick J. Bate III

GOSHEN — Frederick J. Bate III, 79, of Goshen, passed away peacefully on Aug. 28, 2026, at Candlewood Valley Health & Rehabilitation in New Milford. He was the loving husband of Marie (Savan) Bate.

Fred was born on Feb. 13, 1947, in Torrington, the son of the late Frederick J. Bate Jr. and Doris Bate.

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Millbrook Community Day returns Sept. 19

MILLBROOK — The annual Millbrook Community Day will return with a variety of family fun and neighborly celebration of a fall day in the village on Saturday, Sept. 19.

Community Day 2026 will be held between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. along Franklin Avenue in the village center.

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