NEW YORK STATE — All while trying to maintain social distancing during the COVID-19 crisis, residents across New York state have turned to the great outdoors to stay active as they wait for the pandemic to end — and to get relief from cabin fever. However, even in their attempts to practice responsible recreation, many have called into question whether golf courses should be operating. There’s been some back and forth from the state on the issue.
In his Facebook Live Town Hall on Wednesday, April 8, Dutchess County Executive Marc Molinaro addressed the concerns by explaining that under the state’s order, a request to close golf courses needs to be made to the New York State Department of Health. Under state law, he said golf courses can remain open, though he emphasized the necessity of social distancing. Molinaro said at that time that golfers should ride individually in golf carts and should not share carts with anyone other than a spouse or an immediate family member living in the same household as them.
“It’s OK to be on the course, it’s OK to play independent of one another, it’s OK to play 6, 7, 10 feet from one another — it is not OK to play together as a group,” Molinaro said.
But after much consideration, New York state issued revised mandates on Thursday, April 9, declaring golf courses as non-essential businesses. All of the state’s golf courses were ordered to close until Wednesday, April 29.
Governor Andrew Cuomo announced the decision to deem golf courses as non-essential businesses during his daily press conference, held in Albany on Friday, April 10.
“Can you walk on a course with clubs if you don’t hit a ball? That’s a good question,” said Cuomo with some humor. “We’re going to have to litigate.”
Secretary to the Governor Melissa DeRosa stated the rules more sternly moments later.
“There’s no golfing, no basketball, no tennis,” she said. “We’re encouraging people to stay home and get their exercise. We don’t want a situation with the caddies — it’s a group activity. There are not just people golfing, there are people running the golf course and it’s counter to other measures we’re [instituting].”
Since the pandemic broke out last month, golf courses like Undermountain Golf Course in Copake have been urged to adhere to the state’s restrictions — first by practicing social distancing on the course, then by closing for business. Undermountain Golf Course owner and President Trish MacArthur said the course originally closed on Saturday, March 21, under the New York State on PAUSE Executive Order that shut down all non-essential businesses statewide. The course reopened for business on Friday, March 27, under the mandated guidelines issued by the state and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Opening in a limited capacity, MacArthur said the golf course implemented regulations for social distancing and remained open until Thursday, April 9, when golf courses were again deemed non-essential.
“I think, honestly, even though we were at a limited capacity… I was concerned that people weren’t following the right social distancing guidelines,” MacArthur said, “and I think Gov. Cuomo made the right decision in closing us down, even if it saves one single life.
“As much as people are trying, I think we’re all human and this is all new behavior for us,” she continued. “It’s been a tough time for everyone.”
Yet just when they feared golf courses would stay closed indefinitely, golfers in the state were surprised by a reversal of the closure mandate, as New York announced it would reopen courses with social distancing guidelines on Saturday, April 18. As written on the New York State Golf Association website at www.nysga.org, guidelines for reopening golf courses mandate that all golfers maintain social distancing at all times; no access is permitted to club facilities; and there can be no employees working at the golf course’s recreational component with the exception of security personnel. Additionally, the guidelines mandate that there will be no caddies or golf carts, except pull carts, utilized on golf courses.
In response to the latest news from the state, MacArthur said she was pleased and “cautiously optimistic.” As of this time, Undermountain Golf Course is conducting its business transactions either online or over the phone, and is not interfacing with customers, with the exception of selling takeout beverages.
“We have security here that’s been enforcing the rules of social distancing,” MacArthur said, “so I’m delighted to have the doors back open — as long as everyone behaves.”
Maxon Mills in Wassaic hosted a majority of the events of the local Upstate Art Weekend events in the community.
WASSAIC — Art enthusiasts from all over the country flocked to the Catskill Mountains and Hudson Valley to participate in Upstate Art Weekend, which ran from July 18 to July 21.
The event, which “celebrates the cultural vibrancy of Upstate New York”, included 145 different locations where visitors could enjoy and interact with art.
On Saturday, July 20, The Wassaic Project hosted numerous community events. Will Hutnick, the director of artistic programming, said “We’ve been a part of it since the beginning, this is the fifth year of UPAW.”
Most of the action was based at Maxon Mills, the seven-floor grain mill located in the heart of Wassaic. On exhibit was work from 30 artists, 18 of whom were past residents of The Wassaic Project. “Artists can come and do a residency here, meaning they live and work with one another for a couple months at a time,” Hutnick stated.
The first floor held work by Petra Szilagyi, who uses dirt and linseed oil to construct images of paranormal concepts, most of which include bats. They reflected that a recent trip to a fifth sense competition in Vietnam was the influence behind the exhibit.
Across the floor was Tiffany Smith’s interactive installation which incorporated plants and wicker chairs, all of which were objects associated with her Carribean upbringing. “The room being filled with plants is symbolic of hurricane prep which often included bringing the plants from outside into the house,” Smith said.
As visitors made their way up the narrow wooden stairs, music could be heard from behind the walls. The echoing music was Daniel Shieh’s installation, entitled Mother’s Anthem, which played a recording of the American Anthem in 30 languages. The languages ranged from Spanish and Italian to Navajo and Bengali.
Each floor was filled with artwork of all mediums, including painting, fibers, collage and photography. Rachel Bussières, who switched her concentration after watching the 2017 solar eclipse, uses varying light sources to produce lumen prints. During the wildfires, she recounted that she “made a new exposure each day to capture the changing air quality”.
Luciana Abait also incorporates the natural world into her pieces, instead using maps. An environmental activist originally from Argentina, Abait’s work highlights “environmental fragility, specifically the impacts it has on immigrants.” Her installation that is currently on display at Maxon Mills, takes the form of a mountain range built solely from maps of the US and Argentina.
Throughout the day, visitors could “Arm Wrestle 4 A Popsicle”. Winners had the choice of 3 playfully flavored trout-inspired popsicles - Nightcrawler, Power Bait, and Salmon Roe. Artist Katie Peck, who spent the day in costume as a rainbow trout, encouraged guests to step up and try their hand at an arm wrestle.
Shibori Indigo dyeing, group meditation, and dance workshops were open for community members of all ages as well.
While the daytime activities fostered appreciation of fixed art, a dance party until midnight at The Lantern Inn offered guests a space for performative art.
When describing the environment of The Wassaic Project, Smith emphasized, “It’s all community, it’s all love.”
A serene scene during the Garden Tour in Amenia.
AMENIA — The much-anticipated annual Amenia Garden Tour drew a steady stream of visitors to admire five local gardens on Saturday, July 13, each one demonstrative of what a green thumb can do. An added advantage was the sense of community as neighbors and friends met along the way.
Each garden selected for the tour presented a different garden vibe. Phantom’s Rock, the garden of Wendy Goidel, offered a rocky terrain and a deep rock pool offering peaceful seclusion and anytime swims. Goidel graciously welcomed visitors and answered questions about the breathtaking setting.
Amenia Finance Director Charlie Miller welcomed visitors to his Bog Hollow Road garden in Wassaic, a manicured expansive yard with well-placed garden beds framing a far-reaching view. He said he plans carefully each winter for the next spring’s improvement.
The organic, environmentally responsible Maitri Farm was next, a lesson in coordinating agriculture with natural balance. The farm stand and a walk among the greenhouses brought visitors together.
Near the center of Amenia was the garden of Polly Pitts-Garvin, offering a chance to visit a robust vegetable garden with raised beds to be envious of and a remarkable absence of any insects or usual vegetable garden problems.
At Chez Cheese, the vast garden acreage surrounding the 1850s historic home of Joan Feeney and Bruce Phillips in Millerton, visitors could begin at refreshment stations where walking tour maps of the 15-acre property were available. There were streams and ponds with docks, and a dozen bridges arranged around the landscape. In the 19th-century, the property had been the home of the Wilson Cheese Factory, inspiring the name of the estate.
The Amenia Garden Tour was supported this year by Paley’s Garden Center in Sharon.
Gary Dodson working a tricky pool on the Schoharie Creek, hoping to lure something other than a rock bass from the depths.
PRATTSVILLE, N.Y. — The Schoharie Creek, a fabled Catskill trout stream, has suffered mightily in recent decades.
Between pressure from human development around the busy and popular Hunter Mountain ski area, serious flooding, and the fact that the stream’s east-west configuration means it gets the maximum amount of sunlight, the cool water required for trout habitat is simply not as available as in the old days.
This is not a new phenomenon. It does seem to be getting worse, though.
Gary Dodson and I convened where the creek makes its final run into the Schoharie reservoir, part of the New York City water supply system, on a semi-broiling Thursday afternoon, July 11.
The goal was simple. Catch smallmouth bass, which abound in the lower section of the river.
This was hot stuff — as in an 80-degree water temperature.
The air temperature was actually slightly less at 77.
After negotiating the intensely slippery rocks, festooned with treacherous algae, the first major pool presented several difficulties, with a back eddy competing with a main flow and several large trees draped about the whole thing.
I hit on the simplest strategy, which was to flip a weighted attractor fly called a Tequilley into the start of the eddy so it would proceed slowly but steadily into the maelstrom, sinking all the while.
This worked. A proper adult smallmouth, with bronze coloring and vertical stripes, took the thing.
The point-and-shoot camera finally died, however, and I was not going to try to fumble my phone out for a nice but routine fish photo.
Why not?
Because I guarantee the fish would have made a sudden, last-moment bolt for freedom, causing me to drop the device into the drink.
Gary moved downstream while I continued trying to annoy the residents of the pool, succeeding a couple of times with different colored Wooly Buggers.
Then we all got bored and I moved off, where Gary was catching rock bass and cussing them out for not being something else. I have to admit, they are not the most compelling critters. Something about the red eyes.
This latest trip was dominated by extremely tedious and distasteful Harry Homeowner activities, but on both Wednesday and
Thursday mornings I prowled Woodland Valley Creek. By “morning” I mean “dawn,” because that was when the water temps were down to a barely acceptable 64.
I made the acquaintance of several stocked browns and of a handful of their wild cousins. The wild fish are smaller and nimbler.
The successful ploy was an Adams wet fly, size 16, drifted behind something big, like a Parachute Adams or Stimulator.
