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.”
NORTH EAST — Habitat for Humanity of Dutchess County will conduct a presentation on Thursday, May 9 on buying a three-bedroom affordable home to be built in the Town of North East.
The presentation will be held at the NorthEast-Millerton Library Annex at 5:30 p.m.
Any first-time home buyer interested should attend the information session.
The application for this pilot program home-buying opportunity must be made between May 1 and June 10.Minimum household income for the pilot program is $55,000 while maximum income is determined by family size.
Applications are available at the North East Town Hall.Habitat for Humanity describes itself as a nonprofit with global reach, working across the United States and in approximately 70 countries.
‘Migration Collage' by ransome
If you claim a single sobriquet as your artistic moniker, you’re already in a club with some big names, from Zendaya to Beyoncé to the mysterious Banksy. At Geary, the contemporary art gallery in Millerton founded by New Yorkers Jack Geary and Dolly Bross Geary, a new installation and painting exhibition titled “The Bitter and the Sweet” showcases the work of the artist known only as ransome — all lowercase, like the nom de plume of the late Black American social critic bell hooks.
Currently based in Rhinebeck, N.Y., ransome’s work looks farther South and farther back — to The Great Migration, when Jim Crow laws, racial segregation, and the public violence of lynching paved the way for over six million Black Americans to seek haven in northern cities, particularly New York urban areas, like Brooklyn and Baltimore. The Great Migration took place from the turn of the 20th century up through the 1970s, and ransome’s own life is a reflection of the final wave — born in North Carolina, he found a new home in his youth in New Jersey.
‘Square Quilting painting' by ransomeAlexander Wilburn
Map fragments of North Carolina feature heavily in a large collection of eight-by-eight collage and acrylic paintings, sold individually but together mounted on Geary’s wall resembling the stitched patterns on quilts, like the quilts by the late Black American artist Arlonzia Pettway. Along with artists like Annie Mae Young and Mary Lee Bendolph, Pettway was a renowned artist associated with the quilts of Gee’s Bend, generations of women in the town of Gee’s Bend, Alabama who preserved African American culture in beautiful and vibrant textile art with bold combinations of stripes, textures and colors. The influence is also wonderfully clear in ransome large-scale collages and acrylic paintings like “Square Quilt painting” on display at Geary. It’s a powerful symbol of Gee’s Bend’s legacy continuing on, even under a new artistic medium.
In the smaller works, called “Migration Collages,” painted portraits are combined with pieces of floral and pastel paper, evocative of the tradition of “Sunday Best” splendor worn in Black churches in the South. “The women elders at my Baptist church often greeted each other that way on Sunday mornings when one hat was more elaborate, colorful, or wider brimmed than another,” New York Times veteran Lena Williams wrote in her 1996 essay, “In Defense of the Church Hat.” “It was traditional to put on one’s newest finery for church, and in many historically black churches, the wearing of fancy hats by women carried both spiritual and cultural significance.”
“The Bitter and the Sweet” is on view at Geary through Sunday, June 2.
Hospitality, ease of living and just plain fun are rolled into one for those who are intrigued by the leisure-time Caravana experience at the family-owned Four Brothers Drive-in in Amenia. Tom Stefanopoulos, pictured above, highlights fun possibilities offered by Hotel Caravana.
The month-long process of unwrapping and preparing the various features at the Four Brothers Drive-In is nearing completion, and the imaginative recreational destination will be ready to open for the season on Friday, May 10.
The drive-in theater is already open, as is the Snack Shack, and the rest of the recreational features are activating one by one, soon to be offering maximum fun for the whole family.
Tom Stefanopoulos, the second generation helping to guide the Stefanopoulos family’s recreational complex, brings a deep understanding of hospitality and business sense in support of the multi-faceted enterprise, begun in the 1970s, that is now a mainstay of the town of Amenia, located on a corner in the heart of the commercial district. He paused for an interview on Friday, April 26.
Two luxury camping trailers, each with an attached wooden deck and fire pit, make up Hotel Caravana, and each offers a different fun vibe, Stefanopoulos explained. The larger of the two, offers a California lifestyle, retro to 1967, although its modern where it should be. It can sleep four.
The smaller Caravana sleeps two and offers a lifestyle of the future dating to about 2041. It’s a brand-new Airstream, Stefanopoulos noted. It also has an attached deck with firepit.
“We get a lot of New York City people,” Stefanopoulos said when asked what sorts of people are apt to be attracted to Hotel Caravana. “They want to experience the upstate life,” he added. The idea of sitting out on the deck while watching an actual drive-in movie appeals to them, as does room service offered by the restaurant.
The lobster rolls prepared by the Snack Shack, are served on brioche hot dog rolls, either Maine-style or Connecticut-style, and the lobster can be topped with caviar. Four Brothers version is praised by customers for the generous portion of lobster in each, and the price is competitive.
Caravana guests may book for a single night, or maybe two, or even longer, taking advantage of the bicycles to pedal along the nearby rail trail, a local amenity, Stefanopoulos noted.
“We make our guests feel like movie stars,” Stefanopoulos said of the hospitality. And, if they like miniature golf, it is just a few steps away from their Caravana deck.
Asked how and why the Caravana idea began, Stefanopoulos recalled that as the drive-in theater grew in popularity, people were traveling from greater distances away. The last film of the night might start at midnight, he said, so the idea grew that Four Brothers might be able to offer an accommodation to stay the night.
In addition to Caravana, Four Brothers offers an alternative of two or three tent camping sites.
Future plans may include a third Caravana, Stefanopoulos said. Also, there is a giant mastodon skeleton, presently in storage, that should be on display, he said.
“It’s pretty big,” Stefanopoulos added.
The playground might be enlarged in the coming seasons, and perhaps an old-fashioned arcade added for retro amusement.
The community that surrounds Four Brothers remains important to the Stefanopoulos family as they offer substantial summer employment opportunity. Stefanopoulos said that a goal is to contract locally for business needs, such as musical entertainment and advertising. The drive-in also schedules occasion fundraisers to benefit local organizations, including the Amenia Fire Company and area schools.
