Millerton residents have an online resource for local events

MILLERTON — Local residents have a new resource for finding out what is happening around town with www.inMillerton.com, an online community calendar for events in and around Millerton.The brains behind www.inMillerton.com are Mark Pruce and Gregg Osofsky, who both have backgrounds in freelance graphic and web design. Pruce said that the idea for a community calendar began two years ago, when he first moved to the area.“I just immediately looked for something like this, and I didn’t find anything,” said Pruce. “Then for a year-and-a-half I struggled to plug into the community. “I saw events in the windows of stores but mostly I found out the day after. Even when I did get to events I felt like attendance was low, even knowing there are people here who want to go to events,” he added. “I know there is a community and a growing culture of younger people in the area. Eventually I decided, ‘OK, I want this to exist but it doesn’t, so I am just going to build it.’”Pruce said the website is user-friendly, so people who organize events in the community frequently can be given a username and password to post events themselves.“I want it to be socially driven; I want it to be something where the community and local businesses see an advantage in keeping it up, because it’s an advantage to everyone else as well,” said Pruce.Pruce said they see other potentials with the website in terms of bringing together people in the community in different ways. Currently the website serves as a community calendar, but the two have talked about starting a blog as a way for people to keep up with events and reviews of local shows.“Like a lot of social media, I think the ultimate goal is just to increase the level of connection between people in the community,” said Osofsky. “It will make it easier to connect people that you know and also people that you don’t know. The calendar makes a lot of sense, but then other functions we have been batting around relate to a Craigslist style where people can post if they are having a tag sale, they are going for a walk at Rudd Pond or something like that.”Pruce said the website is also geared to encourage community service, and will look toward groups like the North East Community Center as ideal candidates to make use of the calendar. “We are using the winter as an incubation period because it’s not as active for one, and for two we are just getting it up and running and it’s not a full-time thing for either of us,” said Osofsky. “So we want to just get it working well and work out some kinks and build a relationship and once we feel like it’s a real substantive contribution I think we are going to be more willing to put some money to do some fliers and around town.”The website can be used by visitors. However, it is really intended for locals with the general guideline that it will post events within a 15- to 20-minute driving distance from the center of Millerton. The duo behind the website have contacted people who organize events often in the community, such Oblong Books & Music and 52 Main, about participating in the calendar. The website was launched in early December. Pruce and Osofsky said they have already received a lot of positive feedback.“We are very open to suggestions,” said Pruce. “We want to fill a need and we are looking for people who want to get involved. If someone has this great idea for what could bolster the community in any particular way they should let us know.”