MILLERTON — Reconvening in-person for the first time since COVID-19 caused the state, the country and the world’s economy to essentially shut down in mid-March, the Millerton Business Alliance (MBA) assembled on the lawn behind Gilded Moon Framing on Thursday, Oct. 1, to exchange the latest news from the village business community, how everyone has fared since the pandemic hit and trade ideas for the local community going forward.
Gathering at 5 p.m., roughly a dozen individuals from the Millerton-North East business community attended, plus some local officials. Welcoming everyone back, Bob Murphy reported that there were about four to five new merchants who joined the MBA since the group last met. Among the new merchants in attendance, Hayden and Richard Geer from Demitasse and Raquel Madar from The Dig, both on Main Street, introduced themselves.
Business updates
Going around in a circle, long-established vendors and up-and-coming merchants alike took turns saying hello and providing updates as to how their businesses are faring.
Cheryl Hunter, a manager at The Moviehouse, reported the theater hasn’t reopened as it has yet to receive guidance from New York State; it’s not likely that they’ll reopen soon, she said.
NorthEast-Millerton Library Director Rhiannon Leo-Jameson said the library was one of the first entities to reopen in Millerton and is likely to return to its regular hours in two weeks, while Montage owner Dana Rohn reported that her antiques business has been busy since it reopened three weeks ago.
Informing the MBA of an upcoming closure in the business district of a business he’s personally involved with, North East town Supervisor Chris Kennan reported that after 15 years on Main Street, Little Gates & Co. Wine Merchants will be shutting its doors for good. Kennan is a partial owner of Little Gates & Co., along with William Little, the chairman emeritus of The Lakeville Journal Co., which owns The Millerton News. In its place, Kennan said Christopher Jeans will be opening Millerton Wine & Spirits; Jeans took the opportunity to introduce himself to the MBA. Millerton Wine & Spirits will be opening toward the end of October.
Holiday weekends
Looking ahead at the month of October, Murphy announced that, because of COVID-19, the annual village-wide Fall for Art arts festival will not take place this year. In lieu of the festival, he said the village will be holding a sidewalk sale on Columbus Day weekend, from Saturday, Oct. 10, to Monday, Oct. 12. He referenced past successful sidewalk sales, including this June’s weekend-long Millerton Al Fresco event, as inspiration.
Moving on to another traditional holiday weekend in the village, Murphy said that Black Friday, held the day after Thanksgiving, has typically been busy in the village, with a visit from Santa Claus, a holiday movie at The Moviehouse and other holiday festivities — much of which is not likely to happen this year due to COVID-19. Therefore, he said there have been questions as to whether there will be a holiday parade this year.
“My understanding is the parade will happen,” Jeanne Vanecko said, “but there’s going to have to be crowd management to make sure people keep a social distance.”
Come the third week of November, Vanecko said the holiday lights will be set up around the village and turned on just before the Thanksgiving holidays. Cathy Fenn added that while the parade will most likely take place, there will not be a party at the Millerton firehouse this year.
Fenn mentioned later in the meeting that Carol Sadlon, owner of The Moviehouse, had said she wanted to host a holiday movie for Black Friday and had raised the idea of projecting a movie outside, perhaps on the side of a building, though it was noted that doing so presented a safety issue. Hunter said she would be contacting the people in charge of the annual horse and carriage rides held annually, though she suspected that part of the holiday festivities would likely be canceled this year as well.
“It’d be lovely to do it because it’s a great addition,” she said, “… but we have to think logically about what we put our time, money and effort into.”
Rail Trail and local septic
Delivering an update on the Harlem Valley Rail Trail (HVRT), HVRT Association Chairman Dick Hermans said there are plans to move ahead with the outdoor classroom known as “Bridge to Nature,” with plans to send materials up to the state to examine. He reported that the association has a $98,000 grant for the project that must be matched. At this time, he said the Rail Trail expansion project is expected to be open by the end of November; until that time, the trail leading from Millerton to Chatham is closed.
Vanecko then shared her plans to contact all of the businesses on Main Street to ask about their septic situations. Her sense, she said, was that for a lot of the merchants, if their septic system were to fail, they would have to shut down their businesses as a result. She encouraged the merchants attending the meeting to have that information — including any septic plans, any history of when they have had their septic systems pumped, etc. — available for her to review.
COVID-19 testing
Vanecko then reported that she was putting together a rapid antigen testing project in the village and town to test for COVID-19. According to the Centers for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC) website, www.cdc.gov, antigen tests are “immunoassays that detect the presence of a specific viral antigen, which implies current viral infection.” Immunoassays refer to a test or technique “used to detect the presence or quantity of a substance [such as a protein] based on its capacity to act as an antigen,” according to www.merriam-webster.com.
The CDC website also states that these tests can be performed on nasopharyngeal or nasal swab specimens that are placed directly into the assay’s extraction buffer or reagent.
Vanecko explained that the test could be taken every day for $1 or less and that it’s done on a strip like a pregnancy test; individuals could spit on the strip, place it in a saline solution and obtain their results in 15 minutes. The concept, she explained, is to test everybody in the community every day. She’s currently putting together a small committee of people — which already includes a few doctors — Vanecko said she wants to include members of the local school board and members of the business community.
The other part of the test, Vanecko added, is to employ a technology that’s been implemented for several years but is not widespread: Far-UVC light. She described Far-UVC light as a “completely benign kind of light” that “kills pathogens, bacteria and viruses.”
By setting up ceiling-mount fixtures emitting Far-UVC light in a room, the air in that room can be sterilized.
As an example, Vanecko said that a classroom could have four Far-UVC light fixtures that could be turned on an hour before students enter. The students who tested negative for COVID-19 would be allowed into the classroom where they would be able to work in the sterilized environment.
Using The Moviehouse’s desire to reopen as another example, Vanecko said, “If we could highlight the businesses that aren’t comfortable opening… then these fixtures could be perfect. This does not mean we’ll be able to stop wearing masks or stop practicing social distancing,” she said. “We’re never going to have to not test,” adding that Millerton merchants are fortunate to have a small enough community to do this testing conceptually.
Moving forward
As the MBA began discussing how to format its meetings for the winter months, Hermans said Zoom meetings are fine and that it is just a matter of getting the technology under control; Rohn added that it is also a matter of making sure members attend the meetings. MBA members appeared in favor of meeting via Zoom and sending the link to the meetings via email.
Leo-Jameson offered the use of the NorthEast-Millerton Library Annex as an indoor meeting space, adding that it has the appropriate air-filter system. Vanecko also raised the idea of installing stand alone filters in businesses and promised to send the information out to MBA members.
Toward the end of the meeting, MBA members traded news and speculation they’ve heard around town from the business community.
The next MBA meeting will be held on Thursday, Nov. 5, at 5:15 p.m. in the NorthEast-Millerton Library Annex, at 28 Century Blvd.
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