PINE PLAINS — If the COVID-19 crisis has shown society anything, it’s that acts of kindness go a long way. As plans for celebrating birthdays, graduations, weddings and more have changed due to the coronavirus pandemic, people have done their best to adapt to the new normal. But local families wanting to celebrate their children’s birthdays were stymied about how to do so with social distancing preventing any party planning. That’s why the Pine Plains Hose Company and the Stanford Fire Company have joined forces to make birthdays special for the children in their two towns.
Calling it a morale booster during COVID-19, Pine Plains Councilperson Matt Zick said he thought of the idea as a way to help support the community.
“I feel I do a lot under the radar,” said the councilman, adding he wants to make sure that Pine Plains residents understand and appreciate how much the Town Board is trying to do to help people out right now. “I would like them to see that I’m doing good things that I believe are good for the town.”
Zick’s father, Stanford Fire Company Vice President Ed Zick, agreed that organizing a special celebration for local children by holding socially-distanced firetruck parades was a good idea. He added their other “cohort in crime” is Stanford Fire Company Secretary/Treasurer Kathie Spears, who was key in encouraging the fire company to cheer up local children who were unable to celebrate their birthdays in the traditional way.
So far, the fire companies have been offering to make rounds with their fire engines to children’s homes on Saturdays between 1 and 4 p.m. As an example, for children with birthdays between Monday, April 13, and Sunday, April 19, the fire companies drove by on Saturday, April 18. For children with birthdays between Monday, April 20, and Sunday, April 26, the fire companies drove by on Saturday, April 25. For children whose birthdays fall between Monday, April 27, and Sunday, May 3, the fire companies plan to drive by on Saturday, May 2.
For each house on their route, the fire companies expressed birthday wishes by blowing the horns and wishing the children a happy day. Spears reported on a later date that the fire companies stopped by 11 houses on Saturday, April 18, and 14 houses on Saturday, April 25.
“We’re doing this namely for the kids,” Ed Zick said. “When we run rounds on Saturdays, it’s such a joy just seeing the kids — it’s unbelievable. All the people that have driven in these parades agreed they would do it again, so it’s as much a morale booster for us as it is for them.”
To have their child’s birthday included in the fire companies’ rounds, parents should reach out to either Matthew Zick at 845-705-5533; Ed Zick at 845-266-8366; or Kathie Spiers at 845-868-7320. Parents have also been advised to call by 8 p.m. on the Thursday prior to the Saturday they want the drive by to occur. After determining their schedules, the fire companies will then reach out to the parents to give them an estimated time for their drive by. Additionally, the fire companies have asked parents to make sure they are outside with their child to ensure their child is supervised when the firetrucks pass by.
As far as how long the fire companies intend to make their birthday rounds, Matt Zick said, “I guess you can say we’re planning to do this as long as we need to.”
His father added that they wanted to thank Pine Plains Fire Chief Brian Walsh for helping to run the birthday program. He also mentioned that the fire companies from Milan and East Clinton joined the program last weekend.
In the meantime, the councilman said that the fire companies are now trying to get local town businesses involved with the rounds. As a celebration of healthcare professionals working around the clock to care for patients during the pandemic, Ed Zick said the fire companies have been trying to get a list of nurses in the participating towns to include them in a special celebration on Saturday, May 2.
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.
