Ruby Peterson
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MILLERTON — On Oct. 25 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., Millerton will host its first Repair Café in the NorthEast-Millerton Library Annex.
Since its debut in Amsterdam in 2009, Repair Café has sought to advocate for and practice sustainability by encouraging the art of fixing objects, rather than throwing them away. From there, the Repair Café has spread, making its way to New Paltz in 2013, and taking off around the Hudson Valley.
The event in Millerton on October will present a community space providing cost-free repairs to household items in an effort to spread knowledge and reduce waste.
“The movement has really started to teach folks to empower themselves to repair things,” said Meg Winkler, an organizer for the Millerton Repair Café. “Also, to stop putting things in the landfill and throwing things out. It’s sort of like a lost art.”
The “coaches” or volunteers, are there to do more than fix objects. Other than serving to repair, the Cafés are a hub to strengthen community and spread knowledge and confidence through an interactive teaching approach. Winkler said that “from a grassroots standpoint, it brings a community together to share and teach those things.”
On the day the Millerton Repair Café is set to run, volunteers will be set up and grouped at tables by skill set and categories such as electrical, mechanical and textiles. “We hope the folks that we’re getting to volunteer have multiple skill sets, a lot of times they work as a group to solve these things,” Winkler said.
Kathleen Everett, another organizer who also started the Rhinebeck Repair Café, added that individuals who do not have the skillset to be coaches should not be discouraged from volunteering. “We need people to help organize and get people to where they need to be,” she said.
A variety of volunteers in different fields will aid in repairing electrical or mechanical objects — such as lamps, kitchen items and small appliances — and fans and other electronics. The Café will also provide woodworking, knife sharpening, repair for toys, textiles and jewelry with hopes to feature simple printer and sewing repair. Bicycle, small engine and musical instrument repairs are further goals for organizers.
“The Repair Café’s premise is that you have to be able to hand carry it in,” when it comes to your items, Winkler said, adding that for the Millerton Café’s first event, the limit is two items.
With textiles, Everett said she can patch clothing and repair buttons and handles. She said one can “make a beautiful thing out of your item and not try to hide the fact that it was damaged, but actually do something with that. To make it kind of unique.”
“Sometimes with sentimental things we say ‘we can’t fix this, but it’s worth fixing.’” Everett said.
Director Rhiannon Leo-Jameson said the event extends the library’s services to support sustainable goals and community building. “It’s really something that’s a part of our mission in general, just be able to provide education to our community. So that’s not just coming, getting something fixed and going home. You’re going to be leaving with a little bit of knowledge of how to try to do it yourself next time,” she said.
There are many things to take from the upcoming Repair Café, Everett said. “You can look from an environmental standpoint. You can look from a budget saving standpoint. You can look for just knowledge and self empowerment. So the goal is to get these things going through this process.”
“The broader goal is to have people leave asking, ‘Oh, what else could possibly be fixed that I thought was disposable?’” Everett said. “And possibly change the way they look at things they buy in the future.”
Winkler hopes the Café will give individuals the confidence to maintain objects to prevent breaking and to lengthen the lives of items as much as possible.
“It has been really amazing to hear all the different skills that people we see every day have and are willing to donate their time to help,” said Leo-Jameson.
After the upcoming event, the Millerton Repair Café hopes to operate twice a year, the next is aimed for around Earth Day. Those interested in volunteering can email millertonrepaircafe@gmail.com.
To learn more about Repair Cafe Hudson Valley, visit www.repaircafehv.org.
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Innisfree Community Day Aug. 30
Aug 20, 2025
MILLBROOK — The magnificent gardens at Millbrook’s Innisfree will be offering free admission to area residents on Community Day scheduled for Saturday, Aug. 30.
Arrive early to view the sunrise beginning at 5 a.m. or come later to wander and absorb the garden’s serenity and perhaps join in one of the day’s featured events, available at reduced rates. The gardens will remain open until 5 p.m.
Garden admission is free for residents of Amenia, Clinton Corners, Dover Plains, Millbrook, Millerton, Pine Plains, North East, Stanford, Pleasant Valley, Washington, Wassaic, and Wingdale.
Special events offered at reduced rates will occur during the day, including a guided garden tour led by Kate Kerin, Landscape Curator, beginning at 10 a.m. A stress relief program will begin at 1 p.m., led by Cris Caivano guiding a group through Qigong and Acupressure.
For details and registration go to www.innesfreegarden.org. Visitors must register separately for the free general admission or the special events that carry discounted rates.
Innisfree’s Community Day is being supported by a grant from the Northeast Dutchess Fund, a program of the Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation. Innisfree Garden is found at 362 Tyrrel Road in Millbrook.
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National day of protest
Aug 20, 2025
Photo by Leila Hawken
A larger than anticipated number of protesters, all from area towns, assembled at Fountain Square in Amenia on Saturday, Aug. 16, to participate in the national day of protest themed “Fight the Trump Takeover.”More than 40 protesters populated the four corners of the intersection of Routes 44, 22, and 343, eliciting enthusiastic response from passing motorists, mostly supportive.
Photo by Leila Hawken
A larger than anticipated number of protesters, more than 40, all of whom were from area towns, assembled at Fountain Square on Saturday, August 16, to participate in the national day of protest themed “Fight the Trump Takeover.” Organizer Kimberley Travis of Amenia and protester Nick Lacy of Poughkeepsie paused for a photo.
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SHARON — Gold Dog LLC, the applicant behind a long-contested housing development in Sharon, was given the Planning and Zoning Commission’s nod to move forward with the project on Wednesday, Aug. 13.
The plans call for a 24-unit condominium complex of 12 duplexes arranged around a central driveway and cul-de-sac, situated on grove-like woodland between Hospital Hill Road and Amenia Road.
While not designated as affordable, the development may help provide some much needed diversification of Sharon’s housing market, several of the project’s supporters have said.
The approval was delayed from the Commission’s last meeting in July in expectation of a third-party review of the application’s stormwater runoff plans among other technical details, which was received in early August. At the July meeting the commission showed preliminary signs of approving the project, which has been hotly contested since P&Z reviewed a previous application from Gold Dog in 2023 that was denied.
That tone held last Wednesday, when P&Z Secretary and Fire Marshall and Building Official Stanley MacMillan Jr. read a motion to approve the plans. The motion, which is available in full in the Aug. 13 meeting’s minutes on the town website, stated the project is “consistent with infrastructure capacity and the development of the community” and “will allow for a reasonable use of the property which is consistent with the character of the underlying zone.”
The motion, which passed unanimously, contained 16 conditions of approval, including: the establishment of a homeowner’s association; that open space on the property, which is planned to be the majority of the eight-acre parcel, be conserved under easement; and that a six-foot tall non-transparent fence be built on either side of the proposed entrance driveway to the development on Hospital Hill Road to protect neighbors privacy, which has been one of the hottest subjects of debate throughout the hearing process.
Carol Flaton, who serves on the town’s Board of Finance, has submitted several letters advocating for the project since the hearing began in the spring. After the decision on Wednesday, she reiterated her stance: “I respect and understand the concerns that the neighbors have but this proposal is exactly what’s in the zoning regulations,” adding that she felt the plans align with the town’s Plan of Conservation and Development.
“It just kind of fits,” she said.
Residents in closer proximity to the development site were less pleased by P&Z’s verdict. “[P&Z] couldn’t care less about the neighbors,” said Pablo Cisilino outside Town Hall. Cisilino owns 71 Hospital Hill Road with his wife Silvina Leone, and both have been outspoken against the project since its application fell onto the Land Use Office’s desk. Cisilino said he would promptly speak to his attorney about possible avenues of recourse.
“We’re definitely going to do something,” he said as he stepped into his car.
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