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Chess anyone? June 14 plein air chess in Wassaic

WASSAIC — Just steps away from exuberant cheers ongoing at the finish line for RattleSnake Run on Saturday, June 14, visitors can find a more subdued ambiance by observing or participating in open-air chess matches in the space between the General Store and The Lantern.

The first-ever Community Simultaneous Chess Game will begin at 3 p.m., intended for children who are at least eight years of age and adults. The number of players is limited to the first 16 who sign up. Sixteen chess boards will be set up with chess pieces, with a single registrant seated at each board. Amenia resident Bill Kroeger will be the opposing player at all 16 chess boards, offering instruction, encouragement, or masterful strategic play, determined by skill level.

All experience levels are welcome. To sign up, stop in or phone the General Store at 845-373-7735 during open hours between 2:30 and 6 p.m. daily. The event is free and there are no prizes except the satisfaction of having participated. Organizers indicate that if the Community Simultaneous Chess is successful, it may become an annual event.

Leila Hawken
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The Millerton News - September 10, 2026

The Millerton News - September 10, 2026

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Wassaic Project co-founder Eve Biddle presents her “Field Notes”

Wassaic Project co-founder Eve Biddle presents her “Field Notes”

Artist Eve Biddle and Tremaine Gallery Director Terri Moore.

D.H. Callahan

On Wednesday, Sept. 2, the Tremaine Gallery at the Hotchkiss School in Lakeville opened its new show, “Field Notes,” with works by multidisciplinary artist Eve Biddle.

Biddle is best known in the area as one of the founders of the iconic Wassaic Project in the hamlet of Wassaic, New York. The project, which is part art incubator, part gallery, part studio and a whole lot of community, is housed in an old converted grain elevator right next to the Metro North train tracks. It’s credited by many as the spark that revitalized the hamlet, which now boasts a craft bakery, a curated wine and liquor store, a pizza hot spot, the Lantern.

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exhibit

Victor Cella is painting his own path

Victor Cella is painting his own path

Artist Victor Cella with his recent painting “White Dog” in his studio and shop, Little Store Antiques in Great Barrington.

L. Tomaino
If I taught art, I’d teach it in a different way. I could teach it as an awareness — how to free yourself up.
— Victor Cella

Paintings by Victor Cella of a blue dog, a flower still life and a colorful abstract greet visitors as they mount the steps to The Little Store, an antique shop he runs with his husband, John Ortisi, at 88 Main St. in Great Barrington, Mass.

The shop is filled not only with antiques but also with Cella’s paintings. People stop by to see what Cella is currently painting and to talk with him. He is known for his amiability as well as his paintings.

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Fear and Loathing in the Woodland

Fear and Loathing in the Woodland

Fear and Loathing in the Woodland Japanese barberry, an invasive shrub with thorny branches, provides shelter for mice and can contribute to conditions that allow tick populations to thrive.

Provided

I am tempting tick-bite fate by writing this, even from the safety of my office.

Eight people emailed me with a link to the New York Times article on ticks that ran in the Aug. 20 magazine section.My Instagram algorithm made sure that I saw the same story several times over.The article, “The Summer the Ticks Took Over,” by Benjamin Wallace reads like a horror story, engendering a kind of paranoia that sidewalk-hugging New Yorkers can easily fall prey to.The reader comments enhance the author’s terror and fall into key categories: readers who are living proof of the sometimes harrowing, life-altering consequences of a tick bite; readers’ instructive life hacks against ticks (“permethrin is your friend”); readers’ collective chant to kill the deer; and, finally, readers who question why anyone would ever go in the woods again.

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the ungardener

Glass artists at Cornwall Open Studios

Glass artists at Cornwall Open Studios

Jessica Landau creates jewelry from glass. She welcomed visitors to her studio during the Cornwall Open Studio tour on Sept. 5.

Ruth Epstein

David Willis and Jessica Landau were brought together by glass.

They each focus on using the medium for different types of art; he paints and sculpts, while she primarily creates jewelry and glassware.

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community

Oldtone brings roots music, dancing and community to Cool Whisper Farm

Oldtone brings roots music, dancing and community to Cool Whisper Farm

The Allum Ridge Boys & Ashlee at Oldtone Music Festival in 2025

Jim Wright

The Oldtone Music Festival returns Sept. 10 through 13, bringing musicians and audiences together for a four-day celebration of roots music at Cool Whisper Farm in Hillsdale.

Founded in 2015 as a one-day show in Wassaic, Oldtone moved the following year to the Schober family’s Cool Whisper Farm, where it grew into a three-stage camping festival. The festival ran annually until the COVID-19 pandemic forced its cancellation in 2020. After limited attempts to bring it back in 2021 and 2022, organizers announced in early 2023 that the festival would end.

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