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Witchcraft history among Amenia Library’s September offerings

AMENIA — Gearing up for the fall season of activities, the Amenia Free Library has lined up three intriguing sessions for the month of September. The free programs will be of interest to adults and young people alike.

“The History of Witchcraft” will be an illustrated talk offered by the library’s program assistant Megan Marshall on Saturday, Sept. 20, beginning at noon, based on her own research. The content will take listeners back to the Colonial era and could be helpful in preparing for Halloween.

“It’s being presented in response to a recent heightened interest in the subject,” Marshall said, during an interview on Wednesday, Sept. 10.

Then, on the following Tuesday, Sept. 23, there will be a program, “Make Your Own Turkey Wing Broom,” Marshall said. It will be a two-hour program presented in the library kitchen by “The Enchanted Altar,” a business based in Lee, Massachusetts. All materials will be furnished. The program will begin at 5 p.m.

Looking to the ancients, a program will be offered on Friday, Sept. 26, introducing “Greek Mythology,” presented by Marshall who expects to touch on most of the notables, including Athena, Apollo, Zeus and more.

“We have a group of people interested in Greek mythology,” Marshall noted, adding that the program, of interest to teens and adults, is part of a series of talks that will explore mythology and folklore.

Leila Hawken
libraries

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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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concerts
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