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Orange County’s Farmers Markets

June 13, 2017 By Rebekka Lorraine

Country 1077 WDLC — Talitha and Dan Jones, owners of Edgwick Farm in Cornwall, with Orange County Executive Steven M. Neuhaus at the Goshen Farmers Market.

Neuhaus encourages residents to take advantage of Orange County’s farmers markets this summer

*Press Release from Orange County Government

Farmers markets offer fresh local fruits and vegetables

Orange County Executive Steven M. Neuhaus reminds residents that the County’s summer farmers markets will be open through October.

There are 14 summer farmers markets in Orange County.

“Shopping at farmers markets is a great way to support the local economy,” Neuhaus said. “These markets are important to our farming families and provide us with fresh, healthy produce, helping to ensure a sustainable Orange County. I hope residents will continue to support our local farm stands and markets this summer. It’s a great way to eat healthy and meet our neighbors who are growing the produce that we put on our tables for our families.”

Orange County’s farmers markets offer local fruits and vegetables, along with prepared foods, wine, honey, flowers, and everything from meats to quiche. Each market has its own individual character with unique offerings and vendors who take pride in their homegrown products. For a full listing of Orange County farms and farmers markets, visit orangecountygov.com/agriculture or call 615-3840.

“You won’t just find produce at our farmers markets,” said Orange County Tourism Coordinator Susan Hawvermale. “You’ll find a unique cultural experience in a relaxed setting with friendly people. They’ll even give you tips and ideas on ways to cook all the products they sell.”

Farmers markets support a $100 million dollar agricultural industry in Orange County, stimulating the local economy and creating jobs. Approximately 16 percent of the county’s land is farmland and over 10,000 acres are in vegetable production, which is the third largest in the state.

“We encourage residents to support our local farmers at a farmers market or farm near you,” said David Church, Orange County’s Commissioner of Planning. “Everyone benefits when you purchase food picked at the peak of freshness and produced by a local farm.”

For more information, contact Justin Rodriguez, Assistant to the County Executive for Communications and Media Relations at 845.291.3255 or jrodriguez@orangecountygov.com.

SUNY Orange Classrooms in Port Jervis

June 5, 2017 By Rebekka Lorraine

*Press Release from the Orange County Government

County Executive Neuhaus develops plans for SUNY Orange classrooms in Port Jervis

Extension classes scheduled to begin in September

Orange County Executive Steven M. Neuhaus met with SUNY Orange President Dr. Kristine M. Young, County Legislator Tom Faggione and City of Port Jervis Mayor Kelly Decker earlier this week to discuss plans for a satellite campus in Port Jervis.

The meeting, which served as an initial planning session, was held at the Port Jervis High School’s library. Port Jervis City Schools Superintendent Thomas M. Bongiovi also attended the meeting.

“As someone educated in Orange County’s schools from kindergarten through college, I know first-hand how important having quality local schools is,” Neuhaus said. “This is big news for Port Jervis and I am pleased to be working with SUNY Orange to create this wonderful opportunity.”

Neuhaus and the group discussed a variety of topics, including what types of educational courses are most needed by Port Jervis and what educational opportunities would be most popular with residents. They also addressed the barriers Port Jervis residents can face when it comes to student access, retention and success in college, and how to reduce them.

The SUNY Orange classrooms are scheduled to be constructed at 150 Pike Street in Port Jervis by July with classes starting in September.

“I am passionate about expanding access to higher education and broadening the College’s reach as we seek to address the diverse needs of today’s students,” Young said. “We are honored to be able to offer residents in Port Jervis, and throughout the western part of the county, a selection of academic and enrichment courses that are designed for them.”

Added Young: “We saw a need that can be met, and we share County Executive Steve Neuhaus’ vision with respect to the Port Jervis area. We appreciate the County’s assistance with the Pike Street location, and for making our presence in Port Jervis attractive from a facilities and financial standpoint. The County and the College have been partners for a long time, and this is yet another example of how, together, we can improve the quality of life for all residents of Orange County.”

SUNY Orange was founded in 1950 as the first county-sponsored community college in the State University of New York system and was the first two-year college in the nation to offer the associate degree nursing program and studies in electron microscopy. More than 420,000 people have enrolled in a wide range of credit and non-credit classes at the Middletown campus, the Newburgh Campus and satellite locations across Orange County.

“The City of Port Jervis is happy to partner with SUNY Orange and Orange County to bring new programs here to our city,” Decker said. “It has been a pleasure working closely with County Executive Neuhaus and his team along with SUNY Orange President Young and the college to put together an excellent program of higher learning. The County’s commitment to classroom space at its Pike Street complex and the college’s commitment to new innovative classes are much appreciated.”

For more information, contact Justin Rodriguez, Assistant to the County Executive for Communications and Media Relations at 845.291.3255 or jrodriguez@orangecountygov.com.

Art Council Grant Winners

June 1, 2017 By Rebekka Lorraine

*Press Release from the Orange County Arts Council

Orange County Arts Council Creates New Grant Program

Sugar Loaf, NY – The Orange County Arts Council is celebrating its Ten Year Anniversary this year and, to help commemorate this milestone, the Council created a new grant opportunity for artists and arts organizations in the county. The Orange County Arts Council 10th Anniversary Community Arts Grants were designed to encourage new and more abundant arts and culture opportunities in Orange County. The Community Arts Grants were funded through individual donations made to the Arts Council from donors and sponsors, including a generous gift from the Wesley-Krueger Family Foundation.

The Arts Council received thirty-two submissions for the grants earlier this year. Each application was competitively reviewed by an outside panel comprised of Orange County artists and community members. After much deliberation and debate, the selection panel decided to award grants to fourteen projects. These projects represent a variety of arts disciplines and span the county from Port Jervis to Newburgh.

The grant winners are:

· The Greenwood Lake Film Strip project: Developed in conjunction with the Hoboken Film Festival, the project consists of twenty (20) wooden “film-strip” cutouts, 2 feet wide by 4 feet high and mounted on stands at local businesses and area attractions in and around Greenwood Lake throughout the film festival. Each film strip was painted by a local artist with a movie related theme, such as film scenes, movie posters, collages, or any form of movie film art.

· Ghosts of Port Jervis: Through story compellation of carefully researched town history, historical facts and documented local ghost stories, the lives and memories of past residents of Port Jervis, will be shared. Guests will be led on foot, to various buildings and landmarks, while the storyteller acts as a guide, interweaving historical fact and ghost tales to create an entertaining, yet educational experience.

· Strongroom presents Jennifer Williams: Strongroom will produce a public work by Jennifer Williams to be displayed on the empty wall on the side of 128 Liberty Street, which faces the empty lot on the corner of Liberty Street and Broadway. The project will open during the Newburgh Illuminated Festival in early June and remain up through the end of August. For this project Jennifer will be in residence in Newburgh while creating photographs that will then be used to digitally assemble a photo collage, to be printed on a large scale and applied to the wall. This will be her largest exterior public work to date.

· SeaChange Voyage and Floating Residency: Led by Orange County artist Kevin Buckland in association with the Mare Liberum arts collective, the 2017 SeaChange voyage supports deeper engagement of local artists in local environmental organizing through a “Floating Residency” whereby artists will join the voyage and explore river-related themes. Their artworks will be presented in a community art exhibition in Newburgh to raise awareness about the need to protect the Hudson River.

· The Painted Trotters of Goshen: The Painted Trotters of Goshen is a collaborative effort between the Village of Goshen and the Goshen Art League. Individual artists are given a plywood cutout of a horse which the artist can paint in any style they choose. The horses will then be arraigned around the downtown Village of Goshen business district. The horses will be displayed to coincide with the start of racing season at the Historic Track.

· Requiem (Newburgh): Requiem is a new theatrical work based on the poetry of Anna Akhmatova.

Russian poet Anna Akhmatova began writing her poem, Requiem, during the 1930s “Reign of Terror,” when Stalin arrested, executed & sent to Siberian work camps an estimated 20 million of his own people, calling them “enemies of the state.” Written over three decades, the poem wasn’t published in the USSR until 1987. This production follows this period of time in Russian history – examining it from the viewpoint of one woman left all alone who has lost both her husband and son.

· Encapsulate: Encapsulate is a short documentary about the unearthing of a time capsule in the Village of Warwick that has been buried for fifty years. The time capsule itself represents the community’s past, buried in the ground during the Centennial celebration during 1967. The Village has seen many changes in the past fifty years, but there are many things that remain the same. As preparations are made to bury a new time capsule, to be opened in 2067, the film deals with the commonalities in the human experience: responsibility, homecoming, mortality and legacy.

· Treecycle 2017: Wickham Works is producing its 2nd annual Treecyle, a collaborative community art project. Treecycle is a two-day event that coincides with Earth and Arbor Day, and takes place at Wickham Woodlands Manor & Pavilion in Warwick (former O.C. Correctional Facility). Seven Orange County artists/facilitators guided children and adults in the creation of sculptural trees made from up-cycled materials.

· DUSKLIT Interactive Art Bazaar: DUSKLIT is a one night art bazaar that challenges visitors to accept experience, rather than solely object, as art. Over seventy-five artists will transform the Seligmann Homestead in Sugar Loaf into a landscape of interactive 10 x 10’ installations, offering visitors the opportunity to witness, engage with, and participate in elaborate micro-environments and interdisciplinary performances, as well as to form relationships with the artists themselves.

· Newburgh Open Movement: Newburgh Open Movement (NOM) is a monthly dance and movement improvisation event that will take place from 1 – 4 PM at the Safe Harbors Lobby at the Ritz in the City of Newburgh on the last Saturday of every month between February and December of 2017. The event is open to all ages, backgrounds and abilities. It features expert instruction and facilitation by Ophra Wolf and live, improvised music by respected local professional musicians.

· Confabulation: The Notion of a Small Town: In 2017 the Village of Warwick is celebrating its Sesquicentennial, the 150th anniversary of the incorporation of the Village. Confabulation is a theatrical piece based on true/real stories garnered from the community. From these stories, archetype characters will emerge forming the basis for a larger story which will be edited into a final play which will be performed during the Warwick Summer Arts Festival.

· Hudson Valley Plein Air Festival: The Hudson Valley Plein Air Festival is a national-level plein air (outdoor painting) event which will take place at a variety of local sites including the Newburgh Waterfront and all the heritage tourism sites along the Hudson including Nature Museum of the Hudson Highlands, Washington’s Headquarters, Newburgh Landing, and Knox’s Headquarters, and culminate in a large exhibit at the SUNY Orange Middletown Campus.

· MIlkweed Poetry Journal: The mission of Milkweed Poetry Workshop (MPW) is to create a community of poets and to support and encourage expression in words – written, spoken, and otherwise. MPW seeks to honor the diverse voices of these poets by publishing a quarterly journal that showcases the poems that are being written right now in Orange County, New York.

· Middletown Concert Chorale: The Middletown Concert Chorale will offer multiple musical performances which typically include a major classical work and smaller choir pieces chosen from a variety of musical styles from medieval to modern — including musicals, madrigals, spirituals, seasonal, patriotic and folk music from around the world. Performances are held at St, John’s Lutheran Church in Middletown, as well as one or two other venues in Middletown or other Orange Country townships such as Otisville, Montgomery and Port Jervis.

The Orange County Arts Council envisions a county that celebrates artistic diversity and inspires creativity and participation. As such, the Arts Council has made it its mission to champion the arts, connect artists with audiences and foster the growth of Orange County’s creative resources. For more information about the Orange County Arts Council, visit www.ocartscouncil.org or call 845-469-9168.

Neuhaus encourages residents to take advantage of Orange County’s farmers markets this summer

*Press Release from the Port Jervis Free Library