A Catskills bumblebee forages on clover. Photo posted on Instagram this morning by Sean Mahoney.
Happy Thursday, Catskills. The hour has come at last: There's a chance of patchy frost in tonight's forecast, with temperatures expected to dip down into the 30s across the region. Cover your tomatoes, folks.
It's that time of year again: election season is upon us! Give your candidate a boost with an ad in the Watershed Post. Design is included in our low rates, and we're the best way to reach readers across the Catskills.
To get started, contact Julia Reischel: 845-481-0155 or [email protected].
Above: The scene at 2011's Drum Boogie Festival, held in Kingston's Cornell Park. This year, the biennial drumfest returns in a new location, at Woodstock's Andy Lee Field.
Dance the day away at the 2013 Drum Boogie Festival, set to take place Saturday at Andy Lee Field in Woodstock. This grand cultural convergence, brought to you by the good folk of the Woodstock Chimes Fund, unites continents, genres and star power in a glorious celebration of the Beat. Drummers will represent a multitude of traditions: jazz, Japanese Taiko, Middle Eastern, rock, classical, Native American, African, steel pan and more. Performers include Jack DeJohnette, the Midnight Ramble Band from the Levon Helm Studios, NEXUS, Simon Shaheen, members of Broadway’s The Lion King, the Saturday Night Live Band, SO Percussion, Stomp, and a host of others.
Meet Steve Heller's Cro-Magnum: The body of a 2006 Dodge Magnum, the tail fins of a 1957 DeSoto, the bumpers of a couple of mid-century Cadillacs, and 160 silver bullets welded to the front grille. With its modern body and its collage of parts from different makes and vintages, the Cro-Magnum isn't your standard vintage hot rod.
Flickr user A Man Called ACME took this shot of a tree at Mine Kill Falls in Schoharie County over the Labor Day weekend. What photos did you take on your holiday? Upload them to our Flickr pool and we may publish them here.
The Watershed Post HQ is closed today as we savor the final day of our summer vacation. Have a great day -- we'll be open Wednesday through Friday this week.
Child of the corn: A young Catskillian ventures into a corn maze at the annual Bovina Farm Day, returning to Crescent Valley this Sunday.
Still deciding how to spend Labor Day Weekend? The Catskills has it all, from farm days to fire jugglers. Below: Our four-county guide to the last hurrah of the Catskills summer.
Above: Turbid water from the Lower Esopus mixes with clearer water in the Hudson River. Photo taken by Riverkeeper in November of 2011, when turbidity in New York City's Catskill watershed and the Lower Esopus Creek was still high as a result of the Irene and Lee floods.
In a draft document issued last week, the state Department of Health proposed requiring New York City to spend almost $40 million on new stream projects and flood mitigation in its upstate watershed.
But more important, critics say, is what's not in the document: $2 million for stream restoration programs in the Lower Esopus Creek that appeared in an early unofficial draft, and was cut from the document before it was made public. The document, a midterm review and revision of the city's ten-year Filtration Avoidance Determination (FAD), is open to public comment until October 15.
Ulster County executive Mike Hein, who got a copy of the unofficial draft from Congressman Chris Gibson, is irate at the removal of the Lower Esopus funding. On Wednesday, Hein issued a fiery statement, pointing a finger at the DEP for the removal of the $2 million.
"After the NYC DEP apparently pressured Albany, the Lower Esopus portion of this document was removed," Hein wrote. "This is Proof Positive that the NYC DEP routinely uses its grossly disproportionate influence in an attempt to manipulate the regulatory process."
Above: Our Catskill Fire Towers badge on a proud hiker's backpack. Photo by Lisa Lyons.
The Catskills fire towers are already pretty neat, but they're going to be especially awesome this weekend. For half an hour after dark on Saturday, the cabs of all five historic fire towers will be aglow with light.
From the event listing in our calendar:
Like huge fireflies dotting the Forest Preserve, the Catskill fire towers will be lit up at 9:00 PM on Saturday, August 31 for approximately 30 minutes (Raindate-Sunday, September 1) ... When you see a light, you are looking back in time almost 100 years – a time when large Catskill hotels known as mountain houses still existed where many famous people spent the hot summer months avoiding the heat and summer diseases of New York City.
Above: New Kingston during the 1971 Whoop-De-Doo. Photo courtsey of Shirley Davis.
In 1969, the local Presbyterian church in New Kingston founded a festival to showcase traditional folkways and crafts of the Catskills. They called it the "Whoop-De-Doo," and it was successful beyond their wildest dreams. In 1976, the last year it was held, the festival spanned three days and was attended by 4,000 people.
Shirley Davis, a Margaretville historian, sent us some photos of the 1971 Whoop-De-Do, and it looks like a blast, complete with parades and antique costumes and throngs on Main Street.
Above: Floats in the 1971 New Kingston Whoop-De-Doo. Photos courtsey of Shirley Davis.
We just gave ourselves more time to produce the new Catskills Food Guide, a print and online publication that the Watershed Post is launching this fall. Our publication date is November 11 -- right before Thanksgiving.
That means you have more time to take our food business survey, which will get your info in our online Catskills Food Guide database for free.
Click here to submit a restaurant survey, and click here to submit a food producer (butcher, brewer, farmer) survey.
