| Watershed Post

Do-It-Yourself Catskills slogans

Above: Catskills slogans generated by the collective hive-mind via the #catskillsslogans hashtag on Twitter. We designed some of them into T-shirts. Because they're awesome. (If you'll give us permission, we'll make a T-shirt out of yours, too. Buy any of the tees on our Spreadshirt online store.)

Yesterday, the Watershed Post's Andrea Girolamo created a monster: A crowdsourced effort to come up with new slogans for the Catskills on Twitter.

Inspired by our story about the Catskill Park Resource Foundation's $1,500 contest to come up with a slogan to rebrand the Catskills, Andrea decided to try some re-branding herself, via social media. Her first few slogans:

Closer than the Adirondacks.

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Catskills

Catskill Park Resource Foundation

#catskillsslogans

catskills slogans

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Arts

Around the blogshed: [insert your Catskills slogan here]

Photo: Kiamesha Lake by Flickr user Catskills Photography in the Watershed Post photo pool.

Time for another glorious weekend! Here's what's popping up around some local sites.

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Macabre sign sparks outcry in Rosendale

Above: A striking depiction of the Grim Reaper graces the front of an empty trailer on state Route 32 in Rosendale. Photo by Andrew Wyrich.

The future of a unique roadside sign in Rosendale could be getting a bit grimmer.

Rosendale Town Supervisor Jeanne Walsh told the Daily Freeman that the town will be reviewing concerns that a trailer that has sat on state Route 32 for six years violates town sign laws. The trailer boasts a painted image of the Grim Reaper, and the message “Fraud kills: Don’t be the next victim, Chicago Title Insurance Co.”

Local resident Michael Caponero told the Rosendale town board that the trailer and its distinct signage has hurt his efforts to sell his property on the opposite side of the street, the Freeman reports:

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This Weekend: Byrdcliffe Festival, July 13-15

Three days of theater, music, arts and storytelling kick off tonight, when the first annual Byrdcliffe Festival of the Arts comes to Woodstock.

The festival features a jam-packed schedule of performances and interactive workshops at the Byrdcliffe Guild's three venues, starting with a 6pm opening reception on Friday at the Kleinert/James Center for the Arts at 34 Tinker Street.

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Woodstock writers festival

This Weekend: Day To Be Gay festival returns

Photo: A pride flag flying on a sunny day, much like festival-goers can expect in Bethel on Saturday. Photo by Flickr user torbkahopper, used under a Creative Commons license.

Afetr a three-year hiatus, GALA Catskills is reviving its Day To Be Gay festival this Saturday at the Catskill Distillery/Dancing Cat Saloon in Bethel. A day of fun for the whole family is planned with dozens of vendors, BBQ, music, a Dog of the Day contest and much more.

A portion of the proceeds will go to local food banks and arts organizations in need, according to GALA Catskills' president James Lomax, who was interviewed by YNN about the event, in a video on the YNN website.

Suggested Donation is $10. A parent or guardian must accompany children under 12 and the child’s admission is free. -- Andrea Girolamo

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Move to close Kingston Hospital draws community ire

After much debate and discussion, HealthAlliance of the Hudson Valley is moving toward closing Kingston Hospital and move all hospital services to the campus of neighboring Benedictine Hospital within 18 months, the group announced on July 9.

An HAHV press release states that the new merged hospital will be nonsectarian, and that the number of beds will be reduced.

According to the release, the merged hospital at the Benedictine campus will not have "limitations on reproductive services" -- a phrase that means the hospital will provide abortions, which are currently offered by the independently-run Foxhall Ambulatory Surgery Center, created in a compromise during the 2008 merger of Kingston and Benedictine.

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Fresh: Buttercup

Photo: Victoria Charkut and Peter Mullin's new restaurant Buttercup will be serving Thursday through Sunday in Andes. Photo by Mellisa Misner.

Victoria Charkut and Peter Mullin have wandered and lived all over Europe for decades, and settled in Delaware County a couple of years ago. When their yellow rescue cat Buttercup made it obvious that the country was more to his liking, the couple thought it over and agreed, becoming full time residents.

It seemed only right, therefore, that when it came time for Victoria to realize her dream of opening a restaurant, Buttercup would be given due recognition. A lifelong passion for gourmet cooking, a love of hospitality, and a chef with a five star resume are all part of the recipe for the new eatery, which will be serving Thursday through Sunday.

The Watershed Post spoke with Victoria as she and her team applied finishing touches.

Watershed Post: I've heard of waiters and waitresses who yearn for the stage. This is the first I've heard of a theater person whose lifelong dream was opening a restaurant.

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Bashing the Borscht Belt: A Catskills rebranding effort ladles it on

Above: A screenshot from the website of the Catskill Park Resource Foundation, which is seeking to mount a $5 million campaign to rebrand the Catskills region. The CPRF is currently running a contest seeking Catskills slogans; the winner will receive $1,500.

All press is good press, or so the saying goes. By that logic, Catskills denizens ought to be pleased with the results of a high-profile effort by a group of local businesspeople to rebrand the region.

But after a recent New York Times story about the rebranding effort featured a lot of handwringing about how tarnished the region's reputation is, some local tourism promoters are wondering if dwelling publicly on the image of crumbling Borscht Belt hotels and schlocky comedy is doing more harm than good.

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Catskill Park Resource Foundation

Fourth of July -- er, Seventh of July -- in Roscoe and Fallsburg

Above: Mom's Supporting Troops carries its flag in Roscoe's Independence Day parade on Saturday. The community group includes parents of recent and actively serving military. All photos by Jason Dole.

Call it “4^th of July weekend, observed.” From Founder's Day in Wurtsboro to the UMC Chicken BBQ in White Sulphur Springs, Saturday sure seemed like another holiday in Sullivan County. The photos here come from two of those events – Roscoe's belated Independence Day Parade and craft fair Saturday morning, and the Town of Fallsburg's 9^th Annual Francis Currey Day at Morningside Park later that afternoon.

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community

parades

fourth of july

Independence Day 2012

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From the vaults of history: Building the Rondout Gooseneck

Recently, the New York City Department of Environmental Protection has been using their Facebook page to post old black-and-white photos, taken during the construction of the city's massive water system in the last century.

Above: A September, 1941 photo showing how the tunnel connecting the Rondout Reservoir to the underground Delaware Aqueduct was painstakingly built with wooden molds and concrete. The DEP's caption:

Wooden forms were used in the construction of the Delaware Aqueduct to shape the concrete lining of the tunnel as it was poured. This wooden form was used to mold the gooseneck shape that connected the Rondout Reservoir effluent chamber (water leaving the reservoir), to the connecting tunnel which led to the first shaft of the Delaware Aqueduct. September 1941. (Image DEP Archives hdq.d.5895)

Below: A later photo of the same structure, taken in October of 1941: