fbpx
  • Subscribe & Support
  • Sign up for Free Newsletter
  • Print Edition
    • Get Home Delivery
    • Read ePaper Online
    • Newsstand Locations
  • HV1 Magazines
  • Contact
    • Advertise
    • Customer Support
    • Submit A News Tip
    • Where’s My Paper?
  • Manage HV1 Account
  • Free HV1 Trial
  • Movie Night Gift Subscription
Hudson Valley One
  • News
    • Schools
    • Business
    • Sports
    • Crime
    • Politics & Government
  • What’s Happening
    • Calendar Of Events
    • Featured Events
      • Art
      • Books
      • Kids
      • Lifestyle & Wellness
      • Food & Drink
      • Music
      • Nature
      • Stage & Screen
  • Opinions
    • Letters
    • Columns
    • Editorials
  • Local
    • Special Sections
    • Local History
  • Marketplace
    • All Classified Ads
    • Help Wanted
    • Post a Classified Ad
  • Obituaries
  • Podcast
  • Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • News
    • Schools
    • Business
    • Sports
    • Crime
    • Politics & Government
  • What’s Happening
    • Calendar Of Events
    • Featured Events
      • Art
      • Books
      • Kids
      • Lifestyle & Wellness
      • Food & Drink
      • Music
      • Nature
      • Stage & Screen
  • Opinions
    • Letters
    • Columns
    • Editorials
  • Local
    • Special Sections
    • Local History
  • Marketplace
    • All Classified Ads
    • Help Wanted
    • Post a Classified Ad
  • Obituaries
  • Podcast
  • Log In
No Result
View All Result
Hudson Valley One
No Result
View All Result

Year in review for the Town of Gardiner

by Frances Marion Platt
April 14, 2016
in Politics & Government
0
(Photo by Lauren Thomas)
(Photo by Lauren Thomas)

It’s funny how the controversies that tend to dominate the news seem to define how a particular year has gone in the life of a town, when the long-term memories of most residents are shaped more by the happy things that happen. In 2012, Gardinerites had plenty to celebrate: For instance, the 100th anniversary of the formation of the Gardiner Fire District was marked by two days of fun and festivity in October. Firefighters from companies throughout Ulster County gathered at the Ulster County Fairgrounds to compete for awards, and a big parade through downtown Gardiner showed off a freshly renovated hand-pumper built in 1896 that had served to put out fires in the town back in the old days.

Residents were also undoubtedly relieved to get back to the longstanding tradition of Gardiner Day, which had been canceled in 2011 due to a double whammy of major storms the week before. This year’s event, pushed back to later in September in an effort to avoid hurricane season, began with a skyjumper parachuting into Majestic Park bearing an American flag and continued with live music all day long, a wild animal show, Peruvian horses demonstrating the paso llano and a fruit pie bake-off.

Other well-attended public events in 2012 included the return of the increasingly popular Cupcake Festival at Wright’s Farm in May, and a very successful Community Farm Dinner at Kiernan Farm in June to raise funds toward preservation of the Hess Farm, located close to the Gardiner hamlet. By year’s end most of the funding towards the $450,000 price of a conservation easement on the Hess Farm had been raised, including a federal farmland preservation grant covering 50 percent of the cost, and the Gardiner Town Board set aside a $10,000 “placeholder” in the 2013 budget to guarantee the town’s ability to match the grant.

Another piece of good news for advocates of land preservation was the announcement in June that Gregory and Janet Abels had donated a conservation easement on 65 acres of their Seven Meadows Farm property, along Route 44/55 east of the Gardiner Airport, to the Wallkill Valley Land Trust. In May, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) awarded the Town a $13,000 grant to replace the footbridge accessing the pole barn in Majestic Memorial Park that was washed out by Hurricane Irene. The announcement that another grant-funded infrastructure project would be completed during the summer of 2012 turned out to be premature, as the New York State Department of Transportation put the brakes on Gardiner’s downtown sidewalk replacement initiative due to procedural complications in the bidding process.

Dog-owners in Gardiner certainly had reason to celebrate in May, when Parks and Recreation Commission member Nancy Barrett’s four-year crusade to create a Dog Park behind Town Hall finally came to fruition. Built with considerable assistance from local Scout troops, the new public facility boasts not only a fenced-in dog run, but also benches, a shade pavilion and extensive landscaping including a boulder-strewn streambed.

Another amenity enjoying lots of use and support from the Gardiner community is its spiffy new library, completed in 2008. Early in 2012, former children’s librarian Nicole Lane stepped into the shoes of retiring Library director Nell Boucher, with Kendra Aber-Ferri coming aboard as the new part-time children’s librarian. Programming at the Gardiner Library has been expanded, with a new children’s knitting group being established, three weekly story hours, twice-weekly visits from campers in Gardiner’s Summer Rec program and plenty of activities for adults as well, including Zumba, yoga and mah-jongg classes, author readings and concerts. In other library-related news, the Town Board decided in June 5 to declare the derelict former library building in the midst of the hamlet surplus property, and to consider possible terms of sale — unless some vigorous organizing community effort should be mounted to preserve the crumbling structure for historical purposes, which has yet to occur.

 

Distillery disaster, campground chaos, driveway drama and tower troubles

Probably the most dramatic event to occur in the Town of Gardiner in 2012 was the fire that seriously damaged the upper floor of the production building at Tuthilltown Spirits. Fortunately, no one was injured in the Sep. 24 incident, in which sparks from an unshielded motor apparently ignited alcohol vapors leaking from one of the distilling tanks.

Page 1 of 2
12Next
Tags: gardinerGardiner Fire Districtgardiner governmentGardiner LibraryTuthilltown Spirits
Join the family! Grab a free month of HV1 from the folks who have brought you substantive local news since 1972. We made it 50 years thanks to support from readers like you. Help us keep real journalism alive.
- Geddy Sveikauskas, Publisher
Previous Post

Police chase ends with arrest in Woodstock

Next Post

Ashokan’s new campus in use, awaiting grand opening

Frances Marion Platt

Frances Marion Platt has been a feature writer (and copyeditor) for Ulster Publishing since 1994, under both her own name and the nom de plume Zhemyna Jurate. Her reporting beats include Gardiner and Rosendale, the arts and a bit of local history. In 2011 she took up Syd M’s mantle as film reviewer for Alm@nac Weekly, and she hopes to return to doing more of that as HV1 recovers from the shock of COVID-19. A Queens native, Platt moved to New Paltz in 1971 to earn a BA in English and minor in Linguistics at SUNY. Her first writing/editing gig was with the Ulster County Artist magazine. In the 1980s she was assistant editor of The Independent Film and Video Monthly for five years, attended Heartwood Owner/Builder School, designed and built a timberframe house in Gardiner. Her son Evan Pallor was born in 1995. Alternating with her journalism career, she spent many years doing development work – mainly grantwriting – for a variety of not-for-profit organizations, including six years at Scenic Hudson. She currently lives in Kingston.

Related Posts

So, you think you’ve got what it takes to run a town?
Politics & Government

So, you think you’ve got what it takes to run a town?

March 31, 2023
Nina Postupack receives 2022 Martha Washington Woman of History Award
Politics & Government

County clerk Nina Postupack receives first pay raise in 14-years

March 29, 2023
Don’t give a hoot for the trees
Politics & Government

Woodstock proposes crackdown on non-essential tree removal

March 29, 2023
Op-ed: End the ethics waiting game
Politics & Government

New Paltz’s Eve Walter keeps constituents up-to-date on county business

March 29, 2023
Saugerties considers ethics law amendment
Politics & Government

Error revealed after internal review of Town of Saugerties employee contracts

March 29, 2023
Broadband finally coming for some western Shandaken residents
Politics & Government

Woodstock considers leasing space to broadband provider Archtop Fiber

March 29, 2023
Next Post

Ashokan’s new campus in use, awaiting grand opening

Trending News

  • After months of speculation, Uptown Kingston’s Market Basket reopens for business 1.7k views
  • School “swatting” strikes Kingston High as police issue statewide advisory 1.5k views
  • Students sent to hospital after Rosendale crash involving school bus 1.3k views
  • Stony Run deal passes, not everyone is celebrating 1k views
  • Best barbecue in the Hudson Valley? Native Arkansawyer brings smoking skills to area’s hottest bars 715 views
  • New Paltz Planning Board considers proposal for feline-themed café 646 views

Weather

Kingston
◉
43°
Cloudy
6:38 am7:21 pm EDT
Feels like: 43°F
Wind: 0mph NNW
Humidity: 99%
Pressure: 29.54"Hg
UV index: 0
SunMonTue
48/27°F
61/41°F
64/45°F
Weather forecast Kingston, New York ▸

Subscribe

Independent. Local. Substantive. Subscribe now.

  • Subscribe & Support
  • Sign up for Free Newsletter
  • Print Edition
  • HV1 Magazines
  • Contact
  • Manage HV1 Account
  • Free HV1 Trial
  • Movie Night Gift Subscription

© 2022 Ulster Publishing

No Result
View All Result
  • News
    • Schools
    • Business
    • Sports
    • Crime
    • Politics & Government
  • What’s Happening
    • Calendar Of Events
    • Featured Events
      • Art
      • Books
      • Kids
      • Lifestyle & Wellness
      • Food & Drink
      • Music
      • Nature
      • Stage & Screen
  • Opinions
    • Letters
    • Columns
    • Editorials
  • Local
    • Special Sections
    • Local History
  • Marketplace
    • All Classified Ads
    • Help Wanted
    • Post a Classified Ad
  • Obituaries
  • Podcast
  • Subscribe & Support
  • Contact Us
    • Customer Support
    • Advertise
    • Submit A News Tip
  • Print Edition
    • Read ePaper Online
    • Newsstand Locations
    • Where’s My Paper
  • HV1 Magazines
  • Manage HV1 Account
  • Log In
  • Free HV1 Trial

© 2022 Ulster Publishing