Stockade Faire ’21 in Kingston
On Saturday, October 2, Wall and North Front streets in Uptown Kingston were bustling with people for the annual Stockade Faire ’21. Shopkeepers moved their merchandise out on North Front Street, joining other crafters and makers of the Hudson Valley in tents. OMG (One Mile Gallery) Art Faire was in progress around the corner at the Wall Street Music Hall (formerly BSP) while people could view a car show and listen to a disc jockey spin the records.
Field + Supply fair in Kingston October 8-10
Field + Supply, a biannual fair, returns October 8 to 10 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. to the grounds of Hutton Brickyards in Kingston. Field + Supply convenes over 175 makers across a range of disciplines to present shoppers with a thoughtfully curated selection of handcrafted, one-of-a-kind goods paired with live music, food and beverage vendors and live demonstrations from select makers.
Tickets are required for entry at a starting price of $15, and guests are encouraged to purchase tickets in advance, as a limited number will be available for purchase on-site. To purchase tickets, visit www.fsmrkts.com.
Hutton Brickyards is located at 200 North Street in Kingston.
O+ Festival returns to Kingston October 8-10
Indie/pop stalwarts the Magnetic Fields and “first lady of graffiti” Lady Pink headline the 11th O+ Festival from October 8 to 10 in Kingston. The weekend connects participating artists and musicians with vital healthcare, mental healthcare, dentistry and wellness services. Through the generosity of many supporters, this year’s Festival is free to the public.
The 11th O+ Kingston kicks off at the Kingston Library with a parade through Midtown and Uptown on Friday, October 8. The weekend’s venues (outside as much as possible) include Academy Green, Good Work Institute, Keegan Ales, Kingston Greenline, Old Dutch Church grounds, YWCA, Samadhi Recovery Outreach Center and the Yoga House. The footprint of the Festival expands a bit this year to the Town of Ulster with Sunday concerts at the Blueprint arts collective, located at the former IBM complex.
O+ (pronounced O Positive) Festival Kingston is a citywide celebration of life while holding space for the complexity that comes with the collective and personal trauma of the past year-and-a-half. The weekend will offer joy and connection, which are, like this year’s theme of O+ygen, essential to our ability to thrive as a community.
O+ executive director Holly Kelly says of this year’s Festival, “We can’t wait for the community to experience the incredible outdoor and free offerings of art, music and wellness at O+ in October. O+ is different from other festivals because artists and musicians who participate receive healthcare services in exchange at the O+ pop-up clinic.”
Participating solo artists, bands and ensembles include: Proper (hip hop rap/rock, NYC); Teenage Halloween (power pop, NJ); Pedazo de Carne con Ojo (hip hop/experimental, Philadelphia); Ceschi (progressive hip hop/folk, CT); Tierra del Fuego (rock/indie, NYC); Shana Falana (psych rock/shoegaze, Kingston); Breanna Barbara (blues singer/songwriter, NYC); Toebow (cartoon psych/pop, NYC); Bobby Chaniel (hip hop/R&B, New Paltz/NYC); Jelly Kelly (post-punk art rock, Kingston); SSuperDirrtyDom (hip hop/rap, Kingston); BattleaXXX (hard rock, Albany); Denmark (indie rock, Kingston); Out of System Transfer (anarcho-folk/punk, NYC); Luella Roche (singer/songwriter, Kingston); Geezer (doom/heavy blues, Kingston/NYC); WSABI (performance art/prog, NYC); Battle Ave (indie rock, Poughkeepsie); Shayna Blass (indie folk, Kingston); Caprice Rouge (world music, Kingston); COUPY (indie rock, NYC); Shenna (pop/R&B, NYC); Clone (indie rock, NYC); 9 Horses (improvising chamber ensemble, Beacon/NYC); and Carinae (psych/rock, MA).
Participating mural, performance, interactive, installation and fiber artists include: Marilyn Arsem (site-responsive performance, MA); Paula Josa-Jones (performance, CT); Ann Lewis (mural, Detroit); Brian Kaspr (mural, CT); Marielena Ferrer (participatory practice / installation, Kingston); David Najib Kasir (mural, WI); Stephanie Loveless (participatory/installation, Albany); Kat Howard (fiber art installation); the DRAW (Kingston); Elisabeth Motley (live-art choreography event, Brooklyn); Hudson Valley Bee Habitat (hands-on workshop, Kingston); Khonsu X (experimental participatory soundscape, PA); Cave Dogs (video installation, Bloomington); Diana Steinberg and Naomi Steckman (pop-up performance, MA); Molly Lindsay and Dina Kravtsov (mural and workshop, Kingston); and Performance sin Miedo/Performance without Fear (participatory performance, Kingston).
A Festival highlight will be a screening of Street Heroines, a highly anticipated, festival-bound feature documentary film by Alexandra Henry about the courage and creativity of female street artists from around the world, featuring this year’s O+ muralists Lady Pink and Ann Lewis. Art offerings also include the Literary SalO+n featuring beetle bailey (Kingston), Carolita Johnson (NYC), Sara Benincasa (NYC), Onnesha Roychoudhuri (Kingston), Hayley Downs (Kingston) and Cristopher Livecchi (Kingston).
O+ audiences are invited to ExplO+re a variety of wellness offerings, including Qigong, foundational concepts of Chinese medicine, a cooking class, sound healing and digital resilience. There will be a gravel bike ride as well as a mural bike tour.
Proof of a COVID-19 vaccine for those 12 and older is required for entry to all indoor and outdoor events. Masks are required. Those under 12 may attend if masked. For additional information, visit https://opositivefestival.org.
Cornell Creative Arts Center hosts Jack-O-Lantern ceramics workshops
The Cornell Creative Arts Center hosted a Jack-O-Lantern ceramics class workshop on Saturday, October 2 in Kingston. Under the tutelage of instructor Karen Jaimes, pupils hand built, carved and glazed a jack-o-lantern in two hours. If you would like to sign up, there will be another class on Saturday, October 9, at 2 p.m. Visit https://cornellcreativeartscenter.com/classes-workshops/.
UC Italian Festival names Bill Calderara, Mary Tuma Signore/Signora of the Year
The Ulster County Italian American Foundation has named Bill Calderara, president and chief executive officer at Ulster Savings Bank, “Signore of the Year” and Mary Tuma, a personal trainer and former director of operations at the Ulster Performing Arts Center, “Signora of the Year.” Additional honorees include Bob Siracusano, president of Sawyer Motors, and Joe Concra, founder of the O+ Festival, for community service, and Kevin and Stephanie Reginato for the Italian Pride award. All honorees will be recognized at the opening ceremony at this year’s Italian Festival on October 10 at 11 a.m. at T. R. Gallo Park in Kingston.
Calderara, who was born and raised in Mount Vernon, has more than 30 years of banking experience and has been at the helm of Ulster Savings Bank since 2016. “I am proud of my Italian heritage and honored to receive this recognition,” said Calderara. “I am also humbled because I feel the award is really a recognition of the amazing teams I work with – the UCIAF board and committees and the Ulster Savings staff – so I will be accepting it to honor them as well.”
Tuma, a lifelong Kingston resident, formerly worked as the director of operations at UPAC and as an intellectual property legal assistant at IBM. In recent years, she became a certified personal trainer and fitness instructor and has taught, tested and certified other fitness trainers. Tuma now volunteers her services at several organizations as part of the foundation’s Community Care Outreach Program. “My heartfelt thanks to my friends at UCIAF for the Signora of the Year award,” she said. “I share this honor with all of them for their support, continuing friendship and dedication to this foundation.”
The Ulster County Italian Festival begins at 11 a.m. on the main stage, followed by a full day of entertainment, children’s activities, live music, food and craft vendors, a spaghetti-eating contest and street performers. Shuttle buses to the Festival will be available at Kingston Point (handicapped-accessible), Kingston Plaza and the Cornell Street municipal parking lot. The Festival is free. For additional information, visit www.uciaf.org.
Barnes & Noble reopens in Kings Mall
Barnes & Noble held a ribbon-cutting for the opening of a new bookstore in Kings Mall last Wednesday, September 29. The new store brings Barnes & Noble back to Kingston after the closure of its old store in the Ulster Crossing Plaza earlier in the year.
The new store was officially opened to the public with a ribbon-cutting by local author Stephen Blauweiss, a local historian and author known for titles such as The Story of Historic Kingston and The Life and Death of the Kingston Post Office.
“Barnes & Noble is so happy to be reopening here in the Hudson Valley,” said James Daunt, who became the new CEO at Barnes & Noble in September 2019. “When the landlord opted not to renew the lease on our previous location, we knew we wanted to open a new store here as soon as possible. We are delighted to have found a new home so close by.”
“We are excited to be back in Kingston in our new location at the Kings Mall,” says store manager Denise Bonyeau. “My team and I have missed seeing our customers every day and are ready to welcome them into our new store. I have been a Barnes & Noble bookseller for the last 13 years, and I have seen firsthand the benefits of having a bookstore in the community. I can say with confidence that our customers, both old and new, are going to really love perusing the curated bookcases in our new store and enjoying the café. We cannot wait to see them all back.”
In addition to the Grand Opening with Stephen Blauweiss, the store has plans for additional book-signings this year and is planning for bigger events such as storytimes and book-readings in 2022.
“Denise and her team have created a beautiful new store here in Kingston, full of books right at the start of a wonderful fall of new publishing,” said Daunt. “Book sales have never been stronger in the United States, a fact which every reader will celebrate. We are all delighted to have a bookstore back in Kingston.”
Barnes & Noble Kingston is located at 1200 Ulster Avenue and online on social media, including Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, by searching the handle @BNKingstonNY.
YMCA, Bike-Friendly Kingston host bike repair clinic October 20
Bike-Friendly Kingston and the YMCA of Kingston and Ulster County will be hosting their next free bicycle repair clinic on Wednesday, October 20 from 3 to 6 p.m. in the Y parking lot on Pine Grove Avenue in Kingston. The last bike will be accepted at 5:30 p.m.
A bell is required by New York State law, and if you ride after dark, you need a set of front and rear lights. If you’re under 14 years of age, a helmet is required while riding! You can get bells, lights and bike helmets at the clinic.
No advance registration is required. The event is free, but donations are welcome. Be sure to bring your bike and wear a mask or other face covering if you are not vaccinated. In case of bad weather, the rain date is Thursday, October 21.
For additional information, contact the YMCA Bicycle Program manager Tom Polk at (845) 338-3810, extension 102, or e-mail tpolk@ymcaulster.org.
Reaching back to our roots in Kingston
Voices of the Ancestors: Gourds Got Voices, a musical performance with handmade life-sized puppets and masks, was held at Kingston Point Beach on Saturday, October 2. It was hosted by Circle Creative Collective of New Paltz, Caru Thompson and Ms. V. This was the second annual Sankofa (from the Twi language of Ghana which teaches us to reach back to our roots to recover and gather the best of what the past has to teach us so we can move forward with our full potential). After the performance a healing ceremony for the waters was held when everyone placed a flower into the Hudson River with chanting.
Join the family! 
