Music on the porch in Woodstock
The Woodstock Reformed Church will host its third annual free outdoor porch concert Saturday, August 24, 3 to 5 p.m., at 16 Tinker Street off the village green.
The fundraiser will feature Hudson Valley-based singer-songwriters in the vein of country gospel, spirituals and folk/rock. Any donations received will go to Woodstock Area Meals on Wheels, who operates out of the church’s commercial-grade kitchen in the basement, providing hot, nutritious meals to about 250 residents a week.
“The porch symbolizes a gathering place where people from all backgrounds and ages feel welcome, which reflects the vision of our church,” said Jen Reilly Bluma, church board member and half of husband-and-wife Americana duo The New Zeitgeist. “We hope this event, in tandem with #PlayMusiconthePorchDay, demonstrates our continued unity with our globe and across our community through creativity as a sacred act. We’d like to keep it going!”
Last year’s concert raised over $800 and an estimated 200 people attended throughout the day.
Woodstock Area Meals on Wheels is led by an all-volunteer-led staff of about 65 cooks, shoppers, kitchen helpers, drivers, dessert bakers and administrators who solely depend on contributions from friends and neighbors. “Every day we can see how our work makes such a difference in our clients’ well-being,” said co-director Gail Bradney. “And for the adult children worrying about mom or dad, we’re a godsend. For many of our clients, the driver who delivers the meal is the only person they get to see or talk to all day. We’re all about connecting and caring through food — food made with lots of love.”
This year’s list of performers includes: Ken & Krista Cayea, Pam Graboyes, The New Zeitgeist (Jen Reilly & Eddie Bluma), Bill Pfaff, Lee Stowe, Jim Ulrich, Zoe Ulrich, Paige Wagner and Howard Whitehouse.
Bring a chair or blanket and celebrate late summer with a concert for a cause.
In addition to supporting the event in-person, you can also give online by visiting the church’s website and making a donation through the secure FaithStreet portal, noting the donation is for Woodstock Area Meals on Wheels.
When did the error take place?
An outside lab has taken the blame for erroneous PFOS test results from a sample of Woodstock municipal water, according to councilmember Bennet Ratcliff. Ratcliff has objected to paying a bill for services rendered by JH Consulting Group of Newtonville, NY.
He said he had spoken to founder and owner Jack Halstuch.
“He made clear that the 2024 re-test in May of this year, which initially reported no detection, was an error,” Ratcliff said in a report to the town board at its August 13 meeting. The test did find that PFOS, a “forever chemical,” was present in the town’s municipal water supply at the level of 2.39 parts per trillion.
Water and sewer superintendent Larry Allen collected the May 7 sample and sent it to JH Consulting, which sent it in turn to an outside lab which reported 2.39 parts per trillion, according to Ratcliff. “The error took place in the reporting from JH to Woodstock,” he said, “and the error was not in the testing.”
Ratcliff told the board Halstuch outlined what other communities in New York with PFOS had done. Hoosick Falls installed a granular activated carbon filtration system and a new water line. Fort Plain discovered and isolated the source of PFOS and PFOA and took steps to use water that came from an uncontaminated source.
Woodstock residents were concerned that the 2023 annual water report showed 3.48 ppt of PFOS in the water supply, up from 0.86 the previous year. A follow-up test which showed below-detectable levels was in error. The correct level was 2.39 ppt.
Member of the Woodstockers United for Change have claimed credit for bringing the error to the town’s attention.
The town has begun to conduct quarterly samples instead of the previous yearly cycle. In an attempt to isolate the source of the PFOS, new samples were taken recently from the individual wells in the well field instead of from the pump house. In an attempt to isolate the source of the PFOS, The state health department has recently deployed resources to help identify the source through its drinking-water source protection program.
— Nick Henderson
Hurley plans highway garage
“This is a no-brainer. This has to be done,” Hurley town supervisor Mike Boms said. “We need a garage. There’s no ifs, ands or buts about it.”
Plans are under way for a 14,500-square-foot highway garage on town land on Dug Hill Road in Hurley. The town must change the legal classification of part of the property from park land through a process called alienation. Non-park use on park land requires approval from the state legislature.
The new garage is estimated at $8.4 million, which is about $100 a year for the average taxpayer, or eight dollars a month, for a 25-year bond, town supervisor Mike Boms said.
He called the $100 a year “a bargain.”
— Nick Henderson
Town of Hurley transfer station has resumed accepting brush
The Town of Hurley transfer station, on Dug Hill Road in West Hurley, has resumed accepting brush, but be aware of the following:
The cost of drop-off is $20 per cubic yard, which is roughly half the amount a small pickup truck can hold; no logs will be accepted; no brush from commercial contractors will be accepted; no one-ton trucks (those that can carry a payload of 2,000 pounds), or larger ones, will be allowed to drop off brush.
Olive Free Library has joined the Sustainable Libraries Initiative’s Sustainable
Olive Free Library has made a commitment to sustainability by joining the Sustainable Libraries Initiative’s award-winning Sustainable Library Certification Program (SLCP), a not-for-profit organization with a mission to empower library leaders in advancing environmentally sound, socially equitable and economically feasible practices to intentionally address climate change and co-create thriving communities. The SLI’s Sustainable Library Certification Program is designed to provide public libraries, academic libraries, library systems and school librarians with exclusive resources and step-by-step guidelines to shift towards a cleaner, greener and more equitable future. Collective action is imperative in generating positive change.
Melissa McHugh, the director of the Olive Free Library said, “Other libraries’ efforts helped us to imagine what we were already doing in a whole new light. I had conversations with patrons, the board and staff to assess their interest in this endeavor. I feel that although we’re already doing so much to address sustainability issues at the library, this program helps us focus and develop a plan to execute it.”
The Olive Free Library board of trustees agreed to be a part of the program at their March 2024 meeting. There had been interest from patrons and staff for the library to become more sustainable. Involvement in the SLCP is a part of a larger plan for sustainability, including repurposing the library’s garage space and replacing outdated lighting in the main part of the library.
“Sustainability is something that should be important to everyone,” said McHugh. “We don’t live in isolation, and it’s only in working together as a community that we can create a better, more sustainable world.”
Rather than requiring difficult, expensive, or immediate changes to a library’s infrastructure and daily functioning, the SLCP takes a unique approach to sustainability by ensuring that the most important changes stem from a library’s long-term philosophy, decision-making abilities and goal-setting strategies.
The program guides participants into a mindset shift, encourages the commitment of making informed choices for the future and builds the understanding behind each step that makes each positive change a conscious one instead of becoming a mindless routine.
The Olive Free Library has already replaced its windows and doors with more energy-efficient options and is currently in the process of changing their landscaping to be more native plant and pollinator friendly. They have installed motion sensors for lights so that they go off automatically when not in use, recently renovated bathrooms and added a ramp to the front entrance to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act. In addition, the library hopes to repurpose garage space into additional program space and replace outdated lighting in the main part of the library.
Library patrons can join the Sustainability Committee, help support individual projects and learn more about what the library is doing through social media, the Olive Free Library website and the library’s twice-monthly email newsletter.
For additional information, call the Olive Free Library at 845-657-2482, or email director@olivefreelibrary.org, or visit olivefreelibrary.org.
Join the family! 
