New Year’s Eve festivities in the Mid-Hudson Valley
Public community celebrations, dance and musical acts: A variety of ways to ring in 2018.
Entertainment
Red Hook & the Chocolate Festival
Saturday, Nov. 4: At the height of production, 20,000 pounds of chocolate were produced each day in Red Hook. The Chocolate Factory was founded in Red Hook in 1888 by William H. Baker. Baker was no relation to the older and more famous Walter H. Baker Company, whose production of chocolate began in 1780 and whose name was synonymous with chocolate in America for a time; but Red Hook’s Baker was not above exploiting the coincidence to promote his business, starting what became known as the “chocolate wars.”
Sheep & Wool Festival this weekend in Rhinebeck
Saturday & Sunday, Oct. 21-22: The difference between the yarns available at chain stores and the yarns brought to the festival is the difference between fast food and fine dining: One will tide you over and fill a need, but the other fills the soul.
Hooley on the Hudson in Kingston Sept. 3
Sunday, Sept. 3: The festival on the Rondout waterfront has bagpipers, food, libations, music, step dancing, storytelling, Celtic wares and more. Plus there will be a Gaelic football and hurling clinic the day before the Hooley at Dietz Stadium in Kingston.
History Channel “pickers” coming to New York State in search of the rare & unusual
Got a barn or basement full of all manner of miscellany? Know someone who does? This could be your time to shine: The History Channel program “American Pickers” will be coming to New York State next month.
Spanish galleon sails into Kingston this weekend
Saturday-Tuesday, Aug. 5-8: Hop aboard the El Galeón Andalucía, a modern replica of the type of vessel used by the Spanish Crown for maritime exploration and trade expeditions from the 16th to the 18th centuries.
Ulster County Fair opens in New Paltz with Carload Night
Tuesday-Sunday, Aug. 1-6: B. J. Thomas and Oak Ridge Boys headline this year’s musical offerings.
Wallkill River will be celebrated with festival at Sojourner Truth Park in New Paltz
Members of the Wallkill River Watershed Alliance will be holding the first annual festival to celebrate the river at Sojourner Truth Park in New Paltz on October 7.
Read & Feed at Basilica Hudson honors poet John Ashbery
Sunday, July 23: This week marks the 90th birthday of Hudson resident, Pulitzer Prize-winner, retired Bard College professor and former New York State poet laureate John Ashbery. Small presses being the lifeblood of even poets as famous as Ashbery, it’s a natural fit for this weekend’s Read & Feed to pay tribute to the occasion.
Dragon Boat Race in Poughkeepsie
Saturday, July 22: Dragon boats are 40-foot-long canoes made of fiberglass, decorated with a carved painted dragon head on the front, a wooden tail on the back and dragon scales down the hull. Holding up to 20 paddlers, plus a drummer to set the rhythm and a steerer, the boats create quite a spectacle as they glide on top of the waters.
