‘Buy Local’ Festival spreads the word

FALLS VILLAGE, Conn. — The 20th Annual Buy Local Festival Featuring Trades, Arts & Crafts was held on Sunday, March 25, at the Housatonic Valley Regional High School.The event hosted vendors from all over the Tri-state region and is sponsored by the Tri-State Chamber of Commerce.There was a mix of services represented at the festival including food vendors, health and wellness services and local shops.Event-goers were treated to performances from local bands, a variety of snacks and food as well as information and promotional items from several businesses.Wholey OatsOne of the local food vendors in attendance was Wholey Oats Granola & Granola Bars, owned by Pattie Camillone.Camillone makes all her own granola and granola bars and sells them at the Amenia and Millerton farmers markets.“We attended this event last year and had such a great reception that we decided to come again. It’s a great way for small businesses to network, and the crowd is so nice,” she said.Camillone’s goods are hand-baked in small batches.“These are 100 percent my creations. They are all natural and totally preservative free. We sweeten the granola with a little bit of unsweetened apple juice and a tiny bit of local, organic honey,” she said.Currently Wholey Oats offers three varieties of granola and four varieties of granola bars.For more information, visit www.wholeyoats.net or find Wholey Oats Granola on Facebook. Copper Star AlpacaRepresentatives of new business Copper Star Alpaca, located at 20 Main Street in Millerton, were on hand to promote their store.“We’ve had the farm locally for many years and just opened the store in September 2011. When we opened the store we joined the chamber and have tried to participate in all of their events,” said owner Barbara Crocco.Crocco and her daughter, Lauren Vuocolo, were showing off a variety of wares that were made from the alpaca that are raised on their farm.“We have 43 alpacas on our farm that we breed, show and sell; 95 percent of the items in our store are made from alpaca. The fiber is extremely fine and very light. It’s nice to wear in any season,” she said.The store sells a variety of goods including clothing, fiber by the pound, plush toys and hand-crafted goat’s milk soap.For more information, visit www.copperstaralpacafarm.com.ArnoffDavid Osterhoudt, regional sales representative for Arnoff Moving & Storage, was on hand to share with patrons the many services offered locally by the company.“Our main site is the newer facility on Route 22 in Millerton, and we also have a store on Route 44 in Lakeville,” he said.Along with moving and storage, Arnoff also offers packing and shipping services, office and industrial relocation, portable self storage and even furniture restoration.“There’s a lot that we do that people just don’t know about. We offer such a variety of services and retail, and try to meet all the needs of our customers,” he said.Osterhoudt has been with the company since 1991 and has attended every Buy Local festival since the inception of the event.“We participate every year and find it to be a really great way to reach out to our customers and the community,” he said.For a full list of Arnoff’s services visit www.arnoff.com or call 800-633-6683.CurvesAnother local business in attendance was Curves, which is an exercise facility and program for women of all ages.Carol Ann Routhier, owner of the North Canaan, Conn., branch, was on hand to share the many benefits of working out at the facility.“It’s a fun, fast and safe way for women to work out. We provide a comfortable environment for women of all ages to get a whole body workout in just half an hour,” she said.Routhier says she has customers in their teens right up to their 90s.The Curves program allows customers to work at their own skill levels and gradually increase as they get more comfortable.“I always say that you can never outgrow your workout with us because as you improve, you simply up your abilities in the workout,” she said.Curves has more than 10,000 locations nationwide, including a facility in Amenia.‘It’s great because once you’re a member you can go to any facility. It’s even great for when you’re on vacation and want to get a workout in,” she said.For more information and to find a Curves location, visit www.curves.com or call 800-CURVES-30.

Latest News

South Kent School’s unofficial March reunion

Elmarko Jackson was named a 2023 McDonald’s All American in his senior year at South Kent School. He helped lead the Cardinals to a New England Prep School Athletic Conference (NEPSAC) AAA title victory and was recruited to play at the University of Kansas. This March he will play point guard for the Jayhawks when they enter the tournament as a No. 4 seed against (13) Samford University.

Riley Klein

SOUTH KENT — March Madness will feature seven former South Kent Cardinals who now play on Division 1 NCAA teams.

The top-tier high school basketball program will be well represented with graduates from each of the past three years heading to “The Big Dance.”

Keep ReadingShow less
Hotchkiss grads dancing with Yale

Nick Townsend helped Yale win the Ivy League.

Screenshot from ESPN+ Broadcast

LAKEVILLE — Yale University advanced to the NCAA men’s basketball tournament after a buzzer-beater win over Brown University in the Ivy League championship game Sunday, March 17.

On Yale’s roster this year are two graduates of The Hotchkiss School: Nick Townsend, class of ‘22, and Jack Molloy, class of ‘21. Townsend wears No. 42 and Molloy wears No. 33.

Keep ReadingShow less
Handbells of St. Andrew’s to ring out Easter morning

Anne Everett and Bonnie Rosborough wait their turn to sound notes as bell ringers practicing to take part in the Easter morning service at St. Andrew’s Church.

Kathryn Boughton

KENT—There will be a joyful noise in St. Andrew’s Church Easter morning when a set of handbells donated to the church some 40 years ago are used for the first time by a choir currently rehearsing with music director Susan Guse.

Guse said that the church got the valuable three-octave set when Harlem Valley Psychiatric Center closed in the late 1980s and the bells were donated to the church. “The center used the bells for music therapy for younger patients. Our priest then was chaplain there and when the center closed, he brought the bells here,” she explained.

Keep ReadingShow less
Picasso’s American debut was a financial flop
Picasso’s American debut was a financial flop
Penguin Random House

‘Picasso’s War” by Foreign Affairs senior editor Hugh Eakin, who has written about the art world for publications like The New York Review of Books, Vanity Fair, The New Yorker and The New York Times, is not about Pablo Picasso’s time in Nazi-occupied Paris and being harassed by the Gestapo, nor about his 1937 oil painting “Guernica,” in response to the aerial bombing of civilians in the Basque town during the Spanish Civil War.

Instead, the Penguin Random House book’s subtitle makes a clearer statement of intent: “How Modern Art Came To America.” This war was not between military forces but a cultural war combating America’s distaste for the emerging modernism that had flourished in Europe in the early decades of the 20th century.

Keep ReadingShow less