PHOTOGRAPHY – 6:30 p.m. Visit the museum’s historic village with your camera at the ‘golden’ hour just before sunset. Staff member Kevin Gray will walk you through the ground and provide tips on photo composition, more to send you home with fantastic photos. Cost, $17/non-member. The Farmers’ Museum, Cooperstown. 607-547-1450 or visit www.farmersmuseum.org/event/sunset-on-the-farm-photography-excursions-2/
THEATER – 2 p.m. Come out for a retelling of ‘The Diary of Anne Frank’ by Wendy Kesselman based on the play by Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett. The Diary of Anne Frank chronicled her life as her family hid in Nazi occupied Amsterdam from 1942-44. The material may not be suitable for children. Tickets, $20/adult. Presented by Bigger Dreams Productions at the Production Center, Foothills Performing Arts Center, Oneonta. Visit www.facebook.com/biggerdreamsproductions
EV CAR SHOW – 11 a.m. – 3 p.m. HeatSmart Hartwick presents car show featuring Electric Vehicles, their owners, car dealers, and information about purchasing an EV and the benefits of ownership. There will also be booths from solar panel installers, clean heating and cooling, other initiatives to fight climate changes. Husky Park, Wells Ave., Hartwick. 607-293-6654 or visit doas.us/hartwick-ev-car-show/
The Master Gardner’s are busy setting up for the Cornell Cooperative Extension of Schoharie and Otsego County Master Gardener Plant Sale Saturday, May 21.
The sale will feature 100’s of flowers, perennials, herbs, vegetables and annuals. Stop by 123 Lake Street in Cooperstown from 9 am to 3 pm.
OPENING RECEPTION – 5 – 7 p.m. Celebrate the opening of 3 popular shows ‘ESSENTIAL ART’ the 31st Annual Regional Juried Art Show, ‘Into The Light’ featuring acrylic paintings by Mimi George, and the 55th year of the annual Leatherstocking Brush and Palette Club Fine Arts Exhibition showcasing works by Otsego County artists. Cooperstown Art Association. 607-547-9777 or visit www.cooperstownart.com
The training of the oxen at The Farmers’ Museum has begun and it’s fascinating.
“We have twins, they are Brown Swiss from Milford, it’s great!” said Bob Thompson, Associate Direcor of Agricultural and Facilities Support Services.
Twin brothers Barley and Rye were about a week old when they got to the Museum. Born in September, they already weigh 525 pounds apiece. When they are grown, they will each weigh one ton.
“We just started training the oxen, we are training them to be working animals,” Sandra Vanalstine, a farmer at the Museum, said. Ms. Vanalstine has been with the Museum for two years as a farmer and now in charge of training the oxen. (By the way, ox is singular — one animal; the plural oxen means more than one.)
“I try to make it fun for them,” she said. “You start off by simply leading them, petting them, talking to them all of the time. Then come the verbal commands and yokes.”
The twins work on commands before the farmer puts on the yokes.
“’Haw’ means turn left, ‘gee’ means take a right turn, and ‘whoa’ means stop,” Ms. Vanalstine said. “They understand those words.”
Our route home to Cooperstown from Tucson took us through Tulsa, Oklahoma, last weekend, and there was no way I’d pass through town without stopping at the new Bob Dylan Center. It did not disappoint.
I love every twist and turn of Dylan’s work, have read at least a few dozen books about the guy, own all his records, the whole deal. The Center isn’t just a shrine to random artifacts (“Here’s the chair Bob sat in when he wrote ‘Blowin’ in the Wind’”). Instead, it’s a place that can interest the casual observer (my long-suffering wife) and captivate the devotee (me) with thoughtful exhibits and expositions that delve deeply into the artist’s multitudes. Not unlike our own Baseball Hall of Fame. An experience to treasure.
We spent the night in downtown Tulsa; our hotel that evening hosted a gathering of Black motorcyclists who had traveled to town to commemorate the city’s Black Wall Street Massacre of 1921. I had nearly enough college credits to earn a major in American History but first learned about the event through a New York Times article on its 100th anniversary. Homes, businesses burned, hundreds dead in riots, thousands imprisoned for more than a week for no cause other than their race; a shameful weekend that should be a part of every curriculum.
SPRING CONCERT – 7 p.m. Join the CCS Music Department for spring concert and recital with grades 3 – 12 and performances by the High School Jazz Band and Jazz Vocal groups. Free admission, donations to support the CCS Music Association appreciated. Stirling Auditorium, Cooperstown High School. 607-547-8181 or visit www.cooperstowncs.org/article/744669?org=cooperstown-csd
WILDFLOWER WALK – 10 a.m. – Noon. Jean Miller Memorial Wildflower Walk returns this year, led by local plant expert and DOAS member Connie Tedesco. Participants should dress for the weather, bring water, binoculars, & insect repellent. Gilbert Lake State Park, 18 CCC Rd. Laurens. 607-397-3815 or visit doas.us/calendar/
BLOOD DRIVE – 2 – 7 p.m. Donate through May 19 for chance to win a travel trailer camper that sleeps eight. Laurens Fire Department, 34 Main St., Laurens. 1-800-733-2767 or visit www.redcrossblood.org
COOPERSTOWN – Sammy Dallas Bayes, a Tony Award nominee whose career as a director, choreographer and writer in musical theater, television and movies passed away unexpectedly early Thursday morning, May 12, 2022, at Bassett Medical Center in Cooperstown. He was 82.
Born July 9, 1939, in Wasco, California, Sammy was the son of Sam Tony Bayes and Zana Marie Frost Bayes. Raised in Pueblo, Colorado, he attended Centennial High School where he was part of his first ever musical, playing Tommy Albright in “Brigadoon.” After graduating in 1957 he attended college locally, and then from 1958 to 1964, Sammy proudly served his country in the United States Army both as active duty and the reserves.
The community is invited to an interfaith Prayer Vigil to be hosted at 5 p.m., Wednesday, May 18, by the Elm Park United Methodist Church in Oneonta. The focus of the gathering is to comfort the broken hearted and to pray for the people of Buffalo as they struggle with this tragedy, Rev. Dr. Cynthia Walton-Leavitt said in a press release to announce the vigil.
‘So many of us were saddened as our hearts were broken once again at hearing the news of another mass shooting – this time so close to home with the shooter traveling from Conklin to a Tops Supermarket in a Black neighborhood in Buffalo.’
BASEBALL AUTHOR – 2 p.m. Major League umpire Dale Scott will be on hand to discuss his new book ‘The Umpire Is Out: Calling the Game and Living My True Self’ about his career in professional baseball as the only umpire to come out as Gay. Bullpen Theater, Baseball Hall of Fame, Cooperstown. 607-547-7200 or visit baseballhall.org/events/author-series-dale-scott?date=0
BAKING CLASS – 6 p.m. Learn how to make light and fluffy Cinnamon Rolls at home with amateur baker Alex Benjamin. Zoom link & ingredients will be sent 5/13. Cook-a-long or just enjoy the show. Presented online by the Huntington Memorial Library, Oneonta.
BLOOD DRIVE – 2:30 – 6:30 p.m. Donate through May 19 for chance to win a travel trailer camper that sleeps eight. Richfield Springs Community Center, Walnut St., Richfield Springs. 1-800-733-2767 or visit www.redcrossblood.org
SYMPHONY – 7 p.m. The Catskill Symphony Orchestra presents their final concert of the season ‘American Heritage,’ celebrating American composers of the 20th century including Florence Price (Violin Concerto No. 1), Amy Beach (Gaelic Symphony), and George Whitefield Chadwick (Rip Van Winkle Overture) and will feature solo violinist Er-Gene Kahng. Health guidelines will be followed. Cost is $35/adult at the door. Alumni Field House, Dewar Arena, SUNY Oneonta. Visit catskillsymphonyorchestra.org
The training of the oxen at The Farmers’ Museum has begun and it’s fascinating.
