PAINT THE POINT – 7 a.m. – Noon. The public is invited to walk the gardens and view artists at work as they paint Brookwood Point. Resulting pieces will be on sale with the Cooperstown Art Association. Brookwood Point, 6000 St. Rte. 80, Cooperstown. 607-547-2366 or visit otsegolandtrust.org/calendar/paint-the-point
OTSEGO COUNTY FAIR – 10 a.m. – 9 p.m. Come enjoy music, rides, food, exhibits, and much more at the Otsego County Fair. Otsego County Fair Grounds, 469 Mill St., Morris. 607-263-5289 or visit www.otsegocountyfair.org
COOPERSTOWN – Mary Martha McGowan passed away on July 2, 2022, surviving her beloved husband Victor Salvatore, Jr by 18 months. Universally known as Martha, she was born August 13, 1936 in St. Paul, Minnesota. After attending the College of New Rochelle and graduating with an art degree from the University of Minnesota, she moved first to Chicago and then to New York City in 1966.
In New York she worked at the Associated Council of the Arts, the South Street Seaport project, and for the Brooklyn Academy of Music, of which she authored a history. When she met and married Victor Salvatore, Jr, she began to spend time at their home Swanswick in Springfield Center, New York.
APPRECIATION CONCERT – 4 p.m. Glimmerglass Festival to hold a season preview concert to appreciate the Springfield Community. Listen to some highlights from the coming opera season. Proceeds benefit the Springfield 4th of July Parade. Tickets, $5/person available from the Convenience Corner Store at US-20 and St. Rt. 80 in Springfield or at the Cooperstown Chamber of Commerce, Cooperstown. Held at the Alice Busch Opera Theater, 7300 St. Rt. 80, Cooperstown. 607-547-2255 or visit www.facebook.com/SpringfieldParade/
Climate change and land use are inextricably bound together. The collision between the two creates tension. We are experiencing that tension in multiple ways — not least of which is the drive to create more renewable energy through use of solar and wind-power generation on central New York farmland.
There currently are proposals — some approved and some being considered — to develop large solar and wind “farms” throughout upstate New York, including Schoharie, Delaware, and Schenectady counties.
In some cases, these projects will reduce or eliminate crop production from previously fertile farmland and reduce or eliminate grazing capacity for livestock. The result of this will be a reduction in agricultural productivity
in central New York and removal of these lands from agricultural production for at least a generation.
Otsego 2000 was instrumental in the elimination of hydrofracking for natural gas in New York and has advocated for responsible development of solar and wind energy production for local use. Large-scale production of solar and wind energy, however, can be quite a different proposition if it involves taking potentially productive farmland out of service or fragmenting the ecological integrity of natural systems.
Take a fascinating trip to the roots of America’s democracy and Women’s Suffrage on Friday, April 29, with “Haudenosaunee Culture, History and Influences in Upstate New York” at The Lake House in Richfield Springs.
The hour-long discussion features Dr. Sally Roesch Wagner, an expert on the Haudenosaunee Confederacy and its centuries-long influence on the United States, as well as Oneida Faithkeeper Diane Shenandoah and her son, musician Adah Shenandoah. Open to the public, the event runs from 5:30 – 6:30 p.m. Admission is free, although donations are encouraged.
“We’re on the eastern edge of the Confederacy,” said Town of Richfield Supervisor Dan Sullivan. “The significance isn’t so much where we are in terms of the border, but in terms of how the Confederacy had such a lasting impact on New York and influenced the Seneca Falls convention. It’s an important story.”
The Cooperstown Farmers’ Market and the Cooperstown Lions Club are marking their third year of providing food-insecure individuals and families with easy access to healthy local food.
People shopping with SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) at the Farmers’ Market can buy vegetables, fruit, cheese, meats, and other items, such as vegetable plants. The Cooperstown Lions Club funds SNAP Match, which provides up to $15 in matching funds to shoppers using SNAP.
“SNAP is an amazing opportunity to try a variety of nutrient-dense foods,” said Carrie Edsall of Black Willow Pond Farm, a year-round vendor at the Cooperstown Farmers’ Market. “They can explore farms for a variety of
Otsego Outdoors presents a winter challenge to all adventure seekers looking for fun and exercise this winter.
The Winter Octet Challenge, the fourth of its kind, consists of cross-country skiing, snow-shoeing, and hiking to highlight accessible trails for those seeking outdoor activities.
Participants choose 8 of 13 trails to complete at state parks, state forests, town parks, Otsego Land Trust properties, and private properties open to the public. A “Choose Your Own” option opens the door to different activities such as sledding, tubing, ice fishing, and more.
Rising Water(colors), Cel #5 by Enid Ryce is part of the exhibit at The Smithy Gallery in Cooperstown. It is reminiscent of the Sleeping Lion at the end of Otsego Lake as well as the Glimmerglass Film Days logo.
Glimmerglass Film Days returns November 4 and runs through November 11, featuring 26 feature-length films, two shorts, an art exhibition, filmmaker talks, restaurant specials, and guided walks around Cooperstown.
This year’s week-long festival, the ninth annual, reprises the 2020 virtual format but brings back the shared audience experience with the opportunity to view five of the feature-length films in person and view the exhibition “Rising Water(colors).”
“We’re excited about this year’s the films and shorts,” said Ellen Pope, Executive Director of Otsego 2000. “Glimmerglass Film Days 2021 is an environmental film festival. We define our environment to include places we live and the historic fabric around us. The economic life that knits us all together, if you will.”
On its editorial page over the past few weeks, The Freeman’s Journal has commented on, among other important issues, the fog-like haze that was smoke from the western wildfires that fell on the lake and village, leaving the air heavily dangerous for long periods of time, and the latest COVID surge that is gnawing, for the most part, on our unvaccinated and younger residents — children — as well as causing new concern among our older population. None of this was any good and all of it is sad and, no doubt to some, depressing.
However, for us here in Otsego County, this distant, remote upstate almost-forgotten (or, perhaps, not yet discovered) place, there is a special glimmer; something that can bring a smile; something to lighten our load and keep us on a happier track. Otsego Lake.
Nine miles of clear, deep water that laps endlessly on steep tree-lined shores and often reflects the changing sky and clouds and forest, the lake is a home to myriad fish and feathered wildlife, a reservoir for the village of Cooperstown and a summer and winter playground for boaters, tubers, swimmers, sailors, rowers, paddlers, divers, fishermen and water, and snow-skiers. Glacier-created during the last great Ice Age, and spring-fed as well as stream-fed, this superb natural resource is the headwaters of the Susquehanna River. In the past it has played a variety of roles in the Leatherstocking novels of James Fenimore Cooper, who called his – and our – beautiful lake The Glimmerglass.
COOPERSTOWN — The fourth Susquehanna River Cleanup took place Saturday, July 17.
Community involvement in this project has continued to grow with more than 35 people volunteering this year. The Cooperstown Lions Club, Cooperstown Rotary Club, Rotary E-club of Global Trekkers, OCCA and Otsego 2000 as well as some individuals all made financial contributions to assist with building three new improved rafts.
The Susquehanna River Cleanup project came about because John Rowley and Maureen Rowley would walk the riverside trail between Mill and Main streets in Cooperstown on a regular basis.
They were dismayed by the amount of debris and garbage in that section of the river, including a large cattle-feeding trough.
Growing tired of seeing this, John proposed a clean-up project to the Cooperstown Lions Club, where he is a member and past president. Lions Club International Foundation had made environmental projects one of the club’s new initiatives.
The Cooperstown Lions Club embraced the project and set out to team with other organizations that would assist and guide the Lions with the project.
Otsego 2000 will receive a $12,500 grant from the Preservation League of New York for their Preserve New York grant in order to fund a Culture Resource Survey in the City of Oneonta.
This survey will be used to help maintain and determine which historic buildings in Oneonta can be renovated.
“Oneonta’s neighborhoods encompass a wonderful range of historic and architectural styles from the late 19th to the mid 20th century, the heyday of railroads,” Ellen Pope, executive director of Otsego 2000, said in a media release. “We are so grateful to the Preservation League of New York State for their support which will fund this important step toward documenting and preserving these neighborhoods and enabling homeowners to take advantage of the NYS Homeowner Historic Tax Credit program.”
Oneonta, which was settled in the 18th century, has many historical buildings within its boundaries.
Otsego2000, the Otsego County Conservation Association and the Otsego Land Trust will offer another outdoor activities badge, this one geared to summer activities.
The activities include hiking, kayaking, cycling, canoeing and more.
Those who successfully complete eight of the 16 activities will be awarded an Otsego Outdoors Summer Octet badge.
Otsego County’s tourism efforts are being refocused on outdoor activities, fall weddings and vaccinated out-of-state residents, according to a presentation given to the Otsego County Board of Representatives at its May meeting.
Harrington addressed the Representatives at their meeting, which was held via Zoom, because of the coronavirus pandemic, on Wednesday, May 5.
She said the group is looking to increase late summer and fall tourism in an effort to boost 2021 bed tax money.
Harrington said her group, which was spun off from the county in 2014 and added Schoharie County as a client two years ago, has shifted to a virtual campaign, allowing it to add several promotional categories and “pages” to its promotional materials.
DMC is launching an outdoor activities website that culls information and links to all the other county locations for hiking, boating, fishing, winter sports and more. Those sites include state parks, Otsego 2000’s Otsego Outdoors website, information about playgrounds, camp sites, hotels and more.
CONCERT – 3 p.m. Enjoy mix of American music for ‘Good Ol’ Summertime in Winter’ concert. Beat the winter blues with pieces like Carousel, America The Beautiful, more performed by Oneonta Community Concert Band. FoxCare Center, 1 FoxCare Dr., Oneonta. 607-432-7085.
Take a fascinating trip to the roots of America’s democracy and Women’s Suffrage on Friday, April 29, with “Haudenosaunee Culture, History and Influences in Upstate New York” at The Lake House in Richfield Springs.
