News

Food

Five Top Chefs, Just Forty Guests, and One Remarkable Setting

To raise funds and heighten public awareness of their mission, the Bannerman Castle Trust is hosting a dinner on Pollepel Island in Fishkill on September 11.  Five prominent chefs—Noah Sheetz, of the Governor's Mansion in Albany; Laura Pensiero of GiGi Market and Trattoria, in Rhinebeck; Bob Turner,

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Food

Food News: Locavore Hero Award Nominees Announced

Eleven nominees have been announced for the new Victoria A. Simons Locavore Award, a prize established by Ms. Simons just weeks before her death last March following a brief battle with cancer. "I contacted Vicki and asked, 'Is there some kind of local legacy you'd like

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Community

Solid Sound Festival: A Wilco Lovefest at MASS MoCA

Cultural correspondent Bess Hochstein reports from North Adams: Even before the Solid Sound Festival began, love was in the air, as the local music media gathered for a press conference on the afternoon of Friday, August 13. Reporters peppered MASS MoCA’s Joe Thompson and Wilco band members Jeff Tweedy,

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Community

Pittsfield's Word X Word Festival: Not for Hipsters Only

Jim Benson, the owner of Mission Bar + Tapas and Pittsfield's leading hipsterpreneur, wants to make it clear that the second annual Word X Word festival—a celebration of the performed word that is written, spoken or sung—is not as avant garde as its marketing suggests. "There&

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Community

Jane and Jack Fitzpatrick of Stockbridge are Rural Royalty

They are the real lions of Stockbridge who now purr more than roar. Still, Jane and Jack Fitzpatrick (left) remain the undsiputed king and queen of the Berkshires, and Saturday, August 7, has been declared Fitzpatrick Day by the Selectemen of Stockbridge: The town will dedicate the green space in

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Community

Rhinebeck Survives Its 15 Minutes of Fame

By Carrie Tuhy You have to love a town that chases after an unemployed secretary of state to get her autograph.  On the afternoon of the Wedding of the Century,  Madeline Albright and Democratic Party bigwig Terry McAuliffe had lunch at Gigi's and the throngs descended on them

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Food

The Sublime Taste of Columbia County Bounty

Since the food one gets  at the Columbia County Fairgrounds during the county fair has the Ridiculous category well covered (if it can't be deep fried, forget it), the sophisticated locavore fare that will comprise next Tuesday's gala Columbia County Bounty dinner at that same charming

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Community

Fitch's Corner Horse Trials: Over the Top & Down to Earth

Millbrook is a breed apart, a town that revolves around the equestrian life.  And the Fitch's Corner Horse Trials is a picture perfect reflection of the community—J. Crew crossed with Ralph Lauren. Hosts Fernanda Kellogg and Kirk Henckels open up their farm to hundreds of horses and

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Community

Listen Locally! The Community Radio Renaissance

Call it the new Golden Age of Radio. The people have spoken, and they want to hear themselves and their neighbors instead of overpaid pontificators or market-researched playlists. In the Rural Intelligence region, there are three young not-for-profit community radio stations that provide an eclectic mix of homegrown news, talk

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Community

Passages: Horse Heaven, Escaping the Plate

Elizabeth Hess, the author of "Nim Chimpsky: The Chimp Who Would be Human" lives in Spencertown, NY.  She writes here about Equine Advocates, an animal rescue facility in Chatham, NY that is welcoming visitors this Sunday, July 11, 11 a.m. - 4 p.m. Last week, the

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Community

The Long Road Home: Septuagenarians Celebrate their Union

A few people wore buttons that read, "I Do Support Marriage Equality."  But even for them, this wedding celebration (the legal proceedings took place some months ago in the enlightened state of Iowa) was a purely sentimental occasion.  An old friend, Dr. Norman Posner (wearing a green shirt

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Community

The First Annual Hudson Gay Pride Parade

There were rainbow flags flying in front of many shops and restaurants along Warren Street in Hudson on Sunday, June 20, as the raffish, stylish Columbia County city officially laid claim to being the gay capital of the Rural Intelligence region with the 1st Annual Hudson Gay Pride Parade. It

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