A day in the Manor

Posted 8/21/12

More often than not, I find myself zipping from county to county in search of arts and leisure scattered throughout the Upper Delaware River region. As luck would have it, I noticed that I had four …

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A day in the Manor

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More often than not, I find myself zipping from county to county in search of arts and leisure scattered throughout the Upper Delaware River region. As luck would have it, I noticed that I had four different events on my calendar, all of which were slated to occur in Livingston Manor, NY, so I only had to park once and stroll through town at my usual breakneck pace.

Upon hearing that model train expert Charlie Irace would be setting up a display dedicated to memorabilia pertaining to the O&W Empire in a new space taken over by the folks at CAS (www.catskillartsociety.org), I gave him a call and stopped in for a brief chat. The O&W historical exhibit, part of the Manor’s annual Trains on Main holiday spectacular, is just one of several displays that will be featured in store fronts beginning this weekend and running through the end of December. “A lot of people don’t realize the impact that trains had on our nation’s economy, much less this region and the Catskills in particular,” Irace said. “Without history, it’s impossible to have empathy for others, learn from our past and teach our children to be more humane. This is my personal collection [at the Laundry King location, 65 Main St.], and will feature rare items that cannot be seen elsewhere, along with guest speakers, who will bring to life the evolution of train travel and its impact on Sullivan County.” Visitors can stop in on Saturday, November 29 from 2 to 4 p.m at CAS to pick up a map of the display locations and enjoy the debut of the model train, which meanders through a magical (IMHO) miniature version of the town. Very cool and fun for all ages.

Meandering over to Pearl Street, I popped in to Maria Bivins’ newest enterprise “Life Repurposed”—a “vintage gift and thrift” shop also dedicated to keeping history not only alive, but useful. “My shop is all about life,” Bivens said. “We have a responsibility to teach our children that buying bigger and newer is not necessarily buying better.” As I wandered through the place, I spotted many items that reminded me of my own past, making a mental note of future holiday gifts, especially with “Shop Small Saturday” coming up this weekend. “Why buy generic mixing bowls or a plain old lamp from a big box store,” Bivens continued “when you can purchase something in a shop like this (www.liferepurposed.net) for a fraction of the price, loaded with charm and character to boot?” No argument here, and I love cool old stuff, especially when it’s useful. Life repurposed sounds like a good idea to me.

Back on Main Street, I was excited to check out the CAS annual “Winter Members Show,” which features paintings and sculptures created by local artists that “celebrate the winter season and its impact on our lives.” All artwork is for sale, with proceeds benefiting the artists and the nonprofit CAS Arts Center, highlighting “the various (often humorous) ways we cope with the cold, depicted in all media.” Most of the artists were on hand for the opening reception, and I grabbed a rare opportunity to snap a photo of them all in one place at one time, before the festivities began in earnest. Again, more opportunities to support local businesses and “shop small” abound.

Exhausted and exhilarated (attorneys at law) I pressed on, hearing that multi-talented Elise Freda was hosting a reception of her own just down the road (www.willowandbrown.com) exhibiting Freda’s work, which is “inspired by nature: fields, trees, plants, sky, light and weather.” Elise’s work is “process oriented,” and she shared that “abstraction is her intuitive choice as it evokes rather than tells—leaving some mystery.” Freda’s work, much of which is black and white acrylic on paper, can be seen through January 5 and is as charming as the goodies presented by proprietor Carolin Walton-Brown. Before heading home, I ran into tourists Lynn Bellin and Bob Bruce, who had read about the art shows but had never been to the Manor. “This place is a treasure!” Bob said while Lynn enthusiastically agreed. “A hidden gem,” she added.“We can’t wait to come back!”

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