By DOROTHY HARTZ

Father’s Day weekend brings an opportunity to dote on Dad. For fathers whose preferred art form is enjoying nature, the seventh annual Delaware River Sojourn gets underway on Friday, June 15 and continues for eight days through four states. Local organizers are the Upper Delaware Council (845/252-3022) and the National Park Service (570/729-8251). Closer to home, Lander’s River Trips is offering a special, available at any of its access site in which fathers spend a free day on the river while the rest of the family pays the regular price. Required reservations can be made at 800/252-3925.

The weekend also brings occasion to bask in the reflected glory of a daughter’s accomplishments. Several local events—theatrical, musical and visual—showcase the talents of imaginative and accomplished women.

“The Present People, Characters from the Mind of Judith Present” will be on stage at the Braman Arts Conservatory on Saturday, June 16. The characters, comic and poignant, who include a singing serial killer, a barfly and a map making cabby, are results of Present’s 20 years as a writer with stints as resident playwright for the Renaissance Theater Company in New York City and as president of Theatricks by Starlight, Hancock’s and Deposit’s hometown theater company. Reservations are recommended for this adults only performance.

The conservatory will be grooming actors of the future for Present, et al., in its Summer Theater Arts Day Camp, with workshops in singing, dancing, acting, scenery design and costume design for children six to 12. The camp will run Monday through Thursday, from June 25 through July 12. Call 845/887-1901 for information regarding these and other summer events at 79 Main Street in Callicoon.

Drawings and paintings by Hedina Christiner are featured in “Golden Globe,” an exhibit opening at the Delaware Valley Arts Alliance (DVAA) Gallery on Friday, June 15 from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. Christiner’s use of bright colors and simple shapes result in images alternately whimsical and weird, images that “swim and float, flow or fly, hover and crash.” A native of Switzerland, Hedina has shown in both Europe and New York City to critical acclaim.

The winner of the DVAA’s Bodenstein Music Scholarship will perform as part of “An Evening of Chamber Music,” to be held on Saturday, June 16 at the Tusten Theater to benefit the Delaware Valley Chamber Orchestra. Molly Raum, a senior at Sullivan West’s Jeffersonville campus, who will be attending Cornell University, was recently awarded the first annual scholarship, created in memory of Dr. Barry Bodenstein, for her performance on the oboe. She will be performing Handel’s Concerto in B flat major in a program otherwise featuring Telemann’s Concerto in E minor, Vivaldi’s Concerto for Two Mandolins, Burrill Phillip’s Concert Piece for Bassoon and Strings, Mozart’s Adagio and Theme with Eleven Variations from Sinfonia Concertante and Dvorak’s Serenade for English Horn and Orchestra. The concert was organized by Josh Siegel, a regular player with the Chamber Orchestra and the Ill Winds Chamber Ensemble, currently on staff with the Radio City Music Hall Orchestra. It features a variety of other guest performers.

Call the DVAA for information about upcoming events at Tusten Theater or the Arts Center at 845/252-7576 or visit www.artsalliancesite.org.

A last mentioned but no less imaginative and accomplished artist, flutist Judith Pearce plays “Music in the Barn” on Father’s Day, June 17, in a Bethel fundraiser for the first class Weekend of Chamber Music returning this summer to Sullivan County. Call 845/932-8527 for information about the benefit or the summer series.