Summer pastimes

Old-time fun at an old-time fair

GRAHAMSVILLE, NY — If you’ve got a hankering for old-fashioned summer fun like the ice-cream making the folks in the photograph are enjoying, Grahamsville’s annual Old Time Fair is the place to be on Saturday, July 31. The fair will run from 10:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. at the Neversink Town Hall on Route 55. Activities will include horseshoe, corn-husking and ladies’ skillet throwing contests; children’s games; a pie auction; a quilt exhibit; a white elephant sale; local history exhibits; and more. A Miller’s Chicken Barbeque to eat in or take out will be available starting at 2:00 p.m., including baked potato, tomato and cucumber salad, corn on the cob, roll, bottled water and dessert; and from 3:00 to 6:00 p.m. there will be musical entertainment by Steve Jacobi and Fiddlin’ Around. Admission is free, with a nominal fee for some games and food. Visit timeandthevalleysmuseum.org.

Poetry, passion and physicality at NACL

HIGHLAND LAKE, NY — A gutsy transgender multimedia comedy; a study of the frustration, isolation and passion of “Generation Y-ers;” an outdoors performance that combines physicality, poetry, music and visual installation; and a “soundpainting” based on interviews with local residents will conclude the NACL Catskill Festival of New Theatre. “Other-wise,” by Sunny Drake (July 29), is a tender letter to the actor’s family, exposing the emotions and experience of a transgender person. “People4Change,” by The Them (July 30) is about three young professionals out to make a difference after witnessing a sudden death on the subway tracks. “Loup Garou,” by Mondo Bizarro and ArtSpot Production of New Orleans (July 31) is an environmental performance that investigates the interconnectedness between land and culture in Louisiana. In “!!FreEpLaY!!,” by Strike Anywhere (August 1), an ensemble of jazz musicians, modern dancers, and actors creates art in the moment, based on perceptions of water.

All shows will be at 8:00 p.m. at the NACL Theatre, except for “Loup Garou,” which will be at Apple Pond Farm in Callicoon Center, with one show at 6:00 a.m. and another at 6:00 p.m. Visit nacl.org or call 845/557-0694.

Kids explore the magic of music

BETHEL, NY — Beginning on Friday, August 6, Bethel Woods and The Janice Center will present the Music Is Magic: Kids & Music Workshop for the second year. The workshop teaches children the joy of music.

The Janice Center has developed an original four-week session held exclusively at Bethel Woods featuring songs, beats, rhythms and instruments expressing a ‘60s theme. Classes will be held in the Event Gallery as well as The Great Lawn, weather permitting. Classes will be held at 10:00 a.m. and 12:00 noon every Friday through August 27. They are open to children from birth to five years old and their parents (or other adults), who are required to participate. Central to the Music Together approach is that young children learn best from the powerful role model of parents/caregivers who are actively making music.

The cost for the four-week program is $106 per child ($60 for an additional sibling) and includes a CD, songbook and Janice Center shirt. Visit BethelWoodsCenter.org and click on the Community tab.

Summer fun for young artists

HONESDALE, PA — Nationally known author and artist Lindsay Barrett George will offer two children’s classes at Wayne County Arts Alliance’s (WCAA) Children’s Art Camp. “Make an Impression - the Art of Printmaking” teaches the basic principles of printmaking. The magic of printing images will be explored through rollers, textural surfaces and even stamping with fruits and vegetables. In “Kidzbooks,” participants will experience making a book with their own hands.

Lindsay George’s first book was published in 1987. Since then George, seen here teaching a WCAA course, has created 16 award-winning books filled with her luminous drawings of the natural world.

“Make an Impression” runs from August 2 through 6 and “Kidzbooks” from August 9 to 13, at the WCAA office located at 742 Main Street. Enrollment is limited to eight participants per session. Classes run Monday through Friday, 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon. Early registration is encouraged to ensure space in the program of your choice. Pre-registration is necessary. Call 570/253-6850.

Dancing and blues under the moon

CALLICOON, NY — Barbecue Bob and the Spareribs, a New York City-based dance/blues band, will perform at the Under The Moon In Callicoon Concert Series on Saturday, July 31 in Callicoon Creek Park. Series producer Janet Burgan will open the show at 8:00 p.m.

Barbecue Bob and the Spareribs played for the first time in 1981 during a music festival at Columbia University in New York City. Acoustic shows on the coffeehouse circuit followed, and after this brief phase, the band plugged in and started playing rock and blues bars, mostly in and around New York City. Burgan is a solo artist originally from Northeastern Ohio. After living and playing in New York City and releasing two albums with her band, “Janet Burgan” and “The Coyote Sessions,” she now resides in Northeastern Pennsylvania and plays festivals, farmers’ markets, benefits and concerts in the region and throughout the United States.

Bring your picnics, lawn chairs and dancing shoes. As a courtesy to others, leave dogs at home. The suggested donation is $10 at the door; children under 12 admitted free. This show is rain or shine; the rain venue is the Delaware Youth Center in Callicoon.

Bluestone shows the works of Weinstein

MILFORD, PA — The Bluestone Gallery at 104 East Ann Street is hosting an exhibit of the works of Joyce Ellen Weinstein through September 26. Weinstein finds her inspiration in the personal and emotional, as well as the interaction developed through self, family and community, all of which are parts making up the whole of her unified body of work. Weinstein’s works, like “Second Wedding,” shown here, are concerned with the understanding of human relationships, beginning with ourselves and extending outward to include family, community, ethnicity and nationality. Her works are in permanent collections in the National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, DC; Hebrew Union Institute of Religion Museum, New York; The Florida Holocaust Museum, Florida, Gallerie-Junge KunstWerkStart, Vienna, Austria, among other venues.

Gallery hours are Monday through Thursday by appointment, and Friday, Saturday and Sunday from 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Visit bluestonegallerymilford.com.

All about ‘A Month in the Country’

JEFFERSONVILLE, NY — Mark Shulgasser will host WJFF’s Classics for Voice on Sunday, August 1, 8 and 15, from 9:00 to 11:00 p.m., talking with Lee Hoiby (an area resident) and other guests about Hoiby’s opera “A Month in the Country.” The opera itself, one of two being presented by the Delaware Valley Opera Company this summer, will open on Saturday, July 31 at the Tusten Theatre in Narrowsburg, with further performances on August 1, 6, 8, 12, 14, 20 and 22.

Right-sizing Your Home’

LIVINGSTON MANOR, NY — “The concept of right-sizing is working with what you have to make better use of existing space and living more comfortably as a result. My own home in Roscoe is a good example of a flexible home that works for two as well as 20,” says Gale Steves, author of “Right-Sizing Your Home,” who will give a presentation and book-signing at Hamish and Henry Booksellers on Saturday, August 7 at 3:00 p.m. Hamish and Henry Booksellers is located at 34B Main Street. Visit hamishandhenry.com.