by Bea Peterson
As a television producer, Hoosick native George Verschooer has to have big ideas, and he was in the midst of big ideas on Wednesday evening, August 27, at Brown’s Brewery in North Hoosick. “What Garry and Kelly Brown have done here is outstanding,” he said. He also noted that pulling off the impossible week after week with Cabin Kings “Tuffy” Pat Bakaitis and Paulie DeMeo of Building Wild on the National Geographic Wild network is pretty remarkable as well. “I wanted a show that would shine a light on this beautiful area,” he said. That led to the reason for the celebration of the first major event at the Brown’s Brewing Company on Factory Hill Road; an event to support the nonprofit land trust, Greenwich based Agricultural Stewardship Association, that helps landowners conserve farmland in Washington and Rensselaer Counties.
[private]The event, which was sold out, brought an estimated 400 people to the Brewery to quaff a brew in the outstanding Taproom, enjoy great music by Eastbound Jesus, eat a delicious chicken barbecue prepared by DJ Herrington and family with corn provided by Moses Farm
and an exciting auction of Building Wild items and much more. The items were auctioned by Ron and Kyle Seifert.
Folks had an opportunity to “meet and greet” the Building Wild crew as well. ASA Executive Director Teri Ptacek thanked everyone for attending the event and supporting their efforts to preserve farmland. Verschooer recalled riding the Hoosick Falls school bus past a dozen or more farms when he was growing up. “Farmland is Hoosick,” he said. “We need to preserve the land because once it’s gone it’s gone forever.”
Pat “Tuffy” Bakaitis spoke about Verschooer showing him around when he was in California. They went to a Japanese restaurant, he said. “Not to eat, just to look around. I looked at a 4×8 picture on the wall and at the bottom of the hill in it was a stone church. The rest of the picture was all orange trees, in every direction. Then I looked out the window at the same spot, and it was covered with lights and towers. All concrete. Gone! I will do whatever I can do to stop that from happening here,” he concluded.
DeMeo, a resident of California, said, “We measure our space by square feet. Sometimes a house contains more square feet than the land it sits on. Here people have something that is worth caring about. Why not do what Mr. Brown did – develop what’s here!”
Kyle Seifert, who appeared on an episode of the History Channel’s “American Pickers” this year, said his father once told him, “God stopped making this land a long time ago, and there’s not going to be any more.” Words to remember.
A Destination
The obvious star of the evening was Brown’s Walloomsac Taproom and the new 20,000 barrel capacity production brewery. It will definitely become a “destination.” The Taproom is scheduled to open full time at the end of September and will sell pints of beer and a small selection of local cheeses and breads. Brewery tours will be available as well.
[/private]