The Schedule Is Set For Celebrate Stephentown

The schedule for Celebrate Stephentown has grown to include more than 30 events at over 20 different locations all around town the weekend of August 18 through 20. This grassroots festival, celebrating Stephentown’s vibrant rural community, will feature art, music, storytelling, demonstrations, giveaways, open houses, sales, tastings, tours, scenic hikes, a 5K trail race, a community corn boil, a charity Texas Hold ‘Em tournament and more. Most events are free and open to the public with opportunities to support the participating artists, musicians, organizations and businesses through donations and purchases.

One of the many highlights is expected to be the return of the famous “Welcome To The Only Stephentown On Earth” signs at Town Hall on Friday, August 18 at 7:30 pm. The original signs were stolen over the years and never replaced, though they were still fondly remembered and talked about over the past decade as they faded into legend. The dedication ceremony will be followed by an opening night reception featuring a special cake, an exclusive Celebrate Stephentown blend created by Liquid Assets Coffee, and an exhibition of photographs of Stephentown featuring the work of Amanda Decker and Kim McMann.

In addition to Liquid Assets, the organizers of Celebrate Stephentown would like to thank its other sponsors, Berkshire Brand Management, Eastwick Press, Mountain Top  and Screen-It LTD, and gratefully acknowledge the cooperation of the Town of Stephentown and the many participants involved.

Details of these events are subject to change. For a complete schedule of events, and all the latest news, please visit celebratestephentown.com.  Event Schedule:

It’s our 70th anniversary and we feel like celebrating! Donors to the Stephentown Memorial Library’s 2017 Annual Appeal will earn early access to our book and media sale on Friday night from 5 to 7 pm. Get your hands on the best books, music and DVDs we have to offer the night before the sale begins at Saturday’s Book Festival. Down In Denver Books will also be here with a table of exclusive items at specially discounted prices. Add yourself to the guest list with a minimum donation of $20 and come join us for refreshments and great deals!

Have opening night dinner with us at this Bring Your Own Picnic event hosted by the Stephentown Veterans in their Veterans Memorial Park. Learn more about the citizens of Stephentown who fought for our country and dine under the sky to the music of The Hill Hollow Band. A fundraiser for Military Moms in Action will also be featured.

Neil and Susan Gardner, proprietors of Gardner’s Ice Cream & Coffee Shoppe, will be giving away 10 backpacks full of school supplies each night of Celebrate Stephentown at 7 pm. Kids can enter to win all day on August 18, 19 and 20 prior to each drawing and winners do not need to be present to receive their prizes.

The signs are coming back! Join us for a ceremony dedicating a new “Welcome To The Only Stephentown On Earth” sign at Town Hall, followed by our opening night reception. Rub elbows with your Stephentown neighbors as you enjoy a piece of celebratory cake, a cup of our exclusive Celebrate Stephentown blend created by Liquid Assets Coffee, and an exhibit featuring photographs of Stephentown by Amanda Decker and Kim McMann.

Don’t let the Library’s Book Festival be the only place you look for your book collecting and reading needs this weekend. Down In Denver Books, which specializes in used and rare books, will be having a buy one, get one sale (BOGO!) all weekend long. Support a local business, get a great deal, and check out the inside of this beautiful old building that dates back to 1840.

Join the Rensselaer Plateau Alliance for this guided hike at the Albert Family Community Forest, the newest public forestland in Stephentown. We will explore many different features of this 353-acre property, including old homesteads, wetlands, deep gullies and unique rock piles. Reservations are encouraged.

You’re invited to visit the 165 year-old St. Joseph’s Catholic Church on Saturday during this open house beginning at 9 am. Parishioners will be on hand to show you around and answer questions with prayer cards and more information available to take home. Parish cookbooks will also be on sale for $10.

Find out what makes this 75-acre tract so special! From rare plants to resident otter, this ecological gem is here to be appreciated. Saturday’s walk, presented by the Wyomanock Center for Sustainable Living, will traverse woods, fields, and wetlands, including a beaver dam across the Wyomanock Creek. Advance registration is requested.

Grab some bargains and support the Stephentown Historical Society at this longstanding annual event at Gardner’s Field. The Stephentown Federated Church’s SonShiners group will also be on hand with their garden sale, bake sale and silent auction featuring prizes from local businesses.

Saturday is Family Day at Stephentown Memorial Library! This year’s Book Festival will feature a large book and media sale as well as a full schedule of events under the tent and around the grounds. Special guests will include the Corkscrew Rail Trail, Crosby The Therapy Dog, author Norma Williams Lasch, the Stephentown Food Pantry’s Game of Thrones, The BagShare Project featuring Girl Scout Troop 1752, TRACs (Together Reducing Alcohol And Drugs In Our Communities) and Y2Y Berlin, and Will’s Whimzies among others. We’ll also have food, drinks, and music from Stephentown’s own Mike McMann and Rev Tor.

Janet Renard, of Emerald-Glen Equestrian Center, is a Registered Instructor with the Professional Association of Therapeutic Horsemanship (PATH) International who specializes in working with beginner riders and riders with special needs, introducing them to the sensory, physical, and emotional experiences only horseback riding can offer. This free, public demonstration of her work can accommodate 10-15 people who must register in advance and follow the rules provided.

The Stephentown Volunteer Fire Department will open its doors to the public on Saturday in order to highlight the many duties and rewards that come with being a volunteer firefighter. Visitors can learn about the equipment and vehicles our department uses and get more information about all the training involved in serving the community as interior firefighters, support personnel, fire police, ambulance drivers and EMTs.

Join plant ecologist and expert forager David Hunt on a culinary treasure hunt at Wyomanock Center for Sustainable Living. You’ll be surprised at what you can eat and how you can supplement your daily diet with plants growing all around you. Advance registration is requested.

Did you know that Dale-Ila Riggs and Don Miles, the owners at The Berry Patch, grow a dozen varieties of heirloom tomatoes, eight varieties of cherry tomatoes, and seven varieties of red tomatoes? They even have their own variety that Dale-Ila has been refining! Come taste some of them on Saturday afternoon, discover the differences, and learn more about the latest farming techniques from these mainstays of the locally grown produce community in Stephentown.

Kinderhook Creek Farm will be presenting a community corn boil on the town’s Athletic Field at the old Stephentown Elementary School beginning at noon. The festivities will include a corn husking contest, Pirate Corn (it’s a buck-an-ear!), and a variety of maple products from nearby Ioka Valley Farm in Hancock.

Members of the Stephentown Seniors, the oldest and largest group of its kind in Rensselaer County, will highlight their organization’s many contributions to the community. While you’re there, enter to win their free drawing for a bus trip for two to New York City or Boston’s Quincy Market on Yankee Trails.

Come discover what we do at Wyomanock Farm. Our Scottish Highland cattle will greet you and our laying hens and vegetables will treat you! Learn about our small-scale organic farming practices and our commitment to sustainable, low-impact agriculture. This event is free, but advance registration is requested.

The beautiful Berkshire Blueberry Lodge will host two events on Saturday, beginning with this wine and cheese tasting, featuring cheese from Stephentown’s own Four Fat Fowl, on its expansive, scenic grounds. Come enjoy the views and sample some wonderful locally produced food and drinks. A ticketed, catered dinner will follow at 6 pm.

Take a break from all the festivities and grab a bite at Wyomanock Farm. Try our grass-fed and organic goodness, including grilled Scottish Highland beef burgers and freshly picked salad featuring our own locally grown veggies.

Charity Texas Hold ‘Em Tournament

Have some fun and support the Stephentown Volunteer Fire Department at this charity Texas Hold ‘Em Tournament. Doors open at 5:30 pm. and play begins promptly at 6:15 pm No advance registration is required. An initial donation of $50 will be accepted at the door and give the player 20,000 in chip value.

After a lovely day of roaming the scenic grounds and tasting locally produced wine and cheese at their afternoon event from 3:30 to 5:30 pm, the proprietors of Berkshire Blueberry Lodge invite you to join them for live music and a catered BBQ dinner beginning at 6 pm.

Neil and Susan Gardner, proprietors of Gardner’s Ice Cream & Coffee Shoppe, will be giving away 10 backpacks full of school supplies each night of Celebrate Stephentown at 7 pm. Kids can enter to win all day on August 18, 19 and 20 prior to each drawing and winners do not need to be present to receive their prizes.

Get out on the trail bright and early Sunday morning with the Rensselaer Plateau Alliance at the recently dedicated Chestnut Hill in Stephentown. Breathe the fresh air and learn all about this incredible property named after the American Chestnut trees that fill the landscape, which was donated by the previous owner/caretaker, Ken James. Reservations for this one-mile hike are encouraged.

Don’t let the Library’s Book Festival be the only place you look for your book collecting and reading needs this weekend. Down In Denver Books, which specializes in used and rare books, will be having a buy one, get one sale (BOGO!) all weekend long. Support a local business, get a great deal, and check out the inside of this beautiful old building that dates back to 1840.

Dressage is a French term meaning “training” and its purpose is to develop the horse’s natural athletic ability and willingness to work, making him calm, supple and attentive to his rider. Riders, in the presence of the judge, will each individually perform one of the standard tests (a prescribed pattern of figures and gaits) recognized by the U.S. Dressage Federation (USDF), the U.S. Equestrian Federation (USEF), or the Western Dressage Association of America (WDAA). Each test lasts around 4 to 5 minutes; somewhere between 30 and 40 or so tests will be run during the event, one after the other. Reservations are required and special rules apply for attendees for everyone’s safety.

Guided Hike With The Rensselaer Land Trust

The Steward of the Robert Ingalls Preserve will lead an approximately 2.5 mile/2 hour hike through this 50-acre property owned by the Rensselaer Land Trust and located on the southern escarpment of the Rensselaer Plateau. It’s located just west of the intersection of Horse Heaven and Garfield Roads (using a GPS the Preserve is on the right just past 546 Garfield Road). This hike will follow along the Black Brook, through mature forest, and visit an old mill site and the foundation of an old homestead. The terrain will feature some steep slopes, include uneven ground such as areas of rocks and roots, and may be wet and muddy in spots. Participants should take common precautions regarding ticks and other biting insects.

On Sunday, the Corkscrew Rail Trail will host both a 5K Trail Run and a more serene Trail Walk (for those in less of a hurry), with registration beginning at 9:45 am. Race fees and registration information will be posted soon.

Attention families! Sunday, August 20 is for kids at Wyomanock Center for Sustainable Living and we’ll begin our by day offering an artful and tactile experience crafting with materials from Mother Nature. Advance registration is requested.

Here’s another great Sunday event for the whole family at Wyomanock Center for Sustainable Living! We’re showing off how amazing pizza can taste when it’s made with freshly picked, farm-grown veggies. Kids will delight in dressing their own pizzas in our beautiful outdoor setting and waiting for them to cook in our wood-fired oven.

Pease Farm is one of the three oldest farms in Stephentown, making it a fitting site for this exhibition of the skills early farmers practiced to maintain their farms and themselves. Join members of the Creative Crafters and the Heritage Spinners & Knitters for interactive demonstrations of basket making, spinning, knitting, weaving and more.

The Berry Patch follows up its Saturday tomato tasting with this melonfest of a sampling where you can try a dozen different varieties from noon to three. Do you know what a Canary melon is or how it tastes? How about a Christmas melon or Tuscan melon? There is more to the melon world than cantaloupe (called muskmelons here in the East)! Come learn some of the subtle, and not so subtle differences, in the many types of melons this Stephentown institution produces and support your local melon (and tomato) grower!

Following the conclusion of the morning’s activities on the Corkscrew Rail Trail, everyone is invited up to the Berkshire Mountain House for a free afternoon ice cream social from 1 to 3 pm. Enjoy the expansive mountain views from the deck at this beautiful Stephentown B&B.

Local artist Grace Zema will exhibit her work as a painter, which include acrylics, watercolors and oils, at Zema’s Nursery from 1 to 4 pm on Sunday.

Zema’s Nursery is a longstanding family-run institution in Stephentown tucked away on quiet Presbyterian Hill Road. Join Matt Zema for this talk on late-season perennial plants and shrubs and learn more about how to effectively and responsibly manage your home landscape as Fall approaches.

The Stephentown Memorial Library is pleased to host Stories of Stephentown, an event featuring local residents sharing their favorite memories about growing up and living here in Stephentown. Hosted by author and Stephentown native Norma Williams Lasch, this event will find friends and neighbors both old and new recounting all the things they love about our community and its history.

Take a break from all the festivities and grab a bite at Wyomanock Farm. Try our grass-fed and organic goodness, including grilled Scottish Highland beef burgers and freshly picked salad featuring our own locally grown veggies.

Neil and Susan Gardner, proprietors of Gardner’s Ice Cream & Coffee Shoppe, will be giving away 10 backpacks full of school supplies each night of Celebrate Stephentown at 7 pm. Kids can enter to win all day on August 18, 19 and 20 prior to each drawing and winners do not need to be present to receive their prizes.