July 2024

From the Supervisor's Desk

Solar Update

August Town Board Meeting

Help Wanted

Bicentennial Parade and Party

Friends of Taconic State Park

Roe Jan Historical Society

Grange Events

Copake Falls Day

Scenic Sips Fest

Copake Falls Day

Copake History

What's Happening at the Library

Spongy Moth

Music in the Park

Columbia County Climate Carnival

Farmer's Market

Memorial Bricks

Columbia County Health Center

From the Supervisor's Desk            

August Saturday Town Board Meeting

The Copake Town Board meets on the second Thursday of each month, at 7:00pm The one exception is August, when, traditionally, the board meets in the morning of the second Saturday. Accordingly, next month’s meeting will take place on Saturday, August 10 at 10am.

In my years as a member of this board, it has been my experience that August town board meetings are sparsely attended. I suppose this shouldn’t be surprising – after all, people value their weekends, especially during the summer months. So the question might be: why not schedule the August meeting on the second Thursday evening of the month, just like all of the other meetings? Why the August exception?

As best I can tell, there are two principal reasons. First, meeting on Saturday enables full-time residents who work on weekdays, particularly parents whose “quality time” with their children is limited to the evening hours, to come to a board meeting. Second, Saturday meetings allow part-time and weekend residents to attend meetings. 

Clearly, the goal of the longstanding August Saturday morning meeting is to provide an opportunity for Copakeans whose schedules do not permit them to come to Town Hall on Thursday evenings to attend. We want all residents to know what their town board is doing, and to participate in the process of local government. Unlike many towns, agendas for all of Copake’s monthly board meetings provide two chances for attendees to speak their minds. Two public forums offer Copakeans opportunities to make suggestions, pose questions, and support or oppose proposed board actions. This board listens to feedback. We are here to serve the community and to try to be as responsive as possible to the concerns and interests of town residents. To do that, we need to know what your concerns and interests are. Monthly board meetings are an important source of that information.      

Copake’s population almost doubles during the summer months. Unfortunately, this has not resulted in increased attendance at August board meetings. This may be due, in part, to the limited efforts made in the past to advertise the Saturday August meeting. We’re trying harder this year. We will see whether our efforts boost attendance. Town Clerk Lynn DeRocha has posted notices on the town website. We will send out an email blast a week before the meeting to Copake Connection readers as a further reminder. Please invite your friends and neighbors. If anyone has suggestions for further publicizing the August meeting, please call or email me.

If August attendance this summer has no better attendance than at Thursday evening meetings, we will have to consider whether it makes sense to continue this schedule.

As with other issues, it’s up to you, the People.

Richard Wolf

Town Supervisor

Solar Update

Hecate still has not filed its application with ORES (NYS Office of Renewable Energy Siting) for a siting permit to construct and, in theory, operate a 42- megawatt utility-scale solar factory on mostly prime farmland in Craryville. I say “in theory” because it is Hecate’s practice to sell a permitted project to another company – an “operator”, sometimes even before construction begins. This creates uncertainty. How would Copake enforce commitments Hecate might make if Hecate no longer is in the picture?

We are now five weeks past the date Hecate told ORES that it intended to file its application. The most optimistic spin I can put on the situation is that maybe Hecate heard our objections to them using the same studies it commissioned for its failed 60-megawatt Shepherd’s Run proposal application – studies assessing bird and wildlife breeding areas and habitats. Some are four years old and based on five-year-old research. If ORES cares about the potential impacts on the environment of 150 football fields worth of solar panels, inverters, extensive underground wiring and cabling, laydown areas, and access roads, it needs current information detailing conditions at and near the proposed site. So, maybe Hecate has commissioned new studies.

Or…maybe Hecate is waiting to see if it is awarded a contract with the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA). Hecate is looking for an incentive contract like the one it got for its failed 60-megawatt proposal. That contract would have provided Hecate with almost $42 million in Renewable Energy Credits (RECs), which it could sell. Inquiries to learn from NYSERDA the status of Hecate’s current contract application have gone unanswered.

Whatever is going on, we expect Hecate to file very soon. Unless it makes significant changes to its previous plan, including, to cite just one example, a commitment to provide effective screening with mature trees and native vegetation – not saplings that provide no screening at all – this town board’s longstanding position will not change. The proposed site is particularly inappropriate for our small rural town: it would straddle County Route 7, a popular road for bicyclists and joggers and the gateway road from the Taconic Parkway and Massachusetts into the Hamlet of Copake and Copake Lake.

Outdoor recreation tourism is an increasingly major component of Copake’s economy. Visitors are attracted to Copake by the natural beauty in and around our small rural town. Shepherd’s Run would mar that natural beauty and remove more than 200 acres from agricultural production. It would cause economic hardship to nearby property owners, whose property values would plummet. Yet Hecate has refused to provide them with financial compensation. 

Make no mistake: Shepherd’s Run poses a real and serious threat to the economic future of our town.

Richard T. Wolf

Town Supervisor

August Town Board Meeting

Saturday, August 10, 9AM, Copake Town Hall

Help Wanted

The Town Board of the Town of Copake will be accepting letters of interest and resumes for the following positions:

Park Commission Members

ZBA Member



Letters/resumes may be sent to: the Town Clerk, 230 Mountain View Road, Copake, NY 12516, or emailed to: copaketownclerk@townofcopake.org.

Bicentennial Parade and Party in August

The finale of the Copake Bicentennial will be a parade on the afternoon of Saturday, August 17, followed by party at Catamount Mountain Resort in the evening.

The bicentennial parade will include over fifty units and will no doubt be the biggest parade the town has seen in many years. The Pipes and Drums of Greene, a local bagpipe band will accompany the VFW honor guard in leading the parade. The rest of the lineup will include the Ghent Band, fire trucks and tractors, Copake officials and state representatives, as well as floats and marchers representing Copake churches and local businesses and organizations. Over 30 businesses have signed up to participate.

The parade will line up on Center Hill Road near the Copake Fire Department at 2:30pm and step off at 3:00pm. The two-mile parade route will pass by the Copake Memorial Clock and proceed down Main Street to Farm Road. The parade will turn left onto Mountainview Road, pass by the Copake Memorial Park and Town Hall, and return to Center Hill Rd.

After the parade, the public is invited to attend the closing event of the bicentennial celebration – a town-wide party to be held at Catamount. The festivities start at 5pm and will include live music and (reduced rate) chairlift rides. The public may bring picnics, but there will also be food and drink for sale. The evening will conclude with a fireworks display. Admission is free.

The town has received generous support from the Rheinstrom Hill Community Foundation, as well as Columbia County Tourism to fund the bicentennial celebrations, including this event. The members of the Parade Committee are Jeanne Mettler (Chair), Bob Callahan, Lenny Barham, Richard Barton, Liana Jensen and Carol Gansowski. For more information email CopakeParade@gmail.com.

Friends of Taconic State Park’s Annual Meeting Features Margaret Roach



Margaret Roach, award winning gardening authority, New York Times columnist, and editor of the wildly popular website AWaytoGarden.com, will be the featured speaker at Friends of Taconic State Park’s 16th Annual Meeting and Luncheon on Sunday, July 21, beginning at 12 noon at the Copake Iron Works National Heritage Area Site, 35 Valley View Road, Copake Falls, NY.

A resident of Columbia County, NY since the late 1980s, Margaret will talk about her great passion – "My Wild Life in Copake Falls – or, What I Learned from the Beautiful and Bountiful Creatures Who Also Call this Special Place Home."

Margaret has been a leading garden writer for more than 30 years—at "Martha Stewart Living," "Newsday," and in three books. Since April 2020, she has been the garden columnist for “The New York Times” where she began her journalism career decades ago. She hosts a public-radio podcast; she teaches online and holds hold tours at her 2.3-acre Hudson Valley (NY) Zone 5B garden where, according to Margaret, she always says no to chemicals and yes to great plants.

Her interest in plants and her two in-ground water gardens have introduced her to some 70 species of birds that visit the garden each year, almost 200 species of moths, and all manner of neighbors from bullfrog to bobcat to black bear.

Margaret is the recipient of numerous awards and honors. In March 2024 she received the prestigious A. H. Scott Medal & Award, given annually to an individual, organization or corporate body who, in the opinion of the Swarthmore Arboretum Selection Committee, has made an outstanding national contribution to the science and the art of gardening.

Tickets for the event, including a barbecue luncheon, are $35 (plus a modest Eventbrite convenience fee) and available until sold out at FTSPBBQ2024.eventbrite.com. Tickets will not be available at the door.

Friends of Taconic State Park was established in 2008 to support cultural, recreational and educational activities within the park with the preservation of the Copake Iron Works National Heritage Area Site its priority. The group is implementing a 20-year plan to create a pre-eminent site of historic iron-making and a national destination for tourists in Copake Falls. Most recently, the group completed the construction of the Pomeroy Family Railroad which replicates the narrow-gauge railway that circumnavigated the Copake Iron Works in its operating heyday. The Copake Iron Works Visitor Center features a video documentary chronicling the history of the site and an extensively interpreted trail from the Copake Iron Works to the Bash Bish Falls, for which trail maps are available.

For more information call 518-966-2730. To learn more about Friends of Taconic State Park, visit www.FriendsofTSP.org.

Grange Events

Bicentennial Panel Discussion Saturday, July 20, 1:00 - 2:30 pm. Copake Businesses Moderator: Howard Blue. Panel Members: Heather Thomson, Vana Stang Hotaling, Dick Barton, Steve Kaufman, Mike Fallon. Free event.

Sunday, July 28, 5:30 - 8:00pm. Potluck Picnic. Celebrate summer’s bounty with a fun potluck picnic. Bring your favorite dish to share. You can go to copakegrange.org/events to sign up for what you will bring, or just surprise us! Lemonade and water will be provided, or BYOB. Rain or shine - there’s indoor and outdoor seating. Bring your friends and family!

Friday, Aug. 2, 7 - 9pm. Open Mic Night.  All are welcome to perform - music, stories, skits, readings, poetry, dance, songs, and more. Bring your instruments; we have a piano. Or you can just come to relax and be entertained. This is a great venue for both beginning and veteran performers. Free.

Sunday, Aug. 4, 3 - 5pm. Family Play & Meet. A chance for families with toddlers and young children to meet, play and relax together. For further information, contact sylviabeckerprivatechef@gmail.com

Saturday, Sept. 7, 5:00 - 8:00pm. Annual Ice Cream Social & Square Dance. It’s a favorite event of the year! Food from Aloha Tacos food truck, music, dancing with Square Dance caller Lance Olds (all dances taught), and plenty of ice cream! What could be better?! Tickets at the door - $25.

For more information about the Grange and events or to join, go to copakegrange.org. The Copake Grange is located at 628 Empire Rd., Copake, NY 12516. Parking for Grange events is limited - please park at the Municipal Lot on Church St. if the Grange parking area is full.

Copake History

Pond Scum

Roger Snyder, his twin, David, and their older brother George have written at least half a dozen stories for the Copake History Facebook page about their years in the Roe Jan area. Here’s Roger’s latest:

The year was probably 1946, perhaps 1947, maybe 1948. Our mother Grace Snyder and her three sons had moved from West Hartford, CT into the “Lewis House” in Copake in the fall of 1944 while her husband was at sea with the US Navy during WWII. Less than a year later, our family moved again to the “Tassler House” in West Copake, where our father rejoined his family. We then “circled for a landing” on Chimney Hill Farm, three miles north of Ancramdale and five miles south of Copake.

During our brief time living in the Copake-West Copake area, our family became friends with Ben and Barb Ackley, Grant and Polly Langdon, Walt and Lula Jensen and Jim and Ruth Fuller, all dairy farmers. This new circle of friends became known affectionately as the “Copake Crowd.” Home from the Navy, our father made an abrupt career change, becoming a dairy farmer himself.

And so it was that we boys often tagged along with our mother when she visited members of the “Copake Crowd.” She was visiting Polly Langdon when we twins learned a harsh lesson– “Green” ISN’T always grass. Almost every farm has the proverbial “farm pond.” Langdonhurst Farm in the 1940s had one down a gentle slope behind the historic farmhouse. In fact, it still exists today, some 80 years later.

My twin Dave and I were playing in the backyard behind the house when we spied what appeared to be another manicured “green lawn.” I’ll race you to it,” one of us giggled a challenge. Off we went, our little legs churning with the twinship challenge. We probably hit the edge of “green lawn” in lockstep; we were identical twins after all. Except that it wasn’t actually a lawn. The “pond scum green” color had fooled us. I can’t recall if our instant mortification was tempered by the cooling waters of the farm pond, but we both surfaced, dripping with algae.

Photo: the Snyder family in the 1940s at the “Tassler House,” courtesy of Roger Snyder.

Questions, suggestions, regarding Copake History? Contact me, Howard Blue, Copaketownhistorian@gmail.com

ALSO, come see the fourth and last of THE IMMENSELY POPULAR BICENTENNIAL PANEL DISCUSSIONS at the Grange on Empire Rd.: 1 PM, Sat. July 20.

The topic: Three Former Copake Businesses & the Still Goin’ Strong Copake Auction House, featuring Emily Franks & her TV actor daughter, Heather Thomson (the Hub restaurant), Steve Kaufman (the Copake Pharmacy), Vana Stang Hotaling (her father, Frank’s town garage), & Mike Fallon (the Copake Auction House)

What’s Happening at the Library?

Now through August

On Display at Roe Jan Library: Susan Petry. With the onset of the pandemic, local artist Susan Petry began experimenting with papier-mache. Her tissue paper characters grew out of the isolated emotional tone of the time and have evolved to reflect the joy of solitude and occasional whimsy.

Susan Petry has maintained a passion for making art while living life as a professor of psychology at Adelphi University. Petry studied drawing and painting with Lillian Lane, paper art with Leigh Suggs, and sculpture with Harvey Weiss and Thomas McAnulty. She has exhibited her work at several one-person and juried group shows in Garden City, Huntington, Spencertown and Hillsdale, NY.

“My work is subdued, intricate and introspective. I am fascinated by ambiguity and the role of the viewer in interpreting or projecting on and resolving the ambiguity.”

Thursday, July 18, 1:00 pm.

Book Marks! Book Club. Join our nonfiction book club, Book Marks!, led by Circulation Librarian Robin Gottlieb. Meets the 3rd Thursday of every month. For our July 18th meeting we are reading Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer. Copies are available through the Mid-Hudson Library System and Libby. Email circulation@roejanlibrary.org for more information.

Saturday, July 20, 2:00 p.m.

Cookbook Club. Join our Cookbook Club led by Outreach Library Associate, Fran Colombo. Meets the 3rd Saturday of the month. Members choose a recipe and bring the cooked/baked dish to the next meeting, where the group will discuss the book and share in a community meal. Bring copies of recipes to share with other foodies! For our July meeting, Cookbook Club is cooking from Christopher Kimball’s Milk Street: 365. A copy is available at the library behind the front desk to look through. All are welcome to join! The more, the merrier! For more information, contact Fran at outreach@roejanlibrary.org.

Thursday, July 25, 2:30 p.m.

Tea Time at the Library. Plan to visit the library on the fourth Thursday of each month at 2:30 p.m. to discuss fun and informative topics. Each month’s gathering will have a different theme; listen, discuss, and enjoy a cup of tea (or coffee if that’s your preference!), and sometimes a fun activity. There will also be plenty of time to chat, get to know your neighbors, and wind down.



For our July 25th meeting, the theme is Brain Teasers and the title of July’s presentation is “Tis a Puzzlement” with presenter and local Josh Horwitt. Come join the discussion and enjoy a cup of Harney's Tea (or coffee) and some fresh baked goods on the house.

Thursday, July 25, 6:00 p.m. in person & on Zoom.

Roe Jan Writers Series: John Wiswell. Local author John Wiswell will read from and discuss his debut novel, Someone You Can Build a Nest In, which follows Shesheshen, a shapeshifting monster who lives in abandoned ruins. After being injured by monster hunters, she’s rescued by the kindly Homily, a human who mistakes Shesheshen for a fellow human. As Homily nurses her back to health, the two grow closer than either imagined possible. The more smitten she gets, the harder it is for Shesheshen to keep her secret. She is about to confess when Homily reveals why she’s here: she’s hunting a terrible shapeshifting monster. Has Shesheshen seen it anywhere?

John Wiswell won the Nebula Award for Best Short Story for “Open House on Haunted Hill,” and the Locus Award for Best Novelette for That Story Isn’t the Story. He has also been nominated for the Hugo, World Fantasy, and British Fantasy Awards. His fiction has been translated into ten languages. His debut novel, Someone You Can Build a Nest In, was released in April 2024 by DAW Books and was named one of the best Science Fiction and Fantasy books of the season by The Guardian, Amazon, Ingram, BookPage, and The Library Journal.

This program will take place in person and on Zoom. To register for the Zoom link, email director@roejanlibrary.org

Saturday, July 27, 2:00 p.m.

Robotics with the Nutty Scientist. Join the Nutty Scientists to learn all about robotics. Ozobots, Spheros, and Recon Robots will join us for this fun, educational program. Enjoy some interactive screen-free challenges that introduce kids to coding and programming skills. Registration is required. Email youth@roejanlibrary.org to reserve your spot. All ages welcome.

Saturday, July 27, 3:00 p.m.

Concert: Joe Rose Trio. Enjoy an afternoon of American songbook jazz with the Joe Rose Trio in the Library’s Community Room. Joe Rose, pianist, graduated from Brown University with a degree in electronic music and composition. Since then, he’s been a career musician primarily involved with recording, teaching and live performance. Rose has been the music director at St. Charles Church in Pittsfield, MA for sixteen years, accompanist for the choirs of Berkshire Lyric, has served as music director for musicals at regional high schools, and has performed frequently in pop and jazz venues. He has received two “Telly” awards for composing television commercial soundtracks and has recently been composing music for Fordham University promotional videos. In addition to playing jazz stylings from the “Great American Songbook”, Joe enjoys performing pop “easy listening” instrumental hits from the ’50s, ’60s, and beyond. He lives with his wife, Lori, in West Stockbridge.

Dan Broad, bass, holds a degree in string bass studies from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Splitting his time between bass guitar and string bass, he is well-versed in many musical genres including jazz, blues, folk, and classical as well as rock and roll. Dan has been one of the most sought-after bassists for live performances and recording in New England for over 30 years. He has performed in nearly every state in the United States and several European countries including Italy, France, Switzerland and Spain. He currently lives in the Berkshires in Cheshire, MA.

Sturgis Cunningham, drums, is a drummer and educator who began his professional career while still a teenager. Since the nineties he has toured and performed extensively, playing world class venues in the U.S. and Europe with Peter Tork, Brooks Williams, MC Frontalot, Tim Eriksen, Martin Sexton, Chris McDermott, Jimmy Weider, Chris Pureka, Charles Neville, and many others. Sturgis has also enjoyed a wide-ranging career in the recording studio, frequently sought on album projects specifically for his personal touch, sensitivity and steadfast, lively feel. Being the consummate professional, he is just as often relied upon for his exacting craftsmanship on recorded music for television and film. Sturgis teaches privately in western Massachusetts where he makes his home.

Thursday, August 1, 6:30 p.m.

Author Talk: Esther Cohen: All of Us: Stories and Poems Along Route 17. Come join us for select readings and a book signing, as well as an opportunity to do some writing of your own with Hudson Valley author Esther Cohen.

Cohen’s latest book, All of Us: Stories and Poems Along Route 17, is about people in small town, upstate New York — different from one another, still enjoying the ups and downs, loves, catastrophes, and the profound humanity of each others’ lives. In her book, Cohen says, “These stories are our lives. They are what we know and how we say who we are. Our words are breath for us all.”

Esther Cohen is a writer, teacher, book doctor, and labor activist. For many years she ran Bread and Roses, a national cultural program for workers. She started a program called Unseenamerica and co-founded the Clara Lemlich Awards for women activists. Her poem/photograph series with Matthew Septimus is featured at On Being. She is the author of six books, including Breakfast With Allen Ginsberg (poetry), Bookdoctor (fiction) and Don’t Mind Me and Other Jewish Lies, illustrated by Roz Chast.

Cohen divides her time between a village nestled in the Catskills and New York City. She teaches at: Columbia University’s Beyond the Bars, a program for formerly incarcerated women; the New York Society Library; and the Cairo Public Library, among others.

Friday, August 2, 2:00 p.m.

Electric Propeller Cars with the Nutty Scientists. Join the Nutty Scientists to explore wind propulsion and circuits with this fun car craft and experiment. Put your engineering skills to the test and go, go, go! Registration is required. Email youth@roejanlibrary.org to reserve your spot. All ages welcome.

Monday, August 12, 11:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.

Healthcare Navigator Appointments. A Navigator from the Healthcare Consortium will be available the second Monday of each month from 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Navigators can assist individuals and families in Columbia and Greene Counties with shopping for, comparing, and enrolling in quality, affordable health insurance, including Medicaid, Child Health Plus and the Essential Plan, through the New York State of Health Official Health Plan Marketplace.

Navigators can also assist with applying for financial assistance to help pay for coverage. Navigator services are free of charge. You can make an appointment by calling (518) 822-9600.

Wednesdays, 1:00 - 4:00 p.m.

Digital Navigator Office Hours. So many things happen online! If you can’t connect to the internet easily, it can be hard to find a job, housing, pay your bills, schedule appointments, and more. Digital Navigators of the Hudson Valley can help you get online at the library or help you use your personal device to get things done. Digital navigators are trusted guides that can help you with your tech questions for free.

Our communications manager, Kate, is a newly trained Digital Navigator of the Hudson Valley! Kate holds open office hours on Wednesdays from 1:00 - 4:00 p.m. for general tech help and digital guidance. Walk-ins are welcome, appointments are appreciated. Email communications@roejanlibrary.org or call the Library at 518-325-4101 to reserve a time with Kate.