In Celebration of Your Local Farmer

Date: Saturday, August 29, 10am-5pm
Location: Hunter Village Square, 7950 Main St., Rte 23A, Village of Hunter, NY
Information: 518 263 2050
Free admission

Harvest Festival Events at the CMF

HARVEST FESTIVAL: Know Your Local Farmer! A celebration of the publication of Hudson River Valley Farms: The People and the Pride Behind the Produce by Joanne Michaels. Includes a chapter on the Catskill Mountain Foundation Farm. Farm vendors will be on hand to sell their bounty.

Schedule of Events:

11am-Noon Poet WILL NIXON at the Village Square Bookstore. Woodstock poet Will Nixon lives and writes in a Catskills' log cabin. A former journalist who has contributed to The Amicus Journal and the Adirondack Explorer. His poetry chapbooks are When I Had It Made and The Fish Are Laughing. His new full-length poetry collection is My Late Mother as a Ruffed Grouse. Nixon will read his poems, many of them grounded in rural imagery, and discuss them with the audience.

12-1pm at the Village Square Bookstore, Photographer/Author DAN NELKIN will speak about his new book, Till the Cows Come Home: County Fair Portraits. According to Nelkin, "In farming communities across the United States, the harvest is celebrated annually at county fairs where local farmers showcase their prized produce and livestock. In some places, this tradition has been established for more than 180 years. Family farmers are the core participants in these summer events but their numbers are waning...Aware that others have looked through a lens at similar subject matter, I did not want to beautify the experience or trivialize it through sentimentality." In other words, he just wanted to tell "truly how is is."

1-2pm at the Kaaterskill Fine Arts. Painter, teacher, author and licensed guide, JUDITH ORSECK KATZ, will speak about her work, her book and her latest hike to two waterfalls. Working with gouache and ink on paper, Katz conveys a joyful spontaneity, as if she is not only recording what she sees but creating it as she sees it. Contact the Gallery for more information on Judith's Walk to Two Waterfalls, scheduled for Sunday, Aug 30.

2-3pm at the Village Square Bookstore. Mathematician/philosopher/logician/magician & author RAYMOND SMULLYAN is the author of many books on recreational mathematics, recreational logic, etc. Most notably, one is titled What is the Name of This Book? Before earning his Ph.D. from Princeton in 1959, his first career was as stage magician. In his new book, Rambles Through My Library, Dr. Smullyan takes you on a tour of selections from his favorite authors. Along the way, he shares his thoughts, commentary, stories, anecdotes, and juicy tidbits about the authors and selections. He may even do a little magic. As Melvin Fitting has said in his introduction of Dr. Smullyan to an audience, "I now introduce Professor Smullyan, who will prove to you that either he doesn't exist or you don't exist, but you won't know which." Come to this informal lecture to find out.

3-4pm Author/Editor KARL WEBER at the Mountain Cinema (2nd floor). Karl Weber, author of Food Inc.: A Participant Guide: How Industrial Food is Making Us Sicker, Fatter, and Poorer-And What You Can Do About It, will speak about the documentary. Food, Inc. is guaranteed to shake up your perceptions of what you eat. The film is a powerful documentary deconstruction of the corporate food industry in America. The book adds to the film's themes by answering questions like Where does my food come from? Who's processed it? Who and what are the giant agribusinesses? What stake do they have in maintaining the "food" status quo? The book answers these questions through a collection of thoughtful essays written by Michael Polan, Eric Schlosser and other notables in the field. Karl Weber is a writer and editor based in New York. He collaborated with Muhammad Yunus on his bestseller, Creating a World Without Poverty, edited The Best of I.F. Stone, and with Andrew W. Savitz, co-authored The Triple Bottom Line: How's Today's Best-Run Companies Are Achieving Economic, Social, and Environmental Success -- And How You Can, Too.

4-5pm PERFORMANCE at the Red Barn-River of Dreams, narrated by author-illustrator HUDSON TALBOTT with musical accompaniment by a musical chorus of Greene County children. "...Talbott's book brings to life more than four centuries of the Hudson River's history, a feast for the eyes and imaginations of young and old alike. It not only celebrates the past, it points the way to a bright and sustainable future for the Hudson Valley, with a new generation of environmental stewards at the helm." Ned Sullivan, President of Scenic Hudson. Hudson Talbott has written over a dozen books for young readers. He lives in New York City and Catskill, New York, in the Hudson Valley.

4pm to 6pm GALLERY OPENING: At the Kaaterskill Fine Crafts & Art Gallery: "The Writer as Illustrator," featuring the art work of writer/illustrators Carl Chaiet, Thomas Locker, Judith Orseck Katz, and Hudson Talbott.

Around the Village of Hunter

SIDEWALK YARD SALES: Up and down Rte. 23A in the historic Village of Hunter.

SIDEWALK ART SHOW: Local painters demonstrate their skills on the sidewalks of Hunter Village from 10AM-5PM.