Feb 23, 2025, Heart & Stroll by Maria (M), Amanda (AM), Albert (A), Joanne (Jo), Jerry (Je), Raquel (R), Andy (AW)
A: My first name is Albert. And I like Rosendale because it’s old fashioned, but it’s also modern, and it seems to have a lot of very honest and honorable people, community, and I really like that. I think it’s liberal, like where we come from, Berkeley. So in that regard, it’s probably more liberal than Berkeley these days, yeah, because Berkeley has kind of gone in a different direction, yeah. But that’s about, that’s Berkeley, that’s not Rosendale. It’s great to be able to pop in from New Paltz down the road, and so yeah, all right.
Jo: My name is Joanne, and I love Frozendale, everything from Santa on the motorcycle to Santa in the mug. What brought me here first was the library: two artwork shops, making some cards with metallic papers, it was really fun and met people through that, and then also they have a writer accountability group that meets the first, the second and fourth Tuesdays of every month in the little pavilion thing in the back, the screen in porch, and I thought that was just beautiful, or birds in the river on the other side, and really nice group. And then also the brass band, the Rosendale Improvement Association Brass Band. They practice behind, over there, in the Willow Kiln Park, yeah, that was amazing.
K: I’m Kathy. One of the things I like best about Rosendale is its geologic history, I was a teacher at SUNY and New Paltz High School, and it’s just amazing, the Rosendale cement, the dolostone, is the hardest cement known, and it makes up the base of the Statue of Liberty, and the Federal Building, and Brooklyn Bridge base, and such, and it wasn’t until the invention of Portland cement, which dries faster, but isn’t as strong, that this place began to decline for its cement production. I miss the Cement Factory, which used to be a restaurant where a soy is, these two gay guys owned it, and it was so fun. The gardens in the back were to die for, and the food was great.
And the other thing I love is Joppenbergh Mountain. The top is all marine animals fossilized, which is incredible, and I’ve given a lot of nature tours up there to Brownies and Girl Scouts, and they get so excited when they see what’s up there. It’s just a nature wonderland, so there’s so much to say, but anyway, I’ll stop there.
M: Maybe you could lead a Heart and Stroll for us one day.
K: Perhaps.
Je: Jerry. I have a bit of a dark message. The interesting thing is that you can be too successful, and I think I’ve seen so many places as soon as they see something that is booming, the corporates come in and buy places, and they take the magic out of it. When you have the small shops, which always are going to struggle to make a go, but when they get bought out by a big business, you lose the color, you lose a lot of the magic. And so, as much as you want to be wildly successful, sometimes you lose the magic.
M: Do you have any thoughts about how to avoid that?
Je: Not very specifically, no. I think the farmers’ markets and this sort of thing don’t lend themselves to corporate buyouts, but little businesses, as soon as you get people walking down the street in mass, someone says, hey, I can make a lot of money, and the magic goes away. So, in a way, don’t be too successful.
R: Hello, I’m Raquel. I’m new here, and I like Rosendale because it’s very quaint and easy to move around, walk around, I like walking from place to place. I noticed that there were no crosswalks, maybe you should add some crosswalks. We had to look very carefully when we crossed, and somebody was kind enough to stop. And that’s it. I enjoyed it very much.
M: So, now, the second round is ideas that you have for Rosendale. Is there anything you dream of that you’d like to see here, or something that you think needs to be protected, as you mentioned?
A: Now, I think just keep it small and keep it real. Yeah, I mean, the vibes here are genuine, and just be sure that you keep it that way, right? Because it’s precious and unique.
Jo: Alright, it’s not that many more to add. Taste of Rosendale? So, you open up all of the restaurants, and then you do a crawl at your own pace and just do little, tiny tasters, because I wouldn’t have gone to Lift if it wasn’t for you guys, because it’s kind of small. I wouldn’t park there. I’d park over here. You know what I mean? I wouldn’t go that way. But if I was forced to do it, (forced!) of course, then I would discover so many beautiful things. Maybe there’s one price to begin the crawl, so you do pay back these wonderful restauranteurs for their work, but it would really expand the delight and exploration of the area. So, that’s my idea.
? Gold star!
?: There used to be a Mac and Cheese contest…that was wonderful.
R: I like the idea of the farmer’s market, but it’s limited in time. It starts late. I don’t think the could start it earlier. You have to wait till May, right? I like music. Maybe add some music to our events. Like on the streets or whatever.
A: We actually put a concert on until September. We’re working on doing a series here. Because so many people say that they want more music.
R: What about food trucks?
A: Wait till you see the street fest in July. It’s a big deal.
A: Anybody else want to say anything? I’m going to add something. I, you know, we planned this and it ended up being super icy. It’s melted a little bit today, you know. But it would be really amazing if especially for the shady side of the street, if there was a better snow and ice removal because the sidewalks end up covered. And it’s pretty dangerous. And some years it does get cleared and this year it didn’t. So it’s been a couple weeks of danger. That’s all for me.
AW: One of the problems with having a wide street and this narrow sidewalk is as soon as they plow all the snow goes back on the sidewalk.
K: So here is another idea for the Rosendale Enlightenment: you may do this already. But it would probably require cars. But I would love to see a car tour to highlight all the artist studios that are kind of out and about within the farmhouses and back doors and women’s studio and stuff. I used to live in Boston. So in Boston it would be like these huge buildings.
You’d walk from room to room from art studio to art studio. And you were just aghast at all these great pieces of art. And then you’d look at the people and their personalities. It was such an adventure. So we could have an adventure tour of all these artists. And then maybe they could sell their work too, which would be great to have their recognition.
M: Supposedly, Ulster County has more artists per capita than any other county in New York state.
Je: And I don’t know, you may already have a lot of this. Having group hikes is really great. And then you come and stop at the local stores and have coffee and sandwiches and stuff. So it kind of boosts the community. But you have some nice hikes around here.
A: Absolutely. I mean, there’s right up here we have the Jeff and Brooke Mountain Trail. And then there’s a bunch of new trails off of it. And, you know, a lot of people just go on their own or in a small group. But I think it would be really fun to do a larger group. Because it’s a good way to get to meet people, you know. And then coming down and a lot of people come here afterward, you know. But it would be fun to have an organized thing.
