Woodstock

Susan Brown was working in an upstairs office overflowing with books, papers, and photographs on Aug. 9 when she heard her 8-pound dog, Blue, barking downstairs. Brown, 80, walked toward the living room and found an adult female black bear and one of her cubs inside. Blue was trying to confront them. “There is a […]

Levon Helm Studios sued musician Amy Helm and seven other defendants in federal court Monday, alleging that she used company money to support her personal life and music career, concealed financial transactions from other shareholders, and caused the Woodstock venue to sustain at least $2 million in damages. The lawsuit also alleges that Amy Helm, […]

Bangkok Market, the Thai pop-up eatery on Woodstock’s Dixon Avenue that said it drew 3 ½-hour wait times when it opened July 10 for a month-long run, shut down 12 days early last week after running into financial and staffing difficulties. Award-winning Brooklyn chef Elizabeth Calvo, who was born in Thailand, said on Wednesday morning […]

Musician Amy Helm broke her silence on the intra-family dispute over Levon Helm Studios, accusing her stepmother’s advisors of executing a coordinated financial shakedown. “The hustlers who think they can manipulate her and further cash in on my father’s legacy will be exposed,” Helm, 55, said in a statement posted to social media Thursday. “Their […]

Not Fade Away has reopened in Woodstock after eight months without a storefront, giving the music-inspired retailer its 11th local home in 35 years. The shop opened this month at 5 Tannery Brook Road, steps from Tinker Street and next to a municipal parking lot. “We’re back,” co-owner Marty Leffer said. Leffer and co-owner Lindsey […]

The Barn at Levon Helm Studios in Woodstock, home of the Midnight Ramble, has had 13 concert dates confirmed as canceled or postponed since a late-May management change. Eight additional concert dates have been canceled at Levon Helm Studios, bringing the number of confirmed disruptions since a late-May management change to 13 as a public […]

Levon Helm Studios, the storied and intimate Woodstock venue founded by the legendary late drummer of The Band, is in turmoil after a shift in voting control removed Helm’s daughter, musician Amy Helm, from management and put longtime shareholder Brian Parillo in charge. The change intensified a dispute among the family and business partners behind […]

Dawn Neal-Ellsworth, a longtime Woodstock Rescue Squad volunteer who rose to captain and kept responding to emergencies while battling cancer, died Wednesday, July 1, at Westchester Medical Center in Valhalla. She was 51. Neal-Ellsworth was captain of Woodstock Fire Department Company 5, better known as the Woodstock Rescue Squad, where she had served for more […]

Robert A.F. Thurman, a Woodstock-area resident who became one of the country’s best-known interpreters of Tibetan Buddhism and helped build Menla Retreat & Dewa Spa in Phoenicia into a Catskills center for Buddhist teaching and healing arts, died Tuesday, June 16, in Woodstock. He was 84. Thurman, a professor emeritus at Columbia University, was the […]

A coalition of Woodstock business owners is asking town officials for a stronger role in planning for the Route 212 overhaul, saying construction during peak tourism season could disrupt the summer revenue many downtown businesses rely on to survive the winter. Melissa Gibson, co-owner of the cannabis dispensary HERbal Woodstock, and Lea Haas, owner of […]

A state Supreme Court judge temporarily blocked the Town of Ulster from moving ahead with its review of Zena Homes until the town answers a zoning question at the center of the dispute: Does the Planning Board have authority to review the project, or does the Town Board need to take it up instead? The […]

In 1800, more than 2,000 enslaved people lived in Ulster County, according to Ulster County Historian Eddie Moran, citing that year’s federal census. Moran, a New Paltz resident who studies the history of enslaved people in the region, is descended from all seven founding families of New Paltz, each of which enslaved people. New Paltz […]

A “well-involved house fire” in Zena on Saturday, May 23, drew firefighters from Woodstock and five other departments, while two others remained on standby, authorities said. No injuries were reported.  Firefighters were dispatched to the Meher Circle home at 7:49 p.m. and battled the fire for almost five hours. It was sparked by the improper […]

The historic Woodstock building where Bob Dylan once lived upstairs is set to welcome another brand of celebrity on Friday—the stars of Bravo’s “The Real Housewives of New Jersey.”  Mike DuBois, who owns the Tinker Street building with his wife, Kelly Sinclair, said filming will take place on Friday afternoon in the couple’s downstairs business, […]

An Eastwoods Drive couple who have publicly argued that their road is too narrow to serve as access to the proposed Zena Homes subdivision received a warning from the developers over road use, along with a $1,040 maintenance bill. Eddie Greenberg and Evan Kleinberg, the developers behind Zena Homes, sent a May 15 email to […]

The Woodstock Reformed Church, led by its new pastor, the Rev. Kathryn Rivera Torea, is working with Kingston’s A.M.E. Zion Church to atone for a history that included early ministers and members who were slaveholders. Representatives of the Woodstock church and Kingston’s A.M.E. Zion Church, part of a historically Black denomination, met for the first […]

The Bearsville Bluegrass Festival has been postponed because of forecasts for severe weather in the region, organizers said. The festival, originally scheduled for May 24, will now take place from noon to 6 p.m. Saturday, May 30, at Bearsville Center on Tinker Street in Woodstock. Organizers said the decision was made to ensure that visitors […]

The Woodstock Town Board voted unanimously Tuesday to resume environmental testing at 10 Church Road in Shady, seeking to remediate a dispute over thousands of cubic yards of construction and demolition debris dumped near private wells, streams, and the town’s public water supply. The resolution authorizes the town to hire an independent environmental engineer to […]

Michael Berg said the decade he spent working weekly overnight shifts for Family of Woodstock’s crisis hotline, starting in the mid-1970s, was transformational. “It changed me,” said Berg, Family’s 81-year-old executive director. “I got to be really in touch with the pain and the stuff that people were going through.” For about six months, the […]

Woodstock developer Lizzie Vann said she hoped the first phase of Project Regeneration, her proposal to remake the former Woodstock Library and Lasher Funeral Home properties, could be finished in 2027, with the full project completed by 2029. Vann outlined that timeline on April 19 at a public meeting that drew about 100 people to […]

Bearsville Center in Woodstock, home to the historic Bearsville Theater, is no longer for sale, months after owner Lizzie Vann put it on the market for $7.995 million. “We have had a re-think about Bearsville and we are taking it off the market for a period while we work out what to do,” she said. […]

Tannery Brook Road north of Ohayo Mountain Road in Woodstock will close for about two months beginning April 14 as Ulster County replaces Sully Bridge over the Saw Kill. Drivers will be detoured east on Millstream Road, north on West Hurley Road, west on Route 212, and south on Tannery Brook Road, according to an […]

The ownership group behind the restaurant Silvia is preparing to open two new businesses on Mill Hill Road in Woodstock, taking over the property formerly occupied by Gemela. The larger building on the site will be called The Penny Tavern, while the smaller building will be called The Penny Cafe, according to Silvia co-owner Craig […]

Bread and Puppet Theater will perform at the Woodstock Playhouse on April 18 in a fundraiser organized by Stop Zena Development, a coalition opposing the proposed Zena Homes project. The 30-lot subdivision, planned on about 626 acres spanning Woodstock and Ulster, has become a flashpoint in a broader fight over environmental review, emergency access and […]

Ulster County’s plans to add a bus stop for Woodstock’s new library, a mile and a half east of its former location, are in limbo as officials seek to hire more drivers to expand its network. Ulster County Area Transit’s Route Z includes stops at the corner of Route 212 and Rock City Road, within […]

It was the kind of brilliant October day that speaks to life, not its end. The temperature was in the mid-60s and the sky an unblemished blue as Jim Reynolds gathered with family and friends on the second Saturday of the month at Woodstock Cemetery to bid farewell to his life partner. It was only […]

Woodstock will mark Earth Day this year by multiplying it sevenfold. From April 18 to April 25, the town will host its first “Earth Week,” a series of events that aims to bring together the community’s many environmental efforts. “I was thinking about all the different groups in this town that are fighting so hard […]

Woodstock officials are raising concern about mounting safety risks at Big Deep and Little Deep, the local swimming holes that draw swarms of local and out-of-town visitors in the summer months. Members of the Woodstock Environmental Commission said at their March 18 meeting that visits to the sites off Zena Road and Route 212 last […]

Bill Murray once wanted to take a late-night swim at The Lodge in Woodstock. The actor, who was in the area while filming the 2019 movie “The Dead Don’t Die” in Fleischmanns, became a regular at the bar, hotel, and restaurant tucked behind Woodstock Elementary School. He showed up at Levon Helm Studios, dropped by […]

Woodstock officials stepped back from a potential hike in summer camp fees, saying they want to avoid a “hardship” for families even as the program’s budget gap widens.  “What I want to start off with is to assure the public and parents that the town board has heard that increasing the cost of the camp […]

In October 1983, Marty Leffer was in a Lake Placid hotel, waiting for an elevator. He had two tie-dyed shirts from a bundle he hoped to sell to thousands of Deadheads, fans of the Grateful Dead, who had descended on the upstate village that had hosted the Winter Olympics about four years earlier. Nearly 8,000 […]

Keisha Hoerrner is leaving the Woodstock Land Conservancy, where she’s served as its communications and outreach manager for two years, for a new and more sustainable life in Bologna, Italy, seeking to cut her carbon footprint, better healthcare, and “a place where science is valued.” “I want to go from just educating people about this […]

The Woodstock School of Art is undertaking a $700,000 rehabilitation of its historic barn, a project its executive director said will expand programming, improve public access, and lower long-term operating costs at the historic Route 212 campus. The renovation will convert the oldest building on the property from seasonal use to a year-round facility, allowing […]

Woodstock’s Complete Streets Committee plans to hold a public meeting on March 24 at 6 p.m. at the Mescal Hornbeck Community Center to update residents on a plan to extend village sidewalks into a pedestrian and bike path stretching as far as Bearsville. The village is already working with the Department of Transportation on a […]

With thousands of attendees, multiple stages and a sometimes frenetic pace, the Mountain Jam Festival often developed a rhythm of its own, one that built steadily over several days and rivaled the tempo of the nationally known acts that drew crowds to the Catskills over the years. Staged by Radio Woodstock (WDST 100.1 FM) owner […]

The Woodstock Jewish Congregation has launched a volunteer-driven program to support immigrant families facing detention, financial strain and other hardships. The initiative comes as federal immigration enforcement operations have drawn national attention. This week, federal officials announced the end of a high-profile immigration enforcement surge in Minnesota that resulted in thousands of arrests and sparked […]

The owners of Happylife Productions bought the former Tinker Street Cafe at 59 Tinker St. from local entrepreneur Lizzie Vann for $999,000, securing a long-term future for their Woodstock-based arts and culture store after several years as tenants. Artist Mike DuBois and his wife and partner, artist Kelly Sinclair, said their lease was nearing its […]

A fire that destroyed a multi-unit building on Tinker Street in Woodstock, but caused no injuries or fatalities, remains under investigation by Ulster County fire officials and state police. The fire broke out at 117 Tinker St., with the first call coming in to the Woodstock Fire Department at 9:44 p.m. Saturday. It was reported […]

The Woodstock Town Board criticized officials in the Town of Ulster at its twice-monthly meeting Tuesday, citing what it described as a lack of communication and potential negligence in the handling of a proposed 30-home development that straddles property in both towns off Eastwoods Drive. The project, known as Zena Homes, was initially pitched as […]

Lizzie Vann’s decision to list Bearsville Center for sale is not an exit from Woodstock but rather a pivot. After listing Bearsville Center for $7.995 million last week, Vann said she is selling the landmark Woodstock complex to redirect her focus and capital toward new projects nearby, including housing, public green space and adaptive reuse […]

Bearsville Center—the historic Woodstock property that includes the Bearsville Theater, Utopia Studios Bearsville and several other businesses—is up for sale, according to the listing agent. The asking price is $7,995,000, said Thomas Collins, managing director of SVN/Deegan-Collins Commercial Realty in Kingston, which is handling the sale. The property was listed within the past few days […]

As 2008’s Mountain Jam Festival unfolded at Hunter Mountain, Radio Woodstock’s Greg Gattine remembers waiting outside Bob Weir’s hotel room as the Grateful Dead co-founder, rhythm guitarist, and songwriter returned from a workout. “There’s sweat pouring off his head, a towel around his neck,” said Gattine, 63, the radio station’s program director and morning host. […]

Mike Gordon, bass player for the band Phish, will bring his own band to the Bearsville Theater in Woodstock for a show on March 13.  Gordon’s history with Woodstock runs deep.  He has performed multiple times at the Bearsville Theater. He attended more than one Midnight Ramble at Levon Helm Studios; and sat in with […]

Woodstock’s town board voted unanimously to name former Councilman Reggie Earls to fill a vacant seat on the Town Board on Tuesday, plugging a spot left vacant when Anula Courtis was sworn in as town supervisor on Jan. 1. Before the vote, Courtis opened her first meeting as supervisor with a brief declaration that the […]

On the morning of Dec. 4, local musician and handyman Paul Duffy was sitting down to a steaming breakfast prepared by his daughter in St. Petersburg, Florida, when his cellphone rang. The caller was a neighbor from De Witt Road in Accord, known to many as “Hoppy,” the bear carver. He delivered grim news: Duffy’s […]

Anula Courtis was sworn in as Woodstock’s town supervisor during a New Year’s Day ceremony at Woodstock Town Hall on Jan. 1. Laurie Osmond and Lily Korolkoff were also sworn in as members of the Woodstock Town Board. The oaths of office were administered by Ulster County Comptroller March Gallagher, marking the start of a […]

Bearsville Theater, the local music venue with a national reputation, kicks off the new year with a new beginning as General Manager Frank Bango steps aside to seek a rhythm to life beyond nightlife. “It’s a beautiful job and a beautiful place,” said Bango, 56, who moved to High Falls after running the Bowery Ballroom […]

Philip Sinagra, the Woodstock police officer who sued town officials in March over how he’d been disciplined, put the town on notice that he intends to file a new lawsuit claiming town officials defamed and retaliated against him. Sinagra’s Notice of Claim, a legal prerequisite to suing a municipality in New York, seeks more than […]

For 15 years, Martha Frankel has treated the Woodstock Bookfest like a writerly dinner party, inviting authors from around the world into town, feeding them well with her cooking, goodie bags and wit, and building a literary weekend centered on conversation and ideas. Next year, Frankel will pause the festival to re-center her attention closer […]

Incoming Woodstock Supervisor Anula Courtis filled two key roles in her administration and roiled local politics by rejecting weeks of work by a Town Board colleague to redesign the town’s website. Courtis named Daniel Gallant, 49, a development consultant to arts organizations, as deputy supervisor, and former Saugerties Art Commission Chair Yvonne Rojas-Cowan, 51, as […]

The former site of the Mud Club and Early Terrible on Mill Hill Road, now home to the cafe Gemela, is on the market for $4 million, the latest potential shift for dining and drinking options in central Woodstock. “We love Woodstock—we love the hell out of this town,” said Nicolas Ballinger, who has owned […]

Efforts by Bearsville Center owner Lizzie Vann to redevelop the former Woodstock Library site moved closer to reality Tuesday as the Town Board set a Dec. 16 public hearing, even as the meeting devolved into sharp disputes over federal relief money, infrastructure spending and control of town technology assets. The unanimous vote on Vann’s project […]

A $30 million project to rebuild the full length of Tinker Street, from the Village Green, got a show of conditional support this week, as the Environmental Commission heard from supporters who described a project aimed at improving traffic safety – especially for pedestrians and bicycle riders.  “Tinker Street has been determined not safe,” Complete […]