Woodstock

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 […]

After 20 years, two architects and two defeated referendums, Woodstock’s new library was set to celebrate its official opening on Dec. 13, marking a new chapter in its 112-year history in a space triple the size of its predecessor on Library Lane. But the event is being postponed while contractors complete work on the entrance […]

Woodstock’s 43rd annual Holiday Open House kicks off at 4 p.m., aiming to jumpstart holiday sales with a festive and enticing atmosphere as stores festooned with holiday trimmings stay open until 8 p.m.  Visitors are invited to pop into village stores to enjoy the holiday decorations while checking gifts off their holiday shopping list. Among […]

Bearsville Center owner Lizzie Vann’s plan to redevelop multiple parcels, including the former site of the Woodstock Library, cleared a key bureaucratic hurdle last week as the town’s planning board endorsed a proposal to redraw a zoning line so that the entire project falls within the Hamlet Commercial District. Vann’s Project Regeneration aims to convert […]

A small brushfire that erupted in Bearsville on Monday prompted warnings by Woodstock firefighters that ashes from wood stoves can stay hot for days, sometimes even igniting full house fires. This week’s fire started after ashes were dumped over a bank into a stoney area filled with old ash, brush, and leaves. Firefighters arrived quickly […]

The porch roof of 59 Tinker St., one of Woodstock’s most storied buildings and a touchstone of its musical past, came down this week after rot and water damage forced reconstruction to preserve the historic building. Anyone driving past this week may have joined in Woodstock’s collective gasp as they saw that the roof over […]

The Woodstock Environmental Commission is urging the Town Board to take immediate action to remove what it estimates to be roughly 200 truckloads of contaminated construction debris at 10 Church Road in Shady—material the group says poses a potential threat to the public water system and nearby private wells. No scientific analysis to date has […]

A routine public hearing this week about Woodstock’s 2026 budget spiraled into a broader clash over power, pay and transparency, as board members questioned Supervisor Bill McKenna’s authority to put forth a resolution seeking to reclassify the town’s first deputy town clerk as town clerk. Meghann Reimondo was appointed first deputy clerk on Aug. 19, […]

Imagine sitting at the corner of Deanies Alley and Maple Lane in Woodstock on a comfortable summer evening as music swirled in the air, the sound of a hoedown mixed with the clinking of glasses and chirping of crickets. That was the Woodstock of the 1940s and 1950s, when The Irvington was a nightlife hot […]

A long-running debate over a proposed 30-home subdivision off Eastwoods Drive continues after the state Department of Environmental Conservation confirmed in late October that the Town of Ulster—not Woodstock—will oversee the project’s environmental review. The decision, announced just before the Woodstock Planning Board’s Nov. 6 meeting, leaves Woodstock with authority over road and wetlands permits […]

It’s 7:30 on a Thursday morning, and Gail Bradney flicks on the lights inside the kitchen of the Woodstock Reformed Church. The smell of coffee mixes with the steam of green beans as volunteers shuffle in, tying aprons and stacking foil trays. It’s become routine for the six retired core volunteers who gather here most […]

Town Clerk Jackie Earley announced Tuesday she will retire at the end of the month after 39 years with the town, surprising members of the Town Board during its Oct. 14 meeting. “I am writing to formally announce my retirement as town clerk for the town of Woodstock, effective October 31st, 2025,” Earley said via […]

A summer-long debate over the leadership of Town Supervisor Bill McKenna took a bizarre turn as former supervisor candidate Erin Moran—who lost her bid for the Democratic nomination to town board member Anula Courtis in June—accused him of leaving an envelope on her car containing a Ten of Swords tarot card, a glass knife, and […]

Ulster County District Attorney Emmanuel Nneji stepped up at a packed Woodstock Town Board meeting Tuesday to urge residents and officials to cool a summer-long fight over the hiring of a convicted sex offender. By supporting the town’s attorney, he may have instead muddied the waters even further. “I do not want this tearing the […]

The Woodstock Library will close Friday for about a month before reopening in a larger space that will feature more room for children’s programs, archives and community events, the final phase of a $3.3 million project that has showcased both the promise of expanded services and the financial strains that small-town libraries face across the […]