Jenny Kirby likes to quietly support local causes. And so Characters Bar & Resaurant in Sloatsburg will pitch in Tuesday evening to support the local Sloatsburg UMC Food Pantry. Continue Reading

With peak April weekend weather, the Boy Scouts from Troop 2146 took full advantage of their day in the sun.

The troop, which serves Sloatsburg and Tuxedo, took part in the 51st Annual Scoutmaster Camporee At West Point Continue Reading

With a full moon to enjoy in the evening, Sloatsburg and the surrounding area has a busy schedule during the day as well.

After an invigorating weekend of leisure, wrap the whole thing up Sunday, April 28, with the Suffern Street Fair along Lafayette Avenue. The Street Fair will feature an Antique, Classic & Custom Car & Motorcycle Show, on display on Chestnut Street, between Lafayette Avenue and the NJTransit underpass. The whole shebang is sponsored by the Suffern Chamber of Commerce. Continue Reading

Storms bring rain and rain makes the rivers rise. Who watches over the water? And what about that giant mulch pile towering in the woods of Sterling Forest in Tuxedo, not to mention the teetering pile of dirt along Rt. 17 that may spill into the Ramapo River at any time. Continue Reading

Dig around in your basement or attic and bring your junk to Harmony Hall on Saturday, April 27, to see if it just might be treasure. Join renowned appraiser, author and conservator Kenneth Jay Linsner for another edition of Got Treasure? from  2 p.m. — 5 p.m. at the Jacob Sloat House in Sloatsburg, NY.

President of the Appraisal Services Group of New York City and board member of the Friends of Harmony Hall, Linsner has traveled the world to appraise treasurers. He has an eye for detail and lifetime of field work that’s key to accurate evaluations.

Harmony Hall is the original name for the Jacob Sloat House, designed and built by Sloat back in 1848 as an example of Greek Revival style of architecture popular in the early Victorian period. The restoration project is intended to capture the period from 1848 to 1908.

Got Treasure? is sponsored by the Friends of Harmony Hall, a non-profit member organization that works behind the scenes to promote and renovate Harmony Hall.

So, come on down Saturday, where Ken Linsner and company may just see something amazing, left to you from your dear old Auntie Mame.

The Ramapo Central School Board of Education met Tuesday evening to a standing room only audience. With people once again lining the halls, walls and meeting room itself, the BOE was set to make its final proposed budget presentation to the public and then take a vote on the item. Continue Reading

Earth Day began way back in 1970 with a near end of the world fervor. Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring about pesticide use was just eight years old and industrial pollution was a very real and serious problem in the U.S.

Earth Day was inaugurated back when people would freely toss trash out car windows, no problem, sailing it down the street, littering roadways and highways. Paint sludge was dumped and buried in Ramapo’s own Torne Valley. The nascent environmental movement resulted in groundbreaking laws, including major revisions of the Clean Air Act in 1970 and Clean Water Act in 1972. Continue Reading

Local environmental educator and raconteur Chuck Stead remembers the days when he was just a boy in the mid-1960s and would wander the wonderland that was Torne Valley, setting small game traps. Stead, who grew up in Hillburn, NY, roamed the valley like it was his own back yard. Continue Reading

The Sloatsburg Volunteer Ambulance Corp building was all decked out Sunday, with colorfully decorated tables assembled in the ambulance bay. Another Sloatsburg scout from Boy Scout Troop 2146 was holding his Eagle Scout Court of Honor. Continue Reading

The dinner hour was kicking into gear at Suffern’s Hacienda Don Manuel, a sort of secret favorite restaurant in western Rockland. One table in particular was animated in the colorful surroundings.

Members of the Suffern Chamber of Commerce were immersed in a serious discussion regarding one of the village’s anchors – the Lafayette Theater, which opened its doors in 1924 and has continued to evolve and attract visitors ever since. Currently, the Lafayette operates as a single-screen theater that features first-run films, with a sprinkle of alternative programming thrown in. Continue Reading