The Suffern High School Select Choir serenades at the Sloatsburg Senior Center with some special holiday songs.

Sloatsburg seniors were serandaded Wednesday by students from Suffern High School.

The Suffern Select Choir, led by Debrah Phelps, visited the Sloatsburg Senior Center, bringing holiday cheer and big voices. The Select Choir is made up of students in the Suffern chorus. Continue Reading

New Suffern Mayor Trish Abato talks shop at Village Hall. Original photo by Carucha L. Meuse.

At the beginning of December, there was a significant changing of the guard at the Village of Suffern. Mayor Dagan Lacorte handed the presiding gavel over to longtime Village Trustee and newly elected Mayor Trish Abato. Continue Reading

The fog has lifted as that cold front moves in. Now, think holidays.

The Friends of the Sloatsburg Public Library are, and the volunteer group has been been cooking up a special event to make your holidays a bit more cheerful. Continue Reading

The Suffern High School Robotics continue to compete at a high level in area competitions. And the team is looking for some volunteer help for a January competition.

Suffern High School Robotics Team at work in competition.

Suffern Robotics was a formidable presence at the FIRST Tech Challenge Fall Harvest Qualifier in Marlton, NJ in November.

With four teams entered, Suffern was nominated for four of six total judged awards—and won three: Think! Award (Team 7450), Innovate Award (Team 7486) and Control Award (Team 7488). Team 7488 was also a nominee for the PTC Design Award.

A member of the SHS Robotics team makes some design adjustments for the big competition.

The Suffern team will host the Lower Hudson Valley FIRST Tech Challange Qualifier on January 12 at Suffern High School. Robotics advisor and Suffern High School math teacher George Mugno is looking for judges and referees for the event — no prior or technical experience is necessary. You can email Mr. Mugno at gmugno@ramapocentral.org if interested.

In the competition arena at the Tech Challenge Fall Harvest Qualifier, three Suffern High School teams advanced to the Championship Rounds. Team 7450 made it to the Final Championship Round, finished in the second place Alliance and out-scored every other individual team at the competition.

Information courtesy of Jen Citrolo. 

The Village of Suffern lights up Monday evening with a special menorah-lighting celebration.

Chabad of Suffern hosts a Menorah ceremony for the sixth night of Chanukah. Six special guests from throughout the community will take part in lighting the village menorah at the Suffern Gazebo at Avon Park at the corner of Washington and Lafayette Avenues.

The ceremony will be followed by a Chanakuh Fair at the Suffern Community Center that includes music and other activities. The fair is free but there may be a cost to some refreshments.

The event is sponsored by the Chabad Jewish Center of Suffern.

The ceremony will take place at Avon Park (corner Washington and Lafayette Avenues) at 6pm; there will be a reception following with food and entertainment at the Suffern Community Center, 41 Washington Avenue courtesy of the Chabad of Suffern.

The annual Thanksgiving Day football game has entered the pantheon of American holiday activities. Lawn football games are a tradition that play out on campuses, in neighborhoods and parks all across the country. Geoff Welch was on hand when a collection of  Sloatsburg sons got together during Thursday morning’s chill to play a spirited game of football on the adjoining Lawns of Harmony Hall and the Sloatsburg Public Library. Continue Reading

Pat O’Brien of the Sloatsburg Seniors lights the birthday cake for Mary Buckley’s 100th Birthday.

To read through the proclamation is to wander casually through a rich and expansive moment in time — the 20th century in all its panoramic color. Black and white momentos of Ebbets Field in Brooklyn. New Jazz Age sounds and the incorporation of Sloatsburg itself in 1929. Soldiers and people parading through the streets of Suffern, leaving for foreign lands and returning flush with experiences. Continue Reading

By Geoff Welch, Ramapo River Watershed Keeper 

Mohonk Mountain House, site of the HudsonRiver Watershed Alliance conference.

Last week, I attended The Hudson River Watershed Alliance’s annual conference, titled “A Watershed Moment: Changing Climate & the Future of Our Water Resources held, at the scenic Mohonk Mountain House outside New Paltz, New York on the Shawangunk Ridge. The program was co-sponsored by Mohonk Consultations. Continue Reading

The flickering flames of Clausland Mountain in southern Rockland County were a fiery siren call and  Thursday and Friday to firefighters and reporters alike. Photographer Kenny Flynn was on location in Orangeburg and took fantastic night shots of the burning mountain from in back of Tappan Zee High School.

As reported by Bill Demarest of the Nyack Free Press, “the fire was discovered at about 1:15 p.m. on Thursday behind Nice Pak Products along Greenbush Road.” The fire swept along rapidly across the dry brush of the mountain and the entire firefighting effort was scaled to include volunteer firefighters from throughout Rockland County as well as aid from Westchester, Bergen and West Point. A military helicopter used a special bucket to drop water on the fire Thursday afternoon, reported Demarest:

Flames race across Clausland Mountain Thursday night. Photographer Kenny Flynn caught the dangerous blaze in full, dancing color.

Volunteers from neighboring fire departments ranging from Nyack and New City to Congers and Pearl River were soon called in to assist with manpower and equipment at the bottom of the mountain. Volunteers and crews from EMS units such as Nyack Community Ambulance Corps have also set up at the top of the mountain at Orangetown’s Nike Park.

Firefighters were pulled off the steep slopes of the mountain as nighttime operations in the dark became too dangerous. The fire, as of Thursday night, had affected more than 30 acres of Orangetown and Rockland County park land and firefighters were planning to return to the mountain at about 8 a.m. to continue working on the fire.

However, firefighters returned to the mountain overnight to protect homes along Greenbush Road, where homeowners feared approaching flames could affect their homes. Nyack firefighters are now at the area of 73 Tweed Boulevard fighting brush fires that have reached the narrow road at the top of the mountain on its east side.

According to Nyack Free Press, “Rockland County fire officials attribute the brush fire to extremely dry conditions created by a lack of rainfall recently, with leaf piles on the ground fueling the fire. Early Thursday, the National Weather Service had issued an alert for the region warning that extremely dry conditions have created a brush fire danger.

The night time sky was lit up all along the Hudson Valley from the fire on Clausland Mountain. The full report along with some amazing images of the blaze can be found at Nyack Free Press.

Firefighters from across the region are still at work on the blaze.

Photos of the Clausland Mountain fire photos courtesy of Kenny Flynn.

If you do business in the Suffern, or anywhere near for that matter,  here’s a chance to meet your neighbors.

The Greater Suffern Chamber of Commerce meets Wednesday, November 13, at 7 p.m.

Greater Chamber President Suzanne Daycock (left) talks with Phil Tisi (right) about ways to build a better home audience for the Lafayette Theater.

Special guest speaker will be Phil Tisi, who will discuss the future of the Lafayette Theater. Tisi has has been instrumental in working with both the Town of Ramapo and the Lafayette to help shape the theater’s business plan to meet the needs of today’s market.

The Greater Suffern Chamber has expanded its area of coverage lately to include the entire western Rockland business community, which it is working to unite.

Wednesday’s meeting of the Greater Suffern Chamber of Commerce takes place at the Suffern Village Hall, 2nd floor Community Room. Get involved. Get busy with your business.Come and meet your business neighbors. The Greater Suffern Chamber meets Wednesday, November 13, 2013 at 7 p.m.

The meeting of the Greater Suffern Chamber of Commerce takes place at the Suffern Village Hall, 2nd floor Community Room. Get involved. Get busy with your business.