Above: Rip Van Winkle awakening from his twenty-year nap. The eight-ton sculpture on Hunter Mountain, carved from native bluestone, is the work of stone sculptor Keven VanHentenryck, who worked on Rip for 14 years before finishing him in 2009. VanHentenryck will be teaching free drop-in classes in stone carving from July 29 through August 10 in a park on Route 23A near the Hunter town hall. If you want to catch a glimpse of the master in action before showing up for class, VanHentenryck will be in the park throughout this week working on a special project, the Daily Mail reports. Photo from VanHentenryck's website.
Happy Monday, Catskills.
With a massive heatwave in the rearview mirror, this week's weather is shaping up to be pleasantly summery at last, apart from a few thunderstorms in the forecast.
There's a big deadline looming in the central Catskills: Wednesday, July 24 is the last day to submit comments on either the proposed Belleayre Resort project or a potential $74 million state-funded upgrade to the Belleayre Ski Center. If you've got a passionately-held opinion on how the Department of Environmental Conservation ought to proceed with their plans for Highmount -- and we're guessing you probably do -- you should let them know.
A bunch of Greene County legislators aren't happy about the proposed Belleayre expansion, and last week, they voted to send a letter to the DEC saying so. That didn't go over so well with a couple of Ulster County legislators who support the project.
The Catskills: Ground zero for heartwarming stories about little kids rescuing hawks from drowning in their ponies' watering troughs.
Also rescued from a watery grave recently: A man and his 9-year-old granddaughter whose boat capsized in the Hudson River near Catskill.
Kosher milk and poultry are big business in Bethel, where Pelleh Farms is enjoying a sales boom.
It's going to be a good year for apples in upstate New York, says the Associated Press.
Not so good in upstate New York: Access to broadband internet. The state's former chief demographer, who lives in rural Albany County, sounds off to the Daily Yonder today about how rural America is lagging behind the more populated parts of the nation in technology infrastructure.
Local silver-screen star Vera Farmiga's latest movie, "The Conjuring," is doing well at the box office.
The Phoenicia Diner has a new outdoor patio, just in time for the end of Sizzling Inferno Weather.
The Greene County IDA is building yet another business park, on a 100-acre site in Coxsackie.
An alleged squatter living in an abandoned house in Hurley has been arrested and charged with burglary.
NYC mayor Mike Bloomberg is going rafting with Gov. Andrew Cuomo in the Adirondacks today to promote tourism. What are we, chopped liver?
Gardenista gushes over the adorable (rentable) upstairs bedrooms at Bloomville's Table On Ten, where the ice-cream sandwiches come in balsamic roasted tomato basil flavor, and the reclaimed-grain-sack pillows are a feature, not a bug.
Over 500 intrepid souls from across the Northeast turned out for a grueling obstacle course race at Plattekill on Saturday, many of them in superhero costumes. Check out the Superhero Scramble's Facebook page for photos. If that sort of thing is your idea of a good time, you may want to check out this weekend's Warrior Dash at Windham; registration closes tomorrow.
NewsShed, our snappy little weekday digest of news, weather and hot bloggy goodness from around the Catskills, is a new item here at the WP. Got a tip for the NewsShed? Send it to editor@watershedpost.com.
