Life in Saugerties is wonderful.
Children ride their bikes through the village.
Splendid magnolia trees burst with blooms.
The tree outside my home office window is now green.
The streets are filled with families, emerging after a long winter.
Cantine Field explodes with Little Leaguers.
Kids walk unescorted from home to school to Cantine Field.
The sounds of revelry spill out from the American Legion Hall onto
the sidewalk.
There's a festival nearly every weekend.
If not, there's a church supper, bag sale, raffle and penny social.
The view from Seamon Park's gazebo will induce awe in the most jaded
of souls.
The Esopus and Plattekill have returned (almost) to normal.
Saugerties High School finally has a girls lacrosse team, and they
rock.
While walking around the village you can check out your neighbors'
gardens.
The Farmers Market will soon open for business.
No matter how hot it gets in town, there's always a breeze at
Saugerties Lighthouse.
Almost all of the storefronts on Main and Partition Streets are open
for business.
Café Tamayo will reopen soon (we hope) after a much-needed respite.
The library book fair will yield untold treasures.
Endless yard sales will sprout, as will the possibility of discovery
of that perfect object, or at the very least a semi-used George
Foreman grill.
People travel for miles to spread blankets on Cantine Field and
watch the Fourth of July fireworks spectacular.
The best breakfast in the free world is still just $6 on the first
Sunday of the month at Glasco firehouse.
When you walk down the street, inevitably you'll run into someone
you know (which is a good thing, unless you owe them money).
As you stroll the sidewalks along the tree-lined, wide avenues of
Elm and Washington you feel as if you're stepping back in time.
The Saugerties Public Library has the best librarians to be found
anywhere, who know your name and greet you as you enter.
Nothing beats the orgiastic overindulgence of make-your-own ice
cream sundaes at Stewart's.
Isn't it amazing how 1760s stone houses peacefully coexist with
1960s tract houses?
Saugerties is a place that encourages dreamers and visionaries, even
if what they envision is a steamboat museum on a residential street
far from the water.
Our taps provide clean, sparkling water from the Blue Mountain
Reservoir.
No traffic jams or unhappy outbursts of road rage sully our streets.
We have a senior citizen's home in the midst of the village, with
balconies overlooking Main Street.
You can get your screen doors re-screened at Smith Hardware, where
generations of Smiths have helped Saugertiesians renovate their
homes.
We don't have a Barnes and Noble or Borders; instead, we get to
choose from multiple independent bookstores where the staff can help
you find what you need.
Montano's Shoe Store has been making sure the residents of
Saugerties are well-heeled for more than 100 years.
We're thankful for the glorious unobstructed vista from Winston Farm
looking west towards Woodstock.
I wonder how much of this will feel the same after the casino comes
to town.
Copyright Saugerties Times 2005.
Reprinted with Permission. |
