PLAN AHEAD

College to host Instant Decision Week in fall

COBLESKILL – Meet with a counselor, tour the campus and leave with a fall admissions decision in hand during Instant Decision Week Monday through Thursday, July 19 through July 22, at SUNY Cobleskill, Knapp Hall,

106 Suffolk Circle.

The event is open to students with a high school diploma, GED or other equivalency.

To schedule an appointment, go to https:// slate.cobleskill.edu/portal/instant_decision.

Walking tours set in Schenectady

SCHENECTADY – Explore the city and learn its history on guided walking tours offered by the Schenectady County Historical Society on the following dates:

Tuesday, July 20: Beyond the Pines. Learn how, in the 17th century, Schenectady sat at the crossroads of many competing empires, where European colonists met Native American nations.

• Aug. 12: Revolutionary Schenectady. Explore a conflict that sundered families and communities alike and learn what it means to be a patriot.

• Aug. 26 and 31: Gossips and Gadflys (Paige Diaries). Explore the Stockade through the writings of Harriet Mumford Paige, an ordinary 19th-century woman with an extraordinary penchant for peddling rumors.

• Sept. 7: Schenectady in the Civil War. Examine how Schenectady fit into the struggle as Union and Confederate forces battled.

• Sept. 14 and 21: Scandalous Schenectady. The city's nefarious characters and bootlegging, kidnappings and a few mysterious murders.

• Sept. 28: Schenectady’s Golden Era. Learn how the city was a booming industrial power: the city that “Lights and

Hauls the World” and the figures and factories that made it so dynamic.

Tours meet at 5:30 p.m. in the rear of SCHS museum and library, 32 Washington Ave. and cost $11, free for SCHS members.

For more information, or to register, call 518-2127325 or go to https:// schenectadyhistorical.org/ programs.

“Playing it Forward” drive underway

MILTON – A drive to collect musical instruments through July 30 is being held at the Stillwater and Cambridge Central Schools.

“Playing it Forward” is taking donations for clarinets, French horns, violins and any other band/orchestra instruments, music stands, cases and similar items at TCT Federal Credit Union branch locations:

• 416 Rowland St., Milton• 4 Hunter Brook

Lane, Queensbury

• 17 Gilbert St., Cambridge

• 520 Vischer Ferry Road, Clifton Park

For more information, go to https:// www.tctfcu.org

Red Cross seeks donors of all types

ALBANY – Donors of all blood types – especially type O and those giving platelets – are needed by the American Red Cross.

The Red Cross, which is experiencing blood shortage, needs to collect more than 1,000 additional blood donations each day to meet current demand as hospitals respond to an unusually high number of traumas and emergency room visits, organ transplants and elective surgeries.all who come to give blood through July 31 will receive a $10 Amazon.com gift card via email and will also be entered for a chance to win gas for a year.

To schedule an appointment to give blood or platelets, call 800-RED CROSS (800-733-2767) or go to https://www.redcrossblood.org.

Rice Homestead open for tours, meetings

MAYFIELD – The Rice Homestead, 328 Riceville Road in the hamlet of Riceville, is open for tours and group meetings throughout the summer.

Visiting hours are noon to 4 p.m. Wednesdays and Saturdays and also by appointment. Visitors will enjoy free tours of the 1810 Federal style home, the 1790 one-room homesteading cabin of Oliver Rice, the Loom Room and the grounds which include the spring house, smokehouse, Mill Stone Garden, Heritage Garden and picnic tables.

For more information, call 518-332-0538 or 518661-5761.

Free Saturday yoga series kicks off Aug. 7

ALBANY – Free Namastate Street yoga classes will be held 10 a.m. Saturdays in August and noon Wednesdays in September outside the H. Carl Mccall State University of

Please see ▶

New York Administration Building, 353 Broadway.

Participants may bring a yoga mat and water.

The fitness classes are being presented by the Downtown Albany Business Improvement District and the State University of New York.

Register at albanybid.eventbrite.com.

Nominations sought for preservation awards

SARATOGA SPRINGS – Nominate individuals and organizations who have invested significant time and money to undertake preservation projects in the past year by Aug. 13 for the Saratoga Springs Preservation Foundation’s 2021 Preservation Recognition Awards.

The awards celebrate the winners’ hard work and commitment to being good stewards of their property.

The nominations are open in several categories; nominated project must be located in the city.

For more information, email Nicole Babie: nbabie@saratogapreservation.org or go to https:// www.saratogapreservation.org.

Compiled by Azra Haqqie To be considered for inclusion in this column, submit items to tucitydesk@timesunion. com.