KINGSTON SO MUCH TO DO!
Festivals this weekend will celebrate fall, Italian culture, arts and wellness
If festivals are your thing, you’ll want to be in Kingston this weekend.
The O+ Festival, a three-day event that celebrates the intersection of the arts and wellness, will have its eighth annual go ’round from Friday to Sunday at numerous sites in the city. The 10th annual Ulster County Italian-American Festival will be held Sunday at the Rondout Creek waterfront in Downtown Kingston. And the 15th annual Forsyth Nature Center Fall Festival will be held Sunday at Forsyth Park on Lucas Avenue.
Italian festival
The Ulster County Italian-American Festival, put on by the Ulster County Italian-American Foundation, is scheduled for 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Sunday at the waterfront.
It will feature Italian food, beverages, products and music, as well as family activities. Admission is free. The opening ceremony will recognize Anna Polozzo Brett and Vincent DeLuca as the Italian Signora and Signore of the
Year, an honor based on community service and volunteering to assist those in need throughout Ulster County.
Festival-goers also will have the opportunity to vote for their favorite Italian actress, choosing between Gina Lollobrigida and Sophia Loren in the “2017 Italian Festival Ballot.”
At the Hudson River Maritime Museum, wine tasting, a ventriloquist and more will be featured while street performers such as Italian singer and Ulster County resident Earl Pardini and fire breather Corey Clover entertain crowds.
The Phantoms, an a capella group, will perform at noon; and the Vanavers Dance Troupe will perform Tarantellas, folk dances traditional to southern Italy, will be on at 1 and 5 p.m.
Steven Maglio, best known for his renditions of Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin songs, will perform from 5:30 to 7 p.m. on the festival’s main stage in T.R. Gallo Park at the foot of Broadway, joined by the Michael Dell Orchestra, a 12-piece big band.
Other main stage performers will be Andrew Hoben, singing opera and classical music selections (1:10 to 1:40 p.m.); Roberto and Angela, playing traditional and modern Italian music (2 to 3:15 p.m.); and Hot Rod, featuring Pete Santora of “Beatlemania” performing a tribute to John Lennon and John Henriksen performing the music of Jim Morrison and The Doors (3:45 to 5 p.m.).
Italian food at the festival will include ravioli, cannolis and gelato from such vendors as Frank Guido’s Little Italy, Luigi Oils, Dutchess County Cigar and Cappola’s.
Fall festival
The Forsyth Nature Center Fall Festival will run from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m Sunday at Forsyth Park, 157 Lucas Ave.
The event is a benefit for the nature center and its programs.
“Fifteen years later and the Forsyth Nature Center is bigger and better than ever thanks to the continued support of the Friends of Forsyth Nature Center and the countless community volunteers who donate their time and resources to this educational institution in Kingston,” Mayor Steve Noble said in a press release.
“I am so proud to have been involved with the nature center all of these years and look forward to continuing to support the nature center’s efforts for many years to come,” said Noble, who worked as an environmental educator for the city before being elected mayor in 2015.
The festival will have a variety of games and craft
activities for children, including Peacock Pop, Funny Farm Hunt, Udder Putter, sand art, spin art and pumpkin painting.
There also will be live entertainment, hayrides, bounce houses, a homespun merry-go-round, miniature donkeys and birds of prey.
Festival admission and all entertainment are free, but tickets will be sold for games and craft activities.
Free activities will include face painting, a corn maze and making leaf crowns and pine cone bird feeders.
“Columbus Day Weekend is arguably Kingston’s finest, with three different but equally appealing festivals, and we are proud to be part of that,” Mark DeDea, the nature center’s caretaker, said in a press release.
Entertainment at the festival is to include musician Jerry Mitnick, Arm of the Sea Theater, The Fabulous Fiddlers, musician Deb Martin, storytellers Karen Pillsworth and Stephanie
Morgan, the Hudson Valley Youth Chorale and bluegrass musician Bruce Wistance.
Joe Beez will be selling burgers, hot dogs, sausage and peppers, French fries, “Prodigy” sandwiches and vegetarian options. La Ruta Del Sol will be serving up such Latin American favorites as rice and beans and empanadas.
There also will be a bake sale.
O+ Festival
The festival, notable for the murals its participants create on building walls each year, runs from 4 p.m. to midnight Friday, 7 a.m. to 12:30 a.m. Saturday-Sunday, and 8:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Sunday.
The cost is $50 to $150, depending on tickets page. Go to opositivefestival.org for details.
Among the music headliners at O+ will be Amanda Palmer, who will play the back room at BSP, 323 Wall St., at 7:30 p.m. Friday.
She’ll be accompanied by her father, Jack Palmer, with whom she collaborated on the 2016 album “You Got Me Singing.”
San Franciso-based experimental indie rock act Deerhoof closes out the festival at 8 p.m. Sunday at BSP.
Other highlights include a literary salon at 7:30 p.m. Friday at the Outdated Cafe, 314 Wall St., and five short theater performances by Rik Lopes starting at 11 a.m. Saturday in The Fred J. Johnston Museum, 63 Main St.
On Sunday, there will be a dance action fitness program at The Kirkland, 2 Main St., starting at 8:30 a.m.; and four bike rides (18, 25, 30 and 55 miles) starting at Keegan Ales, 20 St. James St. The 25-mile ride starts at 10 a.m. The others start at 9 a.m.
Staff writers Patricia Doxsey, Paul Kirby and Brian Hubert contributed to this report.