Waterfront summit, festival planned
Event to feature forum, exhibits, activities for kids
KINGSTON, N.Y. >> A “Waterfront Resilience Summit and High Water Festival” will be held this month to highlight past, present and future of the city’s Rondout Creek and Hudson River areas.
The first-of-its-kind festival is scheduled for noon to 8 p.m. Friday, Oct. 19, at Rondout Landing, along the creek in Downtown Kingston.
The event “will showcase the progress that the city has made towards revitalization of the waterfront, while adapting to projected flooding and inundation caused by sea level rise and extreme storms related to a changing climate,” a press release about the event states.
Activities and exhibits during the festival will be at the Hudson River Maritime Museum, the adjacent Kingston Home Port and Education Center, and the Cornell Steamboat building, all at the shore of the creek.
The daylong event will begin with the Waterfront Resilience Summit, a conference hosted by Mayor Steve Noble that will include a forum on innovation and resiliency. It will include a discussion about resilience initiatives, a tour of the waterfront and the city’s wastewater treatment plant (to showcase techniques for flood
adaptation), and a presentation on resilient designs for the city waterfront that were produced by Cornell University students in the school’s Landscape Architecture Department.
The Waterfront Resilience Summit, which will run from noon to 4 p.m. It’s targeted toward Kingston-area and Hudson Valley municipal officials and environmental professionals, though the public is welcome to attend.
“With a changing climate, extreme weather and related flooding now an ever-present danger, we must continue to advance our resiliency efforts and do everything we can to protect our natural assets,” Noble, a longtime environmental advocate, said in the press release. “We are fortunate to have a large network of partners working together on local initiatives, as well as strong leadership in New York state leading the charge to protect our environment.”
The highlight of the day’s happenings will be the High Water Festival, a family-friendly event from 4 to 8 p.m. that will provide opportunities for participants to “enjoy all that Rondout Landing has to offer while learning about steps that the city is taking to embrace innovation and opportunity on Kingston’s waterfront,” the press release states.
“The event will include exhibits about Kingston’s waterways, food, music, kids’ activities and a performance by Arm of the Sea Theater,” the announcement says.
Admission to the High Water Festival is free.
As part of the High Water Festival:
• The Kingston Home Port and Education Center will host exhibits related to Kingston’s past as a maritime and industrial hub, and will feature historic photos and information about the waterfront.
• The Hudson River Maritime Museum yard will become a venue for children’s activities related to environmental stewardship.
• The museum will be open to visitors, and its Boat School building will feature exhibits related to current efforts by the city of Kingston to promote waterfront revitalization and resilience.
• The American Red Cross will help participants assemble emergency response kits to have on hand in order to be prepared for flooding or other crises that may create the need to evacuate from homes or offices. The emergency kits and supplies will be provided free to attendees on a firstcome, first-served basis.
• The Cornell Steamboat building will be open to visitors and will feature an exhibition of work by the Cornell University landscape architecture students.
• An illuminated “Pathway to the Future” will include a food court with meals provided by local restaurants and musical performances by Future350 NU Bossa, Malcolm Burn and Sandrine, Rachel Loshak and Robert Burke Warren, and Eleni Reyes and Peter Wetzler.
• A performance of “The City that Drinks the Mountain Sky: Part 2,” by Arm of the Sea Theater, will begin at 7 p.m. at the Kingston Home Port and Education Center.