July 2012

Hot Air Balloon Festival Returns July 6-8

The Dutchess County Regional Chamber of Commerce Balloon Festival kicks off at 5 p.m. at Waryas Park in Poughkeepsie. Balloon will rise up at 6pm and 6am through Sunday morning. For locations of all lift offs over the weekend visit www.dutchesscountyregionalchamber.org Dutchess County Regional Chamber of Commerce at 845-805-HOTT (4688).

Balloonmeister and Pilot Bill Hughes is a former navy pilot who served in Operation Deep Freeze in Antarctica. Bill founded the Balloon Festival in Dutchess County in 1993 and received the County Executive’s Tourism Award for his efforts. He’s racked up over 9,000 hours of flying everything from airplanes and helicopters to hot air balloons. He began flying balloons in 1970 and has since flown in many parts of the U.S. and Canada, as well as Belgium and Japan. His balloon is sponsored by the Daily Planet. Learn more about each pilot n the Chamber’s website, as well as information about each sponsor.

Anyone interested in a balloon ride during the Festival should contact Bill Hughes at Blue Sky Balloons by calling 845-831-6917. Cost is $225 per person.

Enjoy the morning launches over the Hudson River while aboard a Sunrise Breakfast Balloon Cruise on the M/V Mystere from Empire Cruise Lines! She sails out of Waryas Park, Poughkeepsie. Enjoy and keep looking up!

Walkway Over the Hudson Update

Dutchess County has obtained a stretch of former rail bed that will connect the popular Walkway Over the Hudson with a local trail. The Walkway's nonprofit organization paid CSX railroad just over $1 million last week for the eight-tenths of a mile stretch of the rail bed in the city of Poughkeepsie. The acquisition will connect the Walkway with the Dutchess Rail Trail. People will be able to enjoy a 12-mile stretch from Hopewell Junction up to the Walkway when the trail is completed.

On June 9th, the Guinness World Record for longest line of dancers was broken on the Walkway, when 2,569 showed up and danced the Hokey Pokey for more than five minutes. Thanks to donations from sponsors, students from the City of Poughkeepsie and Highland School districts received tickets to participate in the event for free. Walkway officials praised area businesses for their generous support, which provided free registration for students from Walkway's host communities in the City of Poughkeepsie and the Town of Lloyd. The event was broadcast live on WEOK (AM 1390) from the bridge. Volunteers and participants brought hundreds of hand-held radios and "boom boxes" to provide a way for participants to tune in and dance in unison. Everyone danced to a rendition of the classic tune created specifically for the event by Hudson Valley singer and storyteller, Laurie "Story Laurie" McIntosh, with help from Rosendale musician and producer Dean Jones.

The event served as one of Walkway Over the Hudson's primary fundraising events for 2012. The nonprofit group works to support the Walkway Over the Hudson State Historic Park in numerous ways, including fundraising to build new park amenities, construct a waterfront elevator and a Visitor Center, and providing volunteer Ambassadors to serve as greeters, tour guides, and support park staff. http://www.walkway.org/

SummerScape Opens with American Premiere of Let My Joy Remain

At 8 pm on July 6^th, Summerscape 2012 opens with the American premiere of Let My Joy Remain, which is a dance concert by Compagnie Fetes galantes. The Bard Music Festival celebrates “Saint-Saens and His World” and the premiere of this dance concert is the perfect start to the festival as Compagnie Fetes galantes’ work combines Gallic refinement with the elegant Baroque style. The dance concert, founded in 1993 by Beatrice Massin, captures “a dialogue of pleasure between music and dance.” The music is set to classic sounds of J.S. Bach while the choreography reflects the unequaled intricacy and unity of Bach’s excerpts from the Brandenburg Concertos Nos. 2,3, and 6.

The opening of SummerScape 2012 starts with the exciting, interesting and unique dance performance Let My Joy Remain in the Frank Gehr- designed Sosnoff Theater. It takes place on three days, two being July 6^th and 7^th at 8pm and the third being on July 8^th at 3 pm with prices varying. Afterward the premiere, there is a reception and late-night dancing in the Speigel Garden. It is sure to be a good time!

For tickets and further information on all SummerScape events, call the Fisher Center box office at 845-758-7900 or visit www.fishercenter.bard.edu.