Wednesday April 24, 2024 
Grafton Lakes State Park needs Volunteers for Cabin Fever Event
Cropseyville – Grafton Lakes State Park and the Friends of Grafton Lakes State Park are looking for volunteers to assist with the Cabin Fever event on Saturday, January 23, 2021. Due to COVID-19, we are unable to have our annual Winter Fest event and instead are excited to offer capital region families a day full of outings and a family-friendly guided trail. Events like these are not possible without the dedication of volunteers who love the park. All activities will be pre-registration only. The event is free of charge and will take place from 9:00 AM – 4:00 PM.
Love to hike? Be a sweep on hikes and walks led by local clubs and organizations such as the Rensselaer Plateau Alliance, LL Bean, and the Rensselaer Land Trust. Prefer more of a front row seat? Be a guide for our Embrace the Cold trail. Keep groups on track as presenters from organizations such as the Adirondack Mountain Club, Tamakoce Wilderness Programs, and the Rensselaer County Search and Rescue teach about winter hiking, winter camping, and winter survival. To sign up to volunteer visit: (https://www.signupgenius.com/go/70A0A4DAEA72DA4FB6-grafton2). The park will offer two free snowshoe rentals for your donated time.
Please take note of the following COVID-19 safety protocols and precautions. Volunteers will be required to undergo health screening including a temperature check and a list of COVID-19 related questions. Group sizes for all outings, activities, and presentations will be limited to ten people. Masks will be required for all participants ages two and older for the duration of the activity. Cabin Fever activities will be spread out across the park. Locations for different activities will be shared upon registration. Volunteers (and all participants) will agree to not attend if they are experiencing any symptoms, have been in contact with someone who recently tested positive or is suspected to have COVID-19.
The Capital District Genealogical Society Cordially Invites Members to Join Us
CAPITAL DISTRICT – Saturday, Jan 23, 2021 at 1:00 P.M. via Zoom. This session will NOT be recorded. It is a members only presentation. Now is the time to become a member!
Our speaker, Lisa Louise Cooke is the producer and host of the Genealogy Gems Podcast and the weekly YouTube show Elevenses with Lisa (both available at her website www.GenealogyGems.com.) She’s the author of five books including The Genealogist’s Google Toolbox 3rd Edition, and a podcast producer and instructor and columnist for Family Tree Magazine.
Google Earth for Genealogists
In this exciting session you’ll learn how to unlock mysteries in your genealogical research: from unidentified photographs, to how an ancestral location looked a hundred years ago or more, to plotting homesteads precisely using land patent legal descriptions. You’ll learn how to interpret the genealogical records you already have in new and exciting ways. Come discover why Google Earth Pro is one of the best free genealogical tools available!
This will be a Zoom meeting. There is a 100 person limit.
See our website under meetings and events. Please join us! www.capitaldistrictgenealogicalsociety.org
A Dark Dark House at Sand Lake Center for the Arts
SAND LAKE – Sand Lake Center for the Arts presents a Zoom Reading of A Dark Dark House by By Neil LaBute. Dates: January 29 and 30 at 7pm • January 31 at 2:30pm. All shows will be streamed live via Zoom • Get your tickets here: • $10 Directed by Melanie Sheldon. In a Dark Dark House is produced by special arrangement with Broadway Play Publishing Inc, NYC www.broadwayplaypub.com.
Winter Walk January 30 at Rensselaer Land Trust’s Kinderhook Creek Preserve
EAST NASSAU – Experience Rensselaer Land Trust’s popular Kinderhook Creek Preserve in winter! RLT will host a winter hike at the Preserve in East Nassau on January 30 from 10 am to 1 pm. The Preserve’s wide smooth trails are perfect for snowshoeing, and if there’s not enough snow, we’ll enjoy a hike. We’ll go to and along Kinderhook Creek, about two scenic miles with easy grades. Dress appropriately for the weather with extra layers that can be taken off or added as needed. Microspikes may be needed if trails are icy. Bring water/hot drink and snacks.No charge.
Due to current public health mandates, registration is limited to 9 people. Masks are required, and participants from separate households are encouraged to stay six feet apart. Do not attend if you are not feeling well.
Registration in advance is required, by emailing Peter Wood, trip leader, at peterrmapleacres@nullgmail.com.
Voices: A Library Lecture Series at HVCC for Spring 2021
TROY – Hudson Valley Community College’s free to the public “Voices: A Library Lecture Series” will continue virtually for Spring 2021. The lectures will be live streamed due to the COVID-19 restrictions on public gatherings. Live stream access information is available at www.hvcc.edu/voices.
The schedule includes The Politics of Public Health — Feb. 3, 11 to 11:50 a.m. with Dorcey L. Applyrs, DrPH, MPH; A New Era of Theatre — Feb. 25, 10 to 10:50 a.m. with Emily Curro, theatre artist and producing executive director of Troy Foundry Theatre; Food is a Human[e] Right! — March 10, noon to 12:50 p.m. with Jammella Anderson, community activist, birthworker, yoga teacher and founder of Free Food Fridge; Education in the Time of COVID — March 23, 1 to 1:50 p.m. with Superintendents John Carmello (Troy City Schools) and Jeffrey Simons (East Greenbush Central Schools), and Risk and Resilience: Overcoming the Odds — April 8, 11 to 11:50 a.m. with Teresa Gil, Ph.D., psychotherapist, professor and author.
Visit www.hvcc.edu/culture or email d.gardner@nullhvcc.edu for more information.
New Art Show at Sand Lake Center for the Arts
SAND LAKE – Sand Lake Center for the Arts will be presenting Found Object Assemblages by Alan Opresko and paintings by Leslie Berlinsky – through February 27. Free and open to the public every Saturday from 12 to 3.
The Kiwanis Club of Sand Lake Fundraising Drive
SAND LAKE – The Kiwanis Club of Sand Lake is supporting a charity fundraising drive within the Averill Park Central School District to benefit the Capital Region’s Ronald Mc Donald House. The fundraising drive has been extended until February 28th since schools have not been in session for over four months. The goal remains to collect enough pull tabs from soda, beer, soups and pet food cans to fill a school bus!
We ask that parents of our school children and other interested citizens join this effort by removing and collecting as many pull tabs as possible during the months ahead and while schools remain closed take them to the Town Clerk’s office at Sand Lake Town Hall. When schools reopen all collected pull tabs may again be dropped off at the office of one of our three elementary schools, the Algonquin Middle School’s office or to the office at the Averill Park High School.
Please join us to help the Ronald McDonald House as it continues to offer a haven of comfort, love, hope and support – free of charge – for critically ill children and their families. Thank you.