Participants of the sewing workshop will learn basic techniques of hand or machine sewing and set up for a handmade home goods project. Everyone will get to explore sewing stations, prep materials, and experience vintage sewing machines and sergers.

Melanie Gonzalez is an Ulster County based photographic artist. Her photography has a concentration on vibrant double exposures of architectural landscapes and flora. Her sewing combines photographic studio skills, with textile printing, patchwork quilting, including upcycled garments and accessories. She is also a recipient of the 2022-23 Creatives Rebuild NY Grant. Melanie’s mission as a New York-based artist is to mesh the worlds of high art and street style. She produces photo art under “Melanie Gonzalez Art”: Professional International Photo, Video and Sound established in 2014, and “Piedra y Sombra Designs” as part of Suzanna Productions (Photo, Sewing and Admin., est. 2019). www.suzannaproductions.com

Free and open to the public. Registration coming soon!

Saturday, February 7th from 2:00 to 5:00pm. (Community Center)

New Paltz has several locations for free food. You can find more information here.

Information about Ulster County food pantries and meal programs can be found here.

Currently on display in the Community Center lobby is an exhibit featuring world champion boxer Floyd Patterson, who called New Paltz home. He was highly regarded in the community for contributions beyond boxing. Our seniors visiting the Center remember him fondly. Exhibit provided by Ulster County Historian Eddie Moran.

Members of Happenstancery perform at Lemon Squeeze every 3rd Sunday through December. The evenings are presented by American Legion POST 176.

Flyer here. 

Happenstancery Improv meets at the Community Center every Thursday at 7:15. 

On September 4th, Mike Murphy of Cornell Cooperative came to our Community Center compost bins to advise new SUNY student interns Aiden and Ben on compost maintenance. SUNY professor Eric Keeling will advise them on a research exercise pertaining to the compost. The interns will also be helping to aerate and maintain the compost system on Thursday afternoons. You are welcome to say hi!

Here is a picture of Mike explaining to Aiden, Ben, Eric, and community volunteer Steven that the compost should reach 130 degrees or more for peak decomposition activity.

Here the decomposing material is laid out on a tarp to search for the organisms that do that work.

Here is an example of one such organism.

Here a participant adds her kitchen scraps while the guys shovel the compost from one bin to another. The larger the pile, the more efficiently it will decompose, the faster it will turn to ready compost.

Here they are adding moisture to the pile with buckets of water. Water is important for keeping the microbial activity alive.

Here is a picture of the ready compost. Please take! Bring your gloves so you can sift out the plastic bits.

Great article about Happenstancery Improv group! They meet every Thursday at 7pm at the Community Center, and it's free!

Read it here. 

The Margaret Wade-Lewis Center's Community Library is now housed at the New Paltz Community Center while the Ann Oliver house is being restored. The Ann Oliver house is the future home of the MWL Center. Come peruse the collection which includes books on African-American art, culture, biography, and history. The book check-out form is on the top shelf.

Click here for the MWL Center's website.

We have a beautiful new flower mural in the Community Center hallway, thanks to New Paltz High Piglets Ady, Ella, and Joe, with the assistance of Alex! They will be adding a seed library to the display soon! Thank you, Piglets!

Pictures: The sketch, starting to paint, in progress, and finished!

Attention local seniors!

Have you, or a senior you know, ever thought about attending the Thursday Community Café Lunch at the New Paltz Community Center? 

Now would be a great time to take advantage of this wonderful service! 

With the uncertainty of federal funding, the Ulster County Office of the Aging needs more attendees, otherwise they will be compelled to move this beloved event elsewhere. Current attendees are an easy-going and welcoming bunch. Lisa, the server, is a treasure. 

Help to keep our New Paltz location! 

To pre-register for the meal, call 845-331-2180. Vegetarian options are available upon request at pre-registration.
$3 suggested donation.

Thursdays from 12:00 to 1:00pm. (Community Center)

Hannah Fox, MA, RYT 500, has danced all of her life – it is her love language. She studied and taught dance in NYC for many years as well as at Manhattanville College as a tenured dance and theatre professor for almost two decades. $15-25 sliding scale.

See flyer here.

Monday, December 8th from 5pm to 6pm. (Community Center)