Bringing together the elements of Qi Gong, Yoga, Ballet, Modern and Improvisation, we work with gravity and others in the room, connecting to nature, energy, ground, music and each other.

The class focuses on creating fluidity, awareness, alignment, balance, and correct breathing techniques. 

Please call (917) 359-2337 for more information about the class. FREE

Wednesdays from 9:00 to 10:00am. (Community Center or Huguenot Street)

Do you play guitar but rarely get a chance to play with others? Are you interested in diversifying your ensemble skills with new chord voicings, rhythms, finger-picking technique, or lead playing? The New Paltz Guitar Player’s Workshop is an opportunity to work on tunes and skills together with other guitarists. Eric Keeling, the instructor, has a master’s degree in music and 20 years of professional experience playing and teaching guitar. $10/class

 

Please contact recreation@townofnewpaltz.org for more information or to sign up. 

 

Every Wednesday from 7:30 to 8:30pm (Community Center)

The Senior Citizens Club of New Paltz and Gardiner is a group of seniors from the local communities that come together on the second Wednesday of the month at the community center to socialize, be entertained or be informed on many different subjects. We have an annual picnic in June at the Field of Dreams and a Holiday celebration in December. We have two bus trips a year for lunch and some form of entertainment. We also meet on the fourth Wednesday of the month for lunch or breakfast at various local restaurants.

Second Wednesday of every month from 2:00 to 4:00pm. (Community Center)

We just completed the installation of a new pollinator rock garden at the Field of Dreams!

A group of volunteers planted around 260 seedlings endemic to our specific area. Some of them host endangered pollinators that need one specific plant to survive. This garden will not make a big impact to pollinators on its own, but will serve as a visual demonstration of the plants, so people will be inspired to plant them in their own gardens. Framing the plants are four Eastern Redbud trees that were planted last fall with a grant from NYSERDA, thanks to Neil Bettez. See pictures of Installation Day here and here.

This garden is one of several garden projects in our region organized by The Understory, formerly Partners for Climate Action (PCA). These projects were funded by a Monsanto settlement with the New York State.

A huge thank you to our volunteers from the New Paltz Garden Club, Wild Ones Mid Hudson, Gardens for Nutrition, and Little Logan's Veganic and Biocyclic Farm. Also huge thank you to former supervisor Amanda Gotto, who helped launch this PCA grant project, and landscape designers Ashley Gammel and Marvin Warren. Special thanks to Angela Sisson of Wild Ones for her endless wisdom along the way.

From Ashley: 

If you would like to help maintain the garden, please contact Joanna at recreation@townofnewpaltzny.gov.

The sanctuary exists to ensure that current and future generations in New Paltz and the wider community of the Mid-Hudson Valley have a place where they can enjoy nature in a “forever wild” setting.

Located on Huguenot Street in the town and village of New Paltz, the 56 acres of property comprising the Sanctuary has relatively open areas dominated by grasses and herbaceous plants. These provide rich and varied habitat opportunities for a wide range of plants and animals. The Sanctuary includes an “oxbow,” a complex of ponds and wetlands remaining from a tightly-curved meander cut off when the Wallkill River straightened its course hundreds of years ago.

The Sanctuary has over 1,300 feet of frontage on the Wallkill River and adjoins the Jewett and Khosla properties, two historic Huguenot farms totaling more than 180 acres. The Sanctuary also adjoins land owned by the Village of New Paltz containing the Gardens for Nutrition, a community-supported public gardening area. Nearby is Historic Huguenot Street featuring seven stone houses dating to 1705, a burying ground, and a reconstructed 1717 stone church — all in their original village setting. Historic Huguenot Street offers six acres of landscaped green space and public programming to the local community and visitors from around the world.

Nyquist-Harcourt Wildlife Sanctuary website here.

Our annual Senior Holiday Lunch sponsored by the Town of New Paltz took place on December 19th. Main Course of New Paltz catered the delicious food. Lunch participant Willie Lee provided the magic tricks.

Please sign up for our newsletter to be notified about upcoming senior events. Or email Joanna at recreation@townofnewpaltzny.gov. 

If you missed the presentation, the recording will be posted here soon.

Dr. Jeffrey Seidman, Vassar College 

Dan Murray, Energy Safety Consultant and Retired Chief in Charge of HazMat Operations FDNY

See full flyer here.

If you missed Ashawna's visit to the Community Center to talk about how to become a Mohonk Preserve Community Scientist, you can still read about it here. You can also email volunteers@mohonkpreserve.org.

(Photo by Mohonk Preserve staff.)

We all had so much fun at Melanie's community sewing event! She brought in a vast expanse of beautiful, thrifted fabrics already sewn together. Participants saw combinations of patterns that inspired them, cut it out to size for an oven mitt or pot holder, stitched the pieces together on her gorgeous vintage machines, or took the project home to finish, along with patterns to make more. I'm pretty sure most left with the feeling of "I want to sew more!" It was fun doing it all together. Huge "thank you" to Melanie Gonzalez for hosting one of her incredible community sewing events at our Center! She will also be exhibiting her beautiful photographs on our walls very soon!

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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. All ages welcome.

Register below or email recreation@townofnewpaltzny.gov to sign up.

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

UCRRA Educator Eva Barret made a great presentation about Bokashi and demonstrated how to make Bokashi bran. Participants left with enough to compost five gallons of kitchen scraps.

While the Bokashi bran ferments for two weeks, Joanna is preparing buckets for a demonstration system at the Community Center hallway soon!

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"Bokashi what?"

It's a type of indoor composting from Japan that is easy, as long as you have the bran, which is what you'll have by the time you leave this workshop! 

Did you know that all the kitchen scraps you throw away get trucked 250 miles to the Seneca Meadows landfill in Watertown, New York? In diesel trucks! If you’ve ever been compost curious, if it’s been on your list of things you’ve been wanting to start doing, this is a great opportunity to make it happen!

Ulster County Resource Recovery Agency (UCRRA) educators Eva Barnett and Angelina Brandt will be here to answer questions and guide us through the fun process of making homemade bran, which is cheap if you DIY it, expensive if you buy it.

We will be setting up an example Bokashi system at the Center's hallway soon. It will be announced here when it’s up and running.

You can read more about Bokashi composting here.

Register here.

THANK YOU WENDY AT SECOND NATURE FOR PROVIDING OUR WHEAT BRAN AND MOLASSES FOR THE WORKSHOP!

Saturday, March 7th from 12:00 to 2:00pm. (Community Center)