With the economy taking a drubbing, where can you go and enjoy a day out that won”™t break the family budget?
That”™s what Art Along the Hudson”™s “Saturdays in the Cities” seeks to accomplish: create a local destination that will offer something for every age group and give hometown artists an  opportunity to showcase their talents, whether it”™s painted on canvas, stitched by hand or whittled from wood.
Now in its fifth year, Art Along the Hudson has expanded its reach from Beacon, Kingston, Poughkeepsie and Newburgh to include Hudson, Catskill and Rhinebeck in 2008, places where growing arts and crafts communities have set down roots.
Linda Hubbard, chairwoman of Art Along the Hudson, is also enjoying her fifth year in business in Beacon. The Stormville resident opened her gallery, Riverwinds, in 2003 and quickly got involved with the Beacon Arts Community Association. The city”™s former mayor, Clara Lou Gould, was an ardent supporter of the movement, seeing it as a means to inject new life and revive interest in her deteriorating blue-collar city. Â Her successor, Steve Gold, has picked up where Gould left off in promoting Beacon as a haven for the arts.
Art Along the Hudson opened its summer season with a flourish at Beacon”™s Dia:Beacon on Wednesday evening, June 12. Both artists and their patrons, along with politicians from the host cities, hope their respective Saturday events will make their municipalities a destination for tourists and locals looking for a creative way to spend a day ”“ and perhaps infuse needed revenue to keep business doors open.
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Hubbard credited Vindora Wixom, executive director of the Art Society of Kingston, for helping Beacon create its own “Second Saturday” event. Shops, restaurants and galleries stay open late and artists who work from home can exhibit their works in the local wine shops and restaurants. Wixom”™s group was the catalyst that started Saturday art and street fair showcase in Ulster County, said Hubbard.
“It was just me  and a few other gallery owners who thought it would be a good idea to put something together to bring in business and incorporate what Wixom and her group were doing in Kingston here in Beacon.” Judging from the busy streets Beacon enjoys each Saturday ”“ the city runs a trolley from the Beacon train station and ferry at the waterfront to Main Street from June to mid-October for that very reason ”“it”™s been a good economic move for the city.
Wixom says ASK, which held its first Saturday event back in 1999, has been growing and attracting more business than the group ever dreamed was possible when they started out. “It”™s been great for the Rondout and for downtown Kingston,” said Wixom. “We have a great group of creative people living here, and our Saturday has become a day-into-evening party. It gives artists who have no formal galleries an opportunity to display their work in our stores, restaurants and wine shops. And, in turn, it gives local business owners a reason to stay open later.”
With the success of Kingston”™s “First Saturday” celebration and Beacon building its own growing following for “Second Saturday,” the four art organizations that hatched the idea for creating Art Along The Hudson ”“ The Art Society of Kingston, Beacon Arts Community Association, Poughkeepsie”™s Barrett Arts Center and Newburgh”™s River Art Walk ”“ welcomed Catskill (Greene County), Hudson (Columbia County) and Rhinebeck into their ranks.
The Saturday “party” in each respective city goes on throughout the year.  “First Saturdays” are held in Kingston on its Rondout riverfront; in Hudson, Warren Street will be the place to stroll; “Second Saturday” will remain a Beacon-only venue; “Third Saturday” events will be held in Catskill, Poughkeepsie and Rhinebeck; and Newburgh will remain a solo for “Fourth Saturday.”
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Artists who can”™t afford the sky-high rents of New York City and the metro area find small-city life very appealing and affordable compared with the prices in New York City; as a result, each of the seven cities has seen a significant growth in its arts community. (Farther south, Yonkers”™ burgeoning Yoho artists colony is tapping the same movement.)
Whether sculpture, painting, crafting or quilting, once-impoverished river cities are seen as a haven for artists who like the feel of city ambience without the $3,000 rent for a studio with no view.
The Saturday celebrations are year-round, said Wixom. Kingston holds a winter carnival, complete with ice sculpting, as part of its Saturday celebration.
It”™s been a great boost for our community,” said Wixom.
Hubbard couldn”™t agree more: “Each year, our ”˜Second Saturday”™ celebration attracts more and more people. We hold our Hat Parade every first Saturday in May, and it”™s becoming a real tradition. The goal is to get people out to appreciate art, get to know their local communities and what we have to offer right here in the Hudson Valley.”
To find out what”™s happening in your neck of the woods, visit www.artalongthehudson.org and get out your walking shoes.
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