The pulse of Catskill is quickening. From the new businesses downtown to an inaugural comedy festival, and a water park where children romped this past summer, you can feel a sense of movement. And while there are roadblocks to maneuver past—one of the most serious being affordable housing—the community continues to push forward.
Openings Abound
Toko Provisions, at 428 Main Street, is a sensory experience where the appetizing scents of baked goods mingle with the sound of jazz drifting from speakers amid a well-curated selection of food, from locally produced bacon to gourmet crackers. Behind the counter you’ll find Toko Harada-Szarapka, who will happily make you one of her signature beef curry sandwiches or sell you a perfectly prepared pie. She opened her business in April in the building that used to house the Catskill Country Store, where she once worked. She’s been a part of the area’s culinary scene since 2015 and started her career in Japan working as a pastry chef. “I always liked American style pastries—pound cakes, pies, and scones,” she says.
Toko Provisions is just one of several new businesses that have opened this year. There’s Stay Forever Gift Shop at 397 Main Street, offering a range of items from home goods to kids’ toys; The Little Art Shop where you can pick up everything for your creative endeavors at 444 Main Street; and Return Brewing Outpost, which opened in September in the old Crossroads Brewing Company building at 201 Water Street, where you’ll find a range of delicious beers brewed locally.
Another recent addition is Chemistry Wine Bar. For Dori Fackler, owning a wine bar has been a longstanding dream, which she fulfilled in July when she opened at 354 Main Street. “I found this space and fell in love with it, and I really love the town and people,” she says via email. “Response has been good. People find the space cozy and comfortable, and really like the cheeseboards and other food selections as well as the extensive wine selection. I’m excited for the holidays!”
This year also saw the opening of a brand-new kind of business in Catskill. Budd’s Dispensary, the first cannabis shop in Greene County, opened in November next to Beer World on West Bridge Street. Sonny Patel, who owns both the beer distributor and Budd’s, subdivided part of Beer World to create the new cannabis business.
On the flip side, a downtown anchor, New York Restaurant, which has been a mainstay for nine years, closed in November. The owner, Natasha Witka, didn’t give any specific reasons for shuttering in a Facebook post announcing the closing. “It has not been an easy call to make, however we are ready to pass the torch along,” she wrote. “There are exciting changes ahead!” She thanked the staff and patrons. “The friendships we have made, and the time that we shared will stay with us forever,” Witka wrote. She didn’t respond to an email seeking comment.
Construction continues apace at the Gateway Greene Commercial Park on the east side of the New York State Thruway Exit 21, according to the Greene County Industrial Development Agency. The new Stewart’s Shop had its ribbon cutting in September, Central Hudson has begun extending gas lines to the Commercial Park—the future site of a three-story, 92-room Hampton Inn—and construction on the new Greene County Visitors Center is set to begin this winter and, if construction stays on schedule, it will open next fall.
Lots of Laughs
In the mid-20th century, the Borscht Belt, made up of hundreds of resorts in the Catskill mountains, was a haven for stand-up comedy. Thanks to Stephan Bradicich and Robbie Chafitz, cofounders of the Catskills Comedy Festival, the region is once again playing host to comedians. “We were looking for a way to give back to the local area,” Bradicich says.
Over three days in October, the festival had 18 events in six venues, with dozens of national, regional, and local acts, including headliner Bobcat Goldthwait. They filled more than 1,000 seats and had audience members from as far away as Florida and California. Bradicich and Chafitz were mindful about keeping the festival accessible to all, with an average ticket price of $25 and making 30 percent of the events free. The event brought steady foot traffic to village businesses.
The proceeds from what is planned to be an annual event, went into hosting three storytelling workshops prior to the festival with a storytelling performance held at Bridge Street Theatre during the festival. They also hosted a student comedy workshop. “Since we finished with money in the bank we will continue to hold workshops throughout the year and hope to reach more students as we grow,” Bradicich says.
Similarly, the town of Catskill continues to play host to—and act as a setting for—various filmmaker’s visions. In March, the cast and crew of Between the Temples, directed by Nathan Silver and starring Jason Schwartzman and Carol Kane, spent a day shooting in the hamlet of Jefferson Heights. The film premiered at Sundance Film Festival and was screened in September at the Mountain Cinema at the Doctorow Center for the Arts in Hunter. Another film, the indie comedy Oh Hi, was in Catskill shooting in September with a crew of around 45 people, according to Erin Dennin, the senior tourism marketing manager for Greene County.
The economic benefits of having film productions come to the area are many, from the casts and crews who need places to stay and eat, to helping to boost tourism, according to Dennin. “Films and television shows shot in the Great Northern Catskills serve as free advertising for the region,” she says. “The scenic beauty and unique charm of the region may attract more people, boosting both tourism and local businesses. The ripple effects extend across various industries and contribute to the overall prosperity of the region.”
Another new addition to the village is the Catskill SprayGround splash pad at Elliot Park, which had its grand opening in July. The splash pad is a play area with fountains, water jets, and other water features that’s open from Memorial Day to Labor Day. Two local service organizations, Cultivate Catskill and the Fortnightly Club, spearheaded the project after a life-long Catskill area resident, Randy Fried, passed away and left Cultivate Catskill $10,000.
“We wanted to do something significant with the money,” Cultivate Catskill President Shelly Pulver says. “We thought a sprayground would be great, since we’ve never been able to have a pool in the village.”
They raised $200,000 for the project, with strong support from the village government, area and regional organizations, and businesses, along with $75,000 in allocated state funding through the efforts of New York State Senator Michelle Hinchey. “It’s really amazing for a community this size,” Pulver says. “People were very generous.”
Cultivate Catskill has been helping to beautify Catskill since 2013 and is responsible for all the hanging flower baskets, various flowers, trees, and plants on Main Street, and the village’s holiday decorations. It also sponsors the Solstice Stroll with the village’s merchants. During the annual event, to be held once again on Saturday, December 21, from 5 to 8 pm on Main Street, which will be closed to traffic and lined with fire pits. Downtown shops will be open and there will be a variety of entertainment, including a fire eater and a stilt walker.
Pro-Housing
The continuing lack of affordable housing not only in Catskill, but across the Hudson Valley, has become front and center with two new state initiatives including the Pro-Housing Community Program and the Good Cause Eviction law. Across the state, rents have gone up by as much as 60 percent since 2015 and home prices by as much as 80 percent according to the New York State Division of Homes and Community Renewal. In August, the village board adopted the Pro-Housing Community Program pledge and has promised to streamline permitting for multi-family homes and adopt policies that “affirmatively further fair housing,” among other steps. In October, the state certified the village.
“The Village of Catskill is now the first Pro-Housing Community in Greene County,” says Dan Ward, Village Board Member, via email. As such, Catskill has access to a pool of $650 million from funding programs reserved for Pro-Housing Communities. One of these is the Downtown Revitalization Initiative, which the village has applied for and is hoping to receive. The program provides $10 million in funding to each of 10 small or rural communities across the state for targeted revitalization.
The other state initiative related to housing is the Good Cause Eviction Law, which went into effect in April, but requires municipalities to opt in. “Good Cause guarantees lease renewals, limits rent hikes, and stops unjust evictions,” Elliott Matos says. Matos is the director of operations for the Hudson/Catskill Housing Coalition (HCHC), a Black-led nonprofit tenants’ rights organization. “Housing insecurity is growing and unfair rent increases are a huge part of the problem,” he says.
The HCHC has been involved in advocating for the new law at the state level since 2021. Locally, the organization has pushed to get the village of Catskill to opt in to the law by collecting eviction data, explaining the community’s needs to the board, mobilizing residents to attend the village meetings, and working with other local housing justice organizations like Catskill Artists and Creatives for Housing Equity, among other initiatives.
Matos believes the village of Catskill needs to pass the law to keep low-income and working-class people and families in their homes and in this community. “Additional benefits are had by business owners who are looking to staff their establishments with local residents who are housing secure,” he says
The Catskill Village Board has had two public hearings, on October 30 and November 13, to discuss the proposed law. “These hearings are a way the public can voice their opinions and concerns and that the village board can listen,” Ward says. Relatedly, because of the need for more housing in the village, the board is also considering another potential solution. “Right now, we are looking into accessory dwelling units and how they could potentially help with the housing issue,” Ward says. The board passed the law unanimously at the second hearing, three to zero, with one abstention and one board member not present.
In the Weeds
This year also witnessed an ongoing legal battle between a Jefferson Heights resident and the town of Catskill over her lawn. Jenae DiNapoli’s property has a variety of native plants, including those that attract pollinators, but she ran afoul of a state law that sets the maximum height at 10 inches for weeds, which the law defines as “uncultivated vegetation” and includes “grasses” and “briars.” Some of her plants were far above that height. “They came to her and said we’re going to start fining you daily until you cut your lawn,” Carlin Meyer, DiNapoli’s pro bono attorney, says. “They threw out numbers like $1,000 a day and, later on, $500 a day.”
The law excludes “cultivated vegetation” such as gardens, flowers, trees, and shrubs. “We took the position that she was cultivating a pollinator garden,” Meyer said. After two hearings, Catskill Town Judge Richard Paolino issued a decision in the case on September 13 that took DiNapoli’s intention of creating a pollinator garden on her property into account. But he determined that the property “appeared overgrown” and “that her efforts had been hindered by weeds and overgrown grasses surrounding recently planted flowers and trees,” in the court order.
Paolino ordered DiNapoli to cut the grass and keep it under 10 inches, but didn’t impose any fines as long as she “complies with the court’s directive to clean and maintain the garden” and makes sure she doesn’t violate the law again. He advised her to better organize her garden with raised beds and a “clearer definition of the pollination garden,” which DiNapoli has done, according to her lawyer. “What was really going on was a battle of aesthetics—they didn’t like the way it looked, in my opinion,” Meyer says. “She’s a young woman who just wants to protect nature. She left the grass there to protect all kinds of pollinators and wildlife.”
Catskill continues to grow and flourish amid issues big and small through the efforts of both individuals and the collective. Whether it’s providing a place to cool off on a hot summer day, bringing laughter, or attempting to provide a stable home, the residents of this community continue to advance step by step.
This article appears in December 2024.
