Radio Chatskill

This weekend marks exactly 56 years since the original Woodstock Music and Art Fair in Bethel, New York — and in a rare coincidence, the dates line up precisely with the original 1969 festival. The festival began on Friday, August 15, and ran through Sunday, August 17, 1969. This year, Friday, August 15, and Saturday, August 16, once again fall on the same days of the week. Radio Catskill, the clo...

As students gear up to return to school, they will face a new reality: smartphones, smart watches, and earbuds will be banned throughout the school day, except for specific educational, medical, or safety needs. The statewide restriction aims to reduce distractions and improve focus, but it has sparked conversations among students, parents, teachers, and administrators alike. Liam Mayo, news edito...

Local bookstores are bringing books to prisons throughout New York State. The Prison Books Project, in partnership with local bookstores throughout Ulster and Dutchess counties, is a nonprofit that was established in 2020 with the purpose of sending books to people incarcerated throughout New York State free of cost.  Based in Binnacle Books in Beacon, the project has since partnered with a host o...

Do you have those home-cooked recipes that transport you to another place or time? Well, that’s what chef David Perez is hoping to achieve through their new tamales menu at Sueños, a new Mexican food pop-up in Livingston Manor. On the menu are fresh corn tamales, pork verde tostadas, and more. Radio Catskill’s Kimberly Izar brought us along during her recent visit to Sueños at Sunshine Colony in L...

A deepening governance crisis in Woodstock, NY, has come to a head with the official termination of Michael Anello, a Level 3 sex offender who was quietly hired earlier this year as a town maintenance worker. His employment—and the secrecy around it—sparked weeks of public outrage, a power struggle within the town board, and widespread concern over transparency and safety. Michael Anello was hired...

It's National Farmers Market Week, a national event that celebrates the huge role that farmers markets play in supporting local agriculture, strengthening community ties and improving food access. Locally, the Wayne County Farmers Market is celebrating 50 years of farm fresh food.  We spoke with Anita Avvisato –co manager of the Wayne County Farmers Market , about how the market got started and wh...

Get ready, Parksville—because Saturday, August 16 , the chickens are coming home to Main Street. The B'Kawk Festival —a now-beloved local tradition celebrating all things chicken—is back for its fourth year on Saturday, August 16 , and it’s bigger, bolder, and more bird-brained than ever. From noon to 6 p.m., the small Catskills hamlet will transform into a lively celebration of community spirit,...

As smoke from Canadian wildfires once again drifts across the U.S., impacting air quality for millions, and major blazes burn in the West, communities are being forced to confront the far-reaching effects of these disasters. To help us better understand how to prepare for and respond to these increasingly frequent and complex emergencies, we spoke with Dr. Njoki Mwarumba , Assistant Professor of E...

It’s not David Bowie’s band—but “spiders from Mars” are real, at least geologically speaking. That’s just one of the mind-bending science stories Radio Catskill’s resident science guy Joe Johnson broke down in a recent segment filled with cosmic curiosities, spinning chairs, and mysterious goo from the bottom of the Great Lakes. Spiders on Mars? Yes, But Not the Kind You Squash These “spiders” are...

This weekend, audiences in Highland Lake will be invited to dive deep—into memory, myth, and the mysterious realms beneath the surface of consciousness—through a haunting new shadow puppet performance at NACL Theatre. “A Fishing Line Sings” is the latest creation by composer and writer Rima Fand , developed in long-time collaboration with puppet designer and director Erin Orr . This Saturday’s wor...

A briny blend of food, fun, and fermentation is taking over Eldred this weekend. Sullivan Public is hosting its first-ever Public Pickle Party on Sunday, August 10 , promising an afternoon packed with hands-on pickling, garden swapping, local flavors, and even a glowing pickle science show. “It’s part food fest, part garden swap, and all small-town joy,” said Jesse Lazar , co-founder of Sullivan P...

Audrey Garro, executive director of A Single Bite , has a clear mission: if you have a child in your household and you need food, they are here to help. What began as a grassroots response to food insecurity in Sullivan County has grown into a vital service now providing nearly 1,000 meals a week —a number driven by increasing financial hardship, rising food prices, and changing housing conditions...

Flooding has been a major issue nationwide this summer, and New York has been no exception. From the flooding on the Saw Mill River Parkway and the Cross Bronx Expressway to the most recent flash flood warning for Orange County last week, Governor Kathy Hochul declared a state of emergency for nearly all counties in the Southern tip of New York. The increase in the severity and frequency of these...

You've probably driven it--Route 17, winding through the Hudson Valley and the Catskills, but big changes are coming to this familiar stretch of highway. New York State is in the process of upgrading Route 17 to federal interstate standards , part of a decades-long effort to rebrand the corridor as Interstate 86 (I-86) .   Some of that work is already underway around Monocello with even more propo...

Last Friday, New York State adopted the strongest all-electric building code in the country — requiring most new homes and buildings to run entirely on electricity within the next few years. It’s a major step in reducing climate pollution from buildings, which are New York’s number one source of emissions. The move is also seen as a direct response to federal rollbacks, including former President...

The big, beautiful bill’s multi-prong attack against healthcare access includes a provision that will strip Planned Parenthood of federal Medicaid funding for one year. While a federal judge has indefinitely blocked the cuts from going into effect as of this Monday, they have the potential of  closing 200 Planned Parenthood clinics nationwide and endangering the healthcare of millions of Americans...

Several Hudson Valley lawmakers signed onto a letter on July 26 calling for immediate and unrestricted humanitarian aid to enter Gaza. Among those who signed on were New York 19th District Representative Pat Ryan, Ulster County Executive Jen Metzger, Senator James Skoufis and District 103 Assemblymember Sarahana Shrestha.

A new festival in Delhi, New York engaged the canna-curious and canna-isseurs this past weekend. CannaBLISS in the Catskills brought together hundreds of attendees to celebrate upstate New York’s growing cannabis community. Radio Catskill’s Kimberly Izar visited the first day of CannaBLISS in the Catskills and chatted with cannabis farmers, business owners, and attendees about the future of cannab...

A unique gathering centered on wellness, grief, and collective action is returning to Sullivan County this summer. Now in its fifth year, the All Things Good festival—happening August 9–10 at New Memories in Parksville—invites participants to “wander into wellness” through a weekend of healing arts, protest training, and community celebration. Organized by Ariana Kaminsky, the event goes beyond th...

Local author Joan Glase is stepping into the literary spotlight with her debut novel, Searching for John Smith . The book weaves together adventure, mystery, romance, and unexpected twists as readers follow Julia, a heroine on a journey of resilience and self-discovery that forces her to confront a painful past.  Culture Reporter Valerie Mansi spoke with Glase ahead of her reading and discussion a...

How does the botanical elegance of a 19th-century artist find new life in contemporary design? In this episode of Kaatscast: The Catskills Podcast , host Brett Barry follows the enduring influence of Emily Cole—daughter of Hudson River School painter Thomas Cole—whose delicate hand-painted ceramics helped define her artistic legacy. Cole was a founding member of the New York Society of Ceramic Art...

A fatal neurological disease affecting deer has been detected in Wayne County, prompting state officials to establish a new Disease Management Area (DMA 10) in the northeastern part of the county. Chronic wasting disease (CWD), caused by a misfolded protein known as a prion, is similar to mad cow disease but affects members of the deer family. The Pennsylvania Game Commission confirmed that CWD wa...

When you receive one of those Amazon cardboard boxes with black tape, there are hundreds of thousands of warehouse workers behind the scenes – packing, stocking, and shipping products around the clock to make it happen. Here in the Hudson Valley, a massive one-million square foot facility employs hundreds of Amazon workers in Orange County. But some of those workers say the job can become dangerou...

Pharmacy closures are becoming an increasingly familiar story for Americans. The Rite Aid just outside of Honesdale, PA on Route 6 closed on June 4 after the company filed bankruptcy for a second time back in May. The pharmacy was bought out by Weis Markets, which has its own pharmacy just across the street from the former Rite Aid, but the automatic transfer of patients from Rite Aid to Weis Phar...

The Borscht Belt Festival returns to downtown Ellenville for its third year, celebrating the legendary legacy of Jewish resorts, comedy, and culture that once defined the region. Presented by the Borscht Belt Museum , the festival runs from Friday, July 25 through Sunday, July 27 , with a lineup of events honoring the heyday of the Catskills resort scene and its outsize influence on American comed...