Saugerties: Legacy in Motion

By   |  Photos by David McIntyre  |     |  Community Spotlight

Woodstock ‘94, the 25th anniversary show hosted at Winston Farm in Saugerties, was subject to many of the difficulties that plagued the original gathering in Bethel: Organizers swiftly lost control when 350,000 fans (twice the expected number) showed up, resulting in a logistical nightmare; nudity and drugs were everywhere; and it rained hard enough for the event to be christened “Mudstock.” Three people died, and 800 visited the ER. Performances ranged from catastrophic to epic. It was surely a party, but for locals it was a massive traffic jam.

Some places would have brushed the whole thing under the rug, little Bethel, after all, struggled with the original legacy until Yasgur’s Farm was finally transformed into the Bethel Woods performing arts center. When the idea of a 30th anniversary celebration first arose, some were unsure of the kind of reception it might meet. But when the Chamber of Commerce formed a Woodstock ‘94 Anniversary Celebration Committee and asked for input, there was only one email out of hundreds that was negative. Accordingly, hippie buses were chosen for 2024’s public art expo, historical memorabilia was amassed and displayed, and local musicians who’d played the big event got the chance to demonstrate their creative evolution at a well-attended music and food truck fest.

“It was wonderful,” says Peggy Schwartz, owner of Town and Country Liquors and vice chair of the chamber. “It was a whole month-long event, and people came out from everywhere.”

This year’s street art, on display starting Memorial Day weekend, will be dogs, in celebration of the groundbreaking for a new animal shelter building. “There are street art groupies who travel all around to see it, and when they come here, they find so much,” says Schwartz. “All the shops and restaurants, the culture. We have lovely free concerts by the river on first Fridays all summer. We have a truly outstanding theater in the Orpheum. We have the most fabulous car show in July. We have a gem of a library. People come here and get a taste, and then they come back year after year to get in on the fun, and we have plenty of great places to stay, so they often make a weekend of it. It’s the community cooperation that makes it work so well; we all work really well together, we’re really dedicated to the work that we do and to bringing really good programs and ideas to the area. It’s a really cool time in Saugerties.”

The Saugerties Cultural Scene

Back when Woodstock ‘94 happened, Isabel Soffer was just beginning her career in international music and performing arts as a curator, director, producer, and mobilizer. Having tasted the Saugerties flavor during memorable childhood summers (“It just seemed so cool, because it is,” she says) she knew where she wanted to settle when she escaped the city with her husband and daughter nine years ago. “We wanted a place with community,” she says. “We bought a fixer-upper in [the hamlet of] Malden, down by the river, and we’re still amazed at how much we love it—the vibe, the friends.”

Soffer and partner Danny Melnick bought and refurbished the onetime Dutch Reformed Church and recently opened The Local, a cultural center with a packed calendar of music and dance performances from around the globe and right down the street, with carefully crafted acoustics that are perfect for everything from the wildest dance beats to the calmest conversations. “It’s really important for us to bring people together with open hearts and minds, and to create places for conversations and joy,” she says, “and for experiencing other cultures. In complicated times, culture and joy are more important than ever. My partner and I both live here, and we’ve both been doing this three decades for other people, and we knew how we wanted it to feel, and people seem to just love to be here. We don’t ask you to leave—hang out, talk to the artists. And we just got our beer and wine license.”

Kiwanis Ice Arena in Saugerties hosts public skating, hockey, and figure skating year-round, offering lessons, leagues, and open sessions for all ages and skill levels.

Other signs of a fine season shaping up in Saugerties: the usual schedule of festivals that draw thousands around everything from cars to chrysanthemums, the wild whirl of world-class show jumping that happens all summer at HITS, a full calendar of classical at Saugerties Pro Musica, the Orpheum Theater’s Mark screening room with Dolby Atmos sound, creative institutions like Arm-of-the-Sea’s giant puppet theater and Opus 40’s 63-acre sculpture park.

Artists from other continents who come to play the Local, says Soffer, find loads to do. “They’re eating at the Dutch or the Buddha Bowl or Miss Lucy’s, going out to the Pig or the Exchange for drinks, discovering Inquiring Minds Bookstore or the Newberry Artisan Market the next day, and they’re just blown away.”

The Saugerties Real Estate Market

Jennifer Mangione owns Grist Mill Real Estate, founded by her mother in 1974; it’s safe to say she’s seen a few trends come and go. “Saugerties has 46 active listings right now, with many pending, looking to close in the coming months,” she says. “Overall, lately, we’ve seen an increase in listings and pending sales and a decrease in closed sales. Lately we’ve witnessed many price reductions, and the average days on market has increased slightly. This market still calls for patience—don’t get discouraged, just find a professional who knows the area and the inventory.”

On the market at press time were a one-room schoolhouse in the hamlet of Ruby in need of a thorough makeover to be habitable but featuring 1,200 square feet of sunlit hardwood floors and almost two acres of meadow for just $285,000. There were also more conventional three- and four-bedroom Ranches, Colonials and Saltboxes in the $300,000 to $500,000 range, a few of them in the village proper. Custom-built and/or updated historic beauties with a couple of acres of land can be had starting at around $650,000, and for just under $2 million, the right buyer could purchase the 26-acre, five-bedroom Highwoods Estate, replete with towering arched windows and far too many luxury features to list here.

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