Looking at the common threads running throughout this edition, I was struck by how many articles mention arty events in the coming weeks. After all, this isn't the Woodstock Times. In the next two weeks Saugerties will host the increasingly popular Saugerties Artists Studio Tour (with a kick-off at Opus 40, certainly one of the 10 Hudson Valley sites to see before you die), major exhibits in no less than three local galleries, The Esopus Creek Puppet Suite, the annual one-of-a-kind giant puppet show in the village (Puppets from Space?), and finally, in what could be the weirdest of all, a flotilla of hand-build ships will dock in the Hudson by the Lighthouse and let loose "a series of monologues in which crew members tell conflicting, fantastic versions of where the boats came from. It also includes live music, songs, and group numbers performed by the crew on the boats."



A few months ago, town councilwoman and artist Nancy Campbell declared the Saugerties artist community to be in a "renaissance." I jumped on that right away, wondering if it could be true. It reminded me discussions I had with fellow editors when first taking over here. The topic concerned how fear and crime stories sell the best. I asked, "What do you think Saugerties fears most?" The first answer I got was: "Becoming Woodstock."



That was good for a laugh. Though Saugerties hosted the second (NOT the violent) Woodstock Festival in 1994, the cultural distinction between the two neighboring communities stands in as stark a relief as Overlook Mountain. Last year Kingston was voted by a major publication as one of the top 10 cities for artists to live and work. Is Saugerties, long a bastion for those with their feet planted firmly on terra firma, moving toward a more aesthetic, art for arts sake mentality? Is the sudden Dog Day surge in artistic events in Sawyer town the flowering of councilwoman Campbell's renaissance? Or just a coincidental cluster?



It's worth noting that for many Saugertiesians who feel more at home in Woodstock (usually making their homes in West Saugerties, or Saugerstock), their address is a consequence of housing prices. Saugerties isn't exactly cheap, but it's no Woodstock. Artists typically thrive in places where it's [relatively] cheap to live. Hmmm...