Please log in, or sign up for a new account and purchase a subscription to continue reading.
Log in or sign up for a new account and join now to continue reading.
Join now to continue reading.
Your current subscription does not provide access to this content.
Sorry, no promotional deals were found matching that code.
Promotional Rates were found for your code.
Clear skies. Low around 35F. Winds light and variable..
Clear skies. Low around 35F. Winds light and variable.
HUDSON HALL ANNOUNCES WINTER WALK 25th ANNIVERSARY
HUDSON — Winter Walk 25th Anniversary logo, designed by Hudson-based fine artist and designer, Myron Polenberg.
Hudson, NY – October 28, 2021: Hudson Hall is pleased to announce the 25th Anniversary of Winter Walk, Hudson’s most magical night of the year. Taking place on Saturday, December 4 from 5-8pm, Winter Walk 2021 features a bevy of outdoor attractions that can be safely enjoyed by people of all ages and abilities, including locally grown music, art, dance and family fun. Hudson Hall is also thrilled to announce the winners of the Winter Walk 25th Anniversary Artist Grant Program. Created in celebration of the milestone event and to honor the diversity, ingenuity and perseverance of Hudson’s unique creative community, the $15,000 in grant funds give artists and creative teams – among them dancers, musicians, poets, circus performers, environmental educators, puppeteers and more – financial support to help create work that will be featured at the December 4 event. For more information about the 25th Anniversary of Winter Walk or to become a sponsor, visit hudsonhall.org or phone (518) 822-1438.
Columbia County Department of Health Director Jack Mabb says, “Given the high number of partially or fully vaccinated residents in our county and state, we are in a totally different place than we were in 2020. Winter Walk is an event that many look forward to each year and one that promotes community spirit and good will. With the focus on outdoor activities, we look forward to celebrating Winter Walk’s 25th Anniversary on December 4.”
Hudson Hall first produced Winter Walk in 1997 to help bring foot traffic back to Warren Street after a long period of decline. Today, Winter Walk encompasses the entire mile-long stretch of Hudson’s main street, rings Seventh Street Park, spills over to the side streets, and extends down to Front Street and the waterfront the first Saturday in December. Voted Best Winter Community Event numerous times, Winter Walk kicks off the holiday season by highlighting the unique shops, galleries and restaurants and artistic community behind Hudson’s creative economy.
A leisurely walk down Warren Street will offer a series of visual delights this year, including lavishly decorated windows (with the best awarded a much-coveted prize in the annual Window Decorating Contest), many of which – in a nod to the earliest days of Winter Walk – will also feature performances by Hudson Valley dancers selected by choreographer Adam Weinert. Perennial Winter Walk favorites such as Sax-o-Claus, Sean the Prankster, Crazy Christine Balloons, Roger the Jester, Holly, Andy & Ivy, the Orcapelicans, Circus Theatricks with Sean Fagan, Acadia Otlowski and Key of Q. The horse and carriage ride will also return to 7th Street Park, which will have a beautifully decorated Holiday Tree thanks to Friends of the Public Square as well as a Menorah Lighting Ceremony. Due to Santa’s extensive travel schedule and North Pole quarantine requirements, he will be offering free private Zooms to any young local family in the weeks leading up to Winter Walk, and will then appear in the window at Hudson Hall at the event. Children can come wave hello, deliver their Christmas wish lists to Santa via a special mailbox and collect their free gift-wrapped book As always, the evening will end with a magical fireworks display from the Hudson River, viewable for miles around.
“We are thrilled by the level of talent and ingenuity of the awardees and are so pleased to have the opportunity to support local creative community at such a challenging time for the arts,” says Hudson Hall Executive Director, Tambra Dillon. “With a focus on home grown entertainment and attractions that can be enjoyed safely by the whole family, the 25th Anniversary promises to ring in the silver anniversary with, as Dean Martin would sing, with ‘bells and busy sidewalks dressed in holiday style’!
The awardees of the 25th Anniversary Winter Walk Artist Grants (in alphabetical order)
Adam H. Weinert is a choreographer, researcher and gardener based in Hudson. For Winter Walk 2021, Weinert will curate a series of dancers to appear in Warren Street shop windows, harking back to the first Winter Walk a quarter century ago.
Artschatz, an artist team who produce large-scale public sculptures, video screenings, art spaces and performances, will create an elaborate light installation in a space on Warren Street.
Beautiful Racket, a group who offer music programming that encourages self-expression and empowerment, will perform a selection of Christmas Carols from 7th & Warren to 3rd & Warren (with a special surprise ending).
Inspired by a deep love and appreciation for life and sharing essential rhythms of celebration, Diata Diata International Folkloric Theater will offer their renowned percussion ensemble for animation of passersby throughout the 25th Anniversary of Winter Walk.
DJ Ronnie Rave, who creates rave-like experiences with lights, sounds and great dance music, will turn a corner of Winter Walk into a family-friendly dance party for all ages.
Artist, musician and composer Dmitry Wild will collaborate with Ryder Cooley of Dust Bowl Fairies (accordion / saw) and Peter Breed (keyboards) to perform musical theater piece God, Ghost and a Ship.
Flow Chart Foundation, who’s work explores poetry and the interrelationships of various art forms as guided by the legacy of American poet John Ashbery, will collaborate with Oral History Summer School to present a three-part project featuring teen poetry works in the form of visually arresting “blackout poems” created by young people engaging with Hudson oral histories.
Local dancers Francesca Avani and Yvonne Michelle present a fusion belly dance set that will simultaneously tell you a story and leave you wanting to get up and shimmy!
Hudson Festival Orchestra is a Hudson-based orchestra led by local veteran conductor and artistic director, Gwen Gould. They will lead a festive “Holiday Sing” at the Park Theater (723 Warren Street) featuring Hudson Festival Players with local students and Winter-walkers singing Christmas and Hanukkah songs, ending with the Hallelujah Chorus.
The Hudson Sloop Club is dedicated to bringing the Hudson River back into the daily lives of our community. At this year’s Winter Walk, the Sloop Club will offer a space to learn and celebrate the vibrant winter ecology of the Hudson River. With fish tanks, microscopes, monitors and drawings, visitors to their new mobile ecology center can explore the plants and animals who survive and thrive in our beautiful river all winter long.
Jef “Wolfy” Scharf is a designer, drawer, installation artist, musician, master screen printer is creating a new kind of holiday shop – where all the gifts will be free and created using found objects and repurposed materials.
Jonah Bokaer Choreography (JBC), whose work merges dance with visual art and design, collaborates with performing artist, poet, and freelance writer Hala Shah (Egypt/USA), dance artist, writer, and creator Nadia Khayrallah (Lebanon/USA) and fashion designer Yeohlee Teng to present JBC repertory “About An Arabesque” in the window of Kasuri (1 Warren Street). The silent choreography will be accompanied by two video art portraits of the dancers with the same title.
Leslie Gerchick & Nathaniel Doyno will bring life-size puppet/paintings of Walt Whitman and Edgar Allan Poe to perform “Cold Readings on the Hudson: puppets and poetry with Walt, Edgar and Lou”.
Magician, mentalist, and street performer Michael Udwary will bring the Alpine Christmas tradition of Krampus - the horned figure in Alpine folklore – to Winter Walk.
MMS is a sound artist, composer and musician who employs field recordings, tape loops, prepared guitar, and musique concrete techniques. For Winter Walk, MMS will create a conceptual musical interpretation of the Weihnachtsmarkt (Christmas Market). Utilizing samples recorded in Germany, this durational musical composition blends the familiar sounds of the season (vintage holiday music, crackling fire, wind, etc) with live effects to create a cacophony of wintry cheer.
Experimental jazz group Microfauna will premier two original compositions written by emerging Hudson Valley-based composers, Adriana Tampasis and Alden Slack. Each composition is closely inspired by Hudson and the importance of Winter Walk to the local communities.
Operation Unite’s Kuumba Dance & Drum will heat up Winter Walk once again with their colorful African dance and drum ensemble.
Surprise window and performance activations by R.B. Schlather.
Roz’s Danceworks brings 50 Years of Holiday Cheer to Winter Walk with a special holiday-themed preview of their 50th anniversary annual show, scheduled to take place in June 2022.
Sondra Loring, choreographic artist and Joro Boro, sound artist, partner with FACE/Stockholm to present Inner Landscape – a view into intentional sound and movement based on interoception, the brain’s process of integrating signals relayed from the body into specific subregions.
Hudson Hall is a cultural beacon in the Hudson Valley, offering a dynamic year-round schedule of music, theater, dance, literature, workshops for youth and adults, as well as family programs and large-scale community events such as Winter Walk.
Located in a historic landmark that houses New York State’s oldest surviving theater, Hudson Hall underwent a full restoration and reopened to the public in April 2017 for the first time in over 55 years. In 2019, through an extensive program encompassing live performance, art exhibitions, city-wide festivals, free community events and workshops, Hudson Hall served an audience of 50,000 and employed over 400 artists and skilled technicians, making it a valuable contributor to Columbia County’s $8 million creative economy. Approximately 70% of Hudson Hall’s programs are free of charge or subsidized to ensure equitable access to the arts.
Your comment has been submitted.
There was a problem reporting this.
Keep it Clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language. PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK. Don't Threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated. Be Truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything. Be Nice. No racism, sexism or any sort of -ism that is degrading to another person. Be Proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts. Share with Us. We'd love to hear eyewitness accounts, the history behind an article.
Columbia-Greene Media has recently teamed up with the US Postal Service to provide same-day delivery of your local newspaper with your mail. Our expanded daily delivery of your local news reaches into the following areas: