The Tang Teaching Museum at Skidmore College’s Upbeat on the Roof concert series continues Thursday, July 30, with Carolyn Shapiro.

Music begins at 6 pm on the Tang lawn, with free family-friendly art-making kits starting at 5:30 p.m. Visitors are welcome to bring blankets, chairs, food, and drink, and the Tang galleries will be open before and after the concert.

Carolyn Shapiro is an old-time banjo player and songwriter from the Southern Adirondacks blending a soulful, contemporary edge with deep-rooted traditional style. As a performer, Carolyn uses her music as a tool for connection, education, and inspiration. She brings a joyous vulnerability to the stage, leaving audiences feeling genuinely restored. 

Though originally on the path to law school, Carolyn’s trajectory changed the moment she picked up a banjo at Skidmore College. She found her voice while working at Caffè Lena, honing her craft at their weekly open mics before emerging as a standout in the folk scene. Since then, she has released two EPs and was named Folk Artist of the Year for the New York Capital Region in both 2022 and 2026. Her highly anticipated first full-length studio album is set for release this fall.

Over 300 people attended Schuylerville Garden Club’s annual Flower show titled “America the Beautiful” held in the Saratoga Town Hall on July 11 and 12.  The patriotic theme was colorful, the crowd was enthusiastic and full of friends old and new. 

Design prize winners include Carol English, who received the Award for her “Midwest” design featuring sunflowers. Kathy Perkins won both the Petite Award and the Award of Design Excellence for her entry in the “Jazz” class, part of the “Sounds of America” section; her five-inch floral design included a tiny saxophone. Diane Swartwout and her granddaughter, Paige Phillips, entered the companion class for two exhibitors working together on one parallel design. Their class, “Iconic Cities,” earned them the Mary Seymour Award, a special honor given this year in memory of a longtime active club member who passed away last year.

An Educational Exhibit Award was won by Micki Green and Mary Roberts for their exhibit of “American Oaks: Our Ecosystem’s Keystone Trees” in which they presented the role of the oak trees in the web of life.  A second educational display by Norma Moy and Leona Brownell showcased the “History of the Schuylerville Garden Club” which has existed for 88 years.  

In the Horticulture classes, Eileen Kay-Rymph won the Award of Horticulture Excellence and a Grower’s Choice Award for her combination planter. Eileen also won the Club Challenge Award for her red, white and blue combination planter.  Liz Gee won the Arboreal Award for her branch of rubus odoratus also known as flowering raspberry, a deciduous native shrub valued for its ornamental and ecological benefits.  Awards of Horticulture Merit went to Evelyn Rybaltowski for an annual strawflower, to Mary Lou Baker for the herb, catmint, and to Leona Brownell for a perennial daylily called ‘Ed Murray.’ Other Grower’s Choice Awards were won by Evelyn Rybaltowski for a Chinese evergreen foliage plant and to Regina Hairie for an orchid flowering plant.   

“Young Pioneers” was a youth display created by local area youth led by Schuylerville Garden Club members in collaboration with Schuylerville Public Library in a workshop in which the children created Botanical Arts designs using dried materials. It was enjoyed by the kids and adults alike!  

The photo exhibit had 49 entries which the public voted for. Terry DeCorah from Gansevoort was voted first in the landscape scene taken at Dancing Grain Sunflower Field in Gansevoort and second in the close-up of a single flower. John Presto from Clifton Park took first place with a water scene at Yaddo Gardens in Saratoga. Sam Lucarelli from Rochester won first place in the flower close-up.  Cathy Sgambati of Mechanicville placed second in the water scene taken in her back yard and third in the close-up of a flower. Timothy La Goe from Schuylerville won second in the landscape scene taken in the Town of Saratoga.  Evelyn Rybaltowski from Greenwich was third with her landscape in Weston, VT and Patti Booth of Victory Mills placed third with her water scene at Myrtle Beach, SC. 

To view the pictures from the entire show, go to https://schuylervillegardenclub.com.

Registration is currently open for iTheater Saratoga’s summer youth theater camp at Saratoga Arts. The camp welcomes children aged 10 and up and sets out to explore a variety of social issues, push the boundaries of theatre, and incorporate the insights of iTheatre’s young collaborators. 

Camp rehearsals run Monday through Friday, 10:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. from August 17-21 & 24-28. The camp culminates in a student showcase including a concert reading of the musical “Every Other Thursday.”

The musical is based on Helmi Seppala, a Finnish maid working for the Mawson family on New York’s Upper West Side in 1927. She has one day off, every other Thursday. When the Mawsons ask Helmi to change her plans, she refuses, leading to conflict and confusion in the household, and an exploration of the importance of cultural heritage to an immigrant population.

Students are encouraged to wear loose fitting clothing or athletic wear and should pack plenty of water and a lunch. Reach out to itheatresaratoga@gmail.com with any questions or concerns.

To register for the camp, go to https://www.itheatresaratoga.org/youth-workshop

The National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame will debut the one-of-a-kind interactive experience, Equine Eyes during an open house at the Museum on Thursday, July 23, from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. Equine Eyes is a hands-on, research-driven interactive, playful experience designed to simulate how horses perceive the world. 

Equine Eyes is rooted in extensive research by Dr. Alan Hook of Ulster University and aims to foster empathy, care, safety awareness, and interspecies connection. The Equine Eyes experience was made possible through essential funding by the Thoroughbred Education Research Foundation.

Utilizing a specially developed headset with mounted cameras, Equine Eyes provides visitors with an immersive visual and sensory perspective of equine vision. This technology highlights key differences in field of view and color spectrum compared to human vision, offering a deeper understanding of how horses navigate their environment.

“We are excited to collaborate with Dr. Alan Hook to implement Equine Eyes as an innovative educational experience at the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame,” said Cate Masterson, the Museum’s director. “This immersive technology will allow visitors to see the world from a horse’s perspective, fostering a deeper understanding of equine vision, behavior, and interspecies relationships. This interactive exhibit will be integrated into our education and outreach programs, contributing to our mission of engaging audiences with the history, science, and culture of horse racing.”

Dr. Hook and Dr. Jennie Carlsten will lead a demonstration of the Equine Eyes technology at the Museum during the open house at the Museum on July 23 at 10 a.m.

Dr. Hook is a researcher, designer, and educator from the North Coast of Northern Ireland, and a Senior Lecturer in Interactive Media at Ulster University. His research explores how people can use playful, immersive, and participatory experiences to rethink our relationship to the world and connect in new ways with plants, animals, and each other. Dr. Hook has exhibited his media and design work across Europe, the United States, and China. He created Equine Eyes as an experimental design to explore how people connect with and understand horses in new ways, leading to building new types of kinship with them.

Dr. Carlsten is a researcher and lecturer at Ulster University. Her research explores metamodern screen aesthetics, analogue practice, polycrisis, and emotional affect. Her previous audience engagement projects include community cinema research for the British Film Institute Film Audience Network and community workshop delivery for the Heritage Lottery-funded Prisons Memory Archive.

Local author, illustrator, and art teacher, Martha Raleigh Winsten, is hosting a reading of her book Awesome Elijah along with an illustration demonstration at Greenwich Library on July 13, from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. at Ballston Spa Library on July 29, from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m.

Awesome Elijah is a true story about Jackie Pierce, a teacher’s aide at Division Street who along with her daughter, Andrea, adopted a three-day-old calf who was set to be sold to slaughter. The story follows Elijah growing up alongside various farm animals and eventually becoming the only steer to ride at the Horse Expo at Saratoga Race Course.

The book was originally published in 2007, but through a grant provided by Saratoga Arts, Awesome Elijah was republished as a hardcover. Also included in the book is a QR code for three songs recorded by Winsten that go along with the story. 

Winsten comes from a storied family in the illustration landscape; her grandfather was Henry Raleigh, who is in the Illustrators Hall of Fame. He was F. Scott Fitzgerald’s favorite illustrator, and one of his WWI war posters can be seen at the Saratoga Military Museum on Lake Ave.

Her mother and father, Sheila Raleigh and movie critic, Archer Winsten, were part of the Harlem Renaissance. They would go with John Hammond to listen to singers Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald and others at the Savoy in Harlem.