The Inside Press

Magazines serving the communities of Northern Westchester

families

Neighborhood Park in Briarcliff: Perfect for Families and Pups

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The Neighborhood Park area of Briarcliff Manor is perfect for families with growing children. The park itself was dedicated to the Village of Briarcliff Manor in 1954 and covers five acres of land featuring a baseball field, basketball court and playground. Many streets around the area are named for soldiers that served in combat, such as Schrade Road. The Wichman family calls Neighborhood Park home.

Amy, assistant to a high school Athletic Director, Steve, who works in sales, Zachary, age 16 and Madeline age 14 have lived in Neighborhood Park five years this April. The family moved from an Ossining townhouse because they were looking for more space and a neighborhood with a suburban feel. “Moving to Neighborhood Park allowed our kids to remain in the Ossining Schools and we also gained the benefit of access to the Briarcliff Recreation Department. My children utilized the Briarcliff Camps for the first few years we lived here. They had many friends in the neighborhood, both in Briarcliff and Ossining and were able to safely walk or ride bikes to see them,” says Amy.

Living in the neighborhood means close access to the park. The Wichman children can safely walk there with friends as well as to the local shops. “Now that our children are older, when they have friends over, they often walk to the shops, specifically, Euro Pizza and Starbucks,” says Amy. The neighborhood is the perfect place for families with pets too. The Wichmans have a puppy and they love walking her around the neighborhood. As Amy says, “Almost everybody seems to have a dog.”

In addition to the safe community feel of the area, Neighborhood Park also celebrates various events throughout the year. One family holds an annual Halloween party for the neighborhood children. As the years go by, the adults now gather while the kids trick-or-treat on their own. The Briarcliff Manor Community Day event is also an important part of the village. Says Amy, “The kids have a blast and we get to run into many friends and acquaintances.” Definitely a great way to meet new neighbors while catching up with old friends.

Chappaqua Summer Scholarship Students Build Storage Shed As Thank You Gift for Community

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A 10 foot by 12 foot shed built by hand from this year’s Chappaqua Summer Scholarship Program (CSSP) students will soon be used to help with storage needs at Horace Greeley High School as construction continues at the high school. The shed was built as a way to give thanks to the Chappaqua community for supporting the program, now in its 51st year. Each summer Chappaqua invites 22-24 promising students from under resourced schools in the Bronx to join the community. The program is made possible because Chappaqua families open their homes up to host these students.

Although none of the students are construction workers several donned hard hats and worked with hammers nailing together the floor, walls and roof. “Over the years, the Chappaqua Central School District has been incredibly supportive of our program. We wanted to give thanks and this shed was the perfect way to do so. Our Bronx CSSP students have had a great time building it and we are grateful four our teachers, Mike DeBellis and Chris Stasi for making this happen,” commented Ellen Adnopoz, the Executive Director of CSSP.

“This is something I would never do in the Bronx,” commented Brian Nunez, a second-year student in the program. For three consecutive years, these specially selected students like Brian attend academic classes at one of the Chappaqua schools in the mornings and participate in a range of recreational and cultural activities in the afternoon. The program which is entirely run by volunteers seeks to broaden the students’ horizons and also help prepare them for college.

The shed will remain on the HGHS campus indefinitely.

Caramoor’s Summer Schedule Spans Musical Genres & Delights Audiences

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PHOTO BY GABE PALACIO

While Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts in nearby Katonah needn’t be compared to anywhere else, some visitors do see favorable similarities between Caramoor and a certain other renowned site for music in the Berkshires. Does Tanglewood come to mind?

But music aficionados need not battle traffic to the Berkshires. Caramoor, located on an historic estate owned by Walter and Lucie Rosen, is one of northern Westchester’s great cultural treasures.

A look at the summer calendar–available at www.caramoor.org–reveals a tremendously wide selection of musical events.  From Mozart’s The Secret Gardener, which will be performed in Caramoor’s Sunken Garden, to American Songbook, classical and world music and even sound art installations, there’s a summer full of music planned from many eras and genres.

Music In Chappaqua
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Family-Friendly Fun

Caramoor’s schedule includes, as always, many events for families that are truly kid-friendly and a perfect introduction to music for little ones. One perennial favorite is Dancing At Dusk. “It’s a really lovely family program,” Barbara Prisament, who handles outreach for Caramoor, said of the program, now in its 10th year. “It’s from late afternoon to early evening and it’s very reasonably priced.” This summer, favorites from other years will be featured. Dancing At Dusk will be held on Wednesdays, June 27, July 18 and July 25 at 5 p.m., and includes music and dancing; tickets are $14 for adults and $7 for children 12 and under.

The Knights, an orchestral collective from Brooklyn, will perform a family concert at 1 p.m. on Sunday, June 17. Tickets are $20 for adults and $10 for children. “That’s going to be great,” Prisament said. The group includes a “steel pan virtuoso.”

On July 1, Caramoor will host a free slate of activities, including, at 4 p.m., a performance of an outdoor percussion work called Inuksuit by prize-winning composer John Luther Adams. The work will include more than 60 percussionists, and promises to be interesting to all ages.

“It’s meant to be performed outside–it has been performed on a mountaintop, and on the border between the US and Mexico,” Prisament explained recently. “You can come and walk through the grounds and hear the sounds of the percussionists mixed with the sounds of nature.” Children can also take advantage of a special percussion activity at 2 p.m. that day.

The event is free with reservations.

July 14 brings another family concert, at 11 a.m.: Bridge to Broadway, a journey from the music of Mozart through today’s Broadway musicals that will include the work of Schubert and Cole Porter, Verdi and Irving Berlin. Tickets are $14 for adults and $7 for children.

New Programming Director This Season

Adams is only one of 22 living composers whose work will be performed at Caramoor this summer under the new head of programming, Kathy Schuman, who is vice president, artistic programming and executive producer.

Schuman has said she intends to take advantage of the beautiful grounds at the 90-acre estate by featuring more “site-specific outdoor work” as well as more early music, world music and new music–as well as continuing to offer opera, jazz (in collaboration with Jazz at Lincoln Center) and also sound art. “It’s her first season and we’re really excited about that,” Prisament said.

The new is well-balanced with the classics, though, and visitors can come for a performance of Handel’s Atalanta by the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra or hear Tchaikovsky performed by the Orchestra of Saint Luke’s.

This season also features an American Roots Music Festival on June 23 and a Jazz Festival on July 21, both of which feature multiple performances. “It’s such a pleasant place to be with ample free parking, and you can bring food for a picnic or order ahead from our caterer,” Prisament said. “It’s a lovely way to spend a summer day or evening.”