The Inside Press

Magazines serving the communities of Northern Westchester

pleasantville music festival

Ten reasons to Love, Love, LOVE Pleasantville

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Living in Pocantico Hills with a Pleasantville P.O., parking at the Hawthorne train station and sending your kids to Briarcliff High School is a bit of a geographic conundrum. You don’t really belong to any one town. Pocantico Hills is a school district rather than a town–even the school itself and Stone Barns are technically in Sleepy Hollow.

But living here has turned out to be a geographic bonanza: rather than one town, I claim three, situated as I am almost equidistant between Pleasantville, Briarcliff and Tarrytown/Sleepy Hollow. My family and I frequent all three to shop and eat. But the one we visit more than any other for the mundane and the sublime is Pleasantville. Here are ten reasons to love this village.

1. The restaurants keep coming.

For a village of just 7,000, Pleasantville has a remarkably strong collection of dining options. A few of my newer favorites: Pub Street for seafood and salads, Mission Taqueria for tacos and margaritas, Southern Kitchen for, well, southern food, and Dai for its fresh sushi, soups and charming atmosphere. I get the sense Pleasantville residents don’t have a restaurant saturation point, which is good news for those of us who live here. If somebody builds a good one, they will come.

2. The Town Anchor.

I was practically in mourning when Yvonne and Roy decided to sell the Village Bookstore, but I’m thrilled they found an enthusiastic buyer in Jennifer Kohn to keep this gem open and thriving. If you love books, there’s nothing like browsing the aisles, reading the jacket cover and looking for employee recommendations over buying online. It’s also a chance to snub Amazon and more importantly, keep our local retailers in business.

3. The Bounty of the Farm.

I’ve checked out a few other farmers’ markets and maybe I’m biased, but Pleasantville’s Saturday market is something special. The sheer number of choices, the friendly sellers, the music, the quality of produce and the cheese all add up to a singular experience. On Saturdays, my family sits down to “market lunch,” which features three-four cheeses, fresh breads, pickles, salad and sometimes fresh seafood.

4. Mall Avoidance.

We all need to hit the Westchester or the Palisades Center on occasion. And I don’t want to see any of those stores go out of business. But when I have to buy a gift, I stay in town. I like pulling right up, throwing a quarter in the meter and walking into the Glass Onion for jewelry and accessories, Rhododendron for scarves and other women’s gifts, Aardvark for the dog, Kimberly House for baby clothes and scented gifts, Photo Works for a framed photo for the grandparents, and of course back to the Village Bookstore for anyone. Tip: The Pleasantville Pharmacy is a great stop at Christmas for something extra for kids, a pair of earrings, or a hostess gift.

5. You don’t have to go to NYC to see an art film.

What can I say about Jacob Burns except that it’s the jewel of Pleasantville. I hate to go anywhere else to see a movie anymore. And if your kids are interested in film, check out their fantastic after school courses and summer camp.

6. Skate the Old-Fashioned Way.

It’s as fickle as the winter weather, but when it’s open, Opperman’s Pond is an idyllic spot for family ice skating or a game of hockey. Pull up, put your skates on and go. There’s no line, no fee, and no rentals, so bring your own.

7. Architectural Digest.

I live in a mid-century modern home, and I’m not alone. A friend owns one near town where I’ve seen several, and then there’s Usonia, Frank Lloyd Wright’s utopian dream, right here off Bear Ridge Road. If the 1950’s are too new for you, Pleasantville has an impressive stock of Tudors, Victorians and Colonials, particularly the beauties lining Bedford Road that help Pleasantville live up to its name.

8. A True Community Theater.

My daughter did just two productions at Arc Stages during high school–I wish we had enrolled her as a young child. So many kids come back year after year until they go off to college. The people who run Arc Stages are as child-centered as you get. And their approach to musical theater and drama is to choose ensemble productions that give every kid an important role. Their community stage for adults and the variety of professional productions are excellent as well.

9. The Biggest Small Music Festival.

We’re a Clearwater Family, but I’ve got to say, Pleasantville is giving the Croton festival a run for its money when it comes to talent. This year, Everclear, Soul Asylum, Aimee Mann and Matthew Sweet were the featured artists. Every year in July, Parkway Field turns one Saturday into an all-day party. You can bring your kids or leave them home, but there’s something for everyone.

10. Charm.

Pleasantville is oozing in it, and at a time when people do so much ordering online and ordering to go, the village is often busy and alive. Let’s keep it that way. I worry about our small-town retailers dying off. Pleasantville, like so many of our Westchester villages, towns and cities, relies on its residents to be faithful customers. In return, it offers us a charming and bountiful place to call home.

At the Heart of Community

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One thing I’ve heard consistently about Pleasantville lately is how fiercely proud residents are of their town and of Mount Pleasant at large. As I produced this edition over the summer, and learned about Break the Hold, via Sabra Staudenmaier’s cover story for us, it was not hard to see why.

I feel like I’m getting to know a community that yes, celebrates all its gifts and good fortune, but also enthusiastically embraces solutions to challenging problems via its open hearts and extended hands. To me, such sincere involvement feels central to understanding the heart of a caring community. This story pulled my heartstrings right away. We also have a proud history covering mental health issues, and specifically the topics of depression and suicide. The Inside Press was the recipient a few years back of a Media Award from the Mental Health Association of Westchester. We hope to continue to shine a spotlight on mental health in future issues as well.

In additional heart sharing coverage, I am also thrilled to publish Ronni Diamondstein’s story about Pleasantville’s Gordon Parks Foundation; if you’re like me, you might be one of many who has walked by and felt curious about the foundation’s window on Wheeler Avenue. Its mission is to preserve the powerful images of artist and photojournalist Gordon Parks whose work has done so much to help bring attention to racism. It accomplishes that and so much more.

If you need more reasons to love Mount Pleasant, there is no shortage in this edition. We asked a long time savvy area resident and Inside Press contributor Jennifer Sabin Poux to compile ten, and she does a fantastic job of that too.

Two summer interns, Charlotte Harter and Madeline Rosenberg, have also helped turn our attention to community, with stories about how the Pleasantville Chamber of Commerce helps support local commerce, coverage of the town’s dedicated conservation efforts plus a look back at Pleasantville Community Day and the town’s firefighter parade.

We know fitness figures ‘big’ around here too, so please don’t miss the piece about area marathon runners either, which includes a Pleasantville resident!

Finally, we also keep hearing the music. In our debut edition, we offered a preview of the Pleasantville Music Festival (another mega successful day!), and in this issue, we give a nod to the area’s vibrant ‘music scene,’ as writer Miriam Longobardi spotlights a couple Rocker bands led by area moms!   

Enjoy the edition, and we hope to see you again in 2020. Our plans for now are for at least four a year, so stay tuned!  Follow Inside Press Magazines on Facebook or insidepress on Instagram, and soon enough, another surprise pub covering your town will be hiding in your mailbox!   

The Making of the Pleasantville Music Festival

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Managing ‘a zillion moving parts’ to create an all-day music extravaganza

Save the Date: July 13, 2019

When longtime Pleasantville resident Bruce Figler attended his first ever Pleasantville Music Festival, it was in 2005. That happened to be the inaugural year for the event, and Figler, who has been in the radio business, helped the original founders hook in a music station to be part of the all-day affair.

“I was perfectly happy sitting backstage with a beer hanging out with the radio station people, with the bands, going on stage introducing an act, hanging out with my family in the field for awhile,” Figler said.

“That was my life, it was a pretty easy life.”

Fast-forward more than a decade later, and Figler, who owns Creative Sound Works on Wheeler Avenue, is now the executive director of the yearly music festival that brings about 4,000 people to Parkway Field to hear a jam packed lineup of musical talent perform. His life is a little busier now than back in 2005 with months of planning going into the creation of the festival.

Figler works with an executive staff of about ten people and a volunteer base of more than 100 that live in the region (mostly Pleasantville and Chappaqua). Each year, he and staff members discuss what worked and what didn’t work that year with the desire to be more efficient the following year. A survey is also sent to attendees so Figler can receive feedback.

Once a review of the previous year is over, finding a new set of bands gets underway as early as December. Figler said he and the other staff members try to nail down different musicians that will please a wide range of demographics with Figler compiling a “wish list” of about 30 bands and musicians he’d love to go after.

ALL PHOTOS BY LYNDA SHENKMAN

But because the festival is a municipally run–rather than private–event, there are limitations Figler has to grapple with. Other festivals can offer more money to performers and some festivals have exclusivity rights, which means a band can’t perform within a certain radius within a certain time frame. He estimated that for every ten more prominent bands/musicians he reaches out to, seven reject him.

For the bigger bands, Figler said he tells them if they come to Pleasantville, it would be “an easier festival, it’s very manageable, you can be in and out pretty quickly.”

Additionally, because the festival is involved with a radio station (107.1 The Peak), that station supports the booked musicians which result in airtime for them leading up to the festival. A band could find a new base of fans in the suburbs, Figler said.

While the pursuit of big acts can be an arduous task, the festival also needs to find smaller bands and musicians, which begins two or three months before the festival.

Up and coming bands can submit through the festival’s website with staff members taking trips to hear different contending bands. “We’re becoming very diverse musically so I try to find something for everyone,” Figler said.

Pleasantville resident Jim Zimmerman, who founded the music festival in 2005 with Bernie Gordon and the late Lisa Wenzel, said the first year he helped put it together, it was like a second full-time job. Part of his motivation to start the festival was to give smaller bands and musicians a larger stage to perform. Some bands have gone on to bigger and better things, he pointed out.

“I had to develop all the systems and recruit so it was quite a project nevertheless,” Zimmerman said. “Everything had to be done by scratch.” Figler joked he doesn’t have to create the wheel like Zimmerman did, only keep it spinning.

While the music lineup is the most significant set to put together, Figler has to secure sponsors and vendors, many of which are eateries from Pleasantville and surrounding towns. There is also a push by a recycling group to ensure it is a zero waste event. Law enforcement and the department of public works are conferred with considering this is the largest public gathering in the small village each year.

The day of the event, Figler said weather is always an uncontrolled variable that has to be monitored. The last three years there has either been rain or a threat of a storm so the village recreational offices become a makeshift weather station. Said Figler: “There’s a zillion moving parts to this thing.”

Add These Local Music Festivals to Your Summer To-Do List

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Hudson stage at Clearwater Music Festival
PHOTO BY ECONOSMITH.COM

Couldn’t get to Coachella?  Westchester has two great festivals coming your way this summer. The Clearwater Festival and the Pleasantville Music Festival are both top-notch events right in your backyard.

The Clearwater Festival

The Clearwater Festival takes place on Saturday and Sunday, June 16 and 17 on the banks of the Hudson River at Croton Point Park in Croton-on-Hudson. Performers will include Jeff Tweedy of Wilco, The Mavericks, Ani DiFranco, They Might Be Giants, Rhiannon Giddens, and hundreds more.

An Environmental Twist

This two-day event, founded by the late folk legend Pete Seeger and his wife Toshi, combines musical performances and green activism. In 1966, recognizing that the Hudson River had been devastated due to years of pollution, Seeger decided “to build a boat to save the river.” He hosted small local concerts where he opened his banjo case to collect donations to build the Clearwater, a tall ship that would be a symbol of environmental advocacy.

The festival’s parent organization, Hudson River Sloop Clearwater (“Clearwater”), pursues Seeger’s mission to protect the river. Clearwater’s grassroots efforts have resulted in the passing of landmark legislation including The Clean Water Act.  Funds raised at the festival will go directly to Clearwater.

“My hope is if you’re coming for the music because you love the lineup, you check out the Clearwater information and discover that because of Clearwater’s efforts, you could swim in the Hudson now,” says festival director Steve Lurie. “Maybe you even become a member and maybe you sign a petition and maybe you also walk away as a supporter.”

Blues Traveler plays at last year’s Pleasantville Music Festival
PHOTO BY JONATHAN CUNNINGHAM

Fun for the Whole family

Catering to families, a special stage will host performances for kids, juggling and roving artists, storytelling, and more. Festival-goers can visit the “Working Waterfront” and take free rides on small boats or purchase sail tickets for the tall ships.

Guests can explore the Handcrafter’s Village, the Green Living Expo, and visit the many tents and exhibitors. An Artisanal Food and Farm Market will sell food sourced from the Hudson Valley.

About twenty thousand people are expected over the course of the weekend. Ticket prices through June 15 are $68-$280 depending on whether they are day passes or weekend plus camping passes.  Prices are higher at the gate.  Clearwater Members receive a 20% discount off the non-member prices.  Kids 11 & under are free.

The Pleasantville Music Festival is New York’s Backyard Jam

Less than a month after the Clearwater Festival, the Pleasantville Music Festival will take place on Saturday July 14th at Parkway Field in Pleasantville.  Artists will include The Psychedelic Furs, The Lone Bellow, Robert Randolph and the Family Band, Cracker, John Hall, Lizzie and the Makers, and many more.

This event has grown considerably since it began fourteen years ago as a small folk festival attracting about five hundred people.  Upwards of 5,000 people are expected to descend upon Parkway field, setting up chairs, blankets and tents for the day.

Winners of the Battle of the Bands, a competition amongst Westchester residents 26 or younger, will perform original songs on stage and open the festival.  Last year, Byram Hills High School graduate Ari Perakis and his band Riiza won and opened atthe festival.

Who is in the Crowd

“We are a music festival for people who like the idea of a music festival more so than the actual reality of a music festival,” says Pleasantville Music Festival director Bruce Figler.  Mr. Figler is referring to the manageability of the festival for a family.  “It’s just one day, you can park at Pace University, take the shuttle over, enjoy the music, bring your kids, and then go home. You don’t even need a babysitter.”

This contemporary rock music festival aims to appeal to the average Westchester homeowner, likely in their forties or fifties.  Festival organizers strive to satisfy different elements within that demographic, whether it be people who like jam bands, acoustic music, top 40 hits, or hard rock.

“We try to arrange the lineup in such a way that everyone who comes will be able to see someone they know and like,” says Mr. Figler.

To entertain the children, there will be a kid zone with face-painting, rides and amusements.  There will also be a vendor village with various merchants and a food court.  Beer garden sponsor Captain Lawrence Brewing Company will serve beer to adults.

Tickets are $45; $30 for students or seniors; free for children 12 and under.

Both festivals are zero-waste events, using sustainable practices to reduce waste and protect the environment.

For more information, to volunteer or to order tickets, go to www.clearwaterfestival.org for the Clearwater Festival and to www.pleasantvillemusicfestival.com for the Pleasantville Music Festival.