Chatham Summerfest brings music, contests, and loads of fun

On Saturday, July 12th, Chatham welcomes back CABA’s Summerfest, a fun summer festival for all ages centered on and around the village’s charming Main Street. This year’s festival begins at 10am, one hour earlier than in years past, and runs until 4pm. This year’s line-up boasts live music, an incredible list of vendors, and lots of fun activities.

This year’s third annual Great Chatham Bake-Off will be judged by nationally-acclaimed chef, author, and editor Ruth Reichl, Ellsworth Kelly Foundation president Jack Shear, and Nine Cakes founder/baker Betsy Thorleifson. The contest will be located at the village gazebo, and amateur bakers (of all ages) are invited to show off their baking skills and compete for the blue ribbon. (Any type of baked goods is eligible. No need to sign up in advance- just bring your entries to the gazebo by 10:30 am on the 12th.) The Marton & Davis Pie-Eating Contest (one for adults and one for the under-16 set), will commence at 11:30 on the Chatham Brewing stage and promises to be lots of messy fun. Sign up at the booth by the brewery the morning of the event to take part.

Summerfest’s main stage is located at Chatham Brewery at 59 Main Street, and bands include The Beaks (at 12:30), Bits & Pieces (at 3:00) and Almost Vintage (at 6:00pm). And from 2:00-4:00, singer/guitarist Scott Stockman will perform at the gazebo. Chatham Wine & Liquor will have wine tastings on site, Park Row Gallery will be hosting a vermouth tasting with Klocke Estate, and Cooper Daughter is one of the festival vendors.

There will be lots of entertainment for the kids- a hay ride will give rides to and from Crellin Park, and a magician will perform tricks, make balloon animals, and face-paint. There will be a scavenger hunt and Kids Club, in association with the Morris Memorial, will host a kids’ play area on Park Row.

Come hungry, because the local restaurants Fork & Whisk, Bimi’s Cheese Shop, Chatham Brewery, and Fiesta Café will be open during the festival. Or stay and have drinks or dinner in the village afterwards, at People’s Pub or Bimi’s Canteen & Bar. And it wouldn’t be a festival without “fair food”, so we’ll have plenty of food vendors, including Mr Ding-a-Ling ice cream and Pixie Floss Cotton Candy.

Many thanks to all of Summerfest’s sponsors, including Presenting Sponsor Metzwood Insurance and Major Sponsor, the Ellsworth Kelly Foundation. A full list of activities and vendors can be found at www.chathamsummerfest.com, as well as a map and all the details. Please note: Summerfest has limited space for new vendors. Please see the website for times, parking info, and more details.

Chatham High School robotics team qualifies for world-level championship

March 31, 2025 | Classroom Progress Report

The Chatham High School robotics team has qualified for a world-level championship in April. Now, the team is requesting donations so that they are able to make the trip.

From Thursday through Sunday, the robotics team, called Artemis 6621, competed at the FIRST NY Tech Valley Regional competition at MVP Arena in Albany. Their competitors included other robotics teams from across New York State; Quebec, Canada and even one team from Türkiye.

Read the entire article.

Crandell Theatre awarded $40K by NYSCA

December 5, 2024 | Daily Gazette

The Crandell Theatre, the historic single-screen, nonprofit cinema on Chatham’s Main Street, has been awarded a grant of $40,000 from the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA) to support the nonprofit arts and culture sector.

Through New York state’s continued investment in arts and culture, NYSCA has awarded $82 million this year to 509 artists and 1,497 organizations across the state.

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FilmColumbia 2024 to be held October 18-27

“The Crandell Theatre in Chatham, N.Y., is the palatial setting for a thriving film festival.”
—The Wall Street Journal

Two Decades of Award-Winning Films

FilmColumbia, Columbia County’s premier annual cultural event, screens the very best upcoming American and international films for ten days in late October. Launched in 1999 as the Crandell Theatre’s “little local festival that could,” FilmColumbia is now an acclaimed, nationally recognized film event.

If a film screens at FilmColumbia, there’s more than a good chance that following its official release it will go on to be nominated for one of the industry’s top prizes. A look back at the festival’s award-winning programming year after year speaks for itself.

FilmColumbia’s special events are legendary. Among the most popular is the mystery “Saturday Sneak” preview film, which is only revealed to the audience moments before the screening. In recent years, the festival has also included special panels with filmmakers and industry leaders, a screenwriting workshop where participants can hear their work read by professional actors, and a children’s international festival of short films that is free to the community.

The festival is programmed every year by Peter Biskind and Laurence Kardish. Biskind is an author, film historian, contributing editor at Vanity Fair and Esquire, and past executive editor of Premiere magazine. His new book about the streaming revolution, Pandora’s Box: How Guts, Guile, and Greed Upended TV, will be published by HarperCollins in November 2023. Kardish is senior curator emeritus for film and media at New York’s Museum of Modern Art. Calliope Nicholas, the long-time director of the festival, is Co-Director and Manager of Residency Programs at Millay Arts, an international artist residency in Austerlitz, N.Y.

FilmColumbia was recently recognized by MovieMaker Magazine as one of the “25 Coolest Film Festivals in the World.” Said Tim Molloy, MovieMaker‘s editor-in-chief, “Obviously a lot of New Yorkers are now discovering the beautiful small communities just a short drive from New York City, and we think they’ll be delighted to learn more about FilmColumbia, a fest that blends a gorgeous location, local color (both people and leaves) and Oscar-caliber films, lovingly programmed by a revered team with exquisite taste.”

Peter Biskind, FilmColumbia Co-Executive Director and Co-Artistic Director
Laurence Kardish, FilmColumbia Co-Executive Director and Co-Artistic Director
Calliope Nicholas, FilmColumbia Festival Director

Visit the FilmColumbia website

Chatham cited as one of the eight best small towns in the Hudson Valley for fall foliage

October 1, 2024 | TheTravel.com

Chatham enchants visitors with its blend of small-town charm and autumn beauty. The village’s well-preserved Main Street, lined with Victorian-era buildings, becomes a colorful canvas as the leaves change. Visitors can enjoy the fall scenery at Crellin Park, where walking trails wind through forests and around a picturesque pond.

Read the entire article. We’re #2.

Congratulations Sasha Langley, winner of our Summerfest Poster Contest

CABA is excited to announce the winner of our first annual Summerfest Poster Contest.  Working with Art Teacher Christina Scott and her art students, we received seven wonderful entries.  The winner is Sasha Langley whose poster can be seen above and all around town.  Generously printed by Chatham Printing – thank you Kelly and Al. 

Honorable mention goes to Alice Meyers, Emily Gaylord, Lizzie Morse, Cheyanne Perry, Maya Narofsky and Emilly Scheriff.