By Kendra Elliot
The park is open, but due to Covid-19 guidelines only Highland residents can attend the park. They will be wiping surfaces down and engaging in social distancing. The park is open from 12 to 7.
Grand Re-Opening
Join Lilly Rae In The Hamlet for the next chapter with the grand re-opening Saturday, July 11 1-5pm. The new location is conveniently located at 3730 Route 9W in Highland New York.
Ribbon Cutting is at 2 p.m. sharp with the Ulster County Regional Chamber of Commerce.
Every year on the last day of school Melissa Surprise loves to pull a prank on her kids as they get off the bus. There have been water balloons thrown, a fantastic blow up Dinosaur costume and smoke bombs caught on video. The last day of school prank has been a tradition for so many years and although we are living through different times, Melissa decided she was not going to let this year pass.
So, this year Melissa recruited her neighbor, Julie Kulaga, to help out and plan a special celebration in their neighborhood to spread some sunshine and good vibes to all the kids who missed out on so much this past year. This year, all members of Highland were invited to a special drive – by celebration throughout their neighborhood. Community members donated snacks and supplies to help support the community wide celebration and make it a true celebration.
On the big day, starting from the entrance of the street, the road was decorated with bunches of colorful balloons and signs boasting inspirational phrases such as “Be the reason someone smiles”. As families drove up and around the block they saw signs, balloons, streamers on both sides of the road. There were stations to grab a glass of lemonade through the car windows, candy bowls and goodie bags for all the kids! Julie Kulaga even had a special photo frame for the kids to take end of school year photos.
Melissa said “It truly takes a village to pull off some of my ideas and a HUGE thank you to those who helped pull off yesterday’s celebration of our kids. Julie Scoba Kulaga truly rallied our neighborhood to participate and to all those who donated snacks and decor, I can’t thank you enough. Troy’s Auto Body Inc. set up the big wavy guy in his front yard, and Christina DeMaio treated us all to fresh lemonade. Thank you to my friends for taking one for the team and sporting those unicorns in 90-degree weather. I know I danced 15000 steps that night.”
There was no way you could drive through this end of year celebration and not be smiling from ear to ear, I certainly was!
Curbside PickUp at the Highland Public Library
Here’s how curbside pickup works for the Highland Public Library for patrons who hold a library card. If you do not have a library card, apply for one online.
1. Visit our online catalog and put your items on hold as you normally would.
2. You will receive a system email asking you to reserve a time slot for pickup.
3. When your hold items are ready, you will receive an email with pickup information as follows:
Please arrive at your scheduled time and proceed to the locker specified in this email. You have 15 minutes to complete your pickup. If another person is at the lockers please wait until they leave the area to allow for social distancing.
There will be NO public access to the building during this time. Face masks are required. Social distancing will be followed to keep staff and community members safe. Lockers will be cleaned after each use. After removing the lock and retrieving your items please place the lock in the book return slot so we know your items have been picked up. Your lock is checked out to your library account and must be returned.
The Highland Public Library also offers a “Surprise Book Bag”
Don’t know what’s in the library? Haven’t got a clue what you should read? Call 691- 2275 or chat online and we will put together a surprise book bag for you or your kids. Just let us know which genre you are partial to and our well-read staff with choose 5 great reads for adults and 10 for children. Check out our Branching Out blog for great suggestions from our staff.
Choose from fiction or non fiction.
During these difficult and uncertain times, I have been trying to spend the last few weeks on what I like to call “Pops of Positivity”. Since I cannot keep you posted on events that are going on, and many of us have been feeling disconnected without these events I think it important to focus on the good, even more than ever. Each week in my column, I’ve been trying to highlight any story from our wonderful community that highlights little moments, or Pops!, of positivity when so much negative is surrounding us. If you have a “Pop of Positivity!” you would like to share during quarantine, please email me at mrskendraelliot@gmail.com or call 845-706-9582.