Townie Upstate

07/21/2025

I was inspired to create 3 afternoon itineraries from my family visiting from Rochester and thought I'd share with Townie subscribers, too! Link in comments :)

07/16/2025

When I learned that this Saturday is National Ice Cream Day, I knew I had to celebrate. Thankfully, Hanford Mills is already on it with Dairy at the Mill, featuring free samples of vanilla ice cream churned on site and chilled with ice harvested during its 2025 Ice Harvest Festival.

Another highlight this weekend is the West Kortright Center’s 50th Anniversary Party on Saturday. The afternoon kicks off with kids’ activities and wraps up with a free concert by perennial favorite The Big Takeover, known for their danceable blend of ska, funk, and pop.

And I can’t wait to see friends perform in Glimmer Globe’s outdoor, lakeside production of “Hamlet” at the Fenimore Museum. The show opens this week and runs Wednesday and Thursday evenings through August 14. I’m currently in rehearsals for “The Gazebo”—opening August 1 at Foothills—but I’ll be in the audience for “Hamlet” later in the run.

I hope to see you out and about!

Warmly,
Cassandra

July 16-22, 2025: Ideas for fun and frivolity in and around Oneonta, NY.

07/08/2025

Townie is back this week! Sign up to get top picks for fun delivered directly to your inbox bright and early tomorrow, Wednesday, July 9.

After visiting and celebrating family and friends in June, I'm excited to enjoy Oneonta this summer. Already, I've gotten to catch free live music at the Al Gallodoro Memorial Stage summer concert series and meet local artists at the Stagecoach Run Art Festival. There is so much happening in our area! I hope to see you out and about!

https://open.substack.com/pub/townieny/p/44-things-to-do-this-week-plus-sals?r=aofu&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true

06/10/2025

Again this year, a local meme has been circulating the socials that succinctly expresses a sentiment some townies have toward baseball families.

In it are three men in royal finery looking down their noses at an unknown subject. The bougiest of character actors, Michael Sheen, is in the center. The text above the photo reads: “Baseball families when they arrive in Oneonta.”

The photo is from the “Twilight” movies of the Volturi, “the largest and most powerful coven of vampires,” according to twilightsaga.fandom.com. The meme has resonated with locals, I imagine, because of how baseball families ooze otherness–and sometimes “better-than-you-ness”–when they replace our town’s college population every summer, asking questions in Facebook groups like “Is there a grocery store in the town?” as if Oneonta weren’t a real place.

The local impression is that baseball families come from wealthier cities and towns with more resources and amenities. It costs thousands of dollars for a single 12-year-old to play at one of the baseball camps, so it’s not an inexpensive week, especially if the whole family comes, too.

Resharing a post that remains relevant this year, plus top things to do in Oneonta this summer

06/08/2025

Another joyful Pridefest by Otsego Pride Alliance with a finale performance by Oneonta treasure Lily Bola.

06/04/2025

Happy sunshine and warmth! Summer vibes are finally here. It’s time for screen doors, drinks on the back porch, and late nights outdoors. It’s also time to finally learn when the city’s yard waste collection days are. A quick search gave me the answer: Ward 2, where I live, is June 2-9 and July 7-14). Woo! I’m putting those bad boys out today.

Summer has always felt like a time of renewal. I’ve been teaching on and off since 2006, and in addition to writing Townie, I currently teach communications at SUNY Oneonta and run my marketing and PR agency, Culture Rally. With the end of the college semester and the wrap-up of a few major consulting contracts, I’m embracing some free time to visit loved ones—and taking a little hiatus from publishing Townie weekly.

My parting gift to you is a roundup of some of my top picks for fun events this summer in Oneonta. I hope to see you out and about!

Top picks for fun events in and around Oneonta this summer 2025

05/29/2025

Race season is … off to the races. This Saturday, runners will complete a half-marathon during the annual Race the Lake around Otsego Lake in Cooperstown. The event includes less daunting, but still sizable, 10K and 5K races. Girls on the Run’s annual 5K race will be on Sunday in Oneonta’s Neahwa Park, a perfect fit for those who prefer to keep pace with 10-year-olds rather than those who eat 10-mile runs for breakfast.

A few weeks ago, I decided to start training for the Boilermaker 15K in Utica. I had just built up my three-times-a-week runs to a lifetime high of five miles when my IT band (a tendon along the hip) felt like it had been sucker-punched by a sidewalk stride. I’ve been resting since Saturday to let it heal, and I miss the feeling of accomplishment I’ve grown to crave–and the deep, salt-ringed necklace of sweat on my T-shirt to prove it. I’m tempted to join the Girls on the Run event, but we’ll see.

May 28-June 3, 2025: Top picks for fun and frivolity in and around Oneonta, NY

05/14/2025

Ohmygoodness, there are always so many events happening this week!

One that stands out is the return of the annual Hartwick College Benefit Auction, which used to be at Stella Luna. This year, the event is on Thursday at the Anderson Center of the Arts at Hartwick College and features an impressive line-up of items: Maroon 5 concert tickets, a signed Rob Gronkowski jersey, Yankees game tickets, and even a 4-night stay with complimentary horse riding on the Isle of Wight in England.

Also on the calendar is the final concert of the season from the Oneonta Concert Association, featuring the Latin Grammy Award-winning Pedro Giraudo Quartet and a free pre-show Latin dance lesson for ticket holders at Foothills. The quartet’s fervent, virtuosic style blends Argentine tango, European classical music, and American jazz—a rare chance to experience world-class musicianship right here in Oneonta.

And if you’re in the mood for biting contemporary theater, check out Clare Barron’s “Dance Nation,” presented by Catskills-based Party Theater in Stamford. The comic play follows pre-teen competitive dancers (played by adults) as they prepare to conquer Nationals in Tampa Bay—and maybe take over the world along the way. Sounds kooky and fun!

Hope to see you out and about!

May 14-20, 2025

05/07/2025

Bird Walks! Soccertown USA talk! Nighttime Alley Market! Find things to do in and around Oneonta this week!

May 7-13, 2025

05/03/2025

Scenes from a night out in Oneonta. Live music at with the excellent followed by mac dogs

04/30/2025

My mantra for the spring and summer is “I am a gardener.” I’m still in the early growing stage of that identity, but I’m excited to scope out some of the plant sales sprouting up around town. Hartwick College is hosting a native plant sale on Friday and Saturday to benefit Super Heroes Humane Society, and SUNY Cobleskill’s sale on Saturday includes soil testing—a step I’ve learned (thanks to my new gardening app) is the first thing you should do when preparing to plant.

This weekend is also a flurry of theater in and around Oneonta, with Orpheus Theatre’s Anything Goes at Foothills, Tri-Town Theatre’s Big Fish in Sidney, and the NEXT! staged reading of new work at the Fenimore Museum in Cooperstown. I’m seeing the Anything Goes matinee with theater friends on Sunday and will most likely be singing along to the songs I remember performing in high school.

The Catskill Choral Society presents its spring concert on Friday and Saturday at the beautiful First United Methodist Church in Oneonta—a rare chance to hear glorious choral music in an equally glorious space. Townie intern Calleigh plans to attend and write about it in her final blog post of the semester.

Saturday is going to be packed: the Iroquois Museum opens its two 2025 special exhibitions, Once a Tree and Separated but Unbroken: The Haudenosaunee Boarding School Experience, with a reception featuring Mohawk author Dawn Cheryl Hill, the daughter of two residential school survivors. After that, I’ll be heading to the Andes Hotel for its Kentucky Derby Day festivities and live music by my friends’ band, Jump the Shark. Fun!

April 30-May 6, 2025

04/23/2025

The buds are bursting, and the sun is shining! I’ve been without a car for a few days, and it’s been glorious to walk everywhere—even up a brutally steep hill to teach at SUNY Oneonta. But still. Glorious! No slipping on ice, no bulky layers. Just sunshine and fresh air. I’m happy.

It’s the perfect week to get out and about. My top picks: OCCA’s annual Earth Festival in Milford, OH-Fest’s community fair and headlining Neon Trees concert at SUNY Oneonta, and an ’80s dance party at CANO. Honestly, you can’t go wrong—there’s something happening for everyone in and around Oneonta this week.

Read on for ideas, and I hope to see you out there!

Townie: April 23-29, 2025