This Month’s Featured Articles…
Flying Cloud Turns 40
This year, Flying Cloud Institute, based in Great Barrington, MA, turns 40. For decades, Flying Cloud has been inspiring young people and educators through dynamic science and art experiences that ignite creativity. Main Street Magazine sat down with executive director Maria Rundle to find out more about the organization’s history and programs. What is Flying Cloud, and how did you find your way to becoming the executive director of the organization? My background in in education and labor rights. My children were going to a local public school, [...]
The Dream That Became a Meme: Jaws at 50
51 years ago very few Americans knew much about sharks, much less about great white sharks. All that changed in early 1974. A first novel from a 33-year-old writer jump-started awareness of sharks to the point that many people refused to go swimming, or, in some cases, even take a bath. The creation The author of the novel, Peter Benchley (my older brother), said many times that he knew the book would never be a big success, but he just wanted to write and publish [...]
55 Years Old and Mac-Haydn Theatre is Stronger Than Ever
“It was start a theater or drive to Alaska,” Linda MacNish said of the decision she and Lynne Haydn faced before opening The Mac-Haydn Theatre in Chatham, NY. Mac-Haydn is the flagship of live theater in Columbia County. In 1969, seeing a professional musical meant either going to New York City or attending a rare tour stop in Schenectady. Haydn was an aspiring actress and director and MacNish managed performers and had started the city’s first luncheon theater, when they met in New York. Their [...]
Plant and Sip to Soothe the Soul
It was a Tuesday night in March, before daylight saving time, so it was dark at 6 pm as I headed for the Plant & Sip event in downtown Troy, NY. And it was cold the way it can be in March. But when I stepped into the room where the event was being held, there was a sensation of sunshine and life. At tables scattered around the room were groups of two, four, and six people, chatting and sipping in anticipation of planting. At [...]
Le Jardin Flower Farm Emphasizes Effortless Floral Design
Originally from France, Romane Recalde moved to the United States to pursue a career in modeling. After the pandemic, she and her husband moved upstate and planted their roots – pun intended – in Amenia, NY. “We moved here because this area reminds me so much of home,” Romane said. “I grew up in the remote French countryside outside of Bordeaux. The nearest village has a population of 600 people. Our garden at home was wild and natural, so when we moved here, I found [...]
