Things to do, places to eat, shows to see, places to stay in Madison County, NY      

The Cazenovia College Art Gallery in Reisman Hall will host the Annual Juried Student Exhibition from Monday, Feb. 20 through Friday, March 2. An opening reception is scheduled for Monday, Feb. 20, from 4 to 5:30 p.m., in the Gallery

The Annual Juried Student Exhibition will include work by students majoring in studio art, photography, fashion design, interior design, and from several majors outside the Art and Design Division. Student work will be juried by program faculty from which the work was generated.

Image: One of the pieces accepted for exhibition is "Memory," India ink on 18 x 24" watercolor paper, created in Foundation Studies drawing class by Lauren Rabideau, freshman interior design major.

The gallery will be closed from March 5 through 12, reopening on March 13 with an exhibition of work by bachelor of fine arts 2012 degree candidates. The Cazenovia College Art Gallery in Reisman Hall, 6 Sullivan St., is on the corner of Sullivan and Seminary streets in Cazenovia. Hours during the academic year are: Monday through Thursday, 1-4 p.m. and 7-9 p.m.; Friday, 1-4 p.m.; and Saturday and Sunday, 2-6 p.m. Summer hours vary.

For information, contact Jen Pepper, gallery director, by e-mail to jpepper@cazenovia.edu. Information is also on the Web at www.cazenovia.edu/art-gallery.

_ Winter Festival

Art Exhibition

St. Peter's Episcopal Church

12 Mill Street, Cazenovia, N.Y. 13035



You are cordially invited to join us for our  36th Annual Winter Festival Art Exhibition

 Come meet the Artists at our Opening Night Reception

on February 9th from 6:30 to 8:30 pm

Show hours are 

 Friday, February 10th from 12:00 – 6:00 pm

Saturday, February 11th from 10:00 am – 4:00 pm

and Sunday, February 12th from 12:00 – 3:30 pm

Sponsored by Cazenovia Arts

for more information please call 315-558-8310 or

email BCW13035@gmail.com

Admission is free

_ The single most important decision made by a bride and groom in regards to their wedding day is the location.  Without a location, it is difficult to make any of the other decisions they need to make.  Madison County Tourism today announced a great way to help brides and grooms make that decision with its inaugural bridal bus tour. 

_On Sunday April 29, 2012 Madison County Tourism will treat engaged couples to a day of fun, as they travel to eight unique wedding venues across Madison County in luxury limo transportation.  The day will allow the happy couples to compare and contrast the locations and help them choose the perfect location to hold their ceremony or reception.

The tour will start in two locations, Oneida and Cazenovia, and the limos will spread out across the county to show off the historic, picturesque venues that make Madison County weddings so special.  Engaged couples will have the chance to visit the Oneida Community Mansion House, the Greystone Castle, Brae Loch Inn, Lincklaen House, Colgate Inn, Hamilton Inn and White Eagle Conference Center among others.  Catering and banquet staffs will be on hand at every location to talk about set ups, food, music and pricing.  Brides and grooms will also be able to meet with photographers, florists, disc jockeys, cake bakers, favor makers and other essential vendors.

Weddings are an important part of the marketing strategy for tourism in Madison County.  Each year they partner on a bridal guide and attend wedding shows.  They also have a dedicated wedding micro-site to help promote wedding venues and vendors.

Madison County Tourism executive director Jim Walter says weddings are big business.  “When someone chooses our venues for their reception there is a compounding effect on local businesses.  They may also set up a rehearsal dinner; hire a florist, photographer and disc jockey that are local.  It extends beyond the reception site, families, and the wedding party and guests all book hotel rooms.  While they are in town they visit local shops, restaurants and attractions.  The more weddings we can book in Madison County, the stronger our economy will be.”

One of the most heard comments from brides at wedding shows was that they’d love to check out Madison County locations like the Mansion House or Colgate Inn, but they just didn’t know when they’d find the time.  This tour aims to remove that barrier.  Eight venues in one day, a fun tour of the county in a limo or limo bus and access to a wide variety of vendors will make this time well spent for brides and grooms.

Tickets for the tour are limited to the first 50 couples and can be purchased online at www.madisontourism.com/weddings.  Interested couples or vendors can also call 800-684-7320 for more information.

_ Every so often, just when you think the well is dry and the tradition is dead, you are gratefully reminded that there is still water down there and that the tradition was only sleeping. Morgan O’Kane from Charlottesville, Virginia is one of those reminders. A virtuoso banjo player, shouter and activist now based in  New York City, Morgan recalls two other transplanted legendary southern artists; Reverend Gary Davis and Aunt Molly Jackson. Like the reverend, Morgan honed his skills making a living as a busking street artist. Like Aunt Molly, he has kept his connection to his Appalachian home and its issues, taking part in the campaign to ban mountaintop removal mining, which destroys the land and the people who live on it.

_
“If Jimi Hendrix played the banjo, he might resemble O’Kane, a high-intensity musician who looks like a mechanic in a rural gas station, sings like a man possessed and plays mountain music like it was an avalanche” - Robert Reid, The Record

While Morgan  O’kane clearly knows his way around the old tunes, he is more interested in creating his own. That’s how the tradition survives – new songs being created on old foundations. This ain’t no revival; this is a contemporary artist who knows where he comes from.

Saturday, February 18, 2012 at 8:00 PM  Tix $18

It's a celebration of everything Scotland this weekend as the Brae Loch Inn in Cazenovia hosts its annual Burns Night.  In fact the celebration of the famous Scottish poet has turned into a three day weekend event.

Friday night the festivities kick off with Scotch tastings, Scottish finger foods and great Celtic rock by the Causeway Giants.  The music begins at 9pm and goes in to the wee morning hours. 
Saturday is the big day when the annual Burns dinner takes place.  There may or may not be a table left for reservations, so give the Brae Loch a call and find out at 315-655-3431.  If you can't make it this year, this an event for your bucket list.  It is a true Scottish celebration including cocktails and dinner at 6pm and the festivities which includes traditional Scottish music, pipers, dancers, poetry reading, stilling minstrels,  and the Address to the Haggis.
On Sunday the festivities wrap up with a Celtic brunch from 11am-2pm.  Enjoy the Brae Loch's famous Sunday Brunch with Scottish favorites while listening to Fiddle and Guitar with Ten Strings Duo.  

_ The Cazenovia College Art Gallery in Reisman Hall opens Thursday, Jan. 26 with the Sabbatical Returns Exhibition, this year showing the work of Corky Goss, professor of studio art; Karen Steen, professor of fashion design; and Anita Welych, professor of art. A reception, free and open to the public, on Jan. 26, from 4 to 5:30 p.m. will include lectures by the professors. The show runs through Feb. 17.

The Cazenovia College Art Gallery in Reisman Hall, 6 Sullivan St., is on the corner of Sullivan and Seminary streets, one block north of Route 20, in Cazenovia. Hours during the academic year are: Monday through Thursday, 1-4 p.m. and 7-9 p.m.; Friday, 1-4 p.m.; and Saturday and Sunday, 2-6 p.m. Summer hours vary. All exhibitions are free and open to the public. For information contact Jen Pepper, gallery director, by email to jpepper@cazenovia.edu, or visit http://www.cazenovia.edu/art-gallery (in Quick Links).

_ Cazenovia College’s spring dramatic production is Our Town, the classic three-act play by American playwright Thornton Wilder. The play uses the device of a character dubbed Stage Manager to create the town of Grover’s Corners and its citizens, including George Gibbs, the doctor’s son, and Emily Webb, the daughter of the town’s newspaper editor, following their lives, and the life of the town from 1901 to 1913.

Auditions will be held in the Catherine Cummings Theatre at Cazenovia College, 16 Lincklaen St. in Cazenovia. Open auditions for community actors will be held Wednesday, Jan. 25 from 7 to 10 p.m.

Auditions reserved for College students will be held on Monday, Jan. 23, and Wednesday, Jan. 25 from 2:30 to 5:30 p.m. each day.

Callbacks on will be on Thursday, Jan. 26 from 7 to 10 p.m.

Show dates for Our Town are the weekends of April 13, 14, 15, and April 20, 21, 22. Show times and other details will be announced as they become available. The show will be directed by David Lowenstein, Cazenovia College’s artist in residence, and produced by Colleen Prossner, theatre manager. For more information please contact Prossner at 315-655-7238, or email cprossner@cazenovia.edu.

Cazenovia College, founded in 1824, is an independent, co-educational, baccalaureate college near Syracuse, N.Y., offering a comprehensive liberal arts education in an exceptional community environment, with academic and co-curricular programs devoted to developing leaders in their professional fields.  Cazenovia, named one of "America’s Best Colleges" by U.S. News & World Report, is also a national College of Distinction.  For more information, visit www.cazenovia.edu. 

_ Over the past three decades, thousands of patrons have enjoyed the sights, sounds and wonders of the holidays at Lorenzo. And as in years past, hundreds of hours of preparation and decorating have been invested in the 2011 celebration of “Christmas at Lorenzo.” In celebration, The Friends of Lorenzo will kick off the holiday season with their annual “Mansion Preview Party” on Thursday, December 1 from 6-8 pm.

“The Friends are very excited about this year’s party. We’ll be offering sleigh rides to the Mansion, fabulous live music, and great hors d’oeuvres and wine. And we will also sponsor a special raffle for a complete holiday table setting for eight. Attendees will be encouraged, too, to place a silent auction bid on one of the giclees we have reproduced from the incredible Lorenzo fine art collection. The “Preview Party” will be a great way to ring in the season,” offered chairwoman, Dianna  Slodowitz.

For more information about attending the “Preview Party,” please call Diane Voss at 655-3200; admission is $20 for Friends of Lorenzo members and $25 for non-members.  Public hours for “Christmas at Lorenzo” will be from 7-9 pm on Friday, December 9, and from 1-4 pm on Saturday and Sunday, December 10 & 11.

_ The Cazenovia College Chorale will present Amahl and the Night Visitors,  and sing other seasonal selections, at the Cazenovia United Methodist Church, corner of Lincklaen and Seminary streets, in Cazenovia, on Wednesday, Dec. 7 at 7:30 p.m. The concert is free and open to the public. 

The Chorale, under the direction of Bruce Campbell, is a 65-plus-voice vocal ensemble. The semi-staged concert version of Menotti's opera will make up the majority of the concert, with the Chorale and a student group, the Cazenovia College Singers, offering other seasonal selections. Call Campbell at 391-8047 for information about the production.

This will be the fourth area production of this wonderful opera under Campbell’s direction.  The title role of Amahl will be sung by Zach Simms, a sixth grader from Cazenovia Middle School. The role of Amahl’s mother will be sung by Amanda Benoit, a graduate of Cazenovia High School and St. Rose College. The three kings, a trio of male voices, are sung by Eric Feola, Glenn Hirt and John Melvin.  The role of the Page will be sung by Jake Ammann.  Bill Verity is the accompanist. 

_ Cazenovia College’s Second Annual Craft Fair is scheduled for Friday, Dec. 2 from 5 - 8 p.m. in the Cazenovia College Art Gallery in Reisman Hall on the corner of Sullivan and Seminary streets. The event is planned in conjunction with the 34th Annual Village of Cazenovia Tree Lighting Ceremony and Holiday Walk.

Students, faculty and staff will share their unique handcrafted goods with campus and community visitors. The fair features handcrafted aesthetic for the body and home including:

Handcrafted glass items
Jewelry
Hand painted boxes and gift cards
Holiday ornaments
Quilts
Wearable fibers and stitched textiles and much, much more!!

Come in, warm up with hot chocolate, chat with artists who are selling their art, listen to holiday carolers, and fill up on loads of shared joy!!! For information, please contact Jen Pepper by email at jpepper@cazenovia.edu.