Home Grown Attractions

Home grown attractions

By

Mart Allen

Column for the June 18, 2013 Adirondack Express 

     Have you ever thought about home grown attractions? I have and it never ceases to amaze me how local people often times take them for granted. Maybe it’s not so much that they are taken for granted but that it takes time to really appreciate such things and time is a precious commodity. In the workaday world locals pass by what others travel miles, spend days and pay to experience without ever noticing what they are missing. Time is the key component in this scenario and in every other facet of our modern lives.

     There are a great many attractions here in this recreational oriented area in which we live but finding the time to enjoy them is a huge problem. In every day and every way technology is making it harder to apportion our time. The older people get the greater become the demands on their time. I have just recently become more cognizant of that fact. The past weekend of the eighth and ninth brought that fact home loud and clear. We had three different occasions that we wanted to be a part of and agonize over before deciding to split our allegiance. My wife went one way to a family obligation and I to the community day invitation to View.

     View, is the Arts Center, as most people who frequent the area know. It came about as a result of a great deal of planning and hard work by many people. Of those people none deserves more credit than Miriam Kashiwa. The original Arts Center location across from View stands out in my memory as a happy place where my grandchildren went to preschool. It is being carried on as part of the activities at View.

     It was my first opportunity to visit the center and I was impressed as I am sure all others viewing it for the first time are. I have to admit however that I was not surprised because to use an old Adirondack expression its predecessor was no cotton sock outfit. Impressive in every aspect is the way I would describe it.

     The architecture interested me almost as much as the exhibits. The workmanship was grandiose to say the least. The planning and layout of the exhibits and the flow from them to the other functions is a revelation. Professionalism is what I would have to say it exudes, and now for the art work.

     I could not pretend to know how to describe the artwork. It was incredible. How any human being can create the paintings and woodwork on display is unimaginable. The pottery exhibit and workshop followed along the same lines. I have never before been exposed to such a variety of art on the scale exhibited there. I was truly impressed.

     My favorite room was the one dedicated to Hank Kashiwa with its display of Adirondack flora and fauna. I could relate to that more naturally than the art work, but that in no way diminished my appreciation for it. Hank was one of my favorite people. I regret that I did not get to know him better. But once again that all goes back to the matter of time. We both had growing families and commitments that came ahead of everything else.

     The people that created and made View can be extremely proud. Not many if any communities the size of ours can boast of anything as professional. It has to be seen. To waste something as beautiful would surely be a sin.

     Old Forge has more of one thing than any other community I ever knew and that is spirit. View is not the only attraction worth seeing. They are all worth a local taking the time to see from the inside what our seasonal visitors do.  

    The thought for the week is: A person should be like a pencil.

1.      Everything you do will always leave a mark.

2.      You can always correct the mistakes you make.

3.      What is important is what’s inside of you.

4.      In life, you will always undergo painful sharpening’s, which only make you better.

5.      To be the best pencil, you must allow yourself to be held and guided by the hand that holds you.

--Posted by Leslie Bailey, View staff
Re-printed here with permission from Mart Allen and the Adirondack Express.