This Psychedelic Chapel Is Hiding in Dutchess County
The Summer Hoot takes over Ashokan, Akwesasne culture comes to Opus 40, and Tannersville just got considerably sweeter.
Summer isn’t finished with us yet.
This weekend, the Ashokan Center becomes a three-day roots-music village, Opus 40 hosts a celebration benefiting the Akwesasne Freedom School, and Bearsville gives the youngest music fans a chance to meet The Beatles on their own terms.
We’re also stepping inside a psychedelic sanctuary of visionary art in Dutchess County, walking a new trail beneath one of the Hudson Valley’s great railroad structures, seeing five years of rural New York unfold at PS21, and keeping an eye on a very colorful new reason to drive to Tannersville for dessert.
Explore the Hudson Valley
Two places that make the familiar Hudson Valley landscape look very different — one through visionary art, the other beneath an enormous railroad viaduct.
This Psychedelic Chapel Is Hiding in Dutchess County
Step inside Entheon and the Hudson Valley suddenly looks very different.
Created by artists Alex Grey and Allyson Grey, the three-story, 12,000-square-foot sanctuary is devoted to visionary art, with paintings, sculpture, moving images, cathedral-like interiors, archangels, sacred geometry, and the twenty-one Sacred Mirrors surrounded by a quartz crystal moat.
The experience continues outside across CoSM’s wooded grounds, where 40 acres hold walking trails, art installations, a labyrinth, the Grey House, and the Mushroom Cafe.
And this Saturday offers another reason to go: CoSM’s August Full Moon Gathering runs into the night with a ceremony led by Alex and Allyson Grey, live music, live painting, interactive art, a community sand mandala, and a bonfire.
Why we recommend it: Some Hudson Valley destinations are beautiful. Others make you stop and ask what, exactly, you’re looking at. Entheon is firmly in the second category — an immersive visual world that feels completely unlike anything else in the region.
A New Trail Puts You Beneath One of the Hudson Valley’s Great Engineering Landmarks
Sometimes the view is not from the top of the mountain.
The first section of the Schunnemunk Meadows Trail winds through gently rolling land near Moodna Creek and Schunnemunk Mountain, opening up a different perspective on this part of Orange County.
The landscape also puts you close to the enormous Moodna Viaduct, turning what could simply be a walk through the meadows into something much more visually dramatic.
Why we recommend it: Schunnemunk is usually associated with serious hiking. This gives you another way into the landscape — slower, easier, and with an enormous steel railroad bridge looming above the valley.
🚗 Worth the Drive
Three days of roots music, dancing, workshops, food, family programming, and plenty of room to wander.
For Three Days, Ashokan Becomes a Roots-Music Village
Some festivals ask you to sprint between stages. The Summer Hoot would rather you stay awhile.
From Friday through Sunday, the Ashokan Center fills with roots music, dancing, workshops, family programming, food, and long stretches of hanging out in one of the most beautiful corners of Ulster County.
This year’s lineup includes The Milk Carton Kids, Tuba Skinny, Chatham County Line, The Mammals, and more.
Friday gates open at 3 PM with music beginning at 7 PM. Saturday and Sunday gates open at 9 AM with programming continuing throughout the day and evening.
Why it’s worth the drive: The Hoot doesn’t just put musicians on stages. It creates the kind of weekend where music, landscape, community, and wandering around without much of a plan all become part of the same experience.
This Weekend
Mohawk culture at Opus 40, The Beatles for the youngest music fans, and five years of rural New York unfolding at once.
A Celebration of Mohawk Culture With a Bigger Purpose
Saturday evening, one of the Hudson Valley’s most extraordinary outdoor spaces becomes the setting for a celebration and fundraiser supporting the Akwesasne Freedom School.
The gathering features artists and culture bearers including Tom Porter, Akwesasne Youth Dancers, Hataalii, Sophie Strand, Theresa “Bear” Fox, and Kontiwennenhá — the Akwesasne Women Singers.
Indigenous artists from Akwesasne will also have work available for purchase.
Why we recommend it: A great Hudson Valley night can do more than entertain. This one connects place, Indigenous culture, art, music, language, and a community institution doing important work.
The Beatles, but Bedtime Is Still an Option
Introducing kids to live music does not necessarily require sitting quietly in a chair.
The Rock and Roll Playhouse takes songs by The Beatles and turns them into an interactive family concert designed for young listeners, with movement, games, dancing, and plenty of permission to make noise.
Saturday’s noon start also means parents can give the kids their first Beatles show and still have an entire afternoon left.
Why we recommend it: The best way to create the next generation of music fans is pretty simple: take them to see music.
Five Years of Rural New York, Playing All at Once
What does five years actually look like?
Beginning in 2019, 600 HIGHWAYMEN collected thousands of short video clips around rural New York: seasons changing, sunlight across a table, conversations in parking lots, public gatherings, domestic moments, political action, and ordinary life continuing alongside all of it.
At PS21, those fragments become a large-scale multi-channel performance installation, creating a portrait of time through accumulation rather than a conventional narrative.
Why we recommend it: This is the kind of contemporary performance that makes the familiar feel strange again. Ordinary moments become something much larger when you see years of them gathered together.
Plan Ahead
A harp that refuses to stay in one genre and a weekend when Kingston itself becomes the gallery.
Mikaela Davis Is Bringing Her Harp to Kingston
Mikaela Davis has built a musical world where the harp can sit comfortably beside psychedelic rock, folk, country, and deeply personal songwriting.
She comes to Assembly in Kingston next Friday with Johanna Samuels.
Why we’re circling it: Davis is one of those musicians who makes an instrument you thought you understood sound completely different. Assembly is exactly the kind of room where that can land.
For One Weekend, Kingston Becomes One Giant Open Studio
The best way to experience Art Walk Kingston is probably not to make too much of a plan.
Over two days, artists open studios and galleries throughout Kingston, giving visitors a chance to move through the city while encountering painting, photography, sculpture, mixed media, and work that is considerably harder to categorize.
Past editions have brought together more than 200 artists at dozens of locations across three distinct areas of the city.
Why we’re circling it: It turns Kingston itself into the gallery. Pick up a map, choose a neighborhood, and let one studio lead to another.
On Our Radar
One of the most inventive guitarists of her generation, Kaki King has spent years pushing the instrument far beyond traditional singer-songwriter territory, blending intricate fingerstyle playing, percussion, electronics, and experimentation into something unmistakably her own.
Friday, October 2 · 8 PM · The Local, Saugerties
O+ returns to Kingston for three days of music, art, murals, performance, and wellness programming. The festival has always been less about moving from one headliner to another and more about watching the city itself become part of the experience.
October 9–11 · Kingston · Festival information
Tannersville just got considerably sweeter. Sugarville opened on Main Street this month as a colorful dessert destination built around bubble waffles, cotton candy, gelato, and other treats. The whole place leans into the experience as much as the sugar — bright colors, playful design, and enough Candyland energy to turn stopping for dessert into an actual destination.
5941 Main Street, Tannersville · New this summer · Follow Sugarville
Curated each week by the Radio Woodstock team.
Have a great weekend. Follow the music, take the road you usually pass, wander somewhere you’ve never been, order dessert when it’s completely unnecessary, and if you find a place that makes you think how did I not know this was here?, send it our way. Those are exactly the places we want to find. We’ll be back next Thursday with another edition of Circle This.