Patrick's blog

It's the season of darkness, as we head towards the Solstice. And during this year in particular, which has been dark in other ways, it's been nice to see some light here & there. Kudos to the Town of Ludlow & the Rec. Department for the display out in front of the Community Center (where we operate). The illuminated tank and other holiday decor is bringing some joy as we come & go.

There's no way around it; it's been a tough year. But in the darkness, there have been moments of light. And now we want to piece them together into a collection. We want to hear from you! 

We'll kick it off by sharing one of our moments of light: the adaptability and resiliency shown by some of our members. One of the most obvious examples is Kata Welch, the Cavendish librarian. With the library shut down, then operating with restrictions, then closed again, Kata has been super resilient. She has taken her Story Time readings to the virtual world, recording a steady stream of them throughout the year, which we televise and put here on our website (and You Tube channel )

We are re-posting Kata's most recent, holiday-inspired Story Times below. Thank you Kata, for sharing the light with us!

What are your moments of light? We want to hear about them. We are launching a new project, to put together a collection of reflections from community members, sharing this year's "moments of light". 
Send us an email or call the station at 228-8808. Come on & share the light! Let's do this!

How the Grinch Stole Christmas

The Ninth Night of Hanukkah

The Shortest Day

“Make Yourself at Home” is the next virtual concert produced by Susan Haefner and Little Yellow House Studio.  The event will premiere online on  our YouTube Channel and on TV on our Community Access channel on Sunday, November 1 at 5pm. It will feature Susan and her longtime friend & musical collaborator, Lisa Brigantino, as well as special guests. The concert will include well-known folk and old-time tunes as well as Lisa’s original songs.

Susan & Lisa will be available for chatting during hte You Tube premiere. While there is no cost,  donations are gratefully accepted during the premiere. Contributions will directly support the work of Little Yellow House Studio Artists and Black River Independent School, the chosen charity for this event.

We are thrilled to have Susan & Lisa back for another virtual concert. You can still watch their last one here on our website, which was sponsored by Friends of Ludlow Auditorium this past May. In addition to all of the singing, Susan handled the audio and video production as well, earning her our 2020 "Outstanding Achievement" award.

Okemo Valley TV has been helping to provide a platform to candidates for local legislative offices while informing voters at a time when, due to the pandemic, such opportunities are otherwise lacking.  Now through Election Day, local candidates for local House seats and the Windsor County Senate District are being featured on the Okemo Valley TV. As of this writing, several candidates have recorded their statements in the Okemo Valley TV studio, as well as on location in the field.
All candidates running for Windsor County Senate seats and House seats within the station’s service area encouraged to record a statement of their own. Appointments may be made by calling 228-8808 or emailing Executive Director Patrick Cody at pcody@okemovalley.tv. Okemo Valley TV is a regional community television station, primarily covering the Towns of Ludlow, Mount Holly, Plymouth, Cavendish, Andover, & Reading.

In addition to the local candidate statements, Okemo Valley TV has also been able to televise interviews and forums with candidates for statewide office, thanks to its colleagues at other community access TV stations in the State.

Tune into election coverage programming one of the following ways:

•  on TV: Government Access channel- VTel 167; Comcast 1086. (Go to Schedules page to see what's on when).
• on the Videos page of this website at okemovalley.tv/videos. (To find local election programming, simply type “election coverage” as the “Series Name” on that page)
• on our You Tube channel (where we've created a playlist for the local candidate statements)

 

A founding member, Sharon  served for 20 consecutive years on the Board and held so many different roles in the organization during this time. As her last term ended, it was a bittersweet departure; we are happy that she will have a little more time to herself & her family after all these years, but it was difficult not to be able to formally bid her farewell in person. We were, however, able to do this little tribute during our teleconferenced annual meeting: 

Okemo Valey TV's Board of Directors held its annual meeting on Thursday, June 25th. The meeting was held over Zoom teleconferencing and included the Board election. Current member John Cama was re-elected to another term. Joining the board this coming year (starting July 1st) are Sharon Huntley of Cavendish & Pat Moore of Ludlow. 

We also paid tribute to outgoing Board members Fra DeVine, who has served for the past 6 years, and Sharon Bixby, a founding member of the orgnaization, who has served on the Board for 20 consecutive years.

In other news,  the FY2021 budget was adopted as a level-funded version of the pas year's budget, with the stipulation that it will be revisited and amended at the end of the 1st quarter (September 30th). These are unusual times calling for unusual circumstances. There are still a few unkowns related to the impact the COVID-19 pandemic is having on our operations, and we will have a better picture within the next few months. 

The 1st Board meeting of the new fiscal year - and among the new Board - will be Wednesday July 22nd at 5:30pm. As always, the meetins are open to the public. Agendas are always posted on the "Documents" page.