Elderhood & End of Life, Contemplative Planning for the Journey Ahead
Sep
8
10:00 AM10:00

Elderhood & End of Life, Contemplative Planning for the Journey Ahead

This free workshop, led by three local death doulas, offers a reflective and heart-centered approach to aging and end-of-life.

Through guided conversation and writing, participants will engage with their own mortality and the aging process in both practical and symbolic ways.

10am - 11:30am Mon. Sept 8, Oct. 6 & Nov 10. Please commit to attending all 3 sessions, as this program builds on the prior session. Space is limited. You must register for this event.

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Book It for the Olive Free Library 5K Run/Walk
Sep
13
9:00 AM09:00

Book It for the Olive Free Library 5K Run/Walk

Book It for the Olive Free Library!

5K walk/run Saturday September 13, 2025, 9:00 am start time. 

Join us for a 5K walk/run to benefit our wonderful library nestled in the Catskill mountains. Our run will take place at the gorgeous Ashokan Reservoir Promenade with the most beautiful views around. It's mostly flat, with one uphill at the start of the course, and much of the route is closed to traffic. 

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Book reading and Q&A with Gail Straub at the Olive Free Library
Sep
20
12:30 PM12:30

Book reading and Q&A with Gail Straub at the Olive Free Library

Local author Gail Straub has lived in her home perched on the edge of the Ashokan Reservoir for forty-four years. And she has also travelled and worked all over the world. Join Gail for a book reading and signing about her critically acclaimed new book , Home Inside the Globe: Embracing Our Common Humanity.

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book Talk with local author Jennifer Krebs @ Shokan Branch
Nov
14
4:00 PM16:00

book Talk with local author Jennifer Krebs @ Shokan Branch

  • Shokan Branch at the American Legion Hall (map)
  • Google Calendar ICS

Stumbling Blocks is a powerful intergenerational memoir by Jennifer Krebs that explores her family’s journey from Nazi Germany to rural America. Blending personal history, Jewish identity, and emotional reflection, the book traces her father’s memories of growing up under the Third Reich and her own coming-of-age in small-town New York as the daughter of a survivor.

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Introduction to Beekeeping
Jan
10
10:00 AM10:00

Introduction to Beekeeping

See if beekeeping is right for you—no pressure, no sales. We’ll cover the essentials for starting well in the Hudson Valley and how to keep healthy bees over the long term. Whether you’re brand new or want a solid refresher, you’ll leave with clear next steps and local resources. This course is taught by Rob Overton of Hudson Valley Hives.

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Writing Workshop with author Claudia Cravens, Time Travel: Creating Rich Settings
Jan
24
11:00 AM11:00

Writing Workshop with author Claudia Cravens, Time Travel: Creating Rich Settings

In fiction and in nonfiction, a rich setting has the ability to draw readers into the world of our story and help them see the world from characters' point of view. In this workshop, we will explore ways to create rich, immersive settings. Techniques will include looking at visual sources, zooming in on details, thinking about space, and using all five senses. We will focus on historical settings as a way to sharpen our eyes, ears and vocabulary, but the skills practiced in this workshop will be appropriate for stories in all time periods. Writers in all genres are welcome!

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In-Person Town Hall with Assemblymember Shrestha
Aug
8
6:00 PM18:00

In-Person Town Hall with Assemblymember Shrestha

Companies like Fortis treat our energy system like it’s their piggy bank. Their subsidiaries like Central Hudson charge high rates and do little to prioritize our needs. It's time to take our power back and replace Central Hudson with a publicly-owned utility that charges low rates and invests in a resilient grid to provide energy as a public good.

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Drawn Music with Natalie Boburka
Jul
11
11:00 AM11:00

Drawn Music with Natalie Boburka

Let the music guide your soul! By using music as your muse, you will create a visual depiction of notes, harmonies, beats, high and low notes, and rhythms with subconscious line.  Continuing, you’ll be guided through the addition of color defining shapes enhancing your musical masterpiece.  Letting loose and moving without predetermining the direction helps you be more flexible and encourages you to begin looking for opportunities in unlikely places.  Intensive listening helps you to be mindful and to fully enjoy sensory experiences at a deeper level. Limited Space, please sign up in advance.

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Native American Stone Structures of the Catskill Mountains
Jun
21
1:00 PM13:00

Native American Stone Structures of the Catskill Mountains

This program focuses on presenting locational data of potential Native American sacred sites within the Catskills and surrounding regions, in order to discern patterns in their construction techniques, environmental positioning, and event-specific structural alignments related to sky observation. Presented by author Glenn Kreisberg.

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Keepers of the Light: Women Lighthouse Keepers of the Hudson River
Jun
12
5:30 PM17:30

Keepers of the Light: Women Lighthouse Keepers of the Hudson River

“Keepers of the Light: Women Lighthouse Keepers of the Hudson River”
​Women have kept the lights since the earliest days of the Hudson River lighthouses. Starting in the 1830s until automation in the 1950s, nearly a dozen women were official lighthouse keepers on the Hudson River, several with careers of over forty years. Others were unjustly turned out from their posts. Some weren’t official keepers at all, but did the duties nonetheless. Learn about the careers and personal lives of these female keepers, what it took to be a lighthouse keeper, and why the Hudson River had more women lighthouse keepers than most places in the United States.  Emma Cariello from Hudson River Maritime Museum will be presenting.

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OFL's Library Fair
Jun
7
10:00 AM10:00

OFL's Library Fair

Join us for our ANNUAL LIBRARY FAIR! This year will be bigger and more family friendly than ever! We will have our plant sale & book sale to benefit our Friends Group. We have a juggler, Jester Jim, coming to give us a great show, juggling knifes and so much more. Music, Kids activities and food! Tettas will be here serving lunch & snacks. And closing out the day we will have an author coming in in to discuss their book. More details to come!

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Hot Wrk Ensemble
May
31
4:00 PM16:00

Hot Wrk Ensemble

Hot Wrk Ensemble is a saxophone/woodwind and percussion trio founded in 2020 by award-winning musicians J Brooks Marcus (J Why), Lois Hicks-Wozniak and Brad Hubbard, explores, deconstructs and wrks out concepts of traditional chamber music and the concert experience by engaging communities to interact with and partake in the creation process. Performances can include everything from contemporary art music, jazz, world music styles to early Baroque, and arrangements of Dolly Parton and The Beatles. Expect the unexpected! The Hot Wrk Ensemble is performing a free concert at Olive Free Library, West Shokan, NY. This project is made possible with funds from the Statewide Community Regrants Program, a regrant program of the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature and administered by Arts Mid-Hudson.

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Relax, Reflect, and Recharge: An Online Stress Relief Workshop
May
24
11:00 AM11:00

Relax, Reflect, and Recharge: An Online Stress Relief Workshop

Unwind and release tension with guided relaxation techniques. Through reflective  journaling, gentle movement, breathing exercises, and meditation this workshop is the perfect opportunity allowing you to center yourself and find a sense of peace and balance. The knowledge and tools you acquire here will also serve you well in your day-to-day life. This program is co-hosted by the Amenia Free Library, Millbrook Library, Olive Free Library, Staatsburg Library, Stanford Free Library, and Stone Ridge Public Library. Please sign up in advance to receive the link.

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Support the Friends of the Olive Free Library
May
22
to Jun 2

Support the Friends of the Olive Free Library

Last year your generous contributions enabled the library to make much-needed capital improvements and create several community events:

  • New sofas and chairs

  • New book-drop box at the library entrance

  • New bookcases for The Peck Collection

  • Community events including The Murder Mystery Supper Club Spring Fundraiser, Community Yard Sale, Library Fair, Garden Tour, Olive Day booth, and volunteer support for the Library Holiday Fair

  • A book release celebration for two books by local authors: Melissa McHugh's "Town of Olive", and Kate McGloughlin's "Do Good"

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Piano Plus Concert: Marilyn Crispell
May
10
4:00 PM16:00

Piano Plus Concert: Marilyn Crispell

Our third and final Piano Plus artist will be Marilyn Crispell. Marilyn Crispell is a graduate of the New England Conservatory of Music where she studied classical piano and composition, and has been a resident of Woodstock, New York since 1977 when she came to study and teach at the Creative Music Studio. She discovered jazz through the music of John Coltrane, Cecil Taylor and other contemporary jazz players and composers. Her program will be mostly improvised. Buy tickets here

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