Garrison filmmakers examine the question

The team behind Ironbound Films leans into its religious roots.

"We met at a Jewish sleepaway camp as kids - it's such a part of our identity," says Jeremy Newberger, one of three director/producers at the documentary film and commercial video office located at Garrison's Landing. "Part of the crisis du jour is that the far right and the far left are united in their hatred of Jews. We were taught to embrace our Judaism and love for Israel."

Ironbound's most recent film, released this year, is Fiddler on the Moon, about Jewish astronauts. According to their cheeky marketing copy, which Newberger says was inspired by Mel Brooks' Spaceballs, the film "finally answers the question that has plagued scientists, theologians and comedians for millennia: Will Judaism survive in space?"

Many cities, small and large, host Jewish film festivals; over the summer, the crew will screen the 30-minute documentary in Dayton, Ohio; Toronto; Rochester; Berkshire, Massachusetts; and Tampa. They also screen films for Jewish organizations, camps and foundations.

At first, the trio, which includes Seth Kramer and Daniel Miller, tackled secular topics like climate change (The Anthropologist), talk show host Morton Downey Jr. (Evocateur) and dying languages (The Linguist), but a friend who worked for Major League Baseball suggested they cover the Israeli national baseball team, made up mostly of American Jews.

Heading Home: The Tale of Team Israel led to a second film about the club's experience at the 2021 Olympics, Israel Swings for Gold. After completing Yung Punx, a doc about a band of 8- to 12-year-olds who headlined at the Warped Tour, Ironbound produced Blind Spot, an examination of antisemitism on college campuses.

"We're all in our 50s, and there comes a time when you realize that you got away from your faith," says Newberger. "Doing the baseball film got us reconnected to the values and religion we grew up with. It hit us. We identified."

Ironbound has filmed on nearly every continent (including on the Pacific Ocean island of Kiribati). Funding comes from business clients, angel investors and grants from the National Science Foundation.

Now in production is a documentary about David "Mickey" Marcus, the only person buried at West Point who fought for a foreign country. David Ben-Gurion, Israel's first prime minister, handpicked Marcus to establish the nascent nation's army in 1948 during the war for independence. Killed by friendly fire, Marcus was the last fatality of the conflict before the United Nations implemented a truce between Israel and its neighbors.

"When you think you've heard it all, you come across Mickey Marcus, who is an incredible but little-known figure," says Kramer. "On its own, the story is a winner: Before he went to Israel, he helped put mobster Lucky Luciano away, drafted surrender papers for Italy used for all the other Axis powers and helped define the term war crime for the Nuremberg trials."

The film will investigate why Marcus' name recognition is limited and how the 1966 Hollywood biopic, Cast a Giant Shadow, starring Kirk Douglas, John Wayne and Frank Sinatra, flopped at the box office.

For more information, see ironboundfilms.com.

Tour guide continues Seaman saga

Robin Lucas does her homework to enhance her Beacon walking tours, which center on ghosts.

Her tales reveal horrors that took place at the Matteawan State Hospital, ostensibly for insane criminals, and belie the notion that the facility offered "moral treatment," in vogue through the 1950s, with a gentle experience for patients in a stress-free, routine environment.

Building on her first video, The Abraham Seaman Tragedy, Lucas returns with two sequels that feature a cadre of then-famous inmates. Part 3 intimates that Nellie Seaman, committed in 1907 without trial for allegedly shooting her husband, exacted revenge in 1913 by conjuring a storm to torment her enemies.

Lucas also released a video about the city's Omnibus War in 1876, which features characters from the Seaman saga and chronicles a period of "mob law" and "roisterous" drunks as two horse-drawn carriage companies competed for business. The videos include revealing photos, zippy narratives and contemporary newspaper accounts.

"I want people to hit the stop button and read a little, although what appeared in print muddies the water because a lot of it was hearsay and twisted into a point of view," she says. "The facts were there to be manipulated."

A prevalent theme in the Seaman series is the railroading of women into the Matteawan hospital to "shut them up and put them away," says Lucas.

In 1908, Jennie Blunt wounded lawyer Charles Sanford in Brooklyn for drugging and raping her, she said. A New York Times headline read: "Shot at His Desk by a Crazy Woman." The authorities declared her insane and she ended up at Matteawan.

"There were all these accusations of wealthy men committing sexual crimes and getting away with it," says Lucas. "Just like the Jeffrey Epstein and Diddy cases, so far, no list has ever been made public."

Though Matteawan guards sometimes abused their power, the job could be dangerous: In 1906, killer Lizzie Halliday (known as "the worst woman in the world") stabbed nurse Nellie Wicks 200 times with a pair of scissors.

Inmate Dora Schram, who served alongside Seaman and was released in 1911, claimed that the "actively unkind" nurses acted like "savages," which led patients to "hit back whenever possible," making everyone in the prison "all crazy together."

For Lucas, who contends that her historic home in Beacon is haunted, the videos augment her walking tours, "otherwise we would be standing outside for four hours," she says.

"In my ghost tour, you have to suspend some disbelief, but I found facts surrounding all of this, put it together and laid it out, like, 'Look what happened, what do you think?' "

For more information on Beacon Walking Tours, see beaconwalkingtours.com or call 845-440-5300. Lucas' videos are posted at youtube.com/@BWT7773.

250 Years Ago (June 1775)

British troops in New York City were evacuated to transports anchored in the harbor. A small group of Sons of Liberty confiscated five wagonloads of royal weapons.

Maj. Gen. Philip Schuyler of New York and George Washington, the newly appointed commander of the army, left Philadelphia for New York City. Addressing fears of military rule, Washington reassured the New York Provincial Congress that, after the establishment of liberty, he would return to private life.

On June 26, Washington and Schuyler crossed King's Bridge into Westchester County. The next day, slowed by well-wishers, they made it only as far as New Rochelle, where Schuyler headed to Albany and Washington toward Boston.

150 Years Ago (June 1875)

John Cox, the flagman at Garrison's station, was suspicious of banks and paper money. On a Thursday night, while John was at work, five masked men pushed through the door and bound Mrs. Cox and the couple's two sons, ages 14 and 20. After ransacking the house, they left with a box of silver and gold coins valued at $1,100 [about $32,000 today]. Two tramps at the station were arrested after the Cox family said they resembled the suspects - one with a dark complexion, an ugly face and a bad eye and another who was "more honest-looking."

Signor Sebastian, a circus performer, broke his leg at a Friday performance in Cold Spring when he was thrown from a horse while riding bareback seated in a chair. He was taken to the Pacific Hotel and, a few days later, returned by train to his home in New York City. A few weeks later, a baggage-car fire on a sidetrack in Connecticut destroyed all the troupe's baggage and musical instruments.

Shortly after midnight, Thomas McAndrew, the watchman at the lower railroad switches, heard a noise and found two men standing at a broken door on a freight car on the sidetrack. When the larger man put his hand into his pocket and threatened to shoot, McAndrew dropped him with a shot to the neck. The man - who said his name was McKinseynally - was taken to Town Hall, where Dr. Murdock removed the bullet.

Three people held solid-silver life passes for the Hudson River Railroad: John Jervis, the first chief engineer, his wife and Gouverneur Kemble of Cold Spring, the founder of West Point Foundry and an early supporter of the railroad.

Commodore Foote and his sister, Eliza, "celebrated Lilliputians," performed at Town Hall. The Indiana natives claimed to be the smallest people in the world and were as well-known in their time as Tom Thumb.

A six-horse team delivered a 7,530-pound load of bedplate to Sunk Mine for its steam-powered machines.

The Methodist Episcopal Church held its annual Strawberry, Ice Cream and Floral Festival.

The Recorder noted that a new state law made it illegal, punishable with a fine of up to $10 [$290], to mutilate shade trees near schools, churches, public buildings or highways. "It is well known that people from the farming districts are the principal offenders," the editor wrote. "They come into town to do some business and seek a comfortable shade for their teams. All right, so far; but how about the shade next year if the horses girdle the trees while standing thereat?"

A reader complained to The Recorder that people were taking water by the barrel from the Main Street pumps to irrigate their strawberries and gardens.

After the first baseball game of the season on Vinegar Hill between a club from West Point and the Kellogg team (which the latter won, 22-19), the Newburgh Telegraph said the Army boys lost only because of the "considerable partiality shown by the umpire who, of course, proved to be a resident of Cold Spring." The Recorder retorted that the visitors lost because they did not score enough runs.

On a Tuesday at noon, while Isaiah Jaycox of the Highlands was driving at a good speed down Main Street seated atop a cord of wood, a front wheel on his wagon fell off as he passed High Street. Passersby lifted the corner of the wagon with...

Accuse president of meddling with scholarships

Nearly all the members of a board overseeing the prestigious Fulbright scholarships resigned Wednesday (June 11) in protest of what they call the Trump administration's meddling with the selection of award recipients for the international exchange program.

A Philipstown resident, Sophia Ptacek, earlier this year lost her Fulbright fellowship to spend nine months working on industrial decarbonization and air pollution reduction for a Colombian government ministry. "I'm holding on to hope that it could still happen," said Ptacek, who grew up in Garrison and Cold Spring and attended the Poughkeepsie Day School. "But I am in limbo. It's sad."

Ptacek last year completed a dual master's program at Yale University in environmental management and public health. She also was selected for a Fulbright Public Policy Fellowship, part of a U.S. State Department international exchange and education program suspended by the White House in February.

Ptacek wanted to help reduce air pollution in Colombia. "There's quite a lot of manufacturing and heavy industry, and as a result, a lot of air pollution that has public health impacts for communities near these plants," she said.

The Fulbright board resignations were first reported by The New York Times. A statement published online by members said the administration usurped the board's authority by denying awards to "a substantial number of people" who already had been chosen to study and teach in the U.S. and abroad. Another 1,200 foreign award recipients who were already approved to come to the U.S. are undergoing an unauthorized review process that could lead to their rejection, the board members said.

"To continue to serve after the administration has consistently ignored the board's request that they follow the law would risk legitimizing actions we believe are unlawful and damage the integrity of this storied program and America's credibility abroad," the statement reads.

Congress established the Fulbright program nearly 80 years ago to promote international exchange and American diplomacy. The highly selective program awards about 9,000 scholarships annually in the U.S. and in more than 160 other countries to students, scholars, and professionals in a range of fields.

All but one of the 12 board members resigned, according to Carmen Estrada-Schaye, who is the only remaining board member. "I was appointed by the president of the United States and I intend to fill out my term," Estrada-Schaye said.

Award recipients are selected in a yearlong process by the State Department and other countries' embassies. The board has had final approval. The recipients who had their awards canceled are in fields including biology, engineering, agriculture, music, medical sciences, and history, the board members said.

All the board members who resigned were selected under former President Joe Biden. The State Department, which runs the scholarship program, said they were partisan political appointees.

"It's ridiculous to believe that these members would continue to have final say over the application process, especially when it comes to determining academic suitability and alignment with President Trump's Executive Orders," the department said. "The claim that the Fulbright Hayes Act affords exclusive and final say over Fulbright Applications to the Fulbright board is false. This is nothing but a political stunt attempting to undermine President Trump."

Individual visited Mahopac tavern while contagious

The Putnam County Department of Health issued a health alert on Wednesday (June 4) for an exposure to measles on May 28 at Arturo's Tavern in Mahopac.

Anyone who visited the location between 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. on that day should call the Health Department at 845-808-1390 and ask to speak to a nurse. Symptoms include a high fever, cough, runny nose, red/watery eyes and a rash. Symptoms may start 7 to 14 days after contact with the virus. Measles is caused by a highly contagious airborne virus that spreads easily when an infected person breathes, sneezes or coughs.

The Health Department said the individual is no longer contagious but that it wants to locate anyone who may have encountered the person while contagious to avoid its spread. The individual contracted the illness while abroad, Public Health Director Rian Rodriguez said in a statement.

"An infected person can spread measles from four days before to four days after the rash appears," he said. "Fortunately, the positive individual was only in one local establishment while considered contagious. Measles is not a foodborne illness although the virus can live for up to two hours in airspace after an infected person leaves the area."

New York now has 13 confirmed cases: six in New York City and seven elsewhere, including Putnam. There were 1,088 confirmed cases in the U.S. as of May 30, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, including 738 across 35 counties in Texas. Two elementary school students in West Texas and an adult in New Mexico have died. Each was unvaccinated.

Other states with outbreaks - which the CDC defines as three or more related cases - include Colorado, Kansas, Michigan, Montana, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Tennessee. There are also outbreaks in Ontario, Canada (1,888 cases since October), Alberta, Canada (628 cases) and the Mexican state of Chihuahua (1,693 cases and three deaths).

At the same time, according to a Johns Hopkins University study published on Monday (June 2), childhood vaccination rates against measles fell in the years after the pandemic in 78 percent of 2,066 U.S. counties in 33 states with available data. The study compared average kindergarten rates from the 2017-20 school years to averages from 2022-24. Where data wasn't available, the researchers used a comparable rate. New York State requires students to be vaccinated.

The Associated Press contributed reporting.

Kevin McConville was seeking second term

Putnam County Sheriff Kevin McConville is ending his campaign for a second term because of health issues, the Sheriff's Office said on Thursday (June 5).

A Republican, McConville was elected in 2021, defeating incumbent Sheriff Robert Langley Jr. with 57 percent of the vote.

The sheriff, who lives in Philipstown, had filed to run in November on the Republican and Conservative party lines for another 4-year term. He began his career in law enforcement as a Cold Spring police officer and rose to become chief of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority police force. He ran unsuccessfully for Putnam sheriff in 2009 as a Democrat and in 2013 as a Republican.

Andres Gil, who chairs the Putnam County Republican Committee, said on Thursday that he learned of the decision the day before and that it left him "heartbroken." In a letter sent to the committee members, he said McConville and his family were the primary concern.

"We are grateful for his leadership, his accomplishments and, most importantly, his friendship," Gil wrote. "Anyone who has ever met Sheriff McConville knows that he is truly a remarkable human being who will give you the shirt off his back when in need."

In terms of a replacement, the Republican Committee's leaders are "exploring all available options as we are identifying and reviewing the process to substitute a qualified Republican candidate" for the November ballot, said Gil. "It is going to take us a little bit of time to make sure that we are dotting our i's and crossing our t's," he said.

McConville is scheduled to receive the Conservative of the Year Award on Thursday (June 12) from the Putnam County Conservative Party, which did not immediately respond to an email about its plans, if any, for a new candidate for its ballot line.

There is no Democratic candidate, but Larry Burke, a Cold Spring police officer and formerly the officer-in-charge, is running as an independent on the Serve & Protect party line.

A general objection to his nominating petition was filed on May 30 with the Putnam County Board of Elections by Cindy Trimble, a member of the Philipstown Republican Committee. But no specific objections were filed by a June 5 deadline.

Burke, 59, has worked in law enforcement for 37 years, including 26 years with the New York City Police Department. He joined the Cold Spring department in 2013 and served as officer-in-charge for seven years, until 2024. Burke has also been a volunteer firefighter with the North Highlands Fire Co. for 12 years.

Council considers next five years of capital projects

Beacon's five-year schedule of capital projects, presented to the City Council on May 27, includes more than $6.5 million in equipment and infrastructure upgrades planned for 2026.

The city updates a five-year plan annually; it includes projects scheduled for the coming year, along with conceptual blueprints for the four subsequent years. Council members must approve capital spending for the coming year by the end of July. A public hearing on the 2026 plan is scheduled for June 16.

The most visible project will likely be the renovation and greening of the southwest corner of Memorial Park, estimated to cost $400,000. The city plans to resurface the basketball courts, install pickleball courts, construct a softball batting cage and renovate the bathroom at that end of the park for public use.

The adjacent skateboard park has been repaved and will have new skating elements and an "art wall" installed. Phase 2 of that work, including new lighting, is expected to cost $57,500. The parking lot in front of the skate park will be reconfigured, with tree cover added, and numerous trees will be planted in that corner of the park.

Further improvements being considered for Memorial Park, if budget allows, include exercise stations and tennis courts. In addition, the city could contract with a food truck to cater to teenagers and young adults.

"We've heard over and over again that they're not always welcome in a lot of the restaurants, and they can't afford the local places," said City Administrator Chris White. "People say they don't have a place to go, and the thought is that might be a place to go."

Earlier this year, the city was tentatively awarded a $3 million federal grant to rehabilitate Beekman Street. If the funding comes through - confirmation is expected this month - the city plans to spend $245,000 next year on design and engineering. Later, in addition to repaving, crews would repair sidewalks, crosswalks and curbs and add sidewalks where there are gaps. A bike lane would be added on the uphill side of Beekman.

The most expensive project planned for next year is the $1.6 million construction of a water storage tank on Mount Beacon. Other high-dollar expenditures include a vacuum truck for the Water Department ($670,000), the ongoing milling and paving of streets and installation of Americans with Disabilities Act-accessible curb ramps citywide ($500,000), replacement of a sanitary sewer pump station near Monell Place ($400,000) and a street sweeper for the Highway Department ($340,000).

The city anticipates using about $1.73 million of its savings on the 2026 projects, which, if approved by the council, would leave a combined fund balance between the general, water and sewer funds of more than $15 million. State and federal aid is expected to contribute $1 million, while $200,000 from a recreation fund that developers pay into will be applied to the Memorial Park improvements. The city would borrow the rest, $3.59 million, through bonds.

Notable expenditures in subsequent years include nearly $3.5 million to complete the Beekman Street project in 2028 and $1.6 million in upgrades to Seeger Riverfront Park in 2027, although timing there will depend on whether a transit-oriented development at the Metro-North station proceeds, White said. Replacement of aeration tanks at the wastewater treatment plant is expected to cost $2.6 million in 2028.

As in the 2024 plan, the five-year schedule pushes a $5.25 million community center to its last year, now 2030. White cautioned that for it and other long-term projects, such as splash pads at Riverfront and Memorial parks and a new municipal pool, "we're not sure how they fit right now, or, frankly, how we afford them."

Realistically, he said, a community center could cost up to $15 million and, Mayor Lee Kyriacou added, that's only if the city upgrades the Recreation Department building at 23 West Center St. "This is $10 million ...

Women organize film, theater fest in Garrison

Inside the dynamic duo at the helm of Theatre Revolution, "I'm the brawn and she's the brain," says Nora Matz about her collaborator, Gabrielle Fox.

After a beat, Matz quips: "Well, I'm also half the brain."

"True, but I am zero percentage brawn," Fox replies.

The team writes and produces plays and films but also presents what's become an annual weekend festival of work by women artists. Glass Ceiling Breakers begins tonight (June 6) at the Philipstown Depot Theatre in Garrison and continues Saturday and Sunday.

"This is a good way to elevate female voices and those of other marginalized groups, especially in theater and film, where we're still not well-represented," says Matz, who lives in Garrison.

The two created Theatre Revolution in 2016 to oppose Trump administration policies, says Matz, so it's fitting that members of the Beacon Rising Choir, which gelled after the Woman's March in Washington in 2017, will close out the weekend with a performance.

All the plays and most of the festival's movies are written by people who identify as female. The bare minimum criteria for film submissions is two women in the key roles of writer, editor, producer, director or cinematographer.

Five short plays, which run about an hour back-to-back, will be presented each day, but only tonight's performances will be followed by a discussion with the playwrights. Four live in Westchester County and one in Rockland.

Writers produce their own vignettes, supplying props and set pieces. Fox is presenting "Artistic Integrity," which she says lasers in on "a generational clash of playwrights about the future of human creativity."

Four film blocks of about 75 minutes each will showcase a total of 24 shorts culled from 200 worldwide submissions, followed by Q&As with the filmmakers. Three blocks will screen on Saturday and one on Sunday, followed by a closing-night mingle and the Best of Fest Awards.

On Saturday at 3 p.m., the Depot Theatre will host a free panel discussion, "A Conversation with Women in the Business," featuring director C. Fitz (a Los Angeles resident best known for her documentary Jewel's Catch One) and filmmaker Annetta Marion, whose two most recent short films are Welcome to Theatre and The History of Carol, about censorship in education.

Theatre Revolution tries to select pieces that give voice to other marginalized groups, but "there are misconceptions," says Matz. Attendees at past festivals sometimes got confused when film and play topics veered from women's liberation or strident politics.

"The festival showcases women's talent; it's not necessarily about feminist topics," says Matz. "We have horror, drama, comedy and the whole spectrum of life, like all other plays and films."

The Philipstown Depot Theatre is located at 10 Garrison's Landing. Tickets are $17 for each film block and $27 for the short-play performances. See depottheater.org.

Seeks own lawyer for ethics case

A Putnam legislator accused of ethics breaches in a complaint filed by the county attorney over her son-in-law's attempted purchase of a government-owned property is suing to stop his office from choosing who will represent her.

Toni Addonizio, who represents Kent on the Legislature, alleges in a lawsuit filed May 30 in state court that Putnam's Law Department approved her request for a county-funded lawyer but "has outrageously and improperly" asserted that it has the right to choose who will defend her against the complaint filed by Compton Spain, who heads the department as county attorney.

Both Spain and the county are named in the lawsuit, which says that Addonizio asked the department for "a counsel of my choosing" when notified that the Putnam Board of Ethics scheduled a hearing on the complaint for April 28. (Amid the dispute, the hearing was canceled.)

Addonizio's request for a county-funded attorney is based on a state law, adopted by Putnam, that requires it to defend employees in federal and state civil cases for "any alleged act or omission" occurring while they are working.

Municipalities are exempt from the requirement if they are the ones bringing the case against an employee. The law also entitles an employee to choose their attorney if the chief legal officer of a municipality, such as a county attorney, or a judge determines that a conflict of interest exists.

In response to Addonizio's request, the Law Department said its insurer verbally concluded that she was ineligible for legal assistance but, "after careful review," it would select one of the firms from its list of contractors - Roemer Wallens Gold & Mineaux - to represent her. The department also said that Addonizio could choose to pay out-of-pocket for an attorney who is not on its approved list.

"There could not be a more patent conflict of interest than the complainant in a politicized ethics proceeding selecting the accused's attorney," said Jeffrey Gasbarro, who is representing Addonizio in the lawsuit.

Spain's 191-page complaint, filed with the Board of Ethics in June 2024 and also forwarded to the Attorney General's Office, accuses Addonizio of failing to disclose that her son-in-law, Byron Voutsinas, was the buyer initially agreeing to purchase a county-owned property at 34 Gleneida Ave. in Carmel.

According to Spain, Voutsinas sought to use Addonizio's influence with the Legislature to include parking spaces from a nearby county-owned lot in the sale. He also claims that the agreed-upon price, $600,000, represented a "veritable windfall" from a recommended listing price of $900,000 and market studies valuing it as high as $1.2 million.

Spain's office moved to void the contract, arguing that Voutsinas failed to satisfy conditions for the sale to be finalized, including getting the Legislature's approval, which never occurred. After Voutsinas filed a claim accusing the county of breach of contract, Spain successfully petitioned a judge to have the contract canceled.

During a May 2024 meeting of the Legislature's Rules Committee, then chaired by Addonizio, lawmakers accused the Law Department of filing the petition without first getting their approval. Addonizio "spoke frequently and freely on the matter," but should have recused herself, said Spain.

The Legislature's former counsel, Robert Firriolo, defended Addonizio in a response to Spain's complaint sent to the ethics board. He also accused Spain of failing to disclose, when asked on his employment application about criminal convictions, that he was found guilty in 1993 of criminal contempt of court.

A judge found Spain guilty under state Judiciary Law, which does not classify the charge as a misdemeanor. Because the penalty can include jail time, Firriolo argues it is equivalent to a misdemeanor as defined under state Penal Law.

New Cold Spring store honors spirit of late shopkeeper

Brown letters taped to the door of Segundo Beso boutique in Cold Spring read, "Be More Doucette," a nod to Stephanie Doucette, who championed keeping industry footprints "as light as a kiss."

The Spanish name of the new store, which fills a space at 65 Main St. formerly occupied by Doucette New York before Doucette died suddenly in May 2024 at age 52, translates as "second kiss" - a reference to what Doucette described as her mission to "rescue forgotten fabrics."

Melinda Huff, a friend and collaborator of Doucette's, plans to maintain that mantra by saving offloaded spools of fabric marred by machinery errors and other imperfections from landfills. The store also stocks designs by other like-minded creators.

"It's my personal mission to keep Stephanie's spirit alive at Segundo Beso, not just by giving new life to discarded fabric and material, but also paying forward her disarming kindness and honesty," Huff says.

In a back workshop filled with tape measures, sewing machines and other accoutrements of the trade, Huff and her partners make alterations, experiment with prototypes and create custom outfits. The changing area's curtain is a canopy of sewn-together blue jeans.

Seeking to broaden local relationships, she jumped at the chance to partner with the Garrison Art Center on a juried group exhibit, Urban Jungle, which includes 13 pieces, including six sculptures, displayed throughout the store.

Many businesses in Beacon and Philipstown display work by local artists, but this one offers more gravitas: Last week's opening attracted a crowd that spilled onto the sidewalk and filled up the benches outside.

The partnership emerged after Catherine Graham, executive director of the art center, attended a marketing workshop sponsored by the Hudson Valley Gateway Chamber of Commerce and met matchmaker Michael Dardano.

"For years, I've been trying to get nonprofits and private businesses together, and this came about pretty fast," says Dardano, who runs BuzzPotential, a social media and marketing firm in Westchester.

The exhibit includes items that evoke a jungle groove, like the manipulated photo "Spring Growth" by Sandra Belitza-Vasquez, and "Wandering Flowers" by Vivien Collens, a series of five sculptures that brighten a picture window.

Many artistic items lean into a gritty city vibe, like the touched-up photo "Red Firebox - Bklyn" by Mitchell Brozinsky, which captures a graffitied streetscape in Greenpoint long before the Yuppies moved in. The mossy yellow grunge on the building and the gray sidewalk looks like it could be scraped off.

Philipstown resident Jane Soodalter's close-up photo of rusted machinery presents the illusion of rough texture rising from the surface. A wall-mounted, mixed-media piece by Maxine Feldman suggests an urban street grid.

The sculpture "Modern Ruins" by Lisa Knaus, who teaches at the Garrison Art Center, sits in a precarious location, ripe for getting knocked over or being mistaken for goods on sale. (The store carries accessories beyond clothes.)

Covered with melted glass that looks like bright glaze or colorful paint, the brick and other components are attractive. Knaus makes clay objects and dislikes throwing things away. After her car windshield shattered, she found a use for the shiny pile.

The work fits with the store's exposed brick decor, but for Knaus, the material contains symbolic meaning. "I'm really into bricks," she says. "For me, using the glass is a bling-like way to connect with the history of civilization."

Segundo Beso, at 65 Main St. in Cold Spring, is open from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Thursday to Monday. See segundobeso.com. Urban Jungle continues through July 13.