Volunteer Day Set for October 6th

Mark your calendars. Middleburgh's holding its next volunteer day on Saturday, October 5th starting around 11am. If you would like to volunteer your time or have a project that could use a few hands, email me at avitmw@gmail.com. Special thanks to the volunteers that have made this happen!

Volunteer Celebration for Middleburgh October 19th

Saturday, October 19th at 1:00p.m., the public is invited to a "Restoration Celebration" honoring the volunteers whose efforts have helped rebuild and renew the community. There is work still in process, but much to celebrate. Carol Coltrain, coordinator of volunteers shares that since the devastation of 2011, she has logged in 3,405 volunteers for a total of 25, 735 hours. "And these figures only begin to scratch the surface compared to the number of hours and volunteers both within the community and from elsewhere who have given of themselves, and have not registered their service." All involved in the planned Oct. 19 event feel it is time to celebrate how far the community has come since 2011, and that the best way to do that is to thank the volunteers responsible..

Middleburgh's Business Community Reaches Pre-Flood Level

The Village of Middleburgh has reached a major milestone in its recovery. Two years ago Hurricane Irene smashed much of Middleburgh's business district, leaving six merchants out of business.

Facing this crisis, the Village launched its ambitious business recovery program in April 2012 and is now seeing results. The initiative freed up projects in varying states of decay, including the recent closeout of the almost $200,000 NYS Main Street Grant and over $50,000 in zero percent loans. The project also created the Middleburgh Area Business Association and new events.

Now a year and a half into the program, a major milestone. Middleburgh has seen the number of businesses in the Village equal that of before Hurricane Irene. The news comes as the accounting services of Valley Tax and Accounting announced their opening on Main Street later this year. The owner, Francis Pipczynski, has been in negotiations with the Mayor's office for four months to replace the Joseph Muniz accounting services lost in the flood.

There are still other needs in the community, including a grocery store. Still, it is a large step in the right direction.

Village Closes Out Major Grant

Last Saturday, the Village closed out a major project to repair flood damage and get our business community back on its feet. Last year the new Village Board found five underdeveloped grant programs-- four of which were on the verge of expiration. One of the largest was the NYS Main Street Grant program. The grant was slated for a 2008 completion but was hardly touched until last year. Without the rescue, we would have lost the entirety of the remaining money.

Due to our efforts we've been able to rescue almost all of the money for our businesses and the character of the Village. On the business side, we've provided about $150,000 in grants to over a dozen businesses. Most of this money was used to fix or finance flood repairs.

 On the other hand, over $22,000 was used on various streetscape projects to make our Village really bloom. Included in the uses of the Main Street Grant are some great projects:

- The wildflower projects
- The Creekside Avenue Pavilion and picnic tables
- The visitor's kiosk in Creekside Park with quilt squares
- The Deer Mural and Welcome to Middleburgh murals on Dan Ross' building
- New signs for parks, the pool, and to welcome people into Middleburgh

 Special thanks to all of the businesses that helped make this happen!

Library Holding Candle Fundraiser

From the Library's Facebook page:

Middleburgh Library Yankee Candle Fundraiser...It's so easy to shop online! Go to yankeecandlefundraising.com Then enter our code: 990049646

Fundraising for Wildflower Project

With the Village's wildflower project being a great success we're going to expand the project for next year. This year we found grant funding that is not available again. We need any and all types of assistance to make the project even bigger and better for 2014.

Please contact if you would like to volunteer to do the following:

1. Donate to the wildflower fund. Half of the seeds planted are perennials, but the other half are annuals and will not come back next year. We'll need money for seed and for expansion. Please donate to:

Village of Middleburgh Wildflower Fund
c/o Bill Morton
PO Box 789
Middleburgh NY 12122

All donations are tax deductible.

2. Donate your time in helping plant the flowers next year-- especially if you have a rototiller or would like to water.

3. Have visible land within the Village that you would like to add to the project. We haven't decided how to do this exactly-- we may ask for half the costs of the wildflowers if placed on private property.

Let's work together to make this happen! Message me on facebook, email or call Trustee Morton at 827-4343 or wbmort911@gmail.com.