Beyond the Booth # 9: Joe Zappone
It begins with the smell… There is a certain sweetness in the air, an unmistakable scent which you immediately recognize. It's the aroma of freshly fallen orange and yellow leaves, of ripe apples, and the earthy dampness that lingers on a crisp and bright October morning as the fog lifts out of our beautiful little valley. Autumn has finally returned to the HV. We're incredibly lucky- we have farms like Weed’s and Barton’s to visit for some outdoor adventures. Plenty of Pick-Your-Own farms too. Incredible wineries like Magnanini and Brotherhood. Farmstands are everywhere, especially bustling on Lattintown Road where you can buy fresh apple pies from Sgro’s, (but you might have to wake Mr. Sgro up from a nap while he catches some Z’s in his truck.) We are the luckiest people in the world. We get to experience nature’s final pop of life and color before we enter our cold and dark winter slumber.
As the sunlight hours begin to wane, and the nights become longer, the air in the Hudson Valley changes. The walk from the car late at night gets a few steps quicker and the hair on your neck prickles up when walking a little too close to the moonlit woods. The veil begins to thin, as they say. Many towns here are steeped in haunting history. Washington Irving’s tale of Sleepy Hollow and the Headless Horseman is just the tip of the proverbial fright-berg. You may have also heard of the ghosts of Hessian Lake near Bear Mountain, where over 250 Hessian mercenaries were killed and thrown into the chilly autumn waters during the Revolutionary War. Perhaps you heard of the hauntings at The Ship Lantern Inn, an integral part of the Underground Railroad, where spirits roam the hallways in the darkness. Or maybe you have experienced the supposed Native American shadow people that jump from tree to tree in the quiet forests near Harriman. It seems everywhere you turn here in the Hudson Valley, tales of the creepy, the haunted, and the spooky are lurking behind every corner…
To me, it feels like the Hudson Valley is the center of the world. Geographically, we are an hour from nearly everything- NYC, the Poconos, Albany, lakes with beaches, the deep, rural backwoods of the Catskills.. You name it. And here we are, with so many incredible things bustling at the epicenter of it all. It seems like every person you speak to is creating, developing, devising, even scheming on how to make it. Everyone working their hardest to leave a lasting impact on their community. It is the New York mentality. It is engrained in us. Work hard, build, create, fabricate, sell, buy, do, do, DO! No rest for the wicked they say…
My work begins in September. I host my annual Halloween art party- Newburgh Nightmare, every October, now going on its 7th year. This event plays off of the creativity of the Hudson Valley, as well as our haunting history. NN started because I was hit with a bout of depression after a particularly exciting summer in 2019. Coming off of a high of creativity after fabricating art for a string of music festivals with a good friend, I abruptly hit a wall. Upon smashing into that wall, it knocked some sense into me and the best idea was born- host a Halloween themed art event featuring sculptural and interactive works combined with the best electronic DJs and hip hop artists from the area. If you were there, you know how legendary the string of BlankSpace events were at Watershed Studios. It was the start of something beautiful, the start of a theory of mine- partying with a purpose.
Partying with a purpose is simple. Gather people together from the community, hire local artists and performers, and work together to give back to the people who need the help HERE. No national organizations, no shipping goods halfway across the US.. The people in Newburgh who need our help, get our help. For the 7th iteration of Newburgh Nightmare, we are starting the Sacred Heart Church Annual Coat Drive early. Every year on Thanksgiving, several local families get together at Sacred Heart Church on Ann Street and serve dinner and hand out coats to the local community. This tradition has been going on for many years, and every single year, we run out of coats. I hope that with the efforts of the awesome Ellis family, we will not run into that issue this year.
Well, that’s it, that’s all I got for ya. I could talk more about The Ellis and how we just celebrated our first year. How we just cracked over 100 events, and are helping build a community of creativity and beauty in the heart of the Hudson Valley, but I’ll let Al handle that one for the year end recap in December. I will tell you all to keep your heads up in these trying times. Be sure to stay true to yourself. Live a virtuous life. Continue creating. Finish your projects. Be a person of your word. Be kind to your neighbors and help those in need. And don’t get too down on yourself when you stray from the path, a few steps left or right and you’re back on.
Stay elevated friends.
-Joe Zappone
Curator, BlankSpace
Event Coordinator, The Ellis
PS, I hope to see you at Newburgh Nightmare, I have a bunch of really fun and spooky surprises lined up for y'all 👻