NORTH CANAAN — Visitors from centuries past mingled with present-day residents Saturday evening as the town celebrated George Washington’s birthday and officially launched its 250th anniversary of the nation’s founding.
The Washington Birthday Ball, held at the aptly named Colonial Theatre, brought colonial history to life through reenactors portraying figures with deep ties to Canaan.
Captain Gershom Hewitt — a member of the expedition that captured Fort Ticonderoga — was dressed in full regalia, happy to speak about his service. Portrayed by Tim Abbott, executive director of the Housatonic Valley Association and a well-known reenactor, Hewitt hoisted a cup of rum punch declaring, “Confusion to our enemies.”
Tim Abbott portrays Captain Gershom Hewitt at North Canaan’s Colonial Theatre.Ruth Epstein
Hewitt is buried in the town’s Mountain View Cemetery.
Also in attendance was Colonel Charles Burrall (played by Peter Bickford), a war officer who in his early life was destitute, but went on to become one of the wealthiest of Canaan’s early land speculators. He held important government positions during his life, serving as a long-time representative to the General Assembly and as one of the delegates in 1788 who ratified the Constitution of the United States.
And of course, George and Martha Washington (Falls Village First Selectman David Barger and his wife, Carmela Barger) circulated among the guests.
Town historian Kathryn Boughton, one of the event’s organizers, said she was especially pleased that descendants of early settlers attended in costume.
Dan Adam’s ninth great-grandfather was Squire Samuel Forbes, who started a blacksmith shop in Canaan and eventually amassed a large amount of land. “Our family has been farming here for over 200 years,” he said, a tradition that continues to this day.
Samuel and Lucy Forbes’ daughter Abigail married John Adam, and Forbes and Adam went into business together. They created a farm called “Land of Nod” which provided food for the workers at nearby Beckley Furnace. That farm still exists, and while not as large as it once was, the Adam family still sells homemade syrups and jams, as well as wool from their sheep.
Adam came dressed as Samuel Forbes, and his wife, Melissa Adam, as Lucy Peirce Forbes. Their daughter Abigail Adam came as her namesake.
Ellen and Charlie Goodyear traveled from Virginia to attend the ball. He came as his ancestor Isaac Lawrence and she as his wife, Lydia. Lawrence is reputed to be Canaan’s second settler, arriving in 1739. He purchased land on the banks of the Blackberry River and by the time he died in 1793 had accumulated 192 acres. The stately house, built in 1751 on Route 7, is still owned by his descendants. In 1756, he opened a tavern on the southern side of the house.
Martha and George Washington (Carmela and Dave Barger) attend the Washington Day’s Ball.Ruth Epstein
The theatre was filled with ball goers who got into the spirit of the evening wearing elaborate costumes. Many of the men sported white wigs, while women primped in long colorful dresses.
Guests sampled period food and drink and followed a caller’s instructions through square dances and the Virginia Reel. Music was provided by Relatively Sound.
Theresa Freund of Freund’s Farm Market researched the food she prepared for the evening’s menu. “There is no recipe I found in Martha Washington’s cookbook that would be edible in modern day,” she said, noting how she was able to tweak items to keep them as authentic as possible.
She explained that when the settlers came to New England, they found chestnuts, so chestnut soup was among the offerings, along with turkey soup, mini meat pies, chicken fricassee, ham and mustard pastries and biscuits. “They seemed to use a lot of sauces and mustard,” said Freund, “maybe to cover up the meat that probably was rancid. Everything appeared to be simmered over a fire. I promise no one will come down with dysentery tonight,” she joked.
Desserts included walnut pie, since Washington loved nuts, hermits and apple crisp, among other treats.
Among the libations was George Washington small beer, which was inspired by the president’s 1757 recipe. A description stated that “at 3% ABV (alcohol by volume), it reflects the practical, sessionable beer people drank throughout the day during that period. In the 18th century, beer was often considered safer than water, since colonists didn’t yet understand the germ theory, but they did understand fermentation.” The beer was provided by Norbrook Farm Brewery.
Martha Washington’s rum punch recipe appeared in her handwritten cookbook. In that era, punch was more common than straight spirits and was meant to be shared in a communal bowl. The wine came from Land of Nod Winery.
As Kathy Keane, leader of the town’s 250th celebration and an organizer of the event, looked over the crowd, she declared the evening “a smashing success. I’m so glad so many came in costume. It’s been a joy to have this in Canaan. We’ve combined history and silliness.”
KK Kozik in her studio
It is a particularly fitting philosophy for an artist whose paintings often begin with the world around her but rarely end there. There might be something recognizable — a stone wall, an apple tree, a crow — but then there is something less certain. Something that appears to be one thing becomes another upon inspection. Memory gets involved. So does imagination. So does time.
Since moving from New York City to Sharon, Connecticut in 2006, the landscape around her has become increasingly important to that process.
“I just saw things differently,” Kozik said.
The change was not immediate. She remembers an earlier version of herself driving through Vermont without paying much attention to what was happening beyond the windshield.
“I didn’t have the means to see what was happening around me,” she said. “I just sort of la, la, la, la, la, driving to Vermont.”
But, she said, she started to pay attention differently.
“I became more sensitized as time went on,” she said.
Asked whether that change came with age, she said, “Age and so-called wisdom.”
There’s a sense of loss in her landscapes, but a particular kind of loss that also has a twinge of redemption. Specifically, what happens to a landscape when people leave it?
“When the people go away, the wildlife comes back,” Kozik said.
KK Kozik in her studio with her painting “Golden Delicious.”Natalia Zukerman
Kozik’s work has never settled into a single recognizable formula. She has painted landscapes, figures and still lifes, moved toward abstraction and returned to representation. Her subjects change, but the underlying impulse remains: to take what is in front of her and discover what else there might be.
Kozik describes herself as someone who is always trying to figure things out. Her paintings often have the feeling of a thought in progress rather than a conclusion. They have been called “single-line novellas,” a description that makes sense: They can contain the suggestion of an entire story without telling you exactly what happened.
The animals are part of that storytelling.
They arrived partly because of what was disappearing.
“They were like the new redemption in a way,” she said.
There is something almost funny about the way Kozik talks about this — not because the loss itself is funny, but because she refuses to turn it into a grand pronouncement. She observes something, considers it, and lets it complicate the work.
That same sensibility comes through when she talks about her own development as an artist. Her paintings make room for interpretation. They don’t always tell the viewer what an animal symbolizes, or why a landscape has been altered, or where a particular image came from. Instead, they leave enough evidence to make you curious and enough room for your own stories.
The effect is not accidental. Kozik has spent years thinking about how images work, both as paintings and as containers for ideas.
Her work is currently included in “The Naturalist,” a group exhibition on view through Sept. 13 at Kenise Barnes Fine Art in Kent, alongside Richard Klein, Sally Maca, Rick Shaefer and Tricia Wright. The exhibition brings together artists whose work engages with the natural world, including its forms, histories and mysteries.
Kozik is an especially apt fit for the exhibition. She is described by the gallery as a landscape painter, figurative painter and interiors/still-life painter whose work frequently moves toward painterly abstraction. Her practice, the gallery notes, is “fluid and continuous” — always searching for new pictorial problems to solve.
That search has also extended beyond her own studio.
For several years, Kozik ran ICEHOUSE Project Space, an 18th-century icehouse on Sharon’s town green that she transformed into an unusual venue for contemporary art. It opened in 2018 with Dan Devine’s “Inside-Out NASCAR” and went on to host site-specific projects by artists including Mark Dion, Eric Aho, Janet Biggs, Richard Klein, Kristin Jones, Lisa Hoke and Ryan Frank. The projects addressed everything from the decline of winged insects and native and invasive plants to Sharon’s iron industry, its gardens and its history as an ice-producing community.
The space is now closed, but its premise still feels connected to Kozik’s painting practice. Each project responded in some way to the physical location, turning what might otherwise have been a little historic outbuilding into a setting for contemporary art.
Kozik’s own work does something similar with the landscape. She takes a place and lets it become more than a place.
Kozik’s paintings tell us that something happened before we arrived, and that something will happen after we leave.
And then there is the question of what to do with the space in between.
Maybe Kozik’s paintings are less about that space and more about an idea, as she put it, of “which questions to think about.”
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Jazzmine Bone and A Stitch in Tyme power through the Gambler’s Choice run during the 2024 Lakeville Open.
The event, which has been held continuously for 69 years, is open to the public with free admission.
Individual competitions will run from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., and visitors can stop by briefly or settle in for the day.
A food truck, bake sale and portable restrooms will be available on-site.
The show is the primary fundraiser for The Lakeville Pony Club, with proceeds supporting young riders who need financial assistance to participate in lessons. Members and their families work throughout the year to create the event for both competitors and spectators.
Members of the Lakeville Pony Club and Echo the pony arrive for the costume class during the Lakeville Open in 2024.Caitlin Von Graf
For those new to horse shows, the day offers a chance to learn more about the sport and understand what happens in the ring. In equitation competitions, judges evaluate the rider’s skill, from beginners learning walk and trot to more advanced riders navigating cantering and jumping courses.
Hunter competitions focus on the horse’s style and smoothness over fences, while jumper classes emphasize accuracy and speed as horses and riders race against the clock without knocking down rails.
The day also includes a crowd favorite: the costume class, where horses and riders dress up in creative ensembles for a chance at the top prize.
Programs will be available onsite to help spectators identify competitors and horses. A full list of competitions, entry information and details for those interested can be found at rigameadow.com
Whether an experienced equestrian or simply curious about the sport, the Lakeville Open Horse Show offers a chance to enjoy a Hudson Valley tradition that continues to bring the community together.
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