Hot rods and history meet in Falls Village

Hot rods and history meet in Falls Village

Stiltwalkers Abigial Veiovis (left) and Liam Murphy waved the race car drivers into town Thursday, Aug. 28.

Patrick L. Sullivan

FALLS VILLAGE — Downtown Falls Village was full of spectators eager to see the end of the vintage race car parade from Lime Rock Park’s Historic Weekend event on Thursday, Aug. 28.

The cars left the track at 5 p.m., wound their way through Salisbury and Lakeville and then to Falls Village.

Prior to the arrival of the first cars at 5:42 p.m., the crowd was entertained with music by the Wanda Houston Project and the Middletown PBA Pipes and Drums.

Among the cars roaring into town were 15 race cars dating from 1920 and earlier.

Brian Blain of Bisalia, California, was piloting a 1911 National. He said it was raced by Charlie Merz in the first Indianapolis 500 race, also in 1911. Merz placed seventh, he added.

The cars were from the Rag Time Racers, a California-based group of race car enthusiasts specializing in very early vehicles.

Siltwalkers Liam Murphy and Abigail Veiovis from Mortal Beasts and Deities, sporting new costumes from troupe director Mark Alexander, waved the race car drivers into town.

When the hubbub of cars died down the band resumed, doing songs as disparate as “Hit the Road Jack” and “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction.”

Tom Brown

The Rag Time Racers drove cars dating back to the 1910s.

Latest News

The art of Marilyn Hock

Waterlily (8”x12”) made by Marilyn Hock

Provided

It takes a lot of courage to share your art for the first time and Marilyn Hock is taking that leap with her debut exhibition at Sharon Town Hall on Sept. 12. A realist painter with a deep love for wildlife, florals, and landscapes, Hock has spent the past few years immersed in watercolor, teaching herself, failing forward, and returning again and again to the page. This 18-piece collection is a testament to courage, practice and a genuine love for the craft.

“I always start with the eyes,” said Hock of her animal portraits. “That’s where the soul lives.” This attentiveness runs through her work, each piece rendered with care, clarity, and a respect for the subtle variations of color and light in the natural world.

Keep ReadingShow less
Reading and recommendations from Carissa Unite of Oblong Books

Carissa Unite, general manager of Oblong Books in Millerton.

Provided

Carissa Unite of Millerton, began working at Oblong Books 16 years ago as a high schooler. She recently celebrated her eight-year anniversary as the general manager.

Unite’s journey at Oblong began even before she applied for her first position.An avid reader from a young age, she was a frequent customer at the store. During those years, Unite bonded with a former employee who encouraged her to apply for a position after connecting over their shared love of reading.

Keep ReadingShow less
The Ungardener: by the books

Michele Paladino’s nursery, “Lindera” in Falls Village.

Dee Salomon

It was a bit unfair, in my last column, to write a critique of a well-regarded plant reference book (“When the guide gets it wrong”) without recommending a satisfactory replacement or two.

As a novice gardener, I found plant selection — native or not — to be overwhelming and relied on website databases that let me enter soil, moisture, light and critter criteria, then return options I could research. Unsurprisingly, this yielded little garden satisfaction in situ. It may well be that it takes a little poetry to create a garden.

Keep ReadingShow less