Beacon Dispatch

BACA Brings Beacon Together

Cooperation of arts and business attracts visitors to Beacon

by Jack Sine

The Beacon Arts Community Association (better known as BACA) began, oddly enough, as the result of a trip to Philadelphia to take in a rock concert.

“A friend of mine and I had tickets to a Martin Sexton concert on Saturday May 7th in 2001,” said Beacon sculptor, Tom Joyce. “We decided to go down the day before and settle in before the concert. That night we drove down to the venue to make sure we knew the route. It was bitter cold – seventeen degrees and the wind was gusting, but when we came into Old Town the sidewalks were jammed with people. We couldn’t figure out what was going on. We wanted to stop and look around, but we couldn’t find a place to park. After the concert I met some friends who lived there and asked them. ‘Oh, that’s First Friday,’ they said. ‘It’s been going on for 12 years. All the galleries, shops, and restaurants stay open late and they publicize it. It draws thousands every month.’

Beacon Voices: Sal Cumella, President, Dorel Hat Company

by Michael Daecher

This month, the Beacon Arts Community Association (BACA) is sponsoring the Beacon Hat Parade, a celebration of Beacon’s heritage as the hat making capital of the Northeast. The Grand Marshall for the parade will be Sal Cumella, owner of the last hat factory in Beacon, the Dorel Hat Company. The factory is located in a non-descript green and white warehouse across from the Beacon train station. Until the trees and brush were cleared to make way for the new commuter parking spaces, you might not have noticed the factory was there. 

Over the years Mr. Cumella has worked with some of the industry greats. While working with Mr. John, he designed hats for some of Hollywood’s brightest stars, such as Judy Garland, Marlene Dietrich, and Gypsy Rose Lee.

Since he moved up to Beacon 18 years ago to take over the company, Sal Cumella has made a thriving business from a specialized market. According to Mr. Cumella, Dorel is the largest manufacturer of designer millinery (women’s hats) in the world. I interviewed Mr. Cumella on a Saturday morning, when the sewing machines and antique machinery were quiet. But on a normal day, the factory is a whirlwind of activity.

The Red Hat Society Gets Their Groove On

Social club gives the middle age mindset a swift kick in the shins (and laughs about it too!)

by Jeff Battersby

When I am an old woman I shall wear purple
With a red hat which doesn't go, and doesn't suit me.
-- from “Warning” by Jenny Joseph

You’ve no doubt seen the “Red Hats”—groups of women, most of whom are over 50, that have been popping up everywhere from art gallery openings to theater events, having dinner in local restaurants or picnicking in the park—wearing their purple outfits and accessories, and capped with their signature red hats. You’ve also no doubt wondered who these women are: Some new all-female cult? A super (not-so) secret girls club for women over 50? Or simply a gathering of women who are hanging out, having fun, and not afraid to flaunt it?

City Sewer Lines Pooped

Aging infrastructure causing problems for area residents

by Jennifer Sipple

Over the past few years, Beacon residents George Mansfield and KazumiTanaka’s many encounters with city sewage in their home has made them Beacon’s poster children for sewage run amuck. The problem has haunted the homeowners since early 2002. It was then that sewage-laden water first began to seep through the foundation of the building and flood the basement.

Mansfield felt ignored at first. “I decided that I needed to start raising my voice to make this a priority for the city.” The more time that elapsed, the more urgent their flooding problem became. At times, the couple could hear sewage water pouring into the basement, and during warmer weather, Tanaka says, “It smelled really strong!” “To give the city some credit, they seem to be thinking of the whole picture rather than just one person’s house,” said Mansfield. At least nine different city officials have visited the house on Spring Valley Street at various times over the past few years to check out the problem.

In January 2005, there were 30 inches of sewage in Mansfield and Tanaka’s basement. It came up through the toilet and into the shower of first floor tenants. At the time of the flooding, Mansfield had two sump pumps going full force -- one to the creek and one to the sewer. Mansfield is certain that had he  not pumped at the time, the flooding would have been much worse. After the January incident, Mansfield received several sympathetic e-mails from city officials such as Mayor Gould and city councilmembers Lee Kyriacou and Mike Fasano.

Editorial: Find Your Inner Milliner

You may detect a theme running through this issue: hats. And not just any kind of hats. The kind of headwear we’re celebrating in the Beacon Hat Parade and in our profile of the owner of the last hat factory in Beacon are seen less and less in public these days. You’d probably see the most modern examples on Sunday morning at any African American church services around town. Or on the heads of the ladies of the Red Hat Society.

Early last century, when Beacon was the hat capital of the Northeast, every man, woman, and child would be wearing a hat of distinction. Women of that era would be wearing hats so large you’d wonder how they made it through doorways (perhaps that’s why so many Victorian homes use double doors.) The craftsmanship and creativity it took to make these garments is obvious. Sadly, there are few examples of that kind of effort left in today’s world. 

These days baseball hats have become the universal headwear. Cheap materials and mass production have made them ubiquitous, not just in our country, but around the world. What were once symbols of individuality have become another commodity in a world of Wal-Mart specials.

But it’s important to know that people like Sal Cumella are still busy making fine women’s headwear. Demand might not be as strong as it once was, but quality work is still valued. And the Beacon Hat Parade gives everyone of us a chance to visit our inner milliner. Let’s not forget the proud history of this town, and the people who continue to make hats an expression of individual pride.

Dancing Queen

Valerie Feit's Ballet Arts Primes the Pump for Professional Ballet

by Gina Masullo

It’s a perfectly sunny April Saturday, and clusters of young girls are standing on the hilly lawn outside the Ballet Arts Studio on a residential strip of Teller Avenue. They’re wearing black leotards and pale pink tights and posing for camera-wielding parents.

More parents clog the studio’s doorway, the staircase, the waiting room, and the tiny reception area outside the main rehearsal studio. More girls run up and down the stairs, which lead down to a second studio space and changing areas. The afternoon’s sole male student, dressed all in black, sits just outside the door, greeting passersby with an air of pre-teen authority.

Letter to the Editor: Howland Library Cost Too Expensive

The “response to the community” by the Howland Library was wholly inadequate. At almost 11 million dollars the cost of the library project remains excessive. It is out of line with what other area libraries have accomplished or will accomplish using far less taxpayer money. The Library seems proud that this project is being proposed using public funds. However it is more then the public can afford.