It wasn’t that long ago that folks in this area wanted people to forget the term “Borscht Belt.”

They said it gave a negative connotation. Didn’t want to bring it up. Felt it was confusing. 

I never quite understood that. It seemed to do pretty well for a good half-century. 

It was iconic.

I don’t know anyone who’s ever been confused by the term “Borscht Belt.” OK, maybe a few folks in Wyoming. But if you know it, you know it was here. In most of Sullivan County. A bit in Ulster and Orange counties. It’s a place we also refer to as the Catskills.

And anyone who knows our Catskills would never mistake it for the Rip Van Winkle Catskills. Or the Greene County Catskills. Or the Delaware County Catskills. 

Our Catskills were the Borscht Belt Catskills.

The Mountains.

Getting there meant a nearly three-hour trip out of the city. With only one stop. At the Red Apple Rest.

It was the Borscht Belt Catskills, from the Aladdin to Zehner’s. Where behind every tree was a hotel, a bungalow and a casino. Yea, we had more casinos than Vegas.

It’s where Danny Kaye, Jerry Lewis and Mel Brooks cut their comedy teeth. Where Eddie Fisher married Debbie and dined with Liz. Where Marciano and Ali trained. Where Wilt carried bags. Where Eleanor Roosevelt asked Jenny about the herring and Martin Luther King Jr. asked for civil rights. Where Lou Goldstein asked, “Simon Sez?” Where moms asked for a dot and a bam, dads asked for more cards during illegal gambling games, bubbe wanted Danish for the room and zayde asked for prune juice to go. And the kids asked for a quarter to buy a knish from Ruby “The Knish” man.

It’s where hundreds of thousands, maybe even a million people over the last century have been touched by the Catskills, their favorite vacation destination. Where we learned how to swim, earned money for college or, if lucky like yours truly, met our lifetime partner.

And in our Catskills, borscht was served. To those still confused, that’s beet soup. Kind of. It was a staple in many Eastern European and Russian homes. When the ancestors of those families came to America, they brought with them their yearning for borscht. And when hotels that catered to Jewish guests were putting together menus, how could they not have borscht?

People had it in a glass or bowl. Hot or cold. With and without a potato. Enough borscht was served in the hotels to fill Kiamesha Lake. 

I practically bathed in borscht. Not intentionally. But due to my skills as a waiter and busboy, I managed to spill my fair share of the stuff. I owned half a dozen white shirts, each one with purple-reddish stains on the right should where I carried the borscht. 

I’ll admit I’ve got a bias and a real soft spot for the place where I spent my summers growing up, helped chronicle its history, and where Bonnie and I raised our family. A place we affectionately still call home.

Everyone has a memory of those Borscht Belt days that they want to recall. A story to share. A way to remember its impact and pay tribute to this truly historic place. Fortunately, there are folks not just talking up the Catskills Borscht Belt but literally marking the place in history.

On Sunday, July 21 at 1 p.m., the Borscht Belt Historical Marker Project will hold its 7th dedication, “A Happening in Hurleyville” with a dedication outside the Hurleyville Performing Arts Centre. It’s one of five dedications the group has for the summer, and this one pays tribute to one of the earliest Borscht Belt hamlets, and specifically honors Mel Brooks, who began at age 14 making guests laugh at Butler Lodge. https://borschtbelthistoricalmarkerproject.org/

On Friday, July 26 at 5 p.m. the Catskills Borscht Belt Museum, in conjunction with the Ellenville/Warwarsing Joint Historic Preservation Commission, unveils a historic marker next to the museum on Canal Street in Ellenville. The event proceeds the annual Borscht Belt Fest street fair, spread across several blocks of downtown Ellenville. https://www.borschtbeltmuseum.org/

As I used to tell my hotel guests, there’s no such thing as too much borscht. Go to both events, make sure to bring the kids, and help mark history in the Catskills Borscht Belt.

Barry Lewis is a longtime journalist and author who lives with his wife Bonnie in the Town of Neversink. He can be reached at      barrylewisscdemocrat@gmail.com.