I was chatting with our very talented local ceramicist Nonna Hall about the timeline for the renovations underway at the building she recently bought at the site of the former Eldred Equipment Service and Supply Company located at 55O Route 55 in Eldred near Irene’s Diner. 

Nonna told me that the two apartments on the second floor have been completely renovated but the commercial area on the first floor is still under construction. The new double glass street doors are installed but she doesn’t expect to be able to be back to work in her new pottery studio, gallery shop and teaching classroom until about mid to late January 2O25. 

She did tell me that she has some new pottery for sale as part of “The White Show” a creative exhibit  which will be held at Chesters Studio and Gallery, 16 Old Dry Brook Road in Barryville (the location of Nonna’s former studio.) 

The Show is a curated collection of paintings, ceramics, sculptures and bits! Seven artists will be showing work around the theme of white to “bring some lightness for the darkest month.” The Show opens on Saturday, December 21 through Tuesday, January 21st. In addition to Nonna Hall, the Show highlights the work of Susan Weinthaler, Todd Lantz, David Barnett, Peter Maslow, Kaitlyn Danielson and Catherine Chester. The Opening reception will be from 4-7pm. For more information about the White Show visit chesterscreative.com.

One of my very favorite Christmas events is coming up on Christmas Eve, and it highlights our beautiful Delaware River. The Shohola Area Lions Club will hold their Annual Remembrance Luminary Candles event and place hundreds of memorial candles along the Shohola Bridge, and they will remain luminating on the bridge from dusk on Christmas Eve until dawn on Christmas morning. 

Shohola, where the bridge passes above the Delaware, is a significant site for historical occurrences and the word “Shohola” itself in the Lenni Lenape language means a “place of peace.” Centuries ago, Native Americans including the Lenni Lenape traveling from Canada through to what we now know as New York, Pennsylvania and New Jersey frequently used the Shohola area of the Delaware River to cross. 

The luminaries are a way to remember your family, loved ones and friends during Christmas. It is unbelievably beautiful to walk on the candlelit bridge over the Delaware River, especially at sunset when the luminaries are at their most radiant display against the open sky, and in my memory, I never remember that on the Night of Luminaries and Remembrance the weather was ever problematic other than the cold evening temperatures. 

Luminary Candles can be purchased from several local businesses including at Wayne Bank, Harry’s Gas Station, and Rohman’s Pub in Shohola and on the New York side at Back to Baker’s, BVH Sports Bar and Il Castello Restaurant in Barryville, and St. Ann’s Church in Shohola after mass. 

Anyone can go to the Shohola Bridge at 4 p.m. on Christmas Eve and buy and light your luminary yourself or the Lions Club members working at the event will do it for you. The candles are only $5.00 and there is space on the candle holder to print the name of the person you wish to honor on Christmas Eve night. If you have never seen the luminaries, take a stroll across the Bridge on Christmas Eve, it is really a wonderful Christmas community event. For more information, please visit the Shohola Area Lions Club on Facebook.