with winter slowly melting away, the sunshine and milder temperatures were a welcome relief this past week. As we look toward spring each year, it provides a glimpse of the busier season in our county, especially with all the tourist attractions.

Bethel Woods Center for the Arts has already announced an exciting 2021 season, and the Forestburgh Playhouse is ready to celebrate their 75th Anniversary in style.

We still have Resorts World Catskills which has been entertaining locals and visitors alike, and we hope the increase in vaccinations will lead us closer to getting the Kartrite Resort and Indoor Waterpark back open.

The Sullivan County tourism portfolio is only getting stronger, with several new additions this year.

In last Friday's Life section (Page 1B), we profiled the Chatwal Lodge and Callicoon Hills, both of which are slated to open in June.

The Chatwal Lodge will be located inside The Chapin Estate in Bethel and will feature a variety of accommodations, including private suites and glamping tents, a farm-to-table restaurant, a banquet hall, wine cellar and much more.

The old Hill's property on Gulf Road in Callicoon Center is being transformed into Callicoon Hills, a luxury destination with 65 guestrooms, multiple event venues, including an event barn, indoor conference space, and an onsite restaurant, bar, catering program and coffee shop.

Both properties, as well as the Eldred Preserve which we'll have more on in an upcoming special section, will surely bring more money to the area. And who knows, like the many people who've previously visited the Catskills, these guests might fall in love with all we have to offer and become inspired to invest in the region.

Shifting away from tourism, but sticking to economic development, the Route 42 business corridor in the booming Town of Thompson is getting a nice new addition in national retailer Marshalls which will be opening sooner.

While the aforementioned projects are close to the finish line, there's also many interesting new projects being proposed, such as the tech retreat in the Town of Bethel, which was recently on our news pages.

So as you can tell, warmer weather isn't the only reason to be optimistic.