Now that Thanksgiving is over, the temperature is drastically dropping just in time for winter to come. While the New Paltz winters are stark, the cold takes over and it’s easy to want to stay inside. But, the Hudson Valley still brings amazing opportunities to go out and stay entertained. This winter, Twin Star Orchards, located at 155 N Ohioville Road has stayed open beyond the usual apple picking season to welcome residents of the Hudson Valley and beyond to a special holiday shopping activity from Nov. 25 to Dec. 17.
The Holiday Market at Twin Star Orchards is a weekly market that is open on weekends from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., bringing local businesses together. Instead of the whole orchard being open, Twin Star Orchards created a smaller venue in their tasting room- a cozy barn where guests can shop, drink and eat! This Saturday, Nov. 25 and Sunday, Nov. 26 were the first two days to kick off the beginning of the market. As the event brings in a curated array of products, there’s also a kitchen serving up dishes that are changing weekly. This week Twinstar served up a delicious cider-braised beef stew that was perfect to bundle up with to fight off the crisp upstate chill.
Yasmine Sayid, a Tuthilltown Distillery worker, was at the event working adjacent to the festivities and explained that the opening weekend was a success. “It was a really great idea for the Brooklyn Cider House team and Twin Star Orchards to utilize the space going into the winter and the fall time, especially because the local businesses up here suffered so much this summer, because of all the rain every single weekend,” she said. These past summer months hit a toll on a lot of local businesses because there were many rainy weekends. A lot of the businesses in the Hudson Valley, especially orchards and distilleries, make a major chunk of their yearly income during the summer and early fall months.
“It was much more intimate,” explained Sayid. “The barn is great because it has very high ceilings, but it’s not very big, so it does retain heat quite well. You can really only have about seven eight vendors in there, so it’s definitely a kind of a curated space and curated vendors that are there which is kind of awesome because every weekend will be a little bit different.”
There are only three more weeks for the Holiday Market and for more information about Twin Star Orchards and what you can find, visit them at their website to learn what’s on the menu and which shops will be there. Next week, you can find Woodside Blue Preserves & Pottery, Reagan Hayhurst Designs and Dorothy Bergmann Jewelry. Hudson Valley Distillers will be there to serve up some signature cocktails and chicken and seafood paella will be available as well.
